Good grief, just what the forum needs. Another BMW fanboy.
Joking. Great choice. Congratulations!
Joking. Great choice. Congratulations!
I have also Bought a New Car...
- Thread starter martinbo
- Start date
LaArtist
Wunderkind of Wheels
haha i was about to say the same..but i didn't dare..Good grief, just what the forum needs. Another BMW fanboy.
Joking. Great choice. Congratulations!
Scary bmw fans
Zafiro
Supreme Roadmaster
haha i was about to say the same..but i didn't dare..
Scary bmw fans
Martin replaced me, these days I'm a Ford fan
Zafiro
Supreme Roadmaster
donkeykong
Track Technician
That's great Martin! Congratulations,and many safe miles
of course.
of course.
Gianclaudio
Aerodynamic Artisan
Congratulations Martin!! 
martinbo
Staff member
Good grief, just what the forum needs. Another BMW fanboy.
Joking. Great choice. Congratulations!
Thanks. Interesting thing is that this choice wasn't done for reasons of desire. It was a fairly cold and calculated business decision. I elected to opt for a "business sedan" which would fulfill the criteria I mentioned in the original post. As such, the decision is thus down to just two cars: the F30 3er and the W204 C-Class. It had to be RWD and Lexus, crucially, lack a diesel model in the new generation IS. Don't want no damned hybrid (except maybe a LaFerrari or a 918).
With the W205 fairly imminent, it would be the F30 that would stay current for longer, therefore holding its value better in the next 4 years.
I am of the opinion that the F30 is the better car; it has the best automatic gearbox in the world, paired with the most tried and trusted turbodiesel engine in South Africa (red-dot turbo saga anyone remember?). It is thus well proven in hot-n-high conditions - ordinarily a destroyer of turbodiesel dependability. I think the interior is closest to my tastes too - I like the design and overall impression of cohesiveness and solidity.
Price. I got the car for less than a boggo, base-model Golf GTI - sure it's not hot like that but then if I wanted a hot hatch, then I'd have bought a hot hatch. I feel I've got a broadly serving appliance at good value for money - hey, it is a BMW after all. I wasn't looking for this particular spec - having been after a Sport Line rather - but this car simply popped up while I was trawling a dealer's used car stock when I turned around and asked the salesman, "Hey... what's that?" The car is immaculate. It hasn't got a single nick or chip or scratch. I am a little miffed that it never came with gear selector paddles but that ZF 'box is so spookily intuitive that I'd probably just leave it to its own devices. It is just a diesel after all.
How does it drive? Good primary ride was a foremost consideration, outright agility is secondary for me now. So, I've chosen well in this regard too - the 17" wheels & tyres have better high-frequency absorption and there's a pleasing amount of suspension travel to cope with Jozi's plentiful speed humps, troughs and pockmarks. It is fast enough when you stand on the loud pedal too. I have set the speed warning chime at 135 km/h and the car got there surprisingly quickly when accelerating onto the freeway. Gearbox is nothing short of a revelation. My heel-n-toe days are now limited to weekend driving with the Forester but I have resigned myself that the art of pedal-pushing-lever-tugging is dying a slow, inexorable death. Pity...
Compared to my erstwhile WRX experience? Well, of course, it's chalk and cheese but I will say this - people poke fun at that little Jap hatch and it's been oft-maligned by a number of clueless journos but I tell you what, for a sense of intimate connected-ness with the road yet coupled with the refinement that can only come from solid engineering, my old WRX with 90 000 km on the odo feels far more malleable and exploitable than this (curiously) moderately inert BMW. I will have to familiarise myself quickly! So that little WRX, in parting, has acquitted itself admirably - having never missed a beat, never flattered to deceive and never bitten back. Gorgeous, gorgeous little thing - farewell!
martinbo
Staff member
Thanks Sunny! I'd so have gotten an F31 wagon - had they been on sale in SA. Grrrr...
I think I've mentioned before that I drove the F30 320d for the first time a few weeks ago over a weekend and 2,000km. I don't know what it was doing or why (someone with more technical knowledge about this such as yourself might be able to understand it) but I thought after handing it back that it was just a perfect driving machine and really enjoyable. On familiar roads it felt like I was able to go round corners twice as fast as I would have been able in other cars.
I have all the fuel data too which I will post asap in the fuel data thread.
mini_cooper4
Autotechnik Ace
The best engine for this car is under the bonnet of your car already!
Congrats once again! Just do a rust check as your car had this problem for sure... what I mean is just check if it's solved already. Many, many happy and safe miles and may it bring you lots of endless joy, mate!
Congrats once again! Just do a rust check as your car had this problem for sure... what I mean is just check if it's solved already. Many, many happy and safe miles and may it bring you lots of endless joy, mate!
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