Anyway, popped along to look at it yesterday. It's a 3-year old 3.0 V6 SE on a '51 plate (the private plate in the pics has gone).
Fully loaded, *immaculate* condition, one owner from new, full history,
40,000 miles.And it looks *gorgeous* in the flesh ! That blue is pearlescent, and it sorta goes a bit greeny-turquoise when the light gets on it. And I was very taken with the interior too - it looks real nice when you get inside. The seats are proper armchairs, and all fully electric-like. Heated too. Mmmmm. Before I'd seen it in real-life, I wasn't sure about the blue bodywork, and brown leather - but it actually suits very nicely ! The pics don't do it justice at all.
Went for a spin down some country lanes, and I couldn't resist. The engine was great ! Not quite as quick as the TI, but 210bhp and 280Nm is still adequate - and the ride is an order-of-magnitude better.
The dealer I got it from, is a Porsche/BMW/Merc specialist, so it's not something they usually sell. He'd took it in part-ex against a brand new Merc SLK, so he wanted it off his forecourt - which means it was up at about £2000 less than it's worth (going by Parkers and AutoTrader values). So I got a bit of a bargain really ! He gave me the book-price for the TI too as a part-ex (a grand).
It's much less than I planned to spend, so I've got lots of money left over for some shiny new 18" rims, to show off my massive four-pot Brembos :D
I'm braced for the "DOH ! You shouldn't have bought one of them !" posts - but for the price I paid, I don't rekon I could have got anything better. And I *really* like it, so I'm very happy indeed :D
Hopefully picking it up in about a week !
w00t !