435d Door 3.0 xDrive M Sport Auto 5dr Hatchback

brisk and stylish

Picked this up last week - before the VED hike - to replace my Lexus IS300h. Spiritually it's the successor to my old Saab 9-5 Aero which fed a character-building 250bhp through the front wheels...
I was drawn to the Gran Coupe by it's practicality (the boot isn't vast but access is excellent), looks and rarity. Having previously been unable to get comfortable in BMWs due to a combination of dodgy seats and no suspension I confined my first test drive (a 435d Coupe) to the appalling road surfaces of urban Sheffield. It was surprisingly pliant. A longer drive in a 430d GC reinforced this positive view and a car was duly sourced.
I was able to secure a facelift car with plenty of kit in the (new) shade of Snapper Rocks Blue (honestly, who thinks up these names?) with pale ivory leather.
I'm now 300 miles in and rather enjoying it. I'm being gentle with it so far and obeying the running-in instructions in the manual which advise me not to exceed 93 MPH...
MPG so far is 44 - very respectable for a 300+ bhp car!
More news as the miles rack up.

UPDATE June 2019. Now has 30k miles. Still enjoying insane performance, dealer service (Sytner in Sheffield) has been good. Seat base gets a bit unforgiving on a particularly long run. Surprisingly practical - I've just moved two 6-foot tables in the car!

FINAL UPDATE January 2020. Gone with just over 40k miles as I now have another Lexus. I’ve enjoyed the car but there were a couple of niggles: the remote opening boot (a solution to a problem which didn’t exist) never worked on a morning when there’d been rain or (more forgivably) snow overnight. The doors were a sod to open when it was icy. Despite the level of kit there are no headlamp washers - and it needs them. Although it’s quite practical, up clipping and finding somewhere to stash the 2-part rear shelf is a bit tedious. Finally, though the dealer (Sytner Sheffield) has been great for service, the sales guys have been terrible at trying to sell me another.

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