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Post by racingteatray on Jul 30, 2021 17:29:12 GMT
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 30, 2021 17:27:19 GMT
The 240i might have a ‘proper engine’, but that’s all it’s got imo, it was massively disappointing, probably more so because I was sure an M140i would be the car I wanted. We tried a 240i convertible first as that’s all they had available and went back to try an M140i with adaptive suspension in the hope it would be a lot better, it was, but unfortunately neither of us really liked it. It does go well in a straight line and sound nice though. Easily solved at Birds if the standard suspension settings are an issue. But I never found the handling to be an issue on my M135i with adaptive. Of course he could buy a Golf R. I was trying to think of something that wasn't a hot hatch.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 30, 2021 13:03:27 GMT
It is pretty much a Coupe' style Captur but a bit longer, it is due here in August, I've not seen one in the metal yet though. Apparently it has been a big hit over in mainland Europe, Renault over here are hoping it will raise the brand as Renault have been really struggling in the past few years over here and the cars currently offered are very good. Anyway we at dealership level are sceptical, as are some at Renault UK, currently we don't really see the point of it. If you are interested, it is built in Korea. Captur or Kadjar? I ask because it's a pretty sizeable machine and looks a size up from a Captur.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 30, 2021 12:49:02 GMT
Congrats.
Sticking to s/hand, the first thing that leapt into my head if it needs to be post-2015, fun and have some nod to rear accommodation is an M235i/M240i coupe (or even convertible). It's not a hatch and it has a proper engine.
Alternatively one of the quicker flavours of Mini if boot space not an issue - see also the Audi S1 - an overlooked car that is apparently a bit of a little cracker.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 30, 2021 10:02:04 GMT
I've also read sufficient times from enthusiast owners that Teslas and other electric vehicles are technically excellent vehicles that sadly offer very little to stir the emotions in addition to simply being effective transport. Like the average Audi but with any remaining charisma surgically removed.
As a result, I'm just not sold for the purposes of anything other than urban use. Sure, if you are wealthy enough and have the space to run a small fleet then great. But as previously mentioned I want a swiss army knife of a car, and the array of talents it must possess has to include the ability to provide me with excitement and fun when the occasion arises. My current car provides just enough of that to satisfy me, but I do realise that anything much less wouldn't cut the mustard.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 29, 2021 9:54:30 GMT
Yes, that's a bad day.
I got lightly rear-ended at a lights in a similar fashion years ago when I had the E60 M5. Oddly enough it was by a middle-aged chap in an E61 touring. He was mortified but there was no apparent damage to my car and merely a cracked numberplate on his, so I let it slide. I think he was very relieved.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 29, 2021 9:50:08 GMT
I read the Pistonheads and Autocar website, and buy Evo and Car from time to time, so am usually up to speed. But this one definitely had passed me by.
In metallic orange, it didn't actually look that terrible in the metal - better than the similarly shaped offerings from ze Germans, and Renault's "predator mandibles" headlights work better on the larger shape.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 29, 2021 8:47:22 GMT
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 28, 2021 13:06:39 GMT
Good summary , and concurs with my experience. The e car market is being driven by 0% bik company cars . I wonder what happens when (if) the tax advantage gets removed. With no tax advantage Racings position is the one I’d adopt - a small e car for local trips and a combustion engine for longer trips. I do find it pretty unfair that company car drivers get a massive tax incentive to go electric whereas private car drivers are not offered anything remotely similar.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 28, 2021 8:21:53 GMT
Thanks. Nutshell summary of why I'm prepared to replace the Fiat with an electric city car but not prepared yet to replace the BMW with something like an iPace or i4.
I had heard that re-charging from rapid chargers on motorways was very pricey, just as petrol is pricier on motorways than off them. But I hadn't realised it was that much pricier.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 26, 2021 15:30:43 GMT
Thanks Mike. It's just a little roof-top flat in the historic centre of my wife's home town, but it has a decent terrace, a spacious garage and is 10 mins walk to the beach. And most importantly will be our own space after a three year hunt. So it's the penthouse then? Sounds great. I hadn't thought of it that way, but yes I suppose so!
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 26, 2021 15:28:29 GMT
It's awful but I'm not sure it's more awful than the current monstrosity!
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 26, 2021 15:26:51 GMT
Looks great. I did wonder why you were bricking on your house on FB but this does explain it.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 26, 2021 8:11:05 GMT
DP due to an angry bear apparently...
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 26, 2021 8:10:34 GMT
Ha! Good one Garry. I think for me just the portable a/c.
Although who knows what FG we've all decided our cars cannot be without as a result...
Car-wise, the only person who really influenced a decision of mine was James/ALF with the GTA. He took me for a spin in his and I decided that there was no finer way to spend £13k than on a 2yr old GTA (and there almost certainly wasn't).
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 22, 2021 17:48:21 GMT
At Stansted this morning it was pretty much 100% masks.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 21, 2021 21:20:29 GMT
Sounds good, fingers crossed for you that all goes well. Thanks Mike. It's just a little roof-top flat in the historic centre of my wife's home town, but it has a decent terrace, a spacious garage and is 10 mins walk to the beach. And most importantly will be our own space after a three year hunt.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 21, 2021 13:34:38 GMT
I potentially need my car next month to go away to France/Italy next month (unless it all goes to hell in a handcart and either we can't leave here or France/Italy bars us from entering). But come the autumn it's a possibility.
But I may defer - my wife (already down in Italy) finally agreed the purchase a property in Fano yesterday - the benefits of being there in person to negotiate with the octogenarian sellers. All being well, that will probably complete in September, so I'd want to avoid doing the two things at the same time.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 21, 2021 13:15:44 GMT
And it's a fair attempt at an answer to a question nobody has the answer to. I've just been chatting virtually to one of our vac schemers - I can't begin to imagine what doing a virtual vac scheme is like - particularly since for us they are an integral part of the interview process for a training contract. So I do get the isolated teenagers point. We had my wife's 19yr old cousin staying with us for the month of June and he definitely was way more cautious and risk-averse than any normal 19yr old guy and I don't think it's a question simply of character.
I'm just worried that because our PM is indeed a bit prone to knee-jerk changes of direction and appears to lack any form of spine, we'll career back into mass restrictions pretty soon at this rate. Which will be worse.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 21, 2021 8:52:09 GMT
Thanks. It has the same slightly too deep and throbby sound that afflicts my car - I prefer the clearer more soprano engine sounds of yore.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 21, 2021 8:33:41 GMT
Linate, yes but it's over three hours away and Milan is a major business city so along with Rome has stayed open throughout. But we normally fly to Bologna and that's what has been cancelled.
Mercifully out of an abundance of caution I made double travel plans - I have an refundable Eurotunnel booking for the same day. And Ryanair is still flying.
That wasn't the point - I just think they wouldn't cancel that route if they were expecting demand.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 20, 2021 17:47:09 GMT
Well possibly BA knows something we the public don't yet. Our flights for 12 August have just been cancelled with no alternative offered - they seem to have block-cancelled.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 20, 2021 17:45:27 GMT
I’ve just been to Aldi and I’m happy to report mask wearing down below 20%. Just out of curiosity, what would need to now happen for you to think that we were making a collective mistake? On the scale between normality and 28 Days Later?
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 20, 2021 17:41:22 GMT
So too early to get quotes yet as they won't have the predicted residuals for another couple of weeks.
But an order now would be delivery at the end of the year apparently, which is shorter than I expected.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 20, 2021 15:59:42 GMT
Without going completely mad? My “not going completely mad” spec was £70k! A little more if I indulged in the GT alloys. You need to indulge yourself more! I tried again so I could get the code and must have missed something last time....it's £80,277 now. As I said, I really haven't gone mad as I've missed off the Burmester (which I'd want...) and some of the nice to have extra leather bits etc, all of which I've got used to over the last few years. www.porsche-code.com/PNVYDX13I suppose I could lose the race-tex headliner, full leather and contrast stitching to drop £4k off the cost but the last 2 are options we really enjoyed on the Boxster and they made it feel more special every time we sat in it. If you are going to spend £76k on a Macan, which I think is too much for a small SUV no matter how nice, then what's another £4k really. So stuff it, I'll add the Burmester and let's call it ££83k all in! So…I didn’t bother with: - Sport Chrono – having read around, it doesn’t seem essential on a GTS - GT alloys – for £800 less the Turbo ones are equally nice in my view - Coloured stitching – can live without - need to go and see what Agate leather looks like in real life – so long as it doesn’t look close to paedo leather, it might be my choice. - Laminated glass – no, merely privacy and not sure why I need rear blinds at that point either - Tinted lights – no, couldn’t care less - Full park assist – no just added a reversing camera - Speed limit indicator, adaptive cruise and comfort access are all unnecessary FG that I’ve never missed on my previous cars - Heated windscreen and heated rear seats I care not about, and ventilated seats are nice but not essential - The standard steering wheel is fine - Really not bothered about the headlining - I don’t much care for carbon trim so went for the Walnut which is free - Wireless phone charging I didn’t bother with either – don’t have that in the house, much less in the car. And somehow that’s about £9k less.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 20, 2021 15:42:57 GMT
I’d still be looking at Stelvio’s Yes, it would be rude not to. But I must confess that I'm not that keen on the styling of them, and the interior and tech gets a pretty poor rep... I have driven a cooking (280bhp) Stelvio before and it was perfectly nice without leaving me wanting one. Whereas I drove a Macan S last year and liked almost everything about it except the performance and engine, which was just a teeny bit lacking compared to my current car. This new S gets a completely different engine (looks frankly to be what was offered in the outgoing GTS) so might fix that.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 20, 2021 15:33:08 GMT
Well I could happily order one now and not see it for a year - I could easily run the 4GC for another year - it's only got 36k miles on the clock. That's not a big issue. I've been looking at things like F-Types but they are all just very impractical and for one reason or another, I'm just always going to be best served by a Swiss armyknife of a car and really I can't see anything else that ticks as many boxes for me.
I agree that it's an awful lot of money but they are so stupidly expensive second-hand - £50k for a five year old GTS or Turbo with 40+k miles - that buying new might be the best way.
I'm not mad on the revised rear end but then I never much cared for the original rear either, so that makes little odds. It's not new-BMW-grille-ugly.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 20, 2021 15:11:13 GMT
That's a really nice set of changes, it looks great in Gentian Blue with 21" GT Design wheels in satin platinum. It's just a shame you can't get rid of the tinted rear lights as they look aftermarket. The GTS is the one to have, the premium isn't huge once you've got it to the spec you want, it will be worth more when the time comes to sell and in the meantime (which is the most important thing!) you'll been enjoying a car that's better to driver and quicker . I've just configured one and without going completely mad got to £79,603, dropping down to absolute essentials didn't make a huge difference (£76,375) and full Martin spec is £83,500. Without going completely mad? My “not going completely mad” spec was £70k! A little more if I indulged in the GT alloys.
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 20, 2021 14:24:14 GMT
Well that's a nice discovery!
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Post by racingteatray on Jul 20, 2021 14:18:41 GMT
Wearing masks is horrible when it's hot - I expect that has a bearing on matters.
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