Evening all

[Dan1502]

Off to pick up my X5 this morning as the sale of my 996 was agreed yesterday (I'm happy and sad at the same time). The dealer's made sure a couple of the dealer activate options I am aware of are active so it's just a case of checking the quality of the paintless dent repair to the very small ding and a final check over and it will be mine. Hopefully I'll be back in time to pop to the DVLA and get the plate transfer started. Then I have to stop myself from rushing into looking into this aux warm up thingy and parrots and such like and just enjoy it for a bit . I've ordered on of those nice slim Garmin 3790t units so will check out the Bluetooth function on that first anyway but I do want to work out if I can get my iphone connected fairly soon for music playing purposes. That said I've just remembered that I have an old 40Gb ipod which I could use as I could just leave that in the car as it's worth very little now.

[x555]

Good luck Dan and don't forget the pics now....... that feeling of going to get yer new motor is great isn't it...........i'm all exited for you fella

[Jalf]

Welcome along, I switched to the big 4x4 world and I've not looked back, enjoy

[Sanj]

Congrats mate - have a wicked day, enjoy it! Great feeling when you go to pick it up!

If it's clean, take some shots!

[Rusty]

I agree, a great feeling as you drive away for the first time, can't believe it was November I picked up mine.

Hope everything goes ok and look forward to the pics

[Dan1502]

Funny that, I never feel excited when I first collect a car. Car buying is such a stressful experience fraught with pitfalls, salesmen etc etc that It's only once I've lived with the car a short while and am confident that I didn't miss anything major in the inspection and have definitely got a goodun that I relax and enjoy it. This wasn't helped by a few last minute issues that needed sorting (and a few that still do). Then there's the full valet as I need to do as clearly my idea of a proper valet differs significantly from the dealers. First impressions driving it home are that it's a solid car, comfortable and quite a nice feeling to be sat higher up and being able to see ahead more easily but I think I will really miss the Porsche. Hopefully one day I'll be able to get another of some sort as a second car.

I'll probably wait until I've cleaned polished and waxed it before posting pics, not that it doesn't look decent as it is.

Oh and I went to the petrol station as it was nearly empty - first time I've spent 3 figures £115!!

[Chompers]

Glad you got the 'X' Dan Very rare for a dealers valet to ever meet buyers expectaions, all they do is half heartedly hoover out interior, throw some polish at the body work and black the tyres!!!! as for things that still need doing to the car, I still can't believe dealers don't get things sorted before handover If there is one way to p!$$ of a new customer this is it. Would much rather weight a few days longer and have the vehicle right than have it rushed through, its not even the end of the month!!!! Hope all gets sorted asap and with minimal/no agro to you.

On a final note I think it is about time members on here started to mention what dealer they had bought their car from and what service they receieved, this would help build up a picture of the sort of service individual dealers gave. Any thoughts anyone?

[Turks]

The car will definitely grow on you Dan. I can't think of anything I could justify swapping mine for. I think i'll keep it for a few years and keep the pennies in the IOM... I mean in the bank... cough.

Chompers, agree with your thought about dealer experience. I think there definitely should be some sort of area available or a single post on good experince and one on bad so people can make their minds up or at least be armed with someone elses experiences so people aren't either let down by the dealer... never know you might be pleasantly surprised! Should be thought about but it will have to be monitored carefully with it being public...


Turks.

[Dan1502]

I would be happy to write up my buying experience once it's complete (good and bad) but would probably not name the dealer in the forum. Private messages are better for that. ie Does anyone have any experience of xyz? Replies by PM

[Dan1502]

Day 1 of my valet has now been completed. The weather's been awful and unfortunately I don't have a garage so I have started on the interior. I used Autoglym leather cleaner first and whilst most of the leather was very clean as it's hardly been used, the drivers area and front armrest neading doing and came up a treat. I left it over night to dry off then spent much of today using Autoglym leather care cream which took longer than I'm used to due to the size of the car. It now looks very close to new apart from a couple of edges on the drivers seat which I might get done professionally though they're not exactly bad anyway. I then just had time to clean the rest of the interior excluding the boot and carpets for which I use a damp very slightly soapy microfibre cloth. The carpets are very clean apart from a couple of patches which, along with the boot area, is my next job.

Hopefully the weather will improve soon such that I can clay, polish and wax the exterior, treat all the plastics and rubber etc. I'm also considering having the underbody etc professionally treated with a sealant but will wait until spring for this so the salt's off the roads and it can be cleaned thoroughly and properly dried first.

I tend to do throroughly valet all my cars just after I get them as it then makes it easy to keep tip top going forward. That said I'm perhaps going even further than usual with this one as with it being such low mileage and one owner I think it could be a longer term keeper. I've said that before though

[Dan1502]

Though the condition was good anyway, these are taken after having treated and cleaned the leather and cleaned the interior and washed, clayed (Bilt Hamber Auto Clay - brilliant stuff), hand polished and waxed it and I gave the exterior plastics and rubber a quick treatment.







It would look a lot shinier but the light was fading, the temperature had dropped and most of it was covered in a thin film of condensation.

[Turks]

Looks great mate, nice job!

Really need to get mine booked in for a detail and a few little scratches sorted in the body shop!


Turks.

[Dan1502]

Thanks. There are a few minor scratches which would have come out with a machine polish but I don't trust myself with one of those. Apart from that there are just a few stone chips, one tiny deeper scratch (from a stone I guess) and a small touched up scratch/very slight dent which would need sorting professionally. I'll probably get that attended to and leave it at that. I get the impression it had hardly been washed which was a worry at first but the clay removed all the film and I think it has actually turned out to be a good thing as there's very little if any swirling.