New Car - BMW 320i

[Jez]

Alright then, I had a focus as a first car and still have one at the age of 19. Perhaps you would like to enlighten me as to a better car for a first car which offers the same sort of performance and low running costs for a student than a 1.6 focus. Oh and mine is chic spec so heated leather/cd changer etc.

To say there is ALWAYS a better car than the focus is silly. Yes for my £3k I could have got a bigger engined car with more toys. But insure it? Not a chance.

I cant be bothered to go into it.

Its my opinion that focus' are crap and there are better cars available at all budgets, tom is realising this with his new purchase.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

Oh noes not another Ford VS BMW argument

 

[Luseac]

I cant be bothered to go into it.

Its my opinion that focus' are crap and there are better cars available at all budgets, tom is realising this with his new purchase.

No one is denying how much of a step-up a 320i is from a focus. I just don't think a class leading car is always 'crap' in certain circumstances. Certainly when we are talking about first cars at 17.

 

[Jez]

Oh noes not another Ford VS BMW argument

Bound to happen in a thread about changing from a ford to a bmw tbh

 

[Anders0n]

What other cars did you consider?

 

[Morba]

Thing is, for every budget there is a BMW or other decent car available which will be better than the focus.

£4k - auto mid sized hatchback? (no mondeo then..)

 

[Tom|Nbk]

What other cars did you consider?

172
ST170

Then realised insurance for those is a significant amount more so I settled for an E46. Various members of this forum will know I was hunting for months on end for one

 

[Jez]

£4k - auto mid sized hatchback? (no mondeo then..)

I'd have a BMW 3-series. I know its not a hatch, but who cares.

 

[Morba]

I'd have a BMW 3-series. I know its not a hatch, but who cares.

err..

 

[Jez]

err..

Err what? What does it matter what body style the car has? Clearly it doesn't as tom has just changed to a saloon.

If it must be a hatch, then i'd personally have a 3-series touring or something. More practical, better in every way. Myth that they cost much to run.

 

[triggerthat]

Nice buy!

Didn't realise it was getting that cheap!

Remap?

 

[Tom|Nbk]

Nice buy!

Didn't realise it was getting that cheap!

Remap?

Remap will only get me around 10BHP more afaik. Not sure if it's worth it?

 

[Morba]

peak bhp isnt the be all and end all though. a remap might take out any flatspots and make the car a bit more responsive across the rev range.

 

[Morba]

Err what? What does it matter what body style the car has? Clearly it doesn't as tom has just changed to a saloon.

If it must be a hatch, then i'd personally have a 3-series touring or something. More practical, better in every way. Myth that they cost much to run.

so first of all you just ignore the hatch, then you ignore the mid sized.
you said there is a better car than a focus for whatever the budget.
i've given you a requirement and a budget and you fail (twice) to find something better than a focus.

never mind eh!

 

[Tom|Nbk]

peak bhp isnt the be all and end all though. a remap might take out any flatspots and make the car a bit more responsive across the rev range.

Understood but with that said I'm not sure it's worth 300+ to me

 

[Morba]

Understood but with that said I'm not sure it's worth 300+ to me

at the moment, unless its to fix a problem, then i would agree, get used to driving what you have at the moment

 

[Jez]

so first of all you just ignore the hatch, then you ignore the mid sized.
you said there is a better car than a focus for whatever the budget.
i've given you a requirement and a budget and you fail (twice) to find something better than a focus.

never mind eh!

How? even with the ridiculous "it must be this, it must be that" to deliberately try and catch it out i have still put that i'd have instead.

£4000 + Mid sized + Hatchback. A 3-series touring is a much better bet than a focus with those requirements, not that i'd ever give a rats arse about needing to meet a silly list like that.

Focus' are complete gash, if we compare to another market they are akin to a bush midi hifi in the audio world. Just...ergh. My personal opinion obviously, you are free to disagree although i cannot for the life of me see what their redeeming features are.

 

[Luseac]

My personal opinion obviously, you are free to disagree although i cannot for the life of me see what their redeeming features are.

Forgetting the whole "But i'd have a BMW for the money" attitude. Do you not think that in a class which contains the Astra/307 etc. They are fairly good at what they are meant to do: Good handling, Good looking (subjective I know), Practical, cheap, reliable motoring.

They are not meant to be as good as a 3 series, because funnily enough they cost half the price.

 

[Jez]

Forgetting the whole "But i'd have a BMW for the money" attitude. Do you not think that in a class which contains the Astra/307 etc. They are fairly good at what they are meant to do: Good handling, Good looking (subjective I know), Practical, cheap, reliable motoring. They are not meant to be as good as a 3 series, because funnily enough they cost half the price.

However they don't cost half the price in a used market which the floor has fallen out of, that being the point In their class they compete very well, but is that really saying a lot?

 

[Conscript]

You can probably see why we all hate focus's etc so much when such good cars are available so cheaply.

Who is we? Focus's are recommended all the time on here

Pretty much. you're the only person one these forums that I've seen slate Focus's so far.

Nice upgrade Tom. Makes you realise how far the values of nice cars has dropped when only two years ago my Focus 1.6 cost just a grand less than that. Enjoy