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Had a great day today.
Spent the entire driving a...
2006 BMW 530d Sport Automatic.
Yes, the E60. The horrible, ghastly looking Bangleised abomination with the stupid interior and the pathetic I-Drive system.
Well, I'm converted. What a *staggeringly* good car. In the flesh it looks miles better than the pictures and the Sport kit really helps the lines to work. I still don't like the slab sided aspects of its appearance but, generally, it looks dead cool.
Brilliant to drive - like an E39 but just a bit more.. polished? Some of the materials quality in the cabin was not as good as the E39, but other than that, easily on a par. The ride quality with 18's, Sport suspension and runflat tyres is nowhere near as bad as everyone says - it's easily tolerable. Performance is astonishing - even though its an Auto its at least as quick as the manual E39 530d - the engine has 40bhp more power. Overtaking performance is epic - pulled out around a car doing about 50ish and less than 3 seconds later I was well clear of him and on the right side of the road.
There was virtually nothing I didn't like about this car - the engine sounded nothing like a diesel, seriously (I tell a lie - when cold it was distinctly taxi-like but after warmed up..), the automatic gearbox was beautiful - changes were virtually undectable although it did have an annoying tendancy to hunt and shift down when you didnt want it to when pressing on.
Tiptronic is good but if you leave it it WILL shift up for you so it isn't the best substitute for a manual box, the box does have a sport mode though which goes almost to the redline on gear changes.
I loved the autobox around town, it was really nice to drive an auto with a bit of power behind it. Very tempted to get a 530i Sport Auto..
I-Drive? Nowhere near as bad as people make out but you can't help thinking its only there 'becuase they can' rather than becuase there is any real need - I mean you go into Climate and the only option is whether the air out of the centre vent is hot, cold or neutral - all other controls are buttons on the dash.
I got into this car wanting to hate it. I got out of it thinking it was brilliant.
Drove the E60 to the VW dealer where...
We took out a Pheaton 3.0 TDI. Yes, a VW. Yes, I'm not normally a fan of most of the VW range. I didn't get to drive this one but I was a passenger.
Build quality? Not on a par with that in the BMW but pretty damn good. The interior itself was absolutely beautiful - wood everywhere, buttons everywhere, power everything, the seats were very comfortable and air conditioning. Ride quality was astounding from the air suspension, and it was adjustable via the onboard computer. Didn't actually wallow THAT badly for a 2 tonne luxury car. Car looked like it had real presence, and there was zero sense of speed really, just effortless cruising, exactly how a car of this type would be expected.
Bad things? Few quality issues - onboard satnav computer thingy rebooted 4 times during the hour drive, and there was a disconcerting vibration at speeds of above 40mph in full 'comfort' mode, the dealer said the tyres had flatspots. But the main bad thing, and the reason I suspect why they don't sell, is more hard to explain.
There was no sense of occasion. You go in an S Class Benz or a 7 Series or even an A8 and you think 'Yes, I'm in a Merc' - it feels right, it feels luxury. The Pheaton doesn't feel like this. Yes, it's brilliantly comfortable, yes, it's technically wonderful but doesn't give you the feeling of prestige - you cannot help thinking that everyone else thinks you've got a big Passat.
Oh, and the performance was... naff. 0-60 about 8 seconds, 225bhp in a car of this weight just isn't enough - you need the bigger engined version. The V10 TDI sounds like it'd be just the job.
If you don't give a damn about badge, and if sense of occasion is meaningless for you, the Pheaton is a staggeringly good value car. The one we looked at was £34995 - 300 miles on the clock, 3.0 TDI, loaded with everything. Brilliant acheivement and real kudos to VW to building a car of this type.
If the car had an Audi badge on it, it'd be well over £45k.
Fantastic car, wrong badge.
Spent the entire driving a...
2006 BMW 530d Sport Automatic.
Yes, the E60. The horrible, ghastly looking Bangleised abomination with the stupid interior and the pathetic I-Drive system.
Well, I'm converted. What a *staggeringly* good car. In the flesh it looks miles better than the pictures and the Sport kit really helps the lines to work. I still don't like the slab sided aspects of its appearance but, generally, it looks dead cool.
Brilliant to drive - like an E39 but just a bit more.. polished? Some of the materials quality in the cabin was not as good as the E39, but other than that, easily on a par. The ride quality with 18's, Sport suspension and runflat tyres is nowhere near as bad as everyone says - it's easily tolerable. Performance is astonishing - even though its an Auto its at least as quick as the manual E39 530d - the engine has 40bhp more power. Overtaking performance is epic - pulled out around a car doing about 50ish and less than 3 seconds later I was well clear of him and on the right side of the road.
There was virtually nothing I didn't like about this car - the engine sounded nothing like a diesel, seriously (I tell a lie - when cold it was distinctly taxi-like but after warmed up..), the automatic gearbox was beautiful - changes were virtually undectable although it did have an annoying tendancy to hunt and shift down when you didnt want it to when pressing on.
Tiptronic is good but if you leave it it WILL shift up for you so it isn't the best substitute for a manual box, the box does have a sport mode though which goes almost to the redline on gear changes.
I loved the autobox around town, it was really nice to drive an auto with a bit of power behind it. Very tempted to get a 530i Sport Auto..
I-Drive? Nowhere near as bad as people make out but you can't help thinking its only there 'becuase they can' rather than becuase there is any real need - I mean you go into Climate and the only option is whether the air out of the centre vent is hot, cold or neutral - all other controls are buttons on the dash.
I got into this car wanting to hate it. I got out of it thinking it was brilliant.
Drove the E60 to the VW dealer where...
We took out a Pheaton 3.0 TDI. Yes, a VW. Yes, I'm not normally a fan of most of the VW range. I didn't get to drive this one but I was a passenger.
Build quality? Not on a par with that in the BMW but pretty damn good. The interior itself was absolutely beautiful - wood everywhere, buttons everywhere, power everything, the seats were very comfortable and air conditioning. Ride quality was astounding from the air suspension, and it was adjustable via the onboard computer. Didn't actually wallow THAT badly for a 2 tonne luxury car. Car looked like it had real presence, and there was zero sense of speed really, just effortless cruising, exactly how a car of this type would be expected.
Bad things? Few quality issues - onboard satnav computer thingy rebooted 4 times during the hour drive, and there was a disconcerting vibration at speeds of above 40mph in full 'comfort' mode, the dealer said the tyres had flatspots. But the main bad thing, and the reason I suspect why they don't sell, is more hard to explain.
There was no sense of occasion. You go in an S Class Benz or a 7 Series or even an A8 and you think 'Yes, I'm in a Merc' - it feels right, it feels luxury. The Pheaton doesn't feel like this. Yes, it's brilliantly comfortable, yes, it's technically wonderful but doesn't give you the feeling of prestige - you cannot help thinking that everyone else thinks you've got a big Passat.
Oh, and the performance was... naff. 0-60 about 8 seconds, 225bhp in a car of this weight just isn't enough - you need the bigger engined version. The V10 TDI sounds like it'd be just the job.
If you don't give a damn about badge, and if sense of occasion is meaningless for you, the Pheaton is a staggeringly good value car. The one we looked at was £34995 - 300 miles on the clock, 3.0 TDI, loaded with everything. Brilliant acheivement and real kudos to VW to building a car of this type.
If the car had an Audi badge on it, it'd be well over £45k.
Fantastic car, wrong badge.
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- Makes you wonder what an M5 is for, until, you try the M5. 