12 Cylinders of Joy! Plus another 8
Discussion
The 'Garage' is complete!
After several months of daily (sometimes moreso) of the usual car selling formats Autotrader, Ebay, Forums, FB etc I've found the car to complete our driveway.
All started in the Spring when we had 3 car between my wife and I that were similar in size, heavy on RFL or 'tax' and all struggled to break 32mpg on a decent run. Our daughter is also due to start learning to drive and none of the 3 were all that suitable. This meant a bit of wheeling and dealing!
First out was my beloved XC70 D5. Bought for 4k then sunk almost the same in over 3 years of ownership but I loved the Estate flexibility, AWD and the mix of not car height but not SUV either.
This allowed the purchase of my mates Grandfather's 64plate 1.2 Clio. 11 years old and 19k miles. Needed alot of cleaning. Paintwork is bleached a bit in the sun but otherwise mechanically brilliant after a full service and replacement of the Media Nav screen for a Chinesium Android Unit off of Ebay. No instructions, alot of headscratching and swearing but it is a great unit now Ive worked my way around it!
In amongst all of this we sadly lost my father in law. Due to a disability he had a WAV. Rather than sell the WAV (it meant alot to him he had some independence) we converted it with a bootjump and now use it on eee nights away/sleep before hillwalking or as an additional bed at the Caravan!
What great packages these things are!
Next to arrive was the 'Family Car'. Wife would be swapping for her '12 CR-V. A good car but not powerful enough to pull our caravan if needed.
This was the 1st treat. My wife works locally - her commute is only 4 miles as a round trip! Plan was for me to commute in the Clio until my daughter passed her test so it needed to be a 'do it all'. She wanted a XC60. D5, as robust as they/few issues with DPF recorded I still had my concerns. We eventually agreed - Petrol power. 2 litre units were 'meh' and id read of many issues with them in the 2nd Gen. So - 3litres, 304bhp and Straight 6 it was!
We travelled Glasgow- London to get her - a JDM 2014 model with 44k. Immaculate as all Imports seem to be. She is in absolute love with the beast and the car has been faultless since we got it in Early July.
Out
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|https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/647783/202511157413366[/url]
In
A bit of a rest was needed
After the summer it was recognised there still needed some change. We had a cracking wee C30 T5. We loved using it as a weekend toy. But we were not using it enough, my elderly dog was struggling in/out of the XC60 and my wife couldn't lift her easily and, as good as the Clio was, going from a torquey Volvo Auto Estate to a 1.2 n/a manual for a 40 mile daily round trip on a 50/50 mix of nose to tail and 70mph clear route motorway was becoming a bind.
So. After lots of will we wont we... the T5 left us
[
So. Next 'treat'
I wanted a car that had decent mpg but decent torque. Auto was also high up due to the commute in regular busy traffic. I was between a D5 Volvo -S60,80, V70, XC60 and 70's were all watched/checked. I went between £750 Sheds to £11k vehicles that had low miles/FVSH. Then I came across a saloon on Gumtree. 80k, 2010 with good history 20miles away. More importantly it had a 3litre V6 diesel engine - a C350 Saloon.
Unfortunately I missed out and it had sold before I could message. But it started the process. I went between C and E Classes - stipulation was V6 and Estate. None, of course, every near.
For near 3 months I've looked and looked. Rare. Super high miles, so far away/convoluted to get to or overpriced based on condition.
Then I stumbled upon this. Read perfect, had all the 'tick boxes' (low owner, well written blub but not AI, full service history, matching tyres all round, not moon miles etc) reasonably priced, not a million miles away and, when you engaged with the seller, he wrote back timeously and seemed very genuine and enthusiastic about his car.
So here she is. A facelift C350cdi Estate. 265bhp 3 litre V6 diesel. Car is immaculate. The seller an absolute gentleman who looked after this car impeccably and was a delight to deal with. It drove our 270 return trip home beautifully- quiet, smooth with power on tap when needed. I dont plan to do much with it - maybe fit a carplay module behind the stereo but otherwise than that the work will be to maintain to the condition/standard of the previous owner!
His n her V6's. A fun run back to Scotland today (seeing i didn't 'Shell Garage' the XC in July i did it today!
C350
XC Dryrobe necessary - Weather was brutal!
After several months of daily (sometimes moreso) of the usual car selling formats Autotrader, Ebay, Forums, FB etc I've found the car to complete our driveway.
All started in the Spring when we had 3 car between my wife and I that were similar in size, heavy on RFL or 'tax' and all struggled to break 32mpg on a decent run. Our daughter is also due to start learning to drive and none of the 3 were all that suitable. This meant a bit of wheeling and dealing!
First out was my beloved XC70 D5. Bought for 4k then sunk almost the same in over 3 years of ownership but I loved the Estate flexibility, AWD and the mix of not car height but not SUV either.
This allowed the purchase of my mates Grandfather's 64plate 1.2 Clio. 11 years old and 19k miles. Needed alot of cleaning. Paintwork is bleached a bit in the sun but otherwise mechanically brilliant after a full service and replacement of the Media Nav screen for a Chinesium Android Unit off of Ebay. No instructions, alot of headscratching and swearing but it is a great unit now Ive worked my way around it!
In amongst all of this we sadly lost my father in law. Due to a disability he had a WAV. Rather than sell the WAV (it meant alot to him he had some independence) we converted it with a bootjump and now use it on eee nights away/sleep before hillwalking or as an additional bed at the Caravan!
What great packages these things are!
Next to arrive was the 'Family Car'. Wife would be swapping for her '12 CR-V. A good car but not powerful enough to pull our caravan if needed.
This was the 1st treat. My wife works locally - her commute is only 4 miles as a round trip! Plan was for me to commute in the Clio until my daughter passed her test so it needed to be a 'do it all'. She wanted a XC60. D5, as robust as they/few issues with DPF recorded I still had my concerns. We eventually agreed - Petrol power. 2 litre units were 'meh' and id read of many issues with them in the 2nd Gen. So - 3litres, 304bhp and Straight 6 it was!
We travelled Glasgow- London to get her - a JDM 2014 model with 44k. Immaculate as all Imports seem to be. She is in absolute love with the beast and the car has been faultless since we got it in Early July.
Out
url]
In
A bit of a rest was needed
After the summer it was recognised there still needed some change. We had a cracking wee C30 T5. We loved using it as a weekend toy. But we were not using it enough, my elderly dog was struggling in/out of the XC60 and my wife couldn't lift her easily and, as good as the Clio was, going from a torquey Volvo Auto Estate to a 1.2 n/a manual for a 40 mile daily round trip on a 50/50 mix of nose to tail and 70mph clear route motorway was becoming a bind.
So. After lots of will we wont we... the T5 left us
[
So. Next 'treat'
I wanted a car that had decent mpg but decent torque. Auto was also high up due to the commute in regular busy traffic. I was between a D5 Volvo -S60,80, V70, XC60 and 70's were all watched/checked. I went between £750 Sheds to £11k vehicles that had low miles/FVSH. Then I came across a saloon on Gumtree. 80k, 2010 with good history 20miles away. More importantly it had a 3litre V6 diesel engine - a C350 Saloon.
Unfortunately I missed out and it had sold before I could message. But it started the process. I went between C and E Classes - stipulation was V6 and Estate. None, of course, every near.
For near 3 months I've looked and looked. Rare. Super high miles, so far away/convoluted to get to or overpriced based on condition.
Then I stumbled upon this. Read perfect, had all the 'tick boxes' (low owner, well written blub but not AI, full service history, matching tyres all round, not moon miles etc) reasonably priced, not a million miles away and, when you engaged with the seller, he wrote back timeously and seemed very genuine and enthusiastic about his car.
So here she is. A facelift C350cdi Estate. 265bhp 3 litre V6 diesel. Car is immaculate. The seller an absolute gentleman who looked after this car impeccably and was a delight to deal with. It drove our 270 return trip home beautifully- quiet, smooth with power on tap when needed. I dont plan to do much with it - maybe fit a carplay module behind the stereo but otherwise than that the work will be to maintain to the condition/standard of the previous owner!
His n her V6's. A fun run back to Scotland today (seeing i didn't 'Shell Garage' the XC in July i did it today!
C350
XC Dryrobe necessary - Weather was brutal!
Edited by Doc_Love on Saturday 15th November 20:40
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