Well I've finally done it!! wipe your eyes!! your probably as shocked as me 
- Sold the S3 in favour of an estate! to carry my two dogs (Pyrenean mountain and retriever).
I've had my S3 for sale for a while before being offered a cash sale with a local dealer, only took a slight hit on it
- I was going to go for an A6 3.0Tdi avant after ruling out several estates, 2nd place was a Passat, 3rd was a 5 series (purely for the boot size) - the Mercs looked like old mans cars...
Anyway, as this is a kind of 'growing up' strategy, I had a certain budget in mind, which yes, i've broken it came down to a fully loaded Avant SE and this - the Avant did less to the gallon, was more on the tax and was a fair bit slower!! so i ventured to London to see this BMW 535D (twin turbo'd ) which was a few grand less than it should have been due to a complete iDrive failure - after getting down there i found the auto tailgate was screwed, it had one door proper dented, amongst quite a few other things - I'd done my homework though and so i chipped the poor kid another fair wack, based on the fact his car was a shed
So over this past two weeks I've spunked another 2.5k on it so far - seems it had the top six popular issues associated with 5 series bimmers, and now its running and almost fully working! can't tell you how releived i am!!
Options wise it has; Adaptive Xenons, Panoramic SR, Auto tailgate, Heated full front and rear sports seats (fully electric), Cruise, Bluetooth, Professional widescreen sat nav, Multi changer, exterior light pack, interior light pack (inc ambient), auto dimming rear view, auto dimming/heated/folding door mirrors, auto lights/wipers, 19" 6 series alloys, privacy glass, Tyre pressure monitor, GSM phone kit, pro climate controls and MF steering wheel. Prob missed something off.
Work carried out so far; FULL service (anything that can be changed, has been), new iDrive modules, Towing module, Sunroof mod and seal replace, Rear suspension auto level repair, auto tailgate module and slave strut, water drains cleared and modded, new rear tyre (275's!!), space saver bought, fitted Dension MP3, rewired boot to repair the boot hatch/diversity antenna/key fob operation, deflapped the inlet manifold, replaced vac pipes with silicone, replaced both thermostats, replaced boot light (added LED's), repaired boot cover release, shampoo'ed the interior, brief detail on the outside (no claying yet), removed front tints, replaced side repeaters, fitted new mates and boot mat, loads of stuff has had to be coded (even the battery!!) - I've defo missed a few bits, i'll prob remember later to say i've been busy is an understatement
To do; Rear seat heater switch, Rear supsension compressor replace (preventative), M sport front/rear bumper and shocks and a light module for my Halo's which aren't working - and mapping
All in all if i'd have bought it at the correct price, I'd have had to do a few of these jobs, therefore its worked out pretty well for me I'm still well under a grand, to what the cars worth.
What's it like to drive? very fast for a car weighing what must be almost 2 tons!! down side is if you want to race, i'll gladly have a play, just as long as you give my gearbox a split second to decide to get its **** in gear!! i hate autos once going though its a fantastic bit of kit - with better mpg than my S3 ) still miss my Audi's though and that S3 was easily the best car i've ever (wanted) to own.
After many years on the forum its time to say bye bye peeps, i'll keep nipping in every now and again to have a gorp of what i'm missing
Old...you will be missed
To the new...well.... olderrrr
BIIG tyres
Nice very deep dish rears
And enough space for band camp!!
and grass conditioner
Thanks to everyone for all their help over the years, this forum has been invaluable!! I've joined a couple of BM forums which have been very helpful - they just dont seem to have the community spirit (well at least i've not discovered it yet) that this place has - that's another reason i'll keep nipping back for a nosey
- Sold the S3 in favour of an estate! to carry my two dogs (Pyrenean mountain and retriever).I've had my S3 for sale for a while before being offered a cash sale with a local dealer, only took a slight hit on it
- I was going to go for an A6 3.0Tdi avant after ruling out several estates, 2nd place was a Passat, 3rd was a 5 series (purely for the boot size) - the Mercs looked like old mans cars... Anyway, as this is a kind of 'growing up' strategy, I had a certain budget in mind, which yes, i've broken
it came down to a fully loaded Avant SE and this - the Avant did less to the gallon, was more on the tax and was a fair bit slower!! so i ventured to London to see this BMW 535D (twin turbo'd ) which was a few grand less than it should have been due to a complete iDrive failure - after getting down there i found the auto tailgate was screwed, it had one door proper dented, amongst quite a few other things - I'd done my homework though and so i chipped the poor kid another fair wack, based on the fact his car was a shed So over this past two weeks I've spunked another 2.5k on it so far - seems it had the top six popular issues associated with 5 series bimmers, and now its running and almost fully working! can't tell you how releived i am!!
Options wise it has; Adaptive Xenons, Panoramic SR, Auto tailgate, Heated full front and rear sports seats (fully electric), Cruise, Bluetooth, Professional widescreen sat nav, Multi changer, exterior light pack, interior light pack (inc ambient), auto dimming rear view, auto dimming/heated/folding door mirrors, auto lights/wipers, 19" 6 series alloys, privacy glass, Tyre pressure monitor, GSM phone kit, pro climate controls and MF steering wheel. Prob missed something off.
Work carried out so far; FULL service (anything that can be changed, has been), new iDrive modules, Towing module, Sunroof mod and seal replace, Rear suspension auto level repair, auto tailgate module and slave strut, water drains cleared and modded, new rear tyre (275's!!), space saver bought, fitted Dension MP3, rewired boot to repair the boot hatch/diversity antenna/key fob operation, deflapped the inlet manifold, replaced vac pipes with silicone, replaced both thermostats, replaced boot light (added LED's), repaired boot cover release, shampoo'ed the interior, brief detail on the outside (no claying yet), removed front tints, replaced side repeaters, fitted new mates and boot mat, loads of stuff has had to be coded (even the battery!!) - I've defo missed a few bits, i'll prob remember later
to say i've been busy is an understatement To do; Rear seat heater switch, Rear supsension compressor replace (preventative), M sport front/rear bumper and shocks and a light module for my Halo's which aren't working - and mapping
All in all if i'd have bought it at the correct price, I'd have had to do a few of these jobs, therefore its worked out pretty well for me
I'm still well under a grand, to what the cars worth. What's it like to drive? very fast for a car weighing what must be almost 2 tons!! down side is if you want to race, i'll gladly have a play, just as long as you give my gearbox a split second to decide to get its **** in gear!!
i hate autos once going though its a fantastic bit of kit - with better mpg than my S3 ) still miss my Audi's though and that S3 was easily the best car i've ever (wanted) to own.After many years on the forum its time to say bye bye peeps, i'll keep nipping in every now and again to have a gorp of what i'm missing
Old...you will be missed
To the new...well.... olderrrr
BIIG tyres
Nice very deep dish rears
And enough space for band camp!!
and grass conditioner
Thanks to everyone for all their help over the years, this forum has been invaluable!! I've joined a couple of BM forums which have been very helpful - they just dont seem to have the community spirit (well at least i've not discovered it yet) that this place has - that's another reason i'll keep nipping back for a nosey
xx
