Having had various 'mass market' cars over the years, varying from a Volvo 340, Rover 214i, Peugeot 306 GTI-6 and a Seat Leon Cupra 180 as well as my last car, a Mk.3 Ford Focus 1.6 Ecoboost 182 I'd never gone fully German, although some would say the Seat is German in a Spanish frock. That is until now.
A Parental offer of a fat wedge after one of their investments matured together with £2.5k in the bank and £4k in my Focus put me on the hunt for something a little bit up market. First I was looking at Renaultsport Megane's but I test drove one and it didn't really feel special enough, although the test drive was limited due to traffic and a stern warning not to exceed 50MPH on the trade plates! I even considered a Lexus ISF but figured perhaps a 5L V8 might be pushing the boat out a little bit far, although apparently they're ultra reliable with only one or two major issues, likely to have been fixed by now. Maybe next time!
I'd always liked the BMW 4 series and the Gran Coupe especially. I actually think the GC looks better proportioned than the standard 3 door coupé. I test drove a BMW AUC manual 420i Auto and it certainly gave me that prestige feeling I was after but I was also after a step up in performance which, compared to my Focus 182 just wasn't there in the 420i. I then test drive a standard Coupe 428i Auto which scratched the itch much more, but I still wanted a GC so the search was on for a 428i GC Auto in M Sport guise. And, it turned out, they're like rocking horse ****. There were three in the country in my price range when I first looked on Autotrader! One had 88,000 miles (no thanks, that was more than my 2012 Focus!), one was a Cat S which, after paying for a VCheck was flood damage. I doubt the car and electrics would ever be right again TBH so avoided that like a Home England game after the pubs have been open for 10 hours on a warm summers day. The third was a Luxury version and I had my heart set on a M Sport.
Three weeks later this one popped up in Ipswich at Hammond Cars. I'm, lets just say, very not in Ipswich. There was another in South Wales too which was £1k cheaper but had 7k more miles. A quick discussion about the price via email, both for trade in and the price for the car itself and a deal was struck. £17,750, down from £18k on the button, £4,250 for my car sight unseen but it was well looked after, 4 good Continental Premium Contact tyres, recently serviced in April, new Battery in May, even brand new floor mats all round earlier this year too and MOT end of September and on arrival they honoured my price.
Everyone was happy, deposit paid and I drove down last Friday. I left Central Scotland at 8AM, down the M74 then across the A66 which, in hindsight was an error. Traffic was a nightmare on this section and there were quite a few roadworks on the A1M as well but I got to Ipswich just after 4pm. Quick look round the car, exactly as described and utterly spotless. paperwork signed, money transferred via phone app and I left there about 5pm.
Filled up at the Asda just round the corner, a small disaster, the tether for the fuel cap snapped in two. Not a huge issue and nothing I was going back to the dealer to complain about, the cap still sits in it's resting place on the fuel door so no harm done. It was likely softened over the years by Petrol fumes and is a cheap(ish) replacement.
I didn't count the mileage as the long run home isn't really my typical use and the car took nearly £60 to brim so clearly a much bigger tank than my Focus. I decided to follow the A14 across the Midlands and hit the M6 instead of back up the A1M with all the roadworks. I've been up and down the M6 dozens of times so know the road well. The car performed faultlessly as you'd expect. The seats gripped me in places I wasn't used to and I had to play around with the seat and wheel a little as the journey up I felt I was 'hanging on' to the wheel rather than holding on to it. The Cruise Control was put to good use and actually being able to play music through the car from my phone was a revelation!
I arrived back at 1:20AM having, er, done the speed limit all the way up the M6 in case any police are reading. Traffic at that time of night was mostly trucks so it made for easy progress. The 8 speed auto gearbox is a revelation, 70MPH was only 1,900 RPM compared to about 2,600rpm in my Focus. It even did a very impressive 46MPG.
Anyway, I've filled up once since then but hardly been anywhere, my parents and the shops so only about 15 miles since that fill up. It's a car I plan to keep for a good while, 5 years at least so I'll try and keep this thread up to date. I noticed there were a few 4 series GC threads started on Pistonheads but they all petered out after a year or so, perhaps they were leases or got sold on. Anyway, last fill up was £58.51, 45.39 Litres at 128.9 per litre and at 30,917 miles. I added around 500 miles in eight hours!
