Going to the dark side

[WiNgNuTz]

So after having my 407 written off, I spent a fair while searching for a new car, being thwarted many a time by people buying cars I wanted and/or sellers with lousy attitudes. However, I finally managed to beat everyone else to what seems like a pretty damn good deal.

I decided straight away I wanted to go with something that wasn't french for a change, and as some of you may know, had been chasing an Audi 2.5 TDI Sport Quattro, but I wasn't quick enough to put a deposit down on it, and missed out to someone else.

Cue searching through many many other options, ended up going to NW London on Sunday to view (and subsequently put a deposit on) a BMW 320d in black. Hasn't failed an MOT (or even had an advisory) since 2012, which says to me either hooky testers, or a well maintained car (seems to be the latter from what I've seen), comes with a brand spanking new MOT (no advisories again), and some nice spec for a 2001 car. And at £895, it's an absolute steal. Has a mismatched bumper for some reason, though no underlying damage that I could see, and a small patch of rust on the o/s/r arch...but I figure for the price, I can afford to buy the car, insure it fully comp for a year, have the bumper sprayed and the rusty arch sorted, and still be within the budget of the settlement from the 407! Win.

Pics from the advert:













The other thing that points me towards a well maintained car is the fact there were a couple of other guys there when we arrived to look at it, that according to the seller, had been there for no less than 2 hours going over the car with a fine tooth comb, with all sorts of diagnostic equipment, that didn't find any kind of fault codes, or anything untoward. Apparently they were looking to export it to portugal to be broken for parts or something, and better still, they wanted to give him £500 for it, via bank transfer that could take up to 24 hours to go through, but they wanted to take the car there and then. Needless to say, he told them to jog on, and after a quick check of what I needed to, we put a cash deposit down, and will be going back on Saturday to collect it.

Got a few odds and sods planned for it, but it'll probably end up staying mostly standard for now at least, and hopefully I can keep it away from numpties in Audi's.

[cpikey316_]

Looks like a lot of car for under a grand!

I think back to the basic cars that were around 10 years ago for that money!

Looks nice though, shiny! Shame someone put a silly diesel engine in it.....

[1616six]

Looks extremely clean Steve!

You've done well there, nice that it's a facelift too.. Much nicer looking!

[Eeyore]

looks really good. And no fire damage this time! What a win!

[Mattcheese31]

Front bumper looks a sight but looks decent car for the pennies

[mr_fish]

blimey, that bump wrote the 407 off then? Didn't look 'that bad' from the photos.

Anyhoo...win win in the Beemer now, just don't do what most other owners do and forget about that indicator stalk...

[WiNgNuTz]

Haha, cheers guys, was wondering how this would be received tbh! [emoji38]

Sadly yes, that bump WAS enough to write the 407 off, but considering the pan roof on the 407 resembled crazy paving, had a dodgy abs sensor, and a few other little issues, coupled with the fact I was offered just over double what I paid for it as a settlement, I decided it wasn't worth buying the car back to fix up.

Front bumper does look a bit odd, but as I say, I can get that sorted, the rust fixed, and there's a little lacquer peel on the back bumper that can also be sorted at the same time, and I'll still potentially have a little change from the settlement!

All in all, I'm well chuffed with it, and can't wait to go and get it on Sunday!

[Midnightclub]

One of us..

[WiNgNuTz]

One of us..

... Weld the diff...

[Midnightclub]

One of us..

... Weld the diff...

 

[rocker8742]

Looks a nice car mate and being a facelift I'm guessing it's got the 6 speed box an 150bhp engine? Used to love mine but the rust is a bugger! Check all the arches and check the jacking points too!

Make sure you've got a decent supply of rear tyres too lol

[WiNgNuTz]

Looks a nice car mate and being a facelift I'm guessing it's got the 6 speed box an 150bhp engine? Used to love mine but the rust is a bugger! Check all the arches and check the jacking points too!

Make sure you've got a decent supply of rear tyres too lol

150bhp engine, only 5 speed box though. Apart from a small bit of rust on the rear arch, it's all sound, but that was as advertised, still think I did bloody well for the money!

It's actually really good fun to drive, if a little tank like after the 407 and the Insignia, but I like the rawness of it tbh. And yes, I may have had it a little sideways in the wet a couple of times.