Ownership experience of my E82 BMW

On 5th Jun 201926th Nov 2019 By luke2397Leave a comment

So I’ve owned my car for just over a year now and when I bought it, it was already on 105,000 miles. Now after a year it’s coming up to 117,000. Reliability obviously springs to mind, but should it?

Factoring in consumables, repairs and upgrades how much has my car cost me for a years ownership and should you be put off buying a 100,00 mile plus car?

I’ve personally never been put off by any cars mileage as service history is far more important. I’d much rather have a car with 100,000 miles on it that has been used as a motorway cruiser and serviced properly than a 30,000 mile car of the same year that’s just been used for pootling around town and not serviced properly.

My car has the 3.0 N52 block which is renowned for being very reliable but some of the other bits around it could potentially go wrong.

Starting off with the consumables, these are things you have to replace, so tyres, brakes, discs and petrol.

So far then I’ve had 4 new tyres (technically 5 but we’ll come on to that), I went for the super sticky Michelin Pilot Sport 4 and have those all round at a cost of about £140 per corner so £560 for a set.

I’ve also replaced the front discs for £135 and pads for about £50.

Fuel economy isn’t actually all that bad for a 3 litre, general driving it’s usually somewhere between 24 and 27mpg and on a long run I’ll be closer to 40 providing I have a gentle right foot. A full tank and a long run should see me close to 400 miles.

Maintenance costs, so things I didn’t particularly expect I would be changing. The rear shock absorbers started to leak and although they didn’t desperately need replacing I didn’t want to take the risk as the MOT was due. I went for standard Bilsteins at a cost of £189. Note that my Dad is a mechanic and I’m fairly handy with a spanner so I’m saving a lot on labour costs by doing it myself (himself).

I could have saved a lot of money doing an oil change myself, but it has a full service history and I intended to keep it that way so that was £127 for the oil, filters and a full health diagnosis. At the same time I got them to change my brake fluid at a cost of £60.

The most labouring job that was done would be when my DISA valves started playing up. There’s two of these that sit underneath the intake manifold and regulate the airflow into the cylinders, quite a common BMW fault that occurs usually after 70,000 miles. A few hours work to take the manifold off and replace. Cost £165.

Around Christmas time I had a crack in my windscreen that was too big to repair but that wasn’t a big deal really £90 to autoglass and was replaced in a few hours.

My latest maintenance issue has been my vanos solenoids which is very common to get blocked up, you can either go down the route of getting them cleaned out and saving some money but I decided on some new OEM ones from BMW which was a much bigger outlay than I was expecting. For 2 solenoids it set me back around £220. I also made the stupid decision to buy some from ebay before that for £40, unsurprisingly they didn’t work.

I currently have what I think is a cracked PCV valve but I haven’t fully diagnosed it yet, I’m unsure what the cost would be either. I’m also not sure whether to really count it as a problem though as I have a feeling it is a self inflicted damage from tinkering with something else.

I could go down the route of getting my valvetronic changed as it’s slightly lazy but as it stands it’s not affecting anything so I’m not worried about it.

Now for the fun part, the upgrades.

The first thing I usually do is sort out any cosmetic parts that I wasn’t quite happy with, this one was no different except I’d barely got the car home before I was on eBay ordering parts.

I saw that the paint had started to peel on the wing mirror covers and didn’t really like that they were body coloured. I managed to find a pair of black ones for about £20 a side. I didn’t realise how little these items cropped up for sale as my friend has had a 123d for about 2 years and still not found any for sale, gutted.

I also went for some new grilles with the M style double slat and all black, I didn’t like the chrome surrounds at all and the all black gives a far more aggressive look. That only cost about £30.

The most important part for me to change first though was the interior trim because it had this nasty “wood” finish so that went and now have just the standard silver metallic look plastic, a bit tatty but just needs a bit of a clean. That was £60.

In my eyes the yellow daytime running lights had to go, I was quite lucky with the spec on my car because it had the angel eyes fitted so it only cost about £30 to replace the bulbs for LEDs rather than the few £100 to get a whole new unit.

The naturally aspirated 3.0 straight six sounds incredible but felt like it was lacking a bit of character from the exhaust. And by character I mean boyish pops and crackles. the type that would have my dad who’s in his 50s giggling like he’s 10. I dropped it off to EMP performance and let them work their magic with a custom built stainless steel cat back exhaust and middle silencer delete. The car has been completely transformed with perfect tone and plenty of pops on the overrun, the most important part too, is it doesn’t drone on the motorway which is what steered me away from doing a decat. All together the exhaust cost me just under £600, so far the biggest outlay since buying it.

I got some new wheels from RTEC in St.Albans, I had wanted to get new wheels. But, on this instance I was forced to as one of my wheels cracked and caused me to completely disintegrate a tyre. Not to mention that tyre had been fitted that day, because obviously that would happen. (Refer back to the 4 new pilot sports) £600 for the Fox racing MS007s, £150 for a new Pilot Sport 4 and £150 for the recovery from the M25 at 1am after my blowout. Not a cheap month.

At the same time as getting the exhaust I got a remap too because the 125i comes severely detuned despite having the exact same engine as the 130i hatchback. I guess BMW didn’t want the hatchback to be ignored. An easy enough map from EMP and is now pushing close to 270bhp perfectly quick enough for a B road blast. I’m not entirely sure how much I paid for the map as I had the exhaust done too, but I think it was roughly £300.

I have plenty more upgrades in the pipeline such as a gloss black rear diffuser, front splitter and Bilstein B14 coilovers. I’m also contemplating a 1M style front bumper mainly for the looks but also my current one has a lot of stone chips.

A small gloss black lip spoiler would be a welcomed addition to making everything look that little bit more aggressive.

Overall I couldn’t be happier with my car considering that I only paid £6500. Whenever I think of potentially replacing it all I can think of is my current car, I think providing nothing goes seriously wrong then it could stay with me for a long long time. The total costs for a years ownership with upgrades and repair was roughly £3200. But I certainly wouldn’t expect to spend that much in the year coming as I don’t have many plans for big upgrades and fingers crossed the maintenance is mostly sorted for now. Certainly an expensive year but I wouldn’t say it’s terrible considering I’d have spent much more in terms of depreciation on a newer car.

So should you be put off from a 100,000 mile motor? Certainly not, make sure the previous owners have looked after it and make sure you do the same. The most important part is to accept anything that comes your way and enjoy every single mile of your glorious lump of metal. Who knows how much longer we’ll be able to do it.

Great Drives: The Lake District

On 15th May 2019 By luke23972 Comments

5:20am on good Friday I had my car packed and ready for a little adventure through the quite stunning Lake District.

The route:

Starting from my home in Hertfordshire I set off for the mostly boring 4 hours up the motorway onto Kendal via a quick fuel stop nearby. It was then onto the Kirkstone Pass, Honister Pass, Buttermere, Loweswater then onto Mockerkin where I would continue up to Glasgow.

The initial slog up to the Shell garage just outside Kendal was largely uneventful and mainly about keeping my concentration levels up after about 4 hours sleep.

From Kendal to the Kirkstone pass to say I was deflated was an understatement, the whole reason I had left as early as I did was to avoid bank holiday traffic, but what was waiting for me? Miles and miles of holiday makers and caravans as far as the eye could see.

But turning right off of the A591 and suddenly a queue became a very small convoy of 4 or 5 cars, that was the biggest group I’d be in for the rest of the day. Bliss.

A short blast up the hill towards the Kirkstone pass inn where i’ve been told is a great place to stop for lunch but was too early for me to be stopping at that point. Then about an hour to the Honister pass.

Once on the descent after the inn the road becomes very fast with good visibility. Word of warning though most of the corners require some heavy breaking and very quickly I found myself having to stop and my foot going straight to the floor so be very weary of brake fade because trust me you’re going to need them.

After that little scare I’d slowed down as I didn’t fancy crashing into a lake, this allowed me to take in the stunning landscape ranging from mountain passes to glistening blue lakes.

Meandering the beautifully smooth roads I ended up at the Honister pass.

I had to thank my lucky stars that the roads were dry because leading up to it the roads are steep. Really, really steep. So steep in fact that I stopped to take a picture that I nearly fell over when I stepped onto the tarmac. The road continued to climb up to 25% at points. Then at the crest it can only be described as when you go to a football stadium. Going through the turnstiles and up the stairs and the whole world opens up to the pitch. Over the crest I could see miles of twisting roads in the enormous valley I had to stop where I was to take a picture. Only problem is I didn’t dare get out of the car and put my faith in a typical rubbish BMW handbrake.

As you make your slow descent into the valley you get a real sense of how high you’ve just climbed on the other side.

At the bottom there’s a good place to stop and take some pictures and have a little wander by the stream that runs alongside the road.

If you do stop here I’d suggest waiting for any potential traffic to clear as the road leading out of the pass is fast and open so you wouldn’t want to be held up in traffic. A mistake I unfortunately made so learn from my wrongdoings.

Following that was a gentle drive through Buttermere. A majority of the roads aren’t as open as the Yorkshire Dales for example, so if you’re planning on extracting every last drop from your car then I’d recommend going there.

Not taking anything away from the scenery in the Dales which is incredible but the views and general atmosphere of the Lake District is unlike anywhere I’ve been in the UK (yet), I wouldn’t want to be driving on the edge as I’d miss the stunning landscape.

My favorite part of the route came completely out of the blue. There’s a small section on the B5289 that is very reminiscent of, dare I say it, the French Riviera. I may have just caught it on a good day, but it was a beautiful sunny day and the way the sun was reflecting off of the lake and the road high up right next to the lake made me feel I should be in a Jaguar E-Type with some classic 60s music playing. Unfortunately I got too caught up in the drive that I didn’t take any pictures and the road on google maps is not the weather that I experienced so the picture doesn’t provide full justice, So you’re going to have to trust me and drive it for yourself but if you go with the right weather it truly is a special drive. I’ve added a comparison of a road on the French riviera to test that I’m not mad and that the roads are indeed similar.

Roughly 5 minutes up the road there’s a decent place to stop and eat some lunch if you’ve planned ahead and made yourself some sandwiches, or in my case leftover pizza. It is just at the side of the road so honestly probably not the best place to stop but it does give you a great view overlooking Crummock Water. I was able to watch a man paddle around in a kayak which was rather lovely.

Coming out of Buttermere on towards Loweswater is much more like a forest and lots of blind corners so not the roads for speeding along, but you get a good echo from all the surroundings so I found myself dropping into second quite a lot and giving it a little squirt to hear the pops and bangs on the overrun. Incredibly childish I’ll admit but something that never fails to make me giggle.

From Loweswater to Mockerkin the roads aren’t all that special at all really, they have no lakes or forest area just lots and lots and lots of fields paired with straight roads and plenty of visibility, perfect to take one last opportunity to grab the car by the scruff of the neck before back on the motorway, yawn.

I’m almost scared to go back to the lakes because my experience was one of empty roads and a freak 25℃ Easter bank holiday so don’t want to have that experience dampened in any way. But there’s so much of it i’m yet to explore and i’m keen to try the infamous Hardknott Pass so I’ll surely be back over there sooner rather than later.

One £1m Car Or A Fleet?

On 25th Apr 2019 By luke23973 Comments

Following on from my F40 article me and a friend had a discussion that the average F40 price on AutoTrader is about £1.1 million so with that kind of budget what fleet could you have with that. Well here goes

Aston Martin Vantage GT8

A pure drivers car. Raw, visceral and a soundtrack to die for, apart from the GT12 which would have taken out nearly half of the budget had I chosen it. Featuring the same 4.7 litre V8 found in the normal Vantage but this one has 440bhp and a top speed of 190mph. Released in 2017 and a limited run of 150 examples mated to either a 6 speed manual or a 7 speed sports shift automatic.

Cost £170,000

Remaining budget £930,000

Mclaren 675LT

Probably the only Mclaren I actually like apart from the 720s. Mclaren is a brand that I admire for how clever their cars are and how far they’ve come in such a short space of time but there’s something about them that just doesn’t get me excited to see one in the same way that a Ferrari or Lamborghini would and I think that’s the problem. They spend all of this time developing it’s brain but they forget the most important part. A soul. Now then, the 675LT might just be the answer to this problem. Unveiled to the world at the 2015 Geneva motorshow as a lightweight track focused version of the 650s with 500 versions of the coupe being made. It’s the most hardcore Mclaren that they made after the P1 and even though it was a limited run car a hell of a lot cheaper to buy one. But buying one new was still exceptionally difficult even Jensen Button didn’t get an allocation and he was racing for Mclaren at the time. Power comes from the same 4.0 litre twin turbo V8 in all of the modern Mclarens but produces 675ps (665bhp).

Cost £200,000

Remaining budget £730,000

Ferrari GTC4Lusso

Who doesn’t want to be able to waft across the continent four up in extreme comfort? Oh and did I mention that beneath your right foot you have a 6.3 litre 681bhp screaming V12 at your disposal. Sounds like a pretty good package right? Provided you can deal with the quite frankly appalling fuel economy then I can’t think of a better car to be able to drive to the south of France as well as any other GT car but then attack the Alps like any sports car would. I would include this as a daily driver but typical Ferrari depreciation and a fuel range of about 50 feet means I’ll be choosing something else.

Cost £215,000

Remaining budget £515,000

Jaguar E-Type

Any car collection needs a classic in it and what better car than the most beautiful car that’s ever been made. That’s not my words that’s from Enzo Ferrari himself, praise doesn’t get much higher than that. First showcased at the 1961 Geneva motorshow it took the world by storm with it’s swooping lines and long bonnet that stretched way into the horizon. The series one started with a 3.8 litre straight six which was increased to 4.2 litres in 1964.

Cost £80,000

Remaining budget £435,000

Porsche 911 991.2 GT3 Touring

In my original draft I had included a 911 R but on reflection I decided to save myself £150,000 and get a manual GT3 Touring which is basically the same car. 4.0 flat six 493bhp, 9,000rpm redline, manual and rear wheel drive. Driving perfection, as much as I would love to have the wing on the normal GT3 and probably save myself a few thousand pounds I do like the understated look of the Touring, perfect for doing exactly as the name suggests.

Cost £160,000

Remaining budget £275,000

Ferrari 458 Italia

My collection had to include an out and out supercar which admittedly the 675LT is but that’s such a special car I don’t think you’d be able to use it all the time. This is where the 458 comes in. It’s now the old V8 Ferrari and soon to be the old old one when the new F8 Tributo is released. Right now is probably a good time to buy one, they won’t depreciate any more than they have already and being the last naturally aspirated V8 Ferrari will mean values will most likely start to creep back up again. If I was in a position to buy one it definitely wouldn’t be a garage queen and would quite happily rack up the miles and leave the 675LT for a more special occasion.

Cost £275,000

Remaining budget £155,000

Mercedes AMG GTR

The track car of the fleet but would be quite happy to cruise up and down the motorway should I want to. To me makes it a very good balance of performance and comfort.

Released in 2017 as the hardcore version of the standard AMG GT features the same 4.0 litre bi turbo that is in the most modern AMGs such as the C63 and G63. A mammoth 577bhp and 700nm of torque will rip up the tarmac behind you in a cloud of typical AMG V8 snarl.

Cost £125,000

Remaining budget £30,000

BMW M2

The daily driver of the fleet comfortable enough for everyday use with a good amount of practicality but an exciting package at the same time. Largely debated as the best M car of the current lineup despite being the least powerful can only be a good thing. Give me one with a manual gearbox too and I’ll be a happy man.

Cost £30,000

Remaining budget £0

Cars that defined an era: 1980s Ferrari F40

On 12th Apr 2019 By luke23971 Comment

Each week I shall be selecting an era and choosing a car that defined that certain era starting with the 1980s and what else could possibly describe the 1980s better than the Ferrari F40.

I’m sure that if I were to ask you to imagine an F40 I have no doubt that a majority of you will think of the picture below as this would have been featured on many children’s bedroom walls in the 1980s.

Arguably the most famous supercar let alone Ferrari ever was originally destined to be the 288 GTO Evolutzione to compete with the Porsche 959 in the infamous Group B rally, but the series was brought to an end in 1986 after a number of accidents. Enzo Ferrari was desperate to leave a lasting legacy on what would be his last car to get his approval before his death in 1988. The engineers alongside legendary Italian designers Pininfirina came up with what would inevitably be a car that could do 202mph. Although that claim is slightly dubious as in testing they could only manage 199. It still made it the fastest production car at the time, beating the Porsche 959.

This groundbreaking speed was created by a surprisingly small 2.9 litre V8 with two turbo chargers to give it a good kick of boost producing 471bhp and weighed 1369kg. The entire body is made of carbon fibre and the paint is famously thin because you can see the carbon weave through the paint. The weight saving is so extreme that the door handles to get out is just a piece of cable and there’s no carpet in sight just exposed carbon fibre and visible weld in the joins. Despite not being in a position to drive one let alone buy one you can tell that this is a focused hard core driving machine.

Going from previous videos and articles it is a visceral experience with a distinctive 80s turbo lag, meaning a whole lot of nothing then all of a sudden a big kick in the arse from all the boost followed but a wonderful flutter as you let off the throttle. Not only do you get a manual gearbox which obviously was common place at the time but it has a open gated gear stick and there’s something so satisfying about the clank of metal on metal as the gears slot into place urging you to make more unnecessary downshifts just to experience the whole package of the gear change mixed with a ferocious amount of boost. I can only imagine what driving one will be like but for the time being the closest I’ll get will be on Forza.

For me the F40 defined the 80s in so many ways from it’s striking looks and groundbreaking design, to it’s back and forth battle with the Porsche 959 as the fastest car in the world and going up against the Lamborghini Countach as the poster car in every young petrolheads bedroom. The F40 has had a host of famous owners to go with it too. Formula 1 world champions Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell and the Ferrari fanboy trio of Nick Mason, Jay Kay and Chris Evans have all either still own or have owned one, even the opera singer Pavarotti has had one and I’m fairly certain he makes a similar noise when it’s on full boost as he does in Nessun Dorma. Vincerò! But despite all that what impresses me the most is that even in his 80s Enzo Ferrari was still capable of creating a masterpiece that will definitely go down as one of the most iconic cars of all time.

9 Ordinary Cars With Extraordinary Engines

On 24th Mar 2019 By luke2397Leave a comment

There’s plenty of ordinary cars out there but there’s a few of them with extraordinary engines, here’s 9 of them. No concept cars allowed, they have to be in production.

Audi Q7 V12 TDI

Audi released the Q7 in 2007 and featured a colossal 6.0 litre V12 diesel and not just any diesel too. It was developed by Quattro GmbH, Audi’s high performance specialists and created a road going version of their race engine from the Le Mans winning car the R15 TDI. It produced 493bhp and 738 ft-lb of torque. Quite a machine to do the school run in. Finding an example can be very difficult and will likely set you back about £20,000

Audi used this engine for a concept Audi R8

Lancia Thema 8.32

The Lancia Thema was the saloon car for the flamboyant and the range topper featured a glorious 2.9 litre Ferrari Tipo V8, the 8.32 (8 meaning number of cylinders and the 32 meaning the number of valves) produced 215bhp which by today’s standards is poor from a V8 but it was on par with a Lotus Esprit of the same year. It’s likely to set you back about £11,000 for the V8 version.

This Lancia was once owned by Rowan Atkinson

Golf Mk3 VR6

Some nutcase took the humble people’s car and dumped a 2.8 litre V6 back in 1992. It produced 174bhp which isn’t the most powerful V6 golf, the latest one being the Mk5 R32 with 246bhp but the MK3 was the first so has to make the list as it got the snowball rolling. Prices have skyrocketed massively in recent years you could get one for about £800 5 years ago but now they’re roughly £3000-£5000.

Renault Avantime V6

The Renault Avantime was only produced from 2001 to 2003 with about 8,500 made so not exactly a roaring success. For one of those years however they produced a 3.0 litre V6 variant with 210bhp and a top speed of 138mph. Not particularly fast but in an MPV it’s certainly unusual. Because they were only produced for a year they are quite rare and when they do crop up they will set you back roughly £6000.

Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution 3.5 V6

A thoroughbred race-car designed specifically for the Dakar rally which it had a little bit of success in. Only the 12 victories from 1985 to 2007 making it the most successful car to compete at the rally. Those pesky homologation rules means that Mitsubishi had to build road going versions to be able to race and between 1997 and 1999 they made 2500 of them. They produced 276bhp and is probably on of the most badass looking off-roaders ever made. Buying one could set you back roughly £15,000-£20,000.

VW Phaeton 6.0 W12

When you think of mile munching GT cars you immediately think of the likes of a Bentley Continental GT, Aston Martin DBS or any of the big Ferrari V12s but rarely would you ever think of a VW. But back in 2003 VW released the Phaeton with a 3.0 litre V6 diesel a 5.0 litre V10 diesel or a 6.0 litre W12 petrol. The latter being my pick of the bunch for obvious reasons. This 2.5 tonne beast had 443bhp and could do 0-60 in 5.9 seconds all while in as much luxury as any of the cars mentioned previously except it has a VW badge on the steering wheel and not a prancing horse. Good luck finding one though and if you do expect to pay a huge premium over a diesel one so will likely cost you close to £10,000.

Volvo S80 4.4 V8

Now it may sound like I’m old but I love a Volvo the comfort and ergonomics are second to none. I am yet to sit in a more comfortable car seat then when I drove an XC60. The 4.4 V8 was originally only used in the XC90 but later was then used for the S80 and a tuned turbocharged version is in the Noble M600 but we’re focusing on the S80. There isn’t anything extraordinary about a V8 in a saloon car, the Germans have been doing it for years none better than Mercedes, what makes this one so extraordinary is that it’s mounted transverse as opposed to longitudinal which is normally favoured for the bigger engines as there isn’t enough space for the gearbox and all of the suspension pieces but Volvo somehow managed to squeeze it in. Prices are in the region of £10,000 a touch under what you would expect to see a first generation C63 or E92 M3 but I think most people would stretch a bit further for one.

Lotus Carlton

Vauxhall released the Carlton in 1978 as an executive saloon and in 1990 Lotus got their hands on it and fiddled with the suspension and craned in a 3.6 litre twin turbo straight six producing 377bhp could do 0-60 in 4.8 seconds and go on to 177mph making it one of the fastest production cars on sale. Current prices are just silly with only 950 being made, 320 of those were a Vauxhall with the remaining 630 under the European name Opel. buying one now will cost you about £50,000 which is the same as when it came out in 1990.

Renault Clio V6

Has there ever been a car so mad that the manufacturers have had to change the engine from front engined to mid? That’s exactly what happened with the Renault Clio. Produced between 2001 and 2003 it had a 3.0 litre V6 mid engined rear wheel drive powertrain which produced either 230 or 255bhp depending on the model conveniently named 230 and 255 could sling the car to 60mph in around 6 seconds and had a rear stance so wide it looked like it could fill the M25 with two exhausts poking through the middle. With only 1220 being sold in the UK they do come at a cost setting you back roughly £25,000.

So there you have it 9 of the most ordinary cars on sale with a wild animal lurking beneath.

How to spot supercars in London

On 17th Mar 201917th Mar 2019 By luke2397Leave a comment

If you’re into cars then chances are you’re into supercars but like a majority of people you can’t afford one so what’s the next best thing? Going to see one in the wild. This is how to do it in London.

It’ll come at no surprise to anyone but the best place in London to see supercars is in Knightsbridge but it’s also complete pot luck with what you see, but you’re guaranteed to see something. Endless Porsches and a plethora of G-Wagons and Bentley Bentaygas not a supercar no but still an exotic.

Depending on the time of day depends on where your first point of call should be but you should be coming in on Park Lane past the Aston Martin garage from there you make your way down to the Dorchester hotel where they have 5 or 6 spaces usually filled with the finest cars available although I don’t seem to have much luck when going here but still worth a look as it’s on the way. If you’re there during the day then you’re going to want to head straight for Harrods. You’re guaranteed to see at the very least a Ferrari California which is owned by a local resident. My personal highlight from this particular spot would be either a Mercedes AMG GTR or a G-Wagon 6×6.

A quick drive around the corner and you’re on Sloane Street which is basically the fashion hub of London with many high end shops such as Gucci, Prada and Harvey Nichols setting up shop here. So it’s no surprise that these kind of shops attract people with deep pockets and that Sloane Street is very straight so a chance to show off a little bit.

At the top of Sloane Street looking towards the Rolex outlet turning left will take you back to Harrods but if you turn right and loop around the tunnel and head back on yourself head towards the top of Sloane Street again have a look outside the Wellesley where I personally have made my best spot and will be unlikely beaten. A Koenigsegg One:1 in a stunning exposed blue and black carbon fibre.

After the Wellesley the next left you come to will be for the Berkeley hotel, the nice thing about this hotel is it has a nice parking area outside of it that makes for some good looking photos, most of my spots come here including a pair of gt2rs’, a McLaren SLR 722 and a Mansory 812 Superfast.

Those are the main spotting locations but it’s not exclusive to that there are some gems hidden down various side roads and on Belgrave Square.

From there the next best place is Mayfair which is a bit more tricky as there isn’t a main hub of Harrods it’s lots of side roads but your best bet is to go towards Mount Street and use the side streets around there and you should make some decent spots.

My overall advice would be to check social media and see what’s about and gives you a fun target to attain for and hopefully be able to make some other awesome spots. Happy hunting

Are Car Designers Becoming Lazy?

On 28th Feb 201928th Feb 2019 By luke2397Leave a comment

So with Ferrari releasing their “new” 488 replacement the F8 Tributo it got me thinking, are car designers just becoming lazy?

I first had this thought when Porsche announced their new 911, the 992. Now Porsche aren’t exactly renowned for their groundbreaking new designs but with this new one seemed to be taking the Mickey. All of the models are going to be this new widebody style which takes away some of the joy of owning the more expensive versions. The GTS, Turbo and GT cars. The exterior looks are so bland with a big rounded arse and gawping mouth at the front. Not to mention the last minute thought of “Oh we need some exhausts, let’s just stick them out of the bodywork, that’ll do. Pub?”

The base car has 444bhp which if you ask me is too much for a standard Carrera. When you look back to the 997 Carrera it has 325bhp which sounds just about right considering this is the entry level 911. What’s the Turbo S going to have? It really is too much. Now I’m sure it drives wonderfully and is still every bit a 911 as all the others have before that but a bit of inspiration wouldn’t go a miss.

Now onto Ferrari and this new F8 Tributo. Essentially a facelift of the 488 which was a facelift of the 458 but it’s also virtually the same as the Pista which has only just gone on sale. Not that the people who have bought one will mind as they’ll most likely just get both. Nice problems to have though eh? Again though this just screams laziness leave the Pista to be it’s own car and don’t make one that’s virtually the same just without all the trick aero. Again it has far too much power, 720bhp in their entry level V8 supercar is ridiculous there’s no way you can use all of that on the road without facing jail time and the only way you can exploit all of that is to take it on a track. But isn’t that what the Pista is for? Not that I’m in any kind of position to buy any Ferrari anytime soon but if I’d just taken delivery of a shiny new Pista I certainly wouldn’t be happy if in a matter of a few months they had released virtually the same car. For me 500bhp is more than useable for an entry level supercar. It seems to be less about the design and emotional connection to the customer and more about churning out the same design to use the same jigs in production and put more mind boggling numbers under the hood as a willy waving exercise between manufacturers. Not to mention the ridiculous set of optional extras available on something that costs in excess of £200,000 in the first place. Carbon fibre cup holder for £2000? Ooh yes please….

Dream Drives: Aston Martin V8 Vantage

On 26th Feb 201928th Feb 2019 By luke2397Leave a comment

They say you should never meet your heroes and in my case for cars at least it’s the Aston Martin V8 Vantage (I’m still hopeful to meet Matt Bellamy one day). It may not be the quickest or the most exotic of the supercar and sports car world but my god is it pretty and has a wonderful exhaust tone that leaves you wanting more and more.

The reasons I have such a love for this car is that it has a sense of attainability to it with examples in good condition with reasonable miles for around the £30,000 mark which seems like a lot of car for the money. Albeit does have a few issues with gearboxes and has an appetite for its own clutch. I still find them much more desirable when compared to a similarly priced porsche 911 997. And when compared to my other dream car, A Ferrari 430 Scuderia which is well north of £120,00 it makes it seem like even more of a steal.

Although I’d seen many V8 Vantages on the road I’d never been up close and personal with one until I was aged 14 or 15, when I went round to a friends house. We were looking for his skateboard so we went into his garage and there was a car under covers. Now me being a car obsessive I immediately knew what the car was, I still asked my friend what it was and his response was. “Oh that’s nothing it’s just my dad’s car”
I picked up the cover to reveal the wheel badge and showed him the badge and told him that I straight away knew what it was.
A few weeks later walking home from school and stopping off at my friends house again before making my way home his dad came running out of the house holding the car keys and telling me that I had to sit in the car and start it up. What happened next will stick with me for the rest of my life and I remember the V8 grumbling into life and it was the most amazing thing I had experienced and wanted one so badly.

I had the opportunity to drive one earlier this year at age 21 so a long time from sitting in my mates garage starting it up. The main difference being that I actually have a license by this point.

Now there’s no flashy story of ‘How I bought this Aston Martin at 21’ showing off how successful I was. But instead it was on an airfield in Aldershot doing one of those supercar drive day experiences my girlfriend had got me it for christmas and in all honesty I wasn’t expecting much from it apart from a few timid laps with an instructor telling me not to go too fast and being a bit of an arse, I was very wrong indeed. I was able to experience 5 cars and I chose the Aston last because I knew it was my hero and wanted that to be the one that stuck with me. I know I was setting myself up for massive disappointment. The first car was an R35 Nissan GTR which was savagely quick with a wonderful and snappy gearbox but not much else going for it once that novelty had worn off. Next was a Porsche 911 991 Carrera 2s which was ruined by the most boring instructor ever. Who at every corner thought it would be a good idea to constantly tell me to go slowly as the engine is at the back and could spin out really easily, so have nothing to say about that car as I was too busy bricking it to actually enjoy it.

Next up was a Lamborghini Gallardo. Finally a proper supercar, it was awkward to get in, the steering was heavy the automatic gearbox was absolutely horrible at low speeds and the brake pedal was either on or off, no inbetween. It was everything I expected it to be and I loved it but would I own one? No way.

My penultimate car was the Ferrari California T. I wasn’t expecting much from it but I found it very comfortable lovely steering wheel weight and good driving position and a beautiful raspy exhaust note to it. If money was no object and I was after a long distance cruiser that needed to be capable if the roads became twisty I would put the California very high on my list. Although that is due to be replaced by the Portofino any day now in which case THAT would be top of the list, but the California is still very good.

Finally it’s come to the Aston. A dream I’ve had since I was about 12 years old to actually drive one. Ideally I would have preferred the manual but this one had the touchtronic gearbox which I knew wouldn’t be the smoothest drive in the world but I was pleasantly surprised as it gave a reassuring shunt in the back as you slammed through the gears. For a heavy car weighing at nearly 1700kg it was nimble on its feet through the chicane section of the track and the grunt of the engine was immense coming out of low speed corners it felt like i could pull a train, you plant your foot, watch the revs climb on the backwards rev counter then slam home another gear and do it all over again. It was like a drug and I had been taken hook line and sinker. It has been said before but to get the most out of it you really have to rev it out and it doesn’t feel like you’re going particularly fast but you really shift in this thing. I think it adds to what makes it great though as it’s quite easy to get in it and extract all of the power on tap without it being too daunting. Unlike the GTR where if you get everything out of that you’re going the right way about losing your license.

They say don’t meet your heroes. Unless that hero is a V8 Vantage in which case you really really should

BMW E82 125i Review

On 26th Feb 2019 By luke2397Leave a comment

Back in 2007 BMW released the E82 model, a coupé version to the E87 hatchback with all the same model variants along with a few extra. The one that peaked my interest most was the 125i. Nowadays everything is starting to go all turbo charged so seeing that this is a 3.0 litre straight six naturally aspirated N52 block really excited me to the point of buying one in early 2018.

For a late 2008 model it has all the creature comforts of any modern day equivalent:

Electric seats leather heated seats, Sat Nav, Climate Control, automatic headlights and wipers along with AUX and USB input for your music and Bluetooth hands free there isn’t a lot more I could ask for albeit looking quite dated inside. What did I pay for all this? £6,500! I can’t believe the amount of car you get for the money, it really baffles me. Yes it’s coming up to 11 years old now but it is incredible value especially when I looked up how much it would cost when it was new it’s over £30,000.

The driving dynamics are very easy to live with in all conditions. The suspension is firm but not so that it’s uncomfortable and on the motorway it’s very supple. The grip levels are generally very good especially if you have a good set of tyres on the 245 section rear wheels but when you start to push it really hard round some of the tighter bends it has a tendency to understeer but it’s still easily manageable. With a long press of the traction control button switches off the stability control all together. And that understeer with a stab of the throttle quickly becomes oversteer but the car is so well balanced that it’s so easy to get it back under control.

In today’s standards the stock 218bhp motor isn’t powerful at all but with a remap from certain companies can see that unlocked to closer to the 270bhp mark. Still low when compared to the current coupé the m240i’s 335bhp.

But on a quintessential English B road though 270bhp is more than enough to get up to some scary speeds. At the top end of 2nd gear you’re pushing nearly 70mph so it’s plenty quick enough. One of the great characteristics this engine is the flat torque curve overs such a usable band of power right across the rev range you can take any corner in almost any gear and it will handle it perfectly fine.

The gearbox is lovely too. With some of the hot VAG models the manual box feels a bit mushy and not particularly confident in using it. In the BMW it’s snappy and a good distance on the throw. The relationship between the engine and gearbox allows for easy rev matching when driving normally and when you’re pushing on a bit harder the pedals are set up very well for some heel and toe action leaving you feeling like Walter Röhrl even on the most basic of B roads.

The steering wheel is big, chunky and very reassuring to hold. The clever electric steering allows for plenty of road feel but remains very quick rotation for easy manoeuvrability.

In my particular car I’ve had the exhaust tinkered with, the middle silencer has been replaced by stainless steel pipe which runs back to a smaller free flowing back box, this makes for those sweet sweet endless pops and crackles on the overrun that the inner nine year old inside all of us loves and can’t help but giggle. Under load the tone is much more rich and has so much more character. Not that the stock exhaust is boring just begging for a little bit more.

The practicality is not as you’d expect from a 4 seater sports car unlike the Audi TT you’d be able to get 4 six foot people in relative comfort and have enough space in the boot for all there stuff. I know because I’ve done it. Granted you wouldn’t want to be in that situation for more than an hour or so but it’s still doable. It also benefits from folding rear seats to allow through loading from the boot leaving plenty of space to load my road bike with ease.

Fuel economy isn’t even that bad either average daily driving sits around 24mpg but on a long motorway journey I’ve seen over 40.

So despite being said numerous times that the 1 series has got a face that only a mother could love, although I do think that from the rear and the side profile is rather tasteful especially when compared to the E87. If I was given the choice between the Audi TT, 125i or Toyota GT86 then I wouldn’t have to spend very long at all in deciding. With the quite simply wonderful engine that in my opinion trumps any other offering in a similar price range.