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

Picked up the 530. It feels fit as a fiddle, no shimmy at speed (common on these apparently), air con freezes my hands, the auto box is undetectable most of the time and manual mode shifts fast. Well chuffed with it so far. Took it directly to its spiritual home.

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Peak bmw design

Does anyone on here have any experience of the BMW X3. It’s ticking a lot of boxes and they seem very reasonable price wise

My dad has the M40d.

He loves it. Driven it quite a bit and it’s quick, quiet and got plenty of decent tech.

I like them.

Great looking car! How does the engine compare to the n52 one?

Difficult to say because it’s auto but seems more of an even power distribution - a bit more pull low down, less apeshit above 5000rpm. It makes me drive it much more nicely than the 130, sounds pretty different too, still purposeful but quieter, I’m not sure the 1 doesn’t have the sports silencer though. They make a great pair.

Speaking of the 130 I gave it a spirited outing earlier this week, then when I stopped I could see a bit of smoke coming from the scuttle. No lights came on, I drove it home gently, just thought the breather had spat some oil about. Next day as soon as I started the car I got covered in ash from the vents. I went to have a look under the bonnet and the fucking latch is stuck. There’s tension on the cable but no pop. I’ve done YouTube video things but no luck. So many layers of fun to be had.

Such a great looking car. As skinny says, peak BMW .... I'd go further and say the E39 could define the sedan/wagon format in the automotive dictionary.

This looks great. Nice purchase!

I’m already thinking about a V8 E39 at some point next year, as I suspect I’ll miss the format.

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22 autos and 5 manual 540i Sport Touring left on the road right now. One of which was recently for sale just round the corner from me in Kettering which was next on the list if this one fell through. Once owned by someone from Keane according to the blurb, so I was prepared to go above the asking price.

That takes me waaaaaay back...

Very cool, and rare as rocking horse shit, wiki says only about 200 made.

And another corker from Rover's 1970's fell out the back of an animal colour range.

One for you

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That is superb!

Back in NI for the first time in 20 months so have a hire car (the only time I get one). Booked a manual Astra (or similar) but chanced my arm at the desk and asked if they had any automatics. Gave me a Toyota CH-V for no extra charge (autos were for some reason twice the price when I was booking). First time driving a hybrid, I really want one. Although I say that about every hire car, as it's the only time I drive something less than 10 years old.

Toyota CH-V

MiL has one and we have had them as hire cars. They are pretty good but the back seat is really dark and dreary. A bit like being in a pillbox and with similar visibility.

Yeah, ms_com was moaning about the size of the rear windows (she sits back there with the wein). But, I don't have to sit back there, and I do the driving so...

Also most hearing aid biege.

Looks like the air cleaner is in the back along with the rear seat.

Anyone want an Xtype update?

Oil leak is from the oil filter housing o ring out of place so poped to GSF for a oil filter. Twat in a BMW scraped the rear bumper and drove off. Reg plate doesn't match the car. Blue BMW but not the right series.

We've got friends with one of them. We were giving them a lot of baby stuff as one of the friends is pregnant, and they were really struggling with stuff that we'd fit easily into our Auris estate boot. I think they look good but might not be too practical.

An Auris or Corolla estate is hugely dull but I've done about 3,000 miles in ours in a short space of time and I can't fault it. Apart from my dad also has an Auris and his wheels are a lot nicer than mine.

Aye, the boot is tiny. Our suitcase filled it but was lost in the C-Max. I'm more enamoured by the newness and hybridness of it than this specific model.

So nice, I'll probably never own one but I do love them... Think I'll run the nonnamobile into the ground then get something electric...

This is probably what I'd go for. Looks like a good combination of fun + hybrid + Toyota reliability.

If I had £30k.

That is lovely, what year is it? Any idea if they ever came fitted with a sunroof?