sdh2903
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| posted on 4/8/13 at 09:39 PM |
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Good man! Bet it feels a bit different to the aygo
Ive bought a few cars now from far away and really enjoy the long journey home getting to know them. Luckily I havent been stung by a bad one yet. I
have bought a 306 gti from southampton. Golf gti from elgin. St220 from east anglia but the best drive home was in an st170 from Stornoway! The seller
even paid my ferry tickets and a tank of fuel. My last purchase felt a bit hollow buying it from glasgow 15 miles away
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quinnj3
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| posted on 4/8/13 at 09:47 PM |
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My wife owns a 2008 CDTI Astra and really wanted to change it as it is not a nice drive at all. I always feel uncomfortable in the car whilst she is
driving. So anyway we decided to look around and came across a 2004 525d SE model (Bangle shape)which seemed in reasonable condition bar a lack of
service history and needing a little tidying up. I thought it would be too big for swmbo but to her credit after a day or so with it she stopped
rubbing the inside ditch as she couldn't get her head around the shear scale of the thing. It wasn't long before I felt comfortable with
her driving and would usually jump in the passenger seat when going on a run. It was such a comfortable car to sit in and also beautiful to drive as
well. In the end we couldn't sell the Astra without taking a huge loss so had to sell the BMW.
In the 6 months of BMW 525d ownership I carried out a very detailed service and whilst getting genuine parts I enquired about a service history from
my local BMW garage. They checked it out and it turns out the car had been clocked. It's hard to say how many genuine miles were on it when I
had it as in 2008 the car was recorded as being serviced with 109K on it and when I bought it there was 101K on it in 2012.  Anyway I explained
the situation to all interested people and fortunately got a young lad who liked to get his hands dirty and wasn't bothered about the mileage.
I had to take a decent loss on this car as well but not as much as with the Astra. I'd like to own another 5 series again as they are epic
family cruising machines.
Enjoy the new motor and don't worry about costs 'till they arise. If you like to do your own servicing, getting the genuine (rip-off) BMW
diagnostic software off the internet is essential and easily got on Ebay etc. Servicing the big motor is actually very easy, I had the inlet manifold
off mine to replace the inlet seals which truned out to be a piece of cake. Parts aren't extortionate either. Personally I own an Alfa 159 and
the costs for standard service items for this is loads worse.
my aim is to build my own locost wether it takes me a week or 10 years to get started, i'm sure i will sometime
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hobbsy
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| posted on 5/8/13 at 02:05 AM |
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I wouldn't mind one of these. Shame they don't do a manual box to take the torque. Would want a remap and a Quaife diff regardless 
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jossey
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| posted on 5/8/13 at 09:22 AM |
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Glad you got it... Above are some examples of what can go wrong but they are great cars and I hope and expect yours will be fine for many many
miles.
My 525d stayed with me until 220,000 miles then sold for £3800 great car. Only needed a few bushes n dpf filter.
If I could go back in time I would. Get the dpf filter removed... More power n less carbon build up etc.... It will still pass an mot.
Thanks
David Johnson
Building my tiger avon slowly but surely.
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matt_gsxr
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| posted on 5/8/13 at 11:18 AM |
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If you pop a set of roof bars on and a fluorescent jacket then I suspect you will clear the route down the fast lane quite nicely.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 5/8/13 at 11:39 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by matt_gsxr
If you pop a set of roof bars on and a fluorescent jacket then I suspect you will clear the route down the fast lane quite nicely.
My old white Rover 623 used to have the same mysterious effect........
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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Ninehigh
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| posted on 5/8/13 at 11:59 AM |
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My Astra had a similar effect, park up on the junction to a shop at night and all the hooligans would drive by really slowly
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Simon
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| posted on 7/8/13 at 10:50 PM |
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Not heard from Craig, so I'm guessing he's still pushing it home
ATB
Simon
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craig1410
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| posted on 20/10/13 at 12:15 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Simon
Not heard from Craig, so I'm guessing he's still pushing it home
Well, it's close to 2 tons so it took a bit longer than usual... 
Sorry guys, I just realised I never followed up on my last post back in August. I've decided to service the car myself and rather than just
scribble some notes in the log book, I decided to compile the service history on my web site as a blog. I only started that last night which is when I
realised I hadn't posted an update here.
You can see the blog here if you are interested: http://www.meerkats.uk.com/log-book
The short(er) story is that the car got home safely and has been running great these last two and a half months. Carbase sent me a new front grill for
the car as the old one had broken clips on one side and I got some money off the asking price to allow me to repair some damage to the side skirt
under the car. It looked like the previous owner had manoeuvred over a high kerb or something and had knocked the plastic jacking block out and popped
some of the skirt fixings. It's minor though and only visible from underneath. Other than that and some question marks over the accuracy of the
service indicator, it's been all good. It is certainly an excellent travelling companion!
Apologies once again for this belated update.
Cheers,
Craig.
[Edited on 20/10/2013 by craig1410]
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