Your fleet running reports

[MikeHunt]

I have been in 2 minds for some time, but I decided that the yaris, mx5 and z4 were 3 cars that tick the 'just go for a drive' box but dont tick the fit well into family life box, Id be better off with 1 or 2 cars that ticked one of those boxes more. I am also tempted to by the Emira and can't justify that and a Z4. So I sold the GR, almost sold the MX5 and have now traded in the Z4, more on its replacement later.

Here you go, no need to wait:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 1211882071

Let us know once you've taken delivery. Also, let me know when I can pop by and have a drive.

Thanks, but wrong wheels for me

Wow, £25k premium on an £80k car, guess there may be someone with more money than sense.

[mik]

Wow, £25k premium on an £80k car, guess there may be someone with more money than sense.

There are apparently some out there who will happily pay over the odds in many areas just to be the first to have thing.

Let us know when you’ve placed your order for one in your spec though.

[Sundayjumper]

First proper journey in the Clubman, going somewhere rather than pootling around at home, and it reckons it did 48mpg. Which ties in nicely to the discussion elsewhere about 50mpg It’s still running with the lambdas unplugged for now. It might eke out a little more when I get the new ones in and it can run closed loop again.

There seems to be a lot of road noise at motorway speed on anything other than perfect tarmac though. I’ll blame the mismatched, old, cheap tyres. I need to do something about that.

8C097CFF-A930-4183-A9FC-6A54DD79E3E3.jpeg (32.63 KiB) Viewed 985 times

[Sundayjumper]

O/t, do Clubmans have a fold flat passenger seat (standard or optional) for a longerer load bay?

They do not AFAIK, mine certainly don’t.

[MikeHunt]

I picked up the Z4s replacement yesterday and finding any excuse to go for a drive. It’s an upgrade to the Z4 in many ways, more discreet, more doors, more seats, more cylinders, more turbos and a lot more power.

[speedingfine]

I picked up the Z4s replacement yesterday and finding any excuse to go for a drive. It’s an upgrade to the Z4 in many ways, more discreet, more doors, more seats, more cylinders, more turbos and a lot more power.

If I haven't missed you actually tell us, is it an M5?

[Jobbo]

I picked up the Z4s replacement yesterday and finding any excuse to go for a drive. It’s an upgrade to the Z4 in many ways, more discreet, more doors, more seats, more cylinders, more turbos and a lot more power.

If I haven't missed you actually tell us, is it an M5?

Or an M3?

[DeskJockey]

Did he say it was a BMW? I can't remember seeing anything but a "new car incoming".

RS4/6/7/8? AMG x63?

[nuttinnew]

O/t, do Clubmans have a fold flat passenger seat (standard or optional) for a longerer load bay?

They do not AFAIK, mine certainly don’t.

Bah. Ta.

[MikeHunt]

Half a point to @speedingfine its a poor mans M5, M550i.

Its an ex BMW directors car, 6 months and 5000 miles old, with £18k worth of extras and has depreciated heavily from its £97k price tag. I was very close to a v12 760, but this car makes more sense in terms of ownership and drivability.

First impressions are that it is an absolute beast and a real step up from the z4. It has all the good things about the 7 series, with the exception of leg room in the rear, which is fine as my kids are no where near 6 foot tall. It’s virtually silent until quarter throttle, where suddenly a deep growl lets you know that you are speeding up, but it feels no where near as fast as the numbers on the Speedo suggest. I havent really pushed it enough to have a view on handling yet, but as you’d expect it feels similar to my previous 540i.

[Jobbo]

Really interested in how it compares to the 7-series in normal use.

[DeskJockey]

What are the options? ISTR evo (the magazine, have you heard of it? ) liked their long termer quite bit.

[mik]

@MikeHunt Nice so that is 520-odd bhp and all wheel drive?

[McSwede]

Looks fab. That's a great choice!

[MikeHunt]

@MikeHunt Nice so that is 520-odd bhp and all wheel drive?

Yes, well 530 in something that even ardent car nerds like me find it difficult to spot the differences between this and a cooking 520d.

[MikeHunt]

What are the options? ISTR evo (the magazine, have you heard of it? ) liked their long termer quite bit.

It includes all the option packs so literally fully loaded. Highlights are massage comfort seats, rear entertainment, self driving, upgraded suspension, sunroof, leather, headlining, laser lights, sunroof.

I reread last years evo fast fleet while counting down the days to collection.

[Matty]

You might be able to move drugs around quickly, but surely the MPG will eat into the profits?

Thats a beast...and something of a major change from the Z4

[speedingfine]

Very nice Mike, esp the colour combo!

[DeskJockey]

What are the options? ISTR evo (the magazine, have you heard of it? ) liked their long termer quite bit.

It includes all the option packs so literally fully loaded. Highlights are massage comfort seats, rear entertainment, self driving, upgraded suspension, sunroof, leather, headlining, laser lights, sunroof.

I reread last years evo fast fleet while counting down the days to collection.

Excellent!

[KiwiDave]

We've had a new fleet member arrive this week - the Mrs took delivery of a new Toyota Yaris Cross Limited Hybrid. Ordered back in April, along with a Corolla ZR Hybrid the Yaris has arrived first. Came with a free ebike in the boot as a 'sorry it took so long' gift which made me giggle.

Not sure what the deal is with Toyota in the UK, but in NZ they have a fixed price for all their cars at every dealer, essentially meaning no need to barter or strike a deal, but also no need to feel like you lost out by not being very good at it. They're the only company in NZ who do this and it's working well for them - biggest market share here. They also allow you to order the cars with a fully refundable deposit of $2k (approx 1000 GBP) which you can just ask for until it's ready to leave the factory. Pretty low risk way to order cars basically. We ordered the Yaris Cross and Corolla because the Mrs couldn't make up her mind which she wanted, and currently lightly used ones are going for same as new or slightly higher so we should be able to flip whichever one we don't want for minimal loss.

Car itself is really good, first month of deliveries where they've switched from a horrid brown interior on the top of the line model to a black soft touch interior. Car rides well, the hybrid system is brilliant and perhaps the only real downsides to it are the engine is a bit uncouth (3cyl) and she reckons it gets a bit mobile on back roads at speed - I haven't driven it in such circumstances yet, but I guess she means the damping isn't quite up to the job of keeping the body in check. So far though, great little runaround.