Your fleet running reports

[Rich B]

You guys - never realised heated mirrors were such an issue

in Dubai....

[Jobbo]

Maybe it's just bmws that are ( or were ) always on. E30, all the e36s and e46 the heating element is active as soon as there is power to move them, i.e. Ignition on. Quite handy if it's cold / damp / drizzly.

The BMW ones just come on when the outside temp is 3C or below, don't they? Not all the time when the ignition is on.

VW/Audi have a mirror adjustment knob where you can turn it to the heating element, so that's pretty bloody obvious:


Volvo have nothing to tell you how to turn on the heated mirrors. I finally discovered today that they come on with the heated rear window - 10 mins into my journey I noticed the mirrors were fogged up, so I stuck just the heated rear screen on and they demisted almost immediately. They're really slow to demist when it's cold enough for me to put all the demisters on, so I was never sure if they came on themselves, with the front screen or with the rear screen, or whether they even worked properly

[NotoriousREV]

Had a letter to remind me that the Golf goes back at the end of September and imploring me to go and visit my dealer NOW to organise a replacement.

I really don't know what to replace it with. It's been brilliant on a technical level: it's brilliant to drive fast, I love the tech on it, it works well on my commute with the active cruise control, it's a great family car (perhaps a tad too small for us now). I don't really like having the same car twice, and whilst it's brilliant on so many levels, I'm not sure I really get that real pride of "ownership" from it i.e. I don't look back at it when I park it up somewhere, probably because it's a grey Golf estate. I'm also having one of my "ditch Ocean Finance" kicks at the moment and trying to reduce the monthly outgoings on crap, and I class paying interest as crap these days.

So, do I replace like for like (assuming i can get a similar deal), get something different on a similar priced lease, buy something for cash for around £10k, or do something stupid like finance a 997 or Chevy Camaro? Watch this space.

[JLv3.0]

You guys - never realised heated mirrors were such an issue

in Dubai....

I had anticipated such a response - I was driving in -7C as recently as yesterday, same as earlier in the year. Two different rental cars and the heated-or-otherwise mirrors did not trip me up. As per normal, I'm probably just better at stuff than you lot.

edit - I do have to confirm that the Ford heated front screen remains one of THE true gems of all things motoring.

[Jobbo]

Had a letter to remind me that the Golf goes back at the end of September and imploring me to go and visit my dealer NOW to organise a replacement.

I really don't know what to replace it with. It's been brilliant on a technical level: it's brilliant to drive fast, I love the tech on it, it works well on my commute with the active cruise control, it's a great family car (perhaps a tad too small for us now). I don't really like having the same car twice, and whilst it's brilliant on so many levels, I'm not sure I really get that real pride of "ownership" from it i.e. I don't look back at it when I park it up somewhere, probably because it's a grey Golf estate. I'm also having one of my "ditch Ocean Finance" kicks at the moment and trying to reduce the monthly outgoings on crap, and I class paying interest as crap these days.

So, do I replace like for like (assuming i can get a similar deal), get something different on a similar priced lease, buy something for cash for around £10k, or do something stupid like finance a 997 or Chevy Camaro? Watch this space.

Your lease is pretty cheap isn't it? There has been a real dearth of similarly cheap deals recently; the best bargain, just last week, was 18 months (1+17) in a Volvo V90 Cross Country T5 for £272/month and no other fees. That deal has just expired and it's now much closer to £400 a month. And 18 months is really too short anyway.

The only real alternative for low-cost motoring is to buy something which won't depreciate. Good luck with that!

[NotoriousREV]

Had a letter to remind me that the Golf goes back at the end of September and imploring me to go and visit my dealer NOW to organise a replacement.

I really don't know what to replace it with. It's been brilliant on a technical level: it's brilliant to drive fast, I love the tech on it, it works well on my commute with the active cruise control, it's a great family car (perhaps a tad too small for us now). I don't really like having the same car twice, and whilst it's brilliant on so many levels, I'm not sure I really get that real pride of "ownership" from it i.e. I don't look back at it when I park it up somewhere, probably because it's a grey Golf estate. I'm also having one of my "ditch Ocean Finance" kicks at the moment and trying to reduce the monthly outgoings on crap, and I class paying interest as crap these days.

So, do I replace like for like (assuming i can get a similar deal), get something different on a similar priced lease, buy something for cash for around £10k, or do something stupid like finance a 997 or Chevy Camaro? Watch this space.

Your lease is pretty cheap isn't it? There has been a real dearth of similarly cheap deals recently; the best bargain, just last week, was 18 months (1+17) in a Volvo V90 Cross Country T5 for £272/month and no other fees. That deal has just expired and it's now much closer to £400 a month. And 18 months is really too short anyway.

The only real alternative for low-cost motoring is to buy something which won't depreciate. Good luck with that!

I'm thinking about importing a Toyota Crown Athlete V Estate from Japan. They're about £6k landed and come with a 1JZ turbo engine. It'll probably not depreciate, but it won't have a queue of buyers either

[JLv3.0]

What was the Stagea like from an ownership perspective? Lose much money on it, issues running it and so on? Can't remember.

[NotoriousREV]

Having said all that, given the low car miles I'm doing whilst using the bike most of the time, I might just find a nice 996 C4S, I reckon that'd be a decent non-depreciator. They've gone up about £7k since I last looked at them a couple of years back.

[NotoriousREV]

What was the Stagea like from an ownership perspective? Lose much money on it, issues running it and so on? Can't remember.

It was pretty good. I really liked it, and MrsREV loved it for some odd reason. It was reliable and parts were easy to come by as they were ubiquitous parts shared across ranges for the most part. It just wasn't quite quick enough to satisfy me. I like boost, it turns out.

[JLv3.0]

Yeah that's fair enough - tbh seeing how much oddball JDM tackle appeals to you (and me), the Crown might not be the worst idea!

[Rich B]

Similar issues, but from the other side.

I’m still undecided on my M3, but anything else that interests me is too much money. I still love the M3 but it doesn’t really suit my list of needs very well.

Need list:

- rear doors - having the baby seat in the front makes it a ball ache to have anyone else in the car. It would be way easier to just have it in the back and load up from the back door.

- insurance friendly - if I can get my wife on the insurance then it means we can swap cars - then I have an economical estate whenever I want it.

- better mpg would be nice as I do a fair amount of miles now.

- most importantly, must still be fast.

The only thing that really works for this list is the standard issue Golf R or M135i, but I don’t really want to spend any more than I’d get for my M3 (c. £15k) and that’s pretty much bottom of the market for a Golf R and I don’t like having anything other than the top model in the range.

[JLv3.0]

just have it in the back and load up from the back door.

You will also do well in prison.

I bet a few of us are in similar positions (car-wise) - owning best-of-breeds and having no idea what to replace it with. I've given up on even thinking about what to replace the Toyota and Audi with.

[NotoriousREV]

Rich, I have the problem that MrsREV has her 4 series convertible so it means I have to have the practical car. I really want a 911, but it would mean a lot of compromise in terms of stuff we do at the weekends etc.

If BMW had built an M3 Touring, this wouldn't be a discussion. For some reason, I'm not really drawn to the RS4/RS6 Avants. Can't explain it, but they don't tickle my pickle. Whereas the idea of a chipped and pullied S4 Avant (the supercharged V6 version) has a bit of appeal.

[JLv3.0]

If BMW had built an M3 Touring

To this day I have no idea why they didn't do this. They wouldn't be able to build them fast enough.

[Beany]

edit - I do have to confirm that the Ford heated front screen remains one of THE true gems of all things motoring.

Really the only thing I miss from my Ford days. Bloody brilliant devices.

[mikeyb]

Rich, I have the problem that MrsREV has her 4 series convertible so it means I have to have the practical car. I really want a 911, but it would mean a lot of compromise in terms of stuff we do at the weekends etc.

If BMW had built an M3 Touring, this wouldn't be a discussion. For some reason, I'm not really drawn to the RS4/RS6 Avants. Can't explain it, but they don't tickle my pickle. Whereas the idea of a chipped and pullied S4 Avant (the supercharged V6 version) has a bit of appeal.

C63 (or E63) estate? Boost and a V8

[Coaster1]

edit - I do have to confirm that the Ford heated front screen remains one of THE true gems of all things motoring.

Really the only thing I miss from my Ford days. Bloody brilliant devices.

+11111

I remember when I first came across it in early 2000s in my mate’s ST24 (ST200?), and I was amazed by it.

[NotoriousREV]

Rich, I have the problem that MrsREV has her 4 series convertible so it means I have to have the practical car. I really want a 911, but it would mean a lot of compromise in terms of stuff we do at the weekends etc.

If BMW had built an M3 Touring, this wouldn't be a discussion. For some reason, I'm not really drawn to the RS4/RS6 Avants. Can't explain it, but they don't tickle my pickle. Whereas the idea of a chipped and pullied S4 Avant (the supercharged V6 version) has a bit of appeal.

C63 (or E63) estate? Boost and a V8

In my head they don't handle very well. I don't actually know if that's true or not, but I'm not really a drifter and like lots of grip and my prejudice is that the AMGs are just dragsters.

[Broccers]

Had a letter to remind me that the Golf goes back at the end of September and imploring me to go and visit my dealer NOW to organise a replacement.

Is it with vwfs?

[GG.]

Rich, I have the problem that MrsREV has her 4 series convertible so it means I have to have the practical car. I really want a 911, but it would mean a lot of compromise in terms of stuff we do at the weekends etc.

Can't you buy a dog eared diesel golf estate for the practical stuff and a 911 for when you don't have to lug anything large around with you? IIRC you have two kids and if they're under I guess 5' 5" and you're under 6'1" I would expect you can get them in the back seats for short journeys so still usable.