Practical daily: Subaru Legacy BP H6, BMW E91 330i, ?

[Leon]

Yeah, 330i seems like a logical choice, although I'm not as excited by it as the AMG.

Last night I also realised - the real "second-gen IS300 SportCross" is the RX400h. Practical, quickish (7.3s to 60), loads around from £5kish, and I assume very reliable. It's annoying, I really don't want an SUV, and yet the way the market's gone, there are a million of those and half a dozen estates.

I was looking at the 400H's also, but then went diesel for better ability to tow the rally car. Those and the Toyota Harrier are basically just a tall Camry stationwagon

[samoht]

"I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole" was the verdict on the C55 - a few expensive things wrong, question mark over the mileage, and rust underneath at the back that looks similar to what cost another owner £3.5k to sort. Just not a good example.

With them being so rare I may well not find another, so back to considering BMWs and Lexuses.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Good thing you checked!

[samoht]

The solution to any problem is to throw more money at it, right?
https://www.neweraimports.com/listin...aspirated-V8.-

A snip at £17,700

[Crazed_Insanity]

Very nice!

But I wouldn't pay for it!

[Yw-slayer]

That does look neat.

[Yw-slayer]

You can get E63 and M5 wagons for that price or less. That said, if any of these go wrong the fix will be expensive. A friend imported an M5 wagon from the UK, sold it on, and the buyer said buying it was one of the worst things he's ever done. I have another friend with an RS4 (cheap one) that spends more than half the year in the shop and has been to every specialist in town. He's going to sell it and buy a beater Toyota Wish.

[samoht]

I've agreed to buy this car https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/threads/...y-list.238190/ for 15k . Price is at the top end of the market, but it seems to be a car that's had a lot of money lavished on it getting it right, it really looks mint inside and out. Intending to pick up next weekend.

I ruled out going up a size to an E-class or 5-series, while I know they offer more horsepower and space for similar money, I really prefer smaller cars for a host of reasons and I don't have much of a use for the extra space.

I decided against importing a C55 in the end because the UK market cars are homologated as Euro 4 emissions standard, which is the requirement for most of the low emissions zones that are proliferating in this country and the Continent.

I'm really looking forward to it, my first V8 :-)

[Rare White Ape]

That's about as hot as a frypan that has been prepped to cook a scotch fillet steak at medium-rare and the guy cooking it is an expert at cooking steak.

[Yw-slayer]

This one sounds good. The previous owner has taken care of all of the expensive stuff, and I can see it maintaining its value and continuing to feel special for a long time. It is also going to be super-quick, given that the CLS55 I borrowed for a few weeks already felt super-quick (and could spin the rears going uphill in 4th gear, albeit in the wet). I approve and that's not something you usually hear me saying about Mercs of this era.