Leaderboard

Morning Carole Welcome to the Forum We started our Volvo period in the early 80's when I had a business it began with a Volvo 760 Estate room for the dogs at weekends and great Motorway car that was followed by a 960 Estate then in the 90's 850 T5 850R V70 T5's and V70 T6 all petrol gave reasonable economy loads of go and very reliable. Late 90's I moved to Mercedes owned 2 AMG E55 Estates and an AMG CLS 63 Then 2002 after selling our Horse Lorry (wife is a rider still) I brought my first BMW X5 E53 4.4V8 to tow a Horse Box and be a reliable everyday car for Business and Pleasure that was followed by an X5 E53 4.6 V8 and the current daily drive is an X5 E70 3.0d brought with 48k on the clock currently at 135k During the early 2000's many Manufacturers were selling Extended service periods as the norm often 30k+ which I have never agreed with. BMW at one point were even telling buyers that the Gearbox was "Sealed for Life" that translated as around 3 years/60k miles end of Warranty responsibility. Mid 2000's there were a whole rash of failures Gearbox, timing chain (mainly 4 cylinder models) which in my opinion were caused by the extended service periods. I have always serviced my own cars every 5k engine oil and filters 80/100k Gearbox and Diffs as my cars are outside Warranty the Dealer never sees my £££ 🤣 As said I have X5 due to its (a) 4x4 (b) Towing ability (c ) Space inside for people and Dogs (d) reliability and reasonable running cost and oh performance (I love a car with some go) BMW produce probably the best straight six engine in the world great power and reliability in either Petrol/Diesel flavours they will mainly have a ZF automatic attached ( serviced properly tough as old boots) M sport models will probably have paddle shift as well (but check specs) Depending on your space requirement a 330i or 330d with a good trim level is a great car comfortable quick and quiet a 330i should give high 20's around town 40+ on a run 330d early 30's around town 50 on a run. Check general condition and tyre wear plus evidence of regular servicing (receipts invoices etc) Suspension bushes need checking if there is signs of odd tyre wear Hope this Helps Good Luck with the Hunt Dave