Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

the dsg with paddles is excellent. i'd like to drive a newer one - recon the cruise mode is a bit too cruisy and the racy mode is a bit savage for normal driving. i wouldn't get another manual in a normal car, unless i had to prove i was a car guy...

I'm tempted on one too, they seem great when they work. But then I read on vw-forums about people going through 3 gearboxes in less than 100000km's...

you can try mine, if you want

Appreciate the offer, but I'm in sweden :)

I'm a non turbo GX model.

Have done this already, I'll get an actual figure when I fill up next. (Probably this evening)

One of the reasons I want the Alpina B10 is the auto- seems a nice way thing to have with a big (for Euro) V8.

Phone numbers if that goes tho...

My cars never cost me money, it'll be fine.

Never buy a car with your head. That's how I ended up with a Porsche.

Admittedly, my head can have an odd notion of 'sensible'.

Might be worth a look....

http://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions.aspx

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I'm worried I'll end up there too. With a perfectly fine car but it's just meh to me.

Almost every modern car I sit in I just feel let down by the maker. In the Mercedes I see a car put together with love by people who knew what they were doing. In modern car I see the end result of a trend report and a fuckload of excel-sheets.

@Dammit - you were talking about wanting a brand new old car...

...literally could be pics from a catalog of the era.

Might be well off your radar, but I got the same W124-shaped sense of taking pride in designing and building a car in the Jaguar XE. I'd imagine the bigger (and older) XF might be worth a look.

That's pretty far off my radar :(

My life plan is a moderately priced sensible car for a while, then maybe a really nice w124 for the summers

Turns out I'm actually getting closer to 25mpg, I'll live with that for now.

I seem to remember getting around 22/23 mpg when I had a bug eye STi. I would have expected a bit more from a non turbo.

It seems like people aren't getting much more out of the non turbo model. Woulda gone turbo if insurance allowed.

Got any pics of your old one?

might have some; will have a look.

It was black with gold wheels - pure class!

This is normal for that sort of car, had a legacy 2.? Quad cam, the first generation one, about 1993. Wasn't quick but certainly more go then na impreza, bit never got more than 25mpg.
Later had a Base spec 2.0 2007/8 legacy and was the same but much much slower,I mean hilariously slow, still drove confidently and nimble enough. Hated how much the transition tunnel took from the drivers footwell though, clutch was almost wearing a hole in the carpet without space for my left foot. Guess not an issue in lhd form though

My Forester is pretty thirsty.

Mine too.

*Crosses Forester off the list*

What year you got?
Turbo?

I understand your dilemma. When I moved back to Aus we needed a sensible family car.

Bought a 2011 Audi A3 1.8 TFSI. 7 speed DSG is all good (it's the 6 speed ones that go). shifts well, cruises well. pop it into sport mode and it'll redline every gear with chirpies. The paddles respond instantly too. The 1.8 turbo is quite robust... oil use is highish and fuel usage is high if you boot it everywhere but very economical if you don't. Handling is good but it's numb. Anyway, VAG products of that era seem OK. BUT - here's the thing - I'm pretty bored driving the car and while it's "nice" I still spend every night trawling carsales.com and probably will buy a cheap fun car.

On the plus side the interior is great, still feels new and is designed well and the cars paint is fantastic, never seen such well finished paint on a factory car!

So buy an e39 530i...