I feel I've never introduced myself as a newbie, as it seemed a bit premature without an X5 parked outside...
My car background kicked off with a 205GTI 1.9 in miami blue, and no PAS. A legendary car which to be honest I wish I'd never sold. Next I moved on to a TVR Chimera 500 - a stunning car (imho) and breathtakingly quick in a straight line (sledgehammer in the back anyone??). I also loved the way you would feel the deep rumble of a TVR coming before you saw it. Sadly however, it was a right duffer in the reliability department, even by TVR's standards ! I think it broke down 7 times in 18 months so it had to go - usually a flat bed job with another major fault. Next came a Golf V5 which I ended up keeping ever since as it has been such a brilliant little car - quick, comfortable and very reliable. In terms of serious performance cars, I was fortunate to go on a couple of Jonathan Palmer track days - highly recommended if you ever get the chance, as you get to race various track cars round a circuit in a safe environment - and get shouted at to go faster all the time rather than told to slow down as I was expecting! Sadly I discovered that my race talent is mid table, rather than at the top where we all seem to think it is !!
The move to the (much!) bigger X5 has been prompted by all the clobber that goes with our two young children, with the pause in making the move due to the recent economic troubles, and also due to delays in finding the right car. I was ready to pull the trigger on a Q5 a while back, but was shocked with my test drive. Wasn't sure if it was the turbos or the transmission - but enough lag to insulate a drafty mansion in Lapland!
Back to the X5, I'm looking to get the vulnerable parts 3M'd by Armourfend later this week all being well, prior to collecting the car hopefully on Friday. I'll let you know how both go, and look forward to keeping in regular touch on this forum ...
