Want!

Pfff, there's enough room, you're just not trying hard enough ;-) But I agree that for £30k (plus about £5k's of options that should be standard...) I'd probably be buying something else. Something else which would probably be a really nice 996 :-). Or actually, a Z4M Coupe...

Although if I had to buy new, I'd have to think about that some more....

Reply to
DanB
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There is a differance between being flown and flying, about the same differance as there is between taking a bus and being at the controls of fast car.

A further thing is that when driving I use my car for 30-50% of its capacity. It implies that almost every second I can be fined heavily or my driving licence can be taken away.

When flying I use the plane and engine at 75% of its capacity for almost the complete periode. When I fancy I can ask -legally- the complete power envelope.

Finally: there are far less stupid people flying than there are stupid people driving.

Tom De Moor

Reply to
Tom De Moor

Yup, it'll be the Coupe I'm on about, then.

That sounds pretty "not hideously bad on fuel" to me. I average about 27mpg from my 150bhp 2.0T Xantia and am constantly aware that there's plenty of stuff out there with probably double the power that could be giving me similar economy. Though they'd probably cost a lot more.

Reply to
AstraVanMann

And yet I spent two days in a 320d a couple of weeks ago - it was fine. Ride not up to merc standards but a perfectly good motorway tool and remarkably economical. And the current 5 is a great car (with 6 or 8 cylinders, the

520d is OK but not great).
Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Engine vibrates far too much at lower revs, ride is nothing special, steers OK.

It's just 'OK', but not worth the money they ask for it.

My boss has a 520d SE. Doesn't feel like £30k worth of car. Certainly not in the way a 166 does, anyway ;-)

Reply to
SteveH

Hmmmm. You been in a base-spec Alfa or VW? The problem with base spec cars is they have base spec materials.

The coupe has a decent sized boot, plenty of front seat room and better engines in all sizes than anything Alfa currently make. Which is a shame really. And of course it's driven from the right end.

Shame it's a bit ugly (though not as ugly as the current 3 coupe, current shape 3s don't look right with 2 doors).

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

It was a french shopping trolley with an oversized engine. Now get over it. Wimp.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Exactly the point (actually, another point is you can't get the 166 any more). The 2.0 is really a tax break special, not as refined as the E220 but lighter and faster (and resellable with a manual box) .

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Ahhh, right - my mistake. I was kind of under the impression that the dash moulding, door mouldings, centre tunnel, sun-visors and roof lining were the same in all models.

Obviously, the better cars get a completely re-trimmed interior in better materials..... yes, they put better seats in and the small parts of the door cards which have fabric get better fabric, but the rest of the interior is utter s**te. This is the same all through the range ceom a 116i to the 135i, unfortunately.

Can't disagree on the engines - although I personally think the 2.4 JTD is a better engine than the BMW 4-pot diesels - it's just too thirsty, and the 1.9JTD is better than the BMW x18d, but again, BMW have it on economy. Petrols, don't know - not driven a modern petrol BMW.

Reply to
SteveH

To be fair - I don't think a C-Class or lower models in the E-Class range are worth the money either.

There are some *very* flimsy bits of trim in the C, especially.

Reply to
SteveH

Now compare a similar spec 166 with a 520d SE, both with 100k on the clock, back to back :-)

Reply to
AstraVanMann

Aww, bless you Tim, you're all heart!

Reply to
AstraVanMann

LOL. That must be the first time anyone, anywhere outside of Fiat has ever written that.

Reply to
Pete M

All the mouldings are feeling cheap due to the high recycled content, I'm not looking forward to the new E class dash at all if the C class dash is anything to go by. I still don't get your fetish on the material feel of the dash and the mouldings though.

The Valvetronic petrols are surprisingly good on fuel and very flexible to drive.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Because, if you buy an expensive car, you don't expect the trim to feel like it was stolen from a 1985 Hyundai Pony?

Reply to
SteveH

For a proper test, you also need a 166 and 520d SE both with 10k on the clock to compare the 100k ones with as well, surely?

Reply to
JackH

Erm, Sir might like to wipe the shit from his eyes before looking at one of these again - they're nicely styled, and I'd have one over a 3 series saloon anyday.

Reply to
JackH

Thing is, lots of really good and expensive cars don't have this wonderful trim feel which you yearn for.

Even the old 'bank vault' Merc W124 had bits that wobbled and broke on a regular basis - the glovebox lids are notorious for always being broken. Bentleys tend to have squeaks where the leather rubs against things, Ferraris (until very recently) have shit feeling switchgear, Jags have pretty much always had wobbly bits, VW interiors are heading down the slippery slope to shittyness, Fiats are infinately variable, the Japs do switchgear brilliantly but every interior they do is bland as f*ck. Ford stuff tends to stay together and keep working but you hate Fords, Maserati do a fabulous line in self destructing but gorgeous interiors.

Reply to
Pete M

You want to fly on twin engined jets they are run at only 50% of capacity.

Reply to
Peter Hill

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