Much loved, but sensibly it should be replaced due to transporting elderly relatives and bulky gardening gear/pressure washing stuff means hitching up the trailer, which in turn means that often I can't have a blast!
Search narrowed down to A4 Avant/A3 5 door, but must have sunroof, large petrol engine and heated seats. Deal breakers. Can I find one privately? Not even any at dealers with the spec I require.
Might be a long waiting game, unless I consider other options which just makes my brain hurt.
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I assume you've already discounted Octavia vRS hatch/estate?
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Outback 3/3.6 litre? Easier access than the Legacy.
Am I right in thinking you've discounted the Forester 2.5 turbo?
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Blasting in an Audi isn't as much of a blast as blasting in a BMW. Audis are nose heavy things and tend to run wide on turn in ( if you're blasting with any determination ) :-)
How about a 3 series Touring?
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I reckon a Merc C63 estate should be easy enough to find with those options ... ;-)
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In fact here's one in my favourite colour: tinyurl.com/kn5dsgn
:-)
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Wish you hadn't posted that link Peter. I think I may have just bitten clean through my hand.
:-)
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If Ernie looks favourably on me this month then I envisage a long journey South...
Makes a 335i Touring look wimpish
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Makes a 335i Touring look wimpish.
And super-economical. 288g/km! The MB forums are full of people who've taken out leases on these things, who bravely tell us that they can sometimes crack 30mpg 'on a run', and that running one is really not as painful as the rest of us might expect. Some of them may even almost believe it themselves.
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That Merc must be a real boneshaker with those rubber bands, and you'd need a healthy budget for replacement wheels. Nice car otherwise, but in that area looks like bling has overtaken common sense.
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>> In fact here's one in my favourite colour: tinyurl.com/kn5dsgn
>>
That pic of the NSF wing, fat tyre, '6.3 AMG' etc. shows a massive panel gap. My fevered imagination, poor accident repair or are they all like that ?
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A warning shot was fired across my bows when I posted that on my FB page yesterday :-(
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Why is it a C63 and says 6.3 AMG when the engine is 6208cc?
Last edited by: ToMoCo on Tue 4 Jun 13 at 12:13
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C63 is pretty close to the truth by recent MB standards. Similarly my E220 exaggerates by only 50ml. But put the same block in Humph's car and it becomes a whopping E250. Or if you want six cylinders, you can have the 3.0-litre diesel engine from the old E280 and E320, only it's now called the E350. Get the idea?
}:---)
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I'd imagine it's the heated seats which aren't always specified by first owners. They might be more likely to be found on a 3-series Touring. But that seems an obvious choice and you may have rejected it already.
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Amazing how things can turn around in 24 hours. I had a thoroughly enjoyable blast early yesterday am, 90 miles on good, fairly quiet roads with the roof down, senses fully alert as the ton up boys raced past. And I thought I was giving it big licks.
Kicked tyres at a small Audi dealership, then whilst en route home had a light bulb moment. Why on earth, when I appreciate the straight six, RWD and handling characteristics of the Beemer, would I want to change marques. The reason. Just for the sake of change. Pretty dumb really.
So, the search is now on for a 330 Touring. Or a 335, although, someone in a previous post, sorry I forget who, advised that the latter was not as reliable viz the injection system I think.
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With you LL. That will tick your boxes perfectly.
A little analogy for you,
Merc C63 = Pavarotti,
BMW 3.0 = Roger Daltrey
Audi anything = Will Young
:-)
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The warm and dry weather does have that affect, at times i think about replacing the old MB with a more powerful motor, maybe MB again.
Then reality kicks in, in the form of more typical British weather.
We simply get too much of the wet slippery and cold stuff to enjoy 2WD at much over 200hp unless the vehicle is a toy and summer use only, invariably it will invoke wheelspins or light up all the traction control carp if even half used when mildly damp, let alone being a liability if shod with the usual elastic bands in bad weather.
Going full time 4WD means you can still take advantage of the extra power, and have all year round all area mobility as a bonus as most of the type come shod sensibly.
Just a thought.
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Why does it have to have a sun roof?
Its not a common option these days, so why make your car search harder than it needs to be for a device that robs headroom, and make the car noisier and hotter?
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 2 Jun 13 at 10:33
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Neither of our current cars have a sunroof and I must admit I miss not having one. Not a deal breaker but even when closed the additional daylight just makes me feel better for reasons I can't explain. Especially when, as I often do, you spend many hours a day in the car.
In addition, I do get where LL is coming from if he's been used to a convertible. It's not the same of course but it's a sort of compromise.
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I don't need the headroom.
And I love heat.
The extra noise I can live with after all the squeaks and rattles from my earlier BL ownership days so it makes no odds.
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330 = Roger Daltrey according to the gospel of Humph.
Does this mean I won't get fooled again?
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Blimey, someone who actually gets my warped thinking !
;-)
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I have been dreaming about 330d tourings lately ( and price dictates it will remain a dream) From what I can see of my A/t browsing a conventional sunroof is rare, but you can get a panoramic glass roof, which really lifts the interior imo.
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In my MB browsings last year, I found lots of estates with heated seats (and bought one) but none with a sunroof. There may be some lingering suspicion that it's a bad idea to perforate such a big roof panel; doesn't bother me because it would be a deal-breaker in the opposite direction.
As for lifting interiors, what does it for me turns out to be the headlining. I was resistant to all-black leather for the LEC, but that's how nearly all of them come. It's really not so bad, partly because the windows are large and plentiful (and not tinted black) and partly because the upper surfaces are lined in light grey, and that's actually more noticeable than what we sit on.
We looked at one Sport model whose headlining was black too. Like being in a coal cellar. Even a coffin has a pale lining!
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Late thought: do those of you with 'panoramic' roofs (hardly panoramic anyway, because they only show you the sky) also have 'privacy' glass?
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Replacing the 330Ci. How hard can it be? - Lygonos
