Reply With QuoteWhat a lovely old building that is, Steve. Presumably apartments?Originally Posted by Red Steve
Any one of these 3 but the Fiat is great fun.
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Any one of these 3 but the Fiat is great fun.
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No Tony...one house in the Cotswolds near Cheltenham. Sadly just staying for the week cat sitting.
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Thoughts on the formentor?
Purely circumstantial but my new company car is a Cupra Formentor PHEV which will happily swallow up a family of four plus luggage. Which in turn means we’ve been able to downsize the wife’s car from an SUV to a hatchback.
So, out with the XC60 R-Design Pro and in with the BMW 128ti. My first hot hatch, picked it up last weekend from BMW Romford as an approved used and so far really enjoying it.
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Pros: Lower BIK than the previous company car, big enough to downsize the XC60, 34mi battery range is enough for most local running around, some nice toys in the base spec (heated steering wheel, huge screen for CarPlay)
Cons: pretty much everything else? On the kind of round trips I usually do (>200mi) the hybrid system seems completely unintelligent - it doesn’t manage the battery well and the MPG gets completely hammered if you try to regen from the engine. The system doesn’t allow you to charge at anything greater than 7kw, so I couldn’t make a short pit stop for a full charge if I wanted to without exceeding the free parking period. The ride is a bit harsh, and there’s a drone at 70mph on the motorway which slowly eats away at your soul. Oh and the app is pretty naff too.
Dynamically, the car is fine to drive and there’s decent steering response but my summary so far - it’s just like driving a really big Golf (citation - wifey used to have a Mk7.5 TSI EVO Golf). If your round trips average less than 200mi and there’s charging available at both ends then great, unfortunately not always the case for the customers I’m visiting where the EV charging is only located in the directors’ parking spots!
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Cat and house are gorgeous, but the house certainly has impact.No Tony...one house in the Cotswolds near Cheltenham. Sadly just staying for the week cat sitting.
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Wanted to try one of these GP2’s for a while & finally found one I was happy with.
Picked it up this morning & had an enjoyable cross country drive home in it.
Had every generation of JCW, but never the GP - think this generation of mini was the best looking of the new ones.
Missed the SC whine, but the interior quality and overall feel made up for it so much.
Am sure you will enjoy it tremendously; love the way they make you drive, engine on, sports mode on, and be 17 all over again!
Loving your clean Indian sandstone!Wanted to try one of these GP2’s for a while & finally found one I was happy with.
Picked it up this morning & had an enjoyable cross country drive home in it.
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Wanted to try one of these GP2’s for a while & finally found one I was happy with.
Picked it up this morning & had an enjoyable cross country drive home in it.
Lovely car - but looks like it needs bigger wheels (even though they're probably 18" rims!)
I do like a mini. I bet this is good fun on the backroadsWanted to try one of these GP2’s for a while & finally found one I was happy with.
Picked it up this morning & had an enjoyable cross country drive home in it.
The Alpine at a very wet Cadwell Park last October
I don’t know whether it’s the colour, or the ‘carved from a pebble’ shape of it, but I absolutely love that Alpine!The Alpine at a very wet Cadwell Park last October
The colour does pop, for sure!
Lovely car and that colour really suits it.
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When you look at the specs and what else is available for the money, it’s easy to question why anyone would buy one.The Alpine at a very wet Cadwell Park last October
When you see them in the flesh however, like the Alfa 4c, it becomes obvious.
Lovely motor and colour and must be awesome round a circuit, although you car drivers should leave Caldwell for the bikes!
Where would you go for £52k out of interest, I can’t get to anything comparable in my mind.
Always fancied an Alfa 4C until I drove a friends. Beautiful to look at mind.
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It's when you drive one you realise why you'd have one. I've had quite a few Porsche over the years and am a big fan but the little Alpine is so much more fun and it's significantly lower weight really makes a difference. It's not without it's flaws, after all it is French, but I do really like it. And it is great around Cadwell (and Oulton, Anglesey, Spa...)!
Gratuitous pic from Spa back in July
I haven't driven a 4C so can't comment from experience, but the guy that looks after my Elises reckoned they were very poor borderline dangerous out of the factory, but very good once they'd been 'fixed'.
Amazing they need such a fix!
Are there any nuances on the Alpine that make you wonder what they were thinking? I loved the 4C having a manual luggage strut vs gas dampers; what on earth were they thinking with that, weight loss gone too far!
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The bucket seat needs a hex key to adjust the height, so you need to get the 'comfort' seats if you want to switch between drivers of different heights. No interior storage to speak of, although most people find solutions to that. Aside from that, not really much else - it's very different to anything else you might reasonably consider to be rivals due to that big difference in weight. 1100kg vs 1330kg-ish for a Cayman for example. Happy to take you out if you're local (Edit, just noticed your location - I'm in Cheshire but the offer still stands)
Wife & I are the same height, so that wouldn't be an issue, but never realised that.
I do love an electric seat and memory though, mainly as like to make little tweaks depending on my mood - the one thing I wish I had in mine....especially when the 7ft mechanic has adjusted every setting and the steering wheel when servicing!
Cheshire is a little far, used to live in Buckley many a moon ago which would have been perfect.
How is it for rattles, been in a few Elises over the years but couldn't get on with the rattles / resonance the interior seems to have?
Looks a very special place to slide behind the wheel. Z4M was never 'interesting' to get into, but the engine was still one of the most special things for me, miss it still.
It's pretty good in terms of rattles etc. I do have one at the moment I'm trying to track down but it is only the one (18 months in). I also have an S1 Elise and although the architecture of the tub is similar it's far more civilised as you'd expect. The problem Alpine have is getting people behind the wheel - the vast majority of people that drive it, love it.
Mine is the basic version which has the bucket seats. The GT version (was the Legende) has leather electrically adjustable and heated seats which are very nice but flatter and not as 'buckety'. Personal preference as to which suits you best really. I'd certainly recommend an extended test-drive if you're interested in one
I’ve been playing with the configurator online, I do think the entry version is where I’d end up as a toy car, I don’t use my daily often enough as wfh & the Smart car is our default go-anywhere machine, wish I’d got the Brabus tbh as never realised how much we would love it.
Was at Northway last week getting a part & chatting with the team there. All the new porches since the new filter requirements are just lacking exhaust noise, even the father in laws brand new 911 GTS, there just nothing there vs the older ones. Yes, they can be changed / modded, but I want a car to sound good out of the box.
Alpine sounds good as standard, but wonder how they managed to achieve this within the current requirements. I can only assume the ones I heard were pre 2020 and private plates.
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I could look at them all day, stunningly beautiful cars.
I only hope we start to get EVs looking like that soon.
Christ, I’d have the original Tesla Roadster over any of the EVs currently available!
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Externally, totally agree. Shame the interior doesn’t match.
The antidote to posh cars, and the old girl lives on for another year as she has just passed her 20th MOT at Mr Clutch.
23 years old and in the family since new - it was given to us 16 years ago when my wife’s granny died.
A 3 month slog to get it certified as ULEZ compliant, I have my skip on wheels for another year and more importantly a cheap banger for the kids to learn to drive in this/next year.
Barely Alfas. Until you’ve had a 105 you’re not really in the club.
JesusThe antidote to posh cars, and the old girl lives on for another year as she has just passed her 20th MOT at Mr Clutch.
23 years old and in the family since new - it was given to us 16 years ago when my wife’s granny died.
A 3 month slog to get it certified as ULEZ compliant, I have my skip on wheels for another year and more importantly a cheap banger for the kids to learn to drive in this/next year.
Nah, more like the car for the Pope if I added a glass viewing area to the top.
My in-laws had an Agila of that vintage, and through borrowing it a few times I developed a grudging admiration for it. A proper TARDIS,
BMW 330E M Sport Pro but my real love is my Alfa Romeo Brera Prodrive, looking to add a 997 to the stables for my 60th next year
IMG_9229 by Franksie19, on Flickr
Sold this nearly 5 months ago, and the 80 year old guy who bought it travelled the 450 miles from near St Andrews to Kingston to buy it. He is a massive Volvo enthusiast and has a 1960s Amazon.Out with this old girl. I will miss her when she goes as I have driven her since delivery mileage and been a family fixture throughout the kids growing up.
Anyway he sent me an email today. My old car at a Volvo Scotland meet up at Glencoe.
Just taken delivery of my new Audi e-Tron GT, superb car!
MUCH better than the Tesla it has replaced, a proper car if you will, I won't miss Elon Musk's shit build quality!
He aged quickly, he was only 75 when you sold it to him.Sold this nearly 5 months ago, and the 80 year old guy who bought it travelled the 450 miles from near St Andrews to Kingston to buy it. He is a massive Volvo enthusiast and has a 1960s Amazon.
Anyway he sent me an email today. My old car at a Volvo Scotland meet up at Glencoe.
That’s what buying a Volvo estate does to you.
That wrote itself!
That in my opinion is the best looking ev on the market.
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It is lovely looking, I looked at the Taycan (same car essentially) but went with this as I think it looks better.
Range isn’t as good as the Tesla but I don’t do long journeys, and it’s super fast!
Since my son kindly crashed my mx5
I've been looking for a suitable replacement and here it is...
3.0i manual
Definitely quicker than the mx5
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How much money did you give your son for your cunning plan?Since my son kindly crashed my mx5
I've been looking for a suitable replacement and here it is...
3.0i manual
Definitely quicker than the mx5
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'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I can't tell him but he actually did me a favour
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That's a looker!Since my son kindly crashed my mx5
I've been looking for a suitable replacement and here it is...
3.0i manual
Definitely quicker than the mx5
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Had the 2.5 version many years back and then got a Z4M coupe - both the mark one roadster and coupe still look lovely looking motors. Congratulations!
Nice, we have been a Z4 household; E85 2.5si for the wife, 3.0si couple for me (same car twice as bought it back from the person I sold it to), then the E89 3.0 for the wife and a Z4M for me that then became a weekend toy.Since my son kindly crashed my mx5
I've been looking for a suitable replacement and here it is...
3.0i manual
Definitely quicker than the mx5
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Cannot recall if you have the resonance pipe on that, or if it only came in on the facelift, but if so try removing it and hearing full ok induction roar. Was only on 3.0 cars but it’s mentally loud.
The Z4 forum was / is a great place for resources and members who will help move the motor to a more sensible place for a small price.
An amazing car, Bangle got abuse in his time but this gets better with age. Always a car I looked back at after parking it up. Every single time.
Edit to add, show us the interior, I still love them.
Thanks everyone, its surprising how many people love the z4
I'm fully down the z4 rabbit hole and searching forums etc
The sound resonance thing looks interesting and I'm all for free mods.
Car was really unloved and dirty but I thought there was a decent car hiding underneath.
I quite like tinkering so im glad its not perfect.
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I have a couple of rubbish interior photos but here we go
Cabin is nice and basic, no screens just buttons... perfect for me
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I have a couple of rubbish interior photos but here we go
Cabin is nice and basic, no screens just buttons... perfect for me
Sent from my SM-G960F using TapatalkI have a couple of rubbish interior photos but here we go
Cabin is nice and basic, no screens just buttons... perfect for me
Sent from my SM-G960F using TapatalkI had the sat nav, really dated it tbh. But the Intravee addition for a phone connection made it worth it.I have a couple of rubbish interior photos but here we go
Cabin is nice and basic, no screens just buttons... perfect for me
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It’s a great place to be. Couple of mods I loved were an F10 gear stick (much lower M5 US only, dealer will doubt it exists) and very easy to do. Put it in second, pull upwards but not directly at your face lol.
Then the sports seats if you can, they’re amazing.
The forum is a wealth of knowledge. I bought lunch for some surrey members who fitted my dash cam and intravee. Happy times.
From memory the wheel is thicker on si cars, but Royals are great for a re-trim.
Last edited by Mj2k; 13th November 2023 at 19:45.
My wife got a Z3 not long after they came out, then got a Z4 when they were launched, both wonderful roadsters with straight 6 engines that sounded and went great!
Back in time a little from me…..
This is now back on the road after a great deal of recommissioning. Still lots to do but a fresh mot last week with no advisories ( yes I know it doesn’t need one )
TC21/100 1955.
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