What next?

[thorny]

Hi guys, would appreciate your opinions/advice on the following: I have a 997 C4S at the moment which I love but feel the need for something more practical (and ideally cheaper!) so my options are: M5, RS4, New Cayenne Turbo (expensive option), or 987 S and Defender/Disco/Older Range Rover. Will probably keep my 911 for the summer and swap in September - at the moment am favouring RS4 with M5 close behind...

Advice please?!

[mbutchers]

RS4 Avant.....if you want practical. My sensible car is an Audi Avant (not RS4 tho..) and I just couldn't think of getting rid of it - it does everything (which at the moment is carting timber etc for loft conversion!). RS4 does the same, but has performance of a TT. Only problem is (for me anyway) is that it's a bit too precious to be taking to the local tip or chucking wood in the back!

[leosayer]

M5 touring coming out soon.....much bigger inside than an RS4.

[mbutchers]

Very true - lots of cash tho'.
IIRC doesn't the M5 require substantial outlay on the service front tho'. I seem to recall Steve Sutcliffe of Autocar spending a fortune on his...?

[thorny]

M5 touring is def an option, out in June I think, expensive though, c. £70k and a while before reasonable price 2nd hand...

[wanta996]

Carefull with buying anything NEW performance oriented by BMW, as there prices are collapsing on the same scale as AMG - By all means there are used bargains to be had, i have also considered more practical options than a 911 and my short list was:-

2 Door Practicality (Used)
CL500/CL55 (Facelift AMG comes with 500bhp!!)
M3 CSL
M6

4 Door Practicality (Used)
E55 AMG
M5
RS4
XJR (Worth looking at - Suprising)
CLS

I wouldnt touch a Cayenne Turbo to be honest, Mpg is close to being a joke and another car thats completley overpriced.IMO

[thorny]

Agree with you re new BMWs, did think about M6 but don't think it offers much more over my 997 in terms of practicality.

M5 or RS4 seems to be the consensus so far...

[wanta996]

Just saw this M5 on the classifieds with a low mileage. I remember when it first came out, Autocar tested it against an F430 and there was not allot in it! Great Car.

www.pistonheads.com/sales/141427.htm

[jamesallum]

Alpina B5 is worth a sniff too www.fastsaloons.com/newsstory.php?reviewField=2567&type=9

[thorny]

Loving the M5 and looks good value too. Went to see one at BMW Swindon the other day which had done 23k and was around £53k. Interesting that no-one has suggested going down the Boxster and LR route...