Andy M3

4 door in dark met grey with full light grey cloth. The car seemed very basic indeed, but had alloys and aircon and x4 electric windows. It has a Mercedes looking key, that slotted into a hole and then it was a button start, but that is nothing new.

The car itself is very well padded, as you can hardly hear the engine on tick over and there is no vibrations through the car.

The gearbox was precise and the weight of the steering was very good. As I set off up the road the power delivery was more like a 6 pot, once the turbo kicked in at about 1800 rpm it pulled nicely to 4500 rpm. Performance wise it isn't bad 8-9 seconds 0-60, and the gearing suggests it will do 155, but I doubt that.

I think it is a fantastic car to drive though. Everything seemed in the right place and it worked well. However to get to the sort of spec I would like, leather, climate, nice wheels, sat nav you are looking beyond £30k, which is where the new IS Lexus steps in me thinks.

320d though - 8/10

mn_angrybeats

You considered buying second hand ??

I recently picked up my 37k mile S Type R from a Jag Main dealer for 23k, cast iron warranty and European recovery, then you have the remaining 7k to spend on fuel

I have bought new, a MINI Cooper and a MINI Cooper S which I didt lose much on but I don't think I would do it again.

Pics below

http://www.micknewey.co.uk

Rabid

Had one of these as a long term hire and it was a good all rounder. The styling though leaves something to be desired like most new BMW's. A lot bigger than the E46 as well, I found it less fun to thread down a narrow road.
One of those cars that somehow is more than the sum of it's parts. People say it all the time but these cars are *almost* perfect.
Jag looks nice but the depreciation would scare me witless.

Andy M3

Not at all. We run a MY02 330d Sport at work, it was in for a service and the 320d was the loaner, so i thought i would try it out, and write a few words

P.S Evo magazine haven't been so lucky with their S type R. How is everything with yours so far ?

weasel_uk

Depreciation on the S-Type IS frightening.

I had no end of stupid problems with mine, that were met with lots of shrugging of shoulders from the dealer. Worst of all was a lurching ZF gearbox (more blank faces from the dealership). The lurch was also experienced by BMW 5 series owners.

http://www.thelurch.com

I expected more. Mate's BMW 530D runs like a Swiss clock compared to my Jag. And makes my average of 18mpg look silly.

D.

Andy M3

That is very good for a V8 - i would expect 15mpg to be average in one of those, although many non M powered BMW's tend to be better than your average on fuel !

mn_angrybeats

I've bought it just over three years old so someone has taken the bulk of the depreciation, it's the 400hp R and not the 300hp V8 you had so should hold it's price a little better too...

I'm going to keep it a few years and as yet no problems...

I've seen your website http://www.thelurch.com PMSL you really have got far far too much time on your hands...

Andy M3

Just downloading vids etc - seems interesting !

EDIT: There is music on the Donnington vid . I wanted to hear the whine ??

weasel_uk

Ah .. didn't take that long. I kept everything (e-mails, letters, videos) when my dealer started looking at me like a fool - which pissed me off big time (I worked as a mechanic for a few years).

Gotta do something to prevent me clocking one of them. So ... I dug deep.

As a second hand buy the R looks good, won't be buying one in Switzerland though !

Was VERY impressed with the 2.7 D - MUCH more refined, though not as powerful, then the BMW. Wasn't available when I bought mine.

D.

PS Be careful of the European recovery - mine broke down with a water leak in Belgium, got a hire car to continue. Phoned a couple of days later and was informed that my car was repaired to go back and collect it - and wanted the hire car back immediately! They paid for a flight back to Belgium. Read the small print. Wasted a day when I was busy flying back and driving across Europe for the second time that week ...