Well, I finally took the plunge yesterday. After a lot of thinking, I decided the Volvo (and other rivals) was just too big. I came to that realisation a couple of weeks ago when meeting a client in the centre of the city. There's a good, cheap (by Sydney standards) car park close to her office. But while it was easy enough to get the C-class in there, I'd have struggled in the Volvo, or any of the other big 7-seat SUVs. So I'd be stuck parking miles away from meetings, which is no good at all. The inconvenience would outweigh the comfort. Even if I could do it - and I probably could, given all the driver aids, with the radars and the 360-degree cameras and all that - the person parking next to me would not have all of this, so they would unquestionably crash into me. I get enough car-park dings as it is, so a car that would make the situation worse would just annoy me. I still need an enormous cargo area and I still want some luxury. So I tried these..... Mercedes GLC. It had a very nice interior, and it was really comfortable. But they really hold their value over the first three years, so it was still fairly dear. And, unless you buy an AMG, they're only available as diesels here, and that Merc 220/250 diesel engine is not quiet. I was surprised that this car was as loud as my eight-year-old diesel C-class. Audi Q5. It was very comfortable indeed. But the whole dash area was just a bit meh. It didn't feel that special. And I don't really like black interiors, but that seems to be the only option on post-2015 Q5s here. Jaguar F-pace. They're still pretty new here, so I couldn't get an oldish one. And the boot was a bit small. Nice car, though. Volvo XC60. Again, the new model is still pretty new here, and they haven't even started to depreciate, so I'd have to get an ex-demo and take most of the depreciation hit. Otherwise it was nice. I love the instrumentation panels and the seats. It's very hard to find one with a panoramic sunroof here. BMW X3. The new shape has only just been released here, but the previous model remains nice, and is still modern. The boot was absolutely massive, and there's heaps of room in the back seat, but the car is still reasonably small. The engine (the 20d) was the quietest and smoothest, and most responsive) of any of the cars I tested. Of course, it does have the standard BMW problems: there's that warp in the windscreen that makes you think you're a safe distance from the car in front on the highway when you're actually about 6 inches from its rear, and the self-parking system will only park in disabled spaces or across pedestrian crossings. But I am sure I can override these problems with my socialist motoring techniques. I didn't expect to like the X3, but I really did. And so did wife. The local dealer had an absolute bargain. It was one I really liked, because it had a cream interior and a panoramic sunroof, which were two things I very much wanted. It was a December 2017 (registered in in 2018), ex-BMW-fleet one. It's done 3,000km, but it was A$30,000 (US$22,000) less than it would have been new, and a good A$18,000 cheaper than anything else the same age (with many more kms). And you know how much I love a bargain. Looking at used prices here, it seems that it's already done the bulk of its depreciation for its first three or four years: if I keep this car for three or four years, it'll lose less than A$12,000 from where it is now. There were two reasons it was so cheap. The basic part is of course that it's a superseded model. But the bigger part was specific to BMW dealers now. They always give you a courtesy car for any service work. I don't know what the deal is in the US, but in Australia, the Takata recall for BMW started about a year ago, and this meant that there was suddenly a surge in BMW dealers' need for courtesy cars. They used a load of X3s, all over the country, and they're now having to get rid of them, so they're selling them at a huge discount. I pick it up on Friday (or maybe Thursday). I'm really pleased with it.
Easy. I got a full-size upright freezer into the Merc. So a chifferobe in this BMW would be no problem.
Mr. Bean videos got unlinked from joy when dentist screened them for me during a root canal. All y'others, keep enjoying.
A thought came to me on a recent trip. I don't really need a station wagon form factor if I have a small trailer I can tow behind. So I'm pondering a Model 3 with trailer hitch for the occasional 10 mile trip to the landfill. For the 5 people 5000 mile trips I can rent. I don't need to buy the car to match the biggest need I'll ever have if the exceptions can be handled fairly easily.
Thank you! I shall be staying on here, though. MBWorld put me off German car forums for life, so I won't be seeking out a BMW forum. MBWorld's motto should be "Your Mercedes can be any colour you like, but your skin MUST be white." Horrible people. So I shall remain a Prius owner at heart, even though I don't have one any more.
Among animals, humans (and primates generally) are rather boring about superficial colouration*. Most other taxa are more variable/creative. Cephalopods rule. We communicate in other ways, which might be seen as incomplete. Pigments for made objects partially fills this gap.
Birds and their ancestors lack prominent male devices, with some ducks swimming against that current . But this is now a BMW thread, so vroom vroom and let all the rest wash off your backs.
Have you got the Hello Kitty wrap on order yet? There's an almost infinite variety of art to cover your car with - surely you should be able to proclaim your interests by personalising your new-to-you car.
Didn't Toyota (or maybe Mitsubishi) have a concept car that would change colour to communicate the driver's mood?
