After weeks of web browsing, brochure thumbing and incredibly tedious test drives I finally made a decision. I had become so indecisive that this feels like a quite disproportionate success.
I thought the Mercedes C200K and C220Cdi pedestrian, lumpy, soggy. That horrible pretend Tiptronic box. It sucked the life out of me. The Audi A5 and A4 were strangely disconnected. Amazing gearbox, if it lasts. Literally couldn't detect the changes even in MANUAL mode. Understand now why HJ used the word balletic. Point it right in the apex and it's pulled through the bend as if by magnetic forces. If you're going to buy a car with your head this could be it.
In spite of its imperfections and my imminent decrepitude I couldn't get past the skate-like BMW 325d. It's a complete driver's car. The engine and transmission are so well matched and implemented I had to suppress a snigger every time I touched the gas. It pulled like a train. The steering is so heavy I will build up muscles in my arms. And it's so direct it could be replaced with a rocker switch marked right and left. There's little risk of information overload with the heater and the on/off button for the radio.
But at the end of the day I just couldn't resist one last hurrah in a hooligan's car so I have ordered the bum waggler with my heart.
Thanks to everyone who helped.
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Enjoy - they are truly good cars and your description is close to literary prose. Some people cannot see beyond the badge, most of its detractors have never driven one. Well what colour and options eh ?
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I would have liked Le Mans blue but they only do it in the Sport line. I didn?t want all the associated boy racer paraphernalia and rubber band tyres. So I ordered Montego blue, the next most impudent colour, I thought. (My head would have ordered silver but I am buying it with my heart remember.) Black leather so I can keep it for years, hopefully without it looking tatty.
I hoovered up some of the least expensive options ? windscreen shading, digital compass(!), something to do with the rear head restraints, can?t remember what now, and split rear seats so I can stick a Christmas tree in it once a year. Auto box, of course, I?ve been a two pedal guy for over twenty years. I don?t know why anybody would want to stamp on that clutch pedal and connect up the transmission in their own time.
It comes as standard with the 3.0 locomotive engine and the steering wheel gear change. I have that last item in my current car and I think it?s a real advance. I use it to get off the line quickly and into traffic gaps from a standing start whilst keeping both hands on the wheel.
Being an old buffer I had wanted walnut but the salesman showed me a car with black poplar trim which I thought looked good with the leather (a bit like the E Class Avantgarde) so I went for that.
Don?t have a delivery date yet. About eight weeks I expect. The BMW dealer got within a few hundred pounds of some bloke with a shed and web site so I ordered it locally in the hope of getting some service in future. Doubtless enlightenment lies in store in due course. Buying it from the franchise agent also means I don?t have to pay for it until I get it. The internet broker wanted all the money to be paid some time before I saw the car, which might have had tedious results.
As every car buyer who uses it knows, this is a great site. It redresses the balance of information which would otherwise be ruthlessly exploited. It also shifts more cars by exposing them to a massive audience. So everybody wins.
Thanks again.
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