[TW]Fox;24690842 said:
...I thought you might react that way, tbh I went in half expecting a dreadful ride and a crap interior, but that's not what I found, not on the facelifted SE I am buying anyway, and the 2 litre petrol engine packs more of a punch than I was expecting it too, it's also smoother than I thought it would be (the autobox is really smooth, makes the X350 Jag ones seem rather jerky tbh). I couldn't find a facelift 6 pot with the right colour/trim combo and an autobox within budget from the Approved Used scheme anyway.
However, I'm not going to talk about my new car in someone else's thread about a totally different car.
Thumbs up with regards to the Volvo anyway, it's not as good as the BMW, but then you can buy them a lot cheaper, but it's better than a Focus or an Astra or many of it's bigger rivals.
* Fox it doesn't have iDrive, it has an autobox, leather and metallic paint ...I think that's about it for options, it's an SE spec, I suppose I 'could' have stretched to an M sport but tbh I didn't think it was worth it, although you get a better steering wheel and it looks a little better externally ...it does give up ride quality for that, noticeably I found. You'll see it when I post a thread up when I actually get it anyway. My other serious considerations were the Mercedes C 180/200K Auto, the Honda Accord 2.0 Auto, Skoda Superb 1.8T DSG, Octavia vRS and the Golf GTI DSG. The BMW beat them all out, I drove all of them except the 200K variant of the C class, I only drove the C180K and the C class was the only car listed to give the BMW a serious run for it's money, indeed the 320i was the last car of this lot I drove too and I really found it to be the best for various reasons that I would be more than happy to go into when I make a new car thread. The VAG group cars more or less eliminated themselves though due to the DSG box, it's nice enough and very quick to change ...but for my driving style and for refinement I prefer traditional torque converter autos ...leaving the BMW, the Mercedes and the Honda ...BMW knocked the Honda out without much effort ...Mercedes ...ehhh not bad, but not as engaging to drive and the interior isn't as nice. Thus I ended up with a 320i by testing various cars and by process of elimination, there can be only one ...kind of like highlander. I used to find it difficult to appreciate any BMW that wasn't top of the range for what it is, when I drove a 330CI, however, based on my criteria now ...the lower end of the range made a pretty darn good set of reasons for existing. Premium compact executive cars that aren't as expensive to buy or run basically, it doesn't need to be all that fast, just not 'slow' and relaxing to drive with leather, light interior, comfortable seats and a smooth autobox, 'nice' steering and the ability to connect an MP3 without modification.
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