Martin2

I wouldn't have expected anything less! 😁 The neighbours directly opposite so use a bucket and throw it over the car!! It's an excellent bit of design that works really well, much better than the hard strips of plastic on a strip that most seem to be. It's worth keeping one in the car for when you don't have access to warmish water and who knows, you might even like it....face your fears!

Laser cut, diamond polished, temperature isolating neoprene holder....enough to cure you? 😁 https://swedishicescraper.se (c£15 on Amazon iirc)

😂 When it's on your own drive it's not an issue, but it does annoy me when neighbours chuck buckets of water over the car and it creases an Ice rink, especially the extra inconsiderate ones who park close to where the paths are.

Use a decent leather cleaner regularly and don't sit on the bolster as you get into the seat, it's a bit late now but should stop it getting any worse. We've had our R with Vienna leather from new, so 5.5 years / 52,000 miles and there isn't any sag or creasing in the leather. Must make it worth a couple of £k more! 😁

It's quicker / easier to use a decent ice scraper, especially when you're not at home plus I don't think letting the engine idle from cold is a good thing to do? I bought a 'Swedish Ice Scraper' years ago which clears even thick ice very quickly and you don't get any re-freezing when it's really cold. Not something I've had to worry about for the last 5 years though as the RR had a diesel powered pre heater (great, as it warmed the water in the engine, so never had a really cold start) and my current car pre-heats/pre-cools from the hybrid system. So warm/defrosted car for me every time and the Golf lives in the garage. Another vote for a heated windscreen, it was a benefit even when I had the pre-heater.

Do you have the rubber strips in the boot floor? I think that’s the extended storage. They are pretty interesting, the rubber strips are flush so it’s easy to slide things in/out and then you’re on the move they raise up to stop things sliding around. If you need any BMW info, let me know….I’ve had 4 over the years, last one was a 2017 750i which I had until 3.5 years ago.

That’s really nice, I’ve a soft spot for these. It’s definitely a worthy replacement for the R and the best colour and wheels available on the M340. Bit surprised about it missing some fairly basic bits, does it have the comfort or comfort plus pack? BMW estates usually have good underfloor storage as well.

The CCs are much better than winter tyres when it’s double figures and means you can comfortably run them from November to March / April, I do think it’s worth swapping them for summer wheels and tyres on a performance car. I will probably say something different after swapping them over on 2 cars in the next couple of weeks. The 18s and 19s on the Golf aren’t too bad, but mine are a bit of a handful as the summer rears are 315/30 x 21 and the winters are 315/35 x 20……still not as heavy as the narrower 19” wheels with RFTs in my 7 series though. I used to have a good mobile tyre guy who swapped them all over, but he’s not in that business any more.

We’ve been running CCs on a set of 18” wheels for 5 years and they’re brilliant in UK winters, because they are good in snow / wet & cold plus they still work when the temperature is in double figures.

Now I’m confused! 😂

I looked couple of weeks ago and isn't that the price with the 'additional service items, so a couple of filters and a spark plug change. The normal 2 x services, so a like for like comparison with your £490 is £360.

I challenge that, although my example isn’t really a button. The temp adjustment in my car is a knurled metal switch which falls easily to hand. It’s so nice I occasionally tweak the temperature just to use it, not something I normally do with a decent climate control system. 😆 I’ve said it before, but a really good voice control system is the best solution for safe driving and making adjustments. I’ve had mixed experiences over the years, but my 2017 BMW 7 series and my current car are both really good examples. My last car (Range Rover) was pretty woeful, it could just about recognise you wanting to call someone in your phone book, but anything more complex than that was very hit and miss.

I run a winter setup on both cars (CrossClimate on the Golf, Michelin winters on mine), so the cold weather performance isn't so much of an issue. I'm really happy with the PS4S on the Golf and it's an option when I change mine, which is currently on 5Ps but they are a very different (much more 'sticky' with a higher wear rate) than the standard version of that tyre we had on the Golf. Options for mine in ND0 designation include the 4S, but I see they are now producing the SC7 and PS S5 as well, with the Conti quite a bit cheaper. At £1500-£1700 a set I want to get it right!

The budget has stepped up a bit over the last 5 years and my mileage has reduced by about 50% as well which helps, as has buying cars with better residuals and being in the position to but the last 4 cars with cash. When I bought my (pre reg) 750i back in 2018 I was doing over 30,000 miles a year, that’s eye watering depreciation, my current car cost nearly double to buy but won’t cost much more over the next 3 years. We bought the Golf because my wife really liked it, a hot hatch made sense and it was the best option we tested. It replaced a Boxster which we’d had for 4 years and we could have spent more, but I buy what I want / like and passes my value test. Porsche servicing isn’t as bad as a lot of people think. The servicing intervals are 2 years / 20k miles and when it’s not the current model it moves to fixed price servicing. Extended warranty costs aren’t that expensive either. Compare that to my last car which was a 2018 Range Rover, servicing was every 10k miles max, cost between £850 - £1,400 and the extended warranty was £1,365 a year….then you have insurance! Thankfully due to the market over the last few years, depreciation was a lot lower than I expected.

Makes more sense and the original plan was a new/nearly new 992 GTS for me and a 2020 Macan Turbo as the family car and Golf replacement, it does feels better value in the £60-65k price range. That plan changed for a couple of reasons, mainly because I didn’t think I’d get enough use from a 911 as it wouldn’t feel right using it for work. So I bought a Panamera, which is quite a step up from the latest Macan GTS imo and the search goes on for a Golf replacement. Current favourites are a Boxster GTS 4.0 or a 2-3 year old 992 S….that feels a bit daft when I’d convinced myself a 911 wasn’t a great idea 6 months ago, but it’s an itch that is unlikely to go away (my wife has told me not to worry about others and I have to get one next time!) and the reaction to having a Porsche at work has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve never had a car that’s attracted so many positive comments and I’ve not heard anything negative. It does look stunning though! 😁