Before I bought my 52 plate A4 3.0 cab in March, I looked at the BMW 3 series as a coupe and convertible, the Saab 9-3 Aero convertible, Volvo C70 (latest model), Peugeot 407 coupe, VW Golf GTI and R32 as well as the Eos. I was looking to spend up to £12k. All the cars I drove were autos as I wanted to use the car everyday and unfortunately spend a far amount of weekday driving stuck in traffic queues. A good auto will take all the hassle out of stop start traffic and still allow you to drive much more keenly when the opportunity arises.
I also needed full 4 seater as this is our main family car. This ruled out the BMW coupe, C70 and Eos as they didn't have enough space in the back plus the R32 boot is too small for our family use, (gutted as quite fancied one of these but the wife kept saying its only a Golf so we dropped the GTI as well). The BMW and A4 convertibles both have decent rear headroom due to their squarer roof shapes so are arguably more practical than most coupes. The 407 coupe is huge, inside and out.
The BMW convertibles were a 2002 and 2004, both were undeniably good to drive with excellent steering, a good ride and smooth engines but the 325Ci with an auto box is just a cruiser and has no grunt at all. The manual change function is pretty well useless too. The 330Ci was much better with some real pull although again the auto blunts the performance.
Although they looked great outside, the 3 series coupe and convertibles felt old and dated inside, plus the rear seat or boot space is still a bit tight for adults in the convertible, despite being better for headroom than the coupe. Also, both the beemer convertibles vibrated their windscreens so much that the rear view mirror was useless. The cars I looked at had done around 55k with FSH, small specialist dealers were asking £7.5k for the 02 and £13k for the 04, the beemers seem to be expensive compared with the alternatives.
The Saab 9-3 convertibles are good value at about £10k for an 06 model but feel cheap inside and are not very nice to drive, even in Aero form. I just found the whole interior very plasticky and the drive was really uninspiring. I've had 2 'old shape' 9-3s in the past and they were ok as company cars then but having had Audi and Mercs since then my expectations have been raised.
The Peugeot 407 coupe was also good value, with super specc'd 07 cars at £11k but again these felt more bling than class so I went back to the A4 cab. I drove a 2.5tdi and three petrol 3.0s, all with multitronics, because I've had two sport avants with multitronics before (an A6 1.8T and A4 2.5TDI) and liked both of them, (plus I'd had no problems having done over 75k in both).
The A4 cab looks and feels much more solid and modern than the competitors. It may not be quite as good to drive as the 3 series due to rather dead steering but the A4 does not make you think you're back in the 80s. True, the front tyres will let go fairly easily at low speeds but once you're over 40 the A4 will match an equivalent 3 series no bother as traction is not such an issue.
The 3.0 multitronic I bought had done just under 45k and had a FSH but no receipts or other history. It had just the spec I wanted though, (sport pack, bose, xenons with headlamp washers, RS6 18" wheels, heated seats, steering wheel gear buttons, cruise, folding auto dip mirrors), and was the cheapest car I saw at just over £8k. I've spent £900 since then adding a few more extras, tidying it up and ensuring all of the due service work was done, eg auto box & engine oil changes, and recharging the aircon.
The multitronic box / clutch is undoubtably a risk but I am a long time convert and still think it's one of the best autos around. The manual buttons give instant response and change the character of the car completely, from silky cruiser to charging monster. Even if you get a manual you still have the chance of a faulty dual mass flywheel or clutch so I don't think either choice is completely risk free.
The 3.0 has the same road tax and mpg as the 2.4 but is much faster so I can't see why anyone would want a 2.4. The 1.8T is just a bit dull and a diesel in a convertible sort of misses the point of hood down motoring.
I did a 160m run back from north wales a week or so ago alongside a TT RS, hood down all the way which was no problem with the OEM wind deflector I bought on ebay. I reckon it was more fun for me in the open air than it was for him and the TT RS couldn't get away from me in the road space available so I think my money has been well spent.
I get 27/28mpg as a weekly ave with 22mpg around town / gunning it and 32mpg on motorway cruising.
