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Sat 1 Sep 2012 02:06

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - motorprop

I thought I'd pin this as officially today our car ceases to be ' Brand New ' with the 62 reg out.. Will mourn for a day

Took delivery in Mid May 2012 and now have just 2200 miles on clock , the car having been delivered with 350 miles on readout. This one is the 20d 4 cyl 184 bhp 8 speed auto box M Sport.

The computer says we've averaged 36-37 mpg, but on runs ( 3 weekends away , one a 500 mile round trip ) we have had 50 mpg and over. Was shocked to see tyres are £250 a corner , 245 on 18 runflats, so better avoid punctures, no spare either. The car has been faultless and extremely comfortable, and I can almost claim perfection. As an urban cyclist, the car can sit outside unused for 3-4 days in good weather, as I can take our almost 4 year old to nursery on the bicycle child seat, 1.5 miles each way mostly through a great park, where she can spot squirrels and dogs and prattle away, and there is no jostling for parking with mums in dark window Q7's on their phones - why are they always so stressed, most have only coffees to worry about later, I see them in big groups whilst grabbing a lightning latte to go at 11am - once pointed out to cafe owner that she had 17 clients in, of which 16 were women .. no wonder they live longer

There are no gripes at all - Have only filled the diesel tank 4-5 times to brim and feel quite pleased about that. Was having a chat with the owner of a local garage, who said he thought I had more sense than dropping ' so much money ' on a car - his 12 reg loan Honda CR-V was all the car you need at about £12k less - how can I justify.. Took 2 secs to look at the Honda's windscreen , showing RFL at £281 , whereas the X3 is only £130, told him that was the nutshell reason, so much more advanced and efficient.

The only mini item to mention is to say that I think I caught out BMW forgetting to design out a LHD feature, where on selecting reverse, the NS mirror dips helpfully, took a while to ascertain this only happens when the mirror movement selector is set to ' Drivers' mirror ' , not the Nearside, so am thinking this is an oversight from LHD, where you would want RHD drivers' mirror - their passenger's - to dip. Don't they have earnest graduates to phase these things out, or was it too costly , or am i too fussy on this ?

Lastly for now , cannot see waiting until May 2014 as per dashboard advice before changing the oil, that will be done at 1 year.

Here's to hopefully nothing to report for a long time

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Sat 1 Sep 2012 02:53

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - unthrottled

his 12 reg loan Honda CR-V was all the car you need at about £12k less - how can I justify.. Took 2 secs to look at the Honda's windscreen , showing RFL at £281 , whereas the X3 is only £130 told him that was the nutshell reason

So in only 79.4 years you'll have recouped that £12k! Nonsense economics.

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Sat 1 Sep 2012 03:11

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - motorprop

You have chosen to miss the point - the reason the RFL is£150 pa cheaper is that the car overall is much more efficient , less fuel burnt , higher residuals as a partial consequence

I don't actually believe you meant the crass stupidity of the 79.4 comment. Or perhaps you did.

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Sat 1 Sep 2012 07:40

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - Collos25

Have to agree with Unthrottled this BMW is made for a certain class of people and is not in the same class as the Honda and by the way the wing mirror fault is a fault not a quirk.I live in Germany and love BMWs but this model is at the best a car without any character its not even a soft roader a nothing car the Honda is by far the better vehicle in every way and over a life cycle will undoubtebly work out much cheaper..

Edited by Collos25 on 01/09/2012 at 07:47

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Sat 1 Sep 2012 11:24

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - unthrottled

I don't know what your point is. That a diesel is more efficient than a petrol? Well that's fairly uncontroversial. But I don't see how that 'proves' how the X3 is superior to the CRV. I would prefer a BMW to a Honda but I wouldn't argue that a BMW is better screwed together than a Honda.

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Sat 1 Sep 2012 12:06

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - gordonbennet

The car sounds terrifying to me, £250 tyres, 8 speed auto box (what on earth for? i used to drive full sized artics with 6 gears and usually only used 5 of an 8 speed box when we had real engines), and the mileage you do will mean the most horrendous pence per mile depreciation when you come to sell.

The thing is Honda softroaders have proved year upon year and model after model to be excellent long term ownership prospects, they are efficient but Honda sensibly don't use new technology in their production models until they are durable to the nth degree, thats why they are such a good buy and hold astonishing used prices.

Edited by gordonbennet on 01/09/2012 at 12:07

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Sat 1 Sep 2012 22:47

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - Tonto1

As someone that's run a CRV and currently runs a BMW 3 series, I'd have to say that if I was looking for another 'softroader' SUV I would go back to Honda.

Beemers do have a quality aura about them, but you certainly pay for it in all sorts of ways. As an example - I could get a minimum of 25000 miles out of the tyres on my CRV (Bridgestone or preferably BF Goodrich), but the runflats on my Beemer don't seem to last anytime at all i.e. comparing notes with a couple of friends (I thought I had duff tyres or wayward tracking), none of us has managed more than 17/18000 miles even with very gentle motorway use. The CRV I owned appeared less special and durable, but the dealer offered great service, was cheap (compared to BMW dealers), and the car itself was bombproof.

If you like the X3, then that's great and I hope you enjoy it (I wouldn't turn one down as a company car) , but don't try and justify the purchase on economic (or reliabilty) terms Vs the CRV.

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Sun 2 Sep 2012 00:35

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - Happy Blue!

I'm confused....

The OP bought an almost new BMW X3 in May, has done only 1,850 miles and thinks he is onto a winner?

In what way is this exciting or even logical? Fuel economy is such a tiny proportion of the overall running costs of any car, especially one driven so infrequently. He could have bought a much cheaper petrol engined car and saved oney over a three or five year period, even with the increased fuel consumption. Whats the annual mileage - 8,000pa?

Bonkers

Edited by Happy Blue! on 02/09/2012 at 00:36

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Sun 2 Sep 2012 07:45

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - madf

You have chosen to miss the point - the reason the RFL is£150 pa cheaper is that the car overall is much more efficient , less fuel burnt , higher residuals as a partial consequence

I don't actually believe you meant the crass stupidity of the 79.4 comment. Or perhaps you did.

I agree with Unthrottled 100%.

Anyone who thinks they spend £12k to save £150 pa is a monetary dunce. :-)

Edit:

As evidenced by "Was shocked to see tyres are £250 a corner , 245 on 18 runflats, so better avoid punctures, no spare either"

No research done before buying then !

Edited by madf on 02/09/2012 at 07:46

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Sun 2 Sep 2012 09:11

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - Drivethru

why are they always so stressed, most have only coffees to worry about later, I see them in big groups whilst grabbing a lightning latte to go at 11am - once pointed out to cafe owner that she had 17 clients in, of which 16 were women .. no wonder they live longer

You sound like a patronising idiot with more money than sense trying to justify the money you have wasted on a car you hardly use.

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Sun 2 Sep 2012 11:06

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - Roly93

I thought I'd pin this as officially today our car ceases to be ' Brand New ' with the 62 reg out.. Will mourn for a day

On another recent post it was discussed that the Americans and many other countries keep their cars for longer than us Brits.

But it has never ceased to amaze me as to how the motor trade have always had the 'Reg' as a selling tool to make the punters feel bad and change more frequently.

Unless anyone can tell me otherwise what other purpose can there be to make the age of a car discernable to a 6 month window than sales churn ?

Oh and I stopped considering BMW years ago when they insisted on using those stupid run-flat tyres.

Edited by Roly93 on 02/09/2012 at 11:07

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Sun 2 Sep 2012 12:54

F25 BMW X3 - New car run in - unthrottled

Unless anyone can tell me otherwise what other purpose can there be to make the age of a car discernable to a 6 month window than sales churn

Because the idiot punters used to go mental on August 1st, creating a dearth of sales in June/July and a huge spike around 1st August. So the government switched to biannual registration designation to spread demand.

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