Your fleet running reports

[Jobbo]

Weirdly the bolsters were a bit wide and even bringing them in didn’t improve the overall impression. Comfort seats in an X5 are a ridiculously large step up in comfort.

[Sundayjumper]

Old BMWs - I had sport seats in my E36s, E39, E46 and E53 and found them all of them very comfy. I had comfort seats in my E38 and found them even more comfy.

Newer BMWs - I had sport seats in my F10 and found them uncomfortable for anything over ~an hour. Not enough lumbar support and the headrests project far too far forwards. I would go so far as to say I would not buy another F10 with those seats. I had comfort seats in my F01 and they were lovely.

I occasionally browse the ads for an F11 535d with nappa comfort seats. It seems to be a very rare spec.

[Jobbo]

I occasionally browse the ads for an F11 535d with nappa comfort seats. It seems to be a very rare spec.

I keep looking for a G11 530d xDrive Touring with nappa comfort seats. The thing is, the few I see are always on big wheels and without adaptive suspension so would have too firm a ride. So I can't see myself getting anything but an E400d estate next time with air suspension. Merc seats may not come in as many different flavours as BMW seats but they do seem to just fit; my CLS seats were excellent even without upgraded leather.

[Rich B]

I occasionally browse the ads for an F11 535d with nappa comfort seats. It seems to be a very rare spec.

I keep looking for a G11 530d xDrive Touring with nappa comfort seats. The thing is, the few I see are always on big wheels and without adaptive suspension so would have too firm a ride. So I can't see myself getting anything but an E400d estate next time with air suspension. Merc seats may not come in as many different flavours as BMW seats but they do seem to just fit; my CLS seats were excellent even without upgraded leather.

maybe get your piles looked at, then you might have more choice?

[Jobbo]

Audi one year report - didn't realise I'd collected it on 17 August 2021 until I looked back last night. Had it serviced yesterday; good value for the basic service since it was included in the price of the last service I paid for in November (about £500 then from memory, and I paid £600 this time for the extras: brake fluid, air-con service, gearbox oil change and fuel filter).

Seems not to be wearing its tyres quickly; the fronts are down to just over 5mm and the rears to just over 6mm. This is the third set of wheels the car has worn in my ownership (I took the original 20"s off for 18"s to have more sidewall and comfort, then swapped the 18"s with winters for a set of 18"s with summers. These have done about 12,000 miles. I remember getting well under 20k from the front set on my previous A6.

Fuel economy has improved since I started using E mode - the only apparent differences are that the gearbox changes up sooner, is more reluctant to kick down and coasting mode is enabled, and the accelerator needs to be pressed harder. Whatever, it's giving me over 45mpg from every tank according to the display, as opposed to between 40-43mpg previously. I also enjoy the coasting function; you can go back to normal engine braking by tapping the accelerator pedal.

Having done 28,600 miles in 12 months I can't see myself changing it any time soon. I really liked my last Allroad and this one has similarly got under my skin, despite me driving it quite differently (the last one I drove like I stole it much of the time, this one I sit economically on the motorway). The only things I'd change are the body coloured bumpers and arches (the grey ones look more Allroady) and it would be nice if the dash and door tops were covered in leather. In 2016 my previous A6 felt luxurious compared to the F11 5-series but now after a Merc CLS it feels a bit spartan.

[Jobbo]

I occasionally browse the ads for an F11 535d with nappa comfort seats. It seems to be a very rare spec.

I keep looking for a G11 530d xDrive Touring with nappa comfort seats. The thing is, the few I see are always on big wheels and without adaptive suspension so would have too firm a ride. So I can't see myself getting anything but an E400d estate next time with air suspension. Merc seats may not come in as many different flavours as BMW seats but they do seem to just fit; my CLS seats were excellent even without upgraded leather.

maybe get your piles looked at, then you might have more choice?

Unwarranted and bizarre, thanks Rich. Go and bait Broccers.

[integrale_evo]

Sub and amp finally fitted in the compact to fully relive being a boy racer

Decided the Blaupunkt stereo is actually shite. Yeah it looks lovely and oem, but feels cheap, can be slow and unresponsive, occasionally hangs and needs a full reset then you have to go through the slow painful process of reprogramming in the dab stations.

No illumination customisation, limited options for sound tuning, and lots of noise through the pre-out when changing source, reading a certain etc. Feels like a £50 unit they charge £200 for just because it looks nice.

Has definitely put me off buying a more expensive Bremen sqr for the e30.

Unfortunately it does look nice so I’m reluctant to swap it for anything different

[Sundayjumper]

I expect I suggested it originally, because I am that predictable, but you need a Becker. I know you won't get DAB but the whole build & feel is far more in keeping with the car.

[integrale_evo]

Yeah, I expect I will revise the setup at some point.

The daft thing is it was about the only option I could find with both DAB and CD which didn’t look awful. Even more daft is that most of the dab stations I listen to play the exact same music I have on cd / on my phone anyway, and are also broadcast at terrible quality

[Sundayjumper]

Ah yes, good point. I seem to remember some DAB stations don't even broadcast in stereo. I once bought a portable DAB radio to use with headphones at work. Mono on headphones felt horrible & weird.

[integrale_evo]

Yep, the stations I listen to in the shed or kitchen on little single speaker portables sound awful in the car

[Sundayjumper]

Cayenne - lightweight cover purchased. We have a large willow tree in the front garden and the leaves get EVERYWHERE. It also seems to deposit a lot of fine dust on the cars. And pigeons sit up there a lot and, err, make a lot of deposits of their own. So although I’m not precious about the car, I’ve got fed up of it getting filthy all the time. £75 delivered and seems a reasonable fit.

BB665660-34EC-4D5F-A7E4-106D5476BD20.jpeg (138.81 KiB) Viewed 1166 times

Vantage - repaired rear light has been promised for this weekend. That plus an MOT and I’ll be able to drive it again. Yay.

Clubman - utterly tearing my hair out trying to get cruise control to work. Fundamentally the same issue as coding the Vito - there’s lots of info out there but it’s not consistent and because it’s all done on dodgy hacked software there’s multiple different versions and you have to keep trying different ones until you get lucky.

[Rich B]

M2 had its first MoT today. Obviously as it's basically as new and only done 10k miles, no issues.

[Jimexpl]

Sub and amp finally fitted in the compact to fully relive being a boy racer

Decided the Blaupunkt stereo is actually shite. Yeah it looks lovely and oem, but feels cheap, can be slow and unresponsive, occasionally hangs and needs a full reset then you have to go through the slow painful process of reprogramming in the dab stations.

No illumination customisation, limited options for sound tuning, and lots of noise through the pre-out when changing source, reading a certain etc. Feels like a £50 unit they charge £200 for just because it looks nice.

Has definitely put me off buying a more expensive Bremen sqr for the e30.

Unfortunately it does look nice so I’m reluctant to swap it for anything different

One day when I finally start using my mini again I'm going to chuck the head unit and just connect a bluetooth reciever to the genesis amplifier as none of the retro solutions are as good as they initially appear.

[Broccers]

I keep looking for a G11 530d xDrive Touring with nappa comfort seats. The thing is, the few I see are always on big wheels and without adaptive suspension so would have too firm a ride. So I can't see myself getting anything but an E400d estate next time with air suspension. Merc seats may not come in as many different flavours as BMW seats but they do seem to just fit; my CLS seats were excellent even without upgraded leather.

maybe get your piles looked at, then you might have more choice?

Unwarranted and bizarre, thanks Rich. Go and bait Broccers.

Can't you cope Jobbo?

[Sundayjumper]

Lad. Meds. Crypto.

[Broccers]

Lad. Meds. Crypto.

You're learning.

[Matty]

Cayenne - lightweight cover purchased. We have a large willow tree in the front garden and the leaves get EVERYWHERE. It also seems to deposit a lot of fine dust on the cars. And pigeons sit up there a lot and, err, make a lot of deposits of their own. So although I’m not precious about the car, I’ve got fed up of it getting filthy all the time. £75 delivered and seems a reasonable fit.

Hmm....not sure that's snug enough to me. If it gets dirty under there, a stiff breeze is going to go to town on that paintwork.

I remember going to Paul Matty Sportscars while looking at an Exige; they showed me another they had in the shop that had been kept outdoors under a "cover" and the paintwork was fucked. Looked like someone had gone to town on it with a sander. Since then I've never even considered one....would rather just keep cleaning it.

[integrale_evo]

I would imagine Porsche paint is probably tougher than lotus paint and any minor marring from a cover might be less bad than from bird poop sitting on it.

[Jobbo]

maybe get your piles looked at, then you might have more choice?

Unwarranted and bizarre, thanks Rich. Go and bait Broccers.

Can't you cope Jobbo?

Triggered?