What Car? - Outgoing 118d M Sport

[55NF]

Hi all........ 60 (Reg)  1 Series Sport is going back soon & not sure what to go for next.  Needs to be that sort of size for the wife.

Anyone driven the A3 Sport?  Will probably end up with another 1 Series but fancy a change

[Chompers]

[quote="55NF"]
Hi all........ 60 (Reg)  1 Series Sport is going back soon & not sure what to go for next.  Needs to be that sort of size for the wife.

Anyone driven the A3 Sport?  Will probably end up with another 1 Series but fancy a change
[/quote]

We were in the same position as you last week. looked at both the A3 and A1, wife prefered the A1. Audi dealer was all but fecking useless  >:D New Merc a class well worth a look, really liked it at Goodwood last year. This will sell well and take sales from the not very pretty new 1er. that being said the new 1er does drive 1000 times better than the old one. Very compliant suspension and knowhere near as crashy. Had a 118d MSport last week for a few days and enjoyed it. New 125d and 135i are supposed to be very rapid, 135i a bit of a handful, dealer has 4 in the bodyshop as we speak  :'(. Will be interested to see what you think and what other cars you are looking at.

[535dboy]

Agree on the merc.

Looks good and is getting good right ups

May look at AMG one when mrs wants to be sensible!!

[55NF]

The ride in our 118d is awful !  Rock hard with RFT , same as the X5.  BMW must surely address this with incoming models.    As you say, the new 1 Series is better, haven't driven it & not keen on the looks tbh.  THe A3 Sport look nice with the Rotor alooys but again, not driven it.  The new Merc A Class just doesn't do anything for me.  Sat in one at the dealers & didn't want to take it out.      I;d like to look at an A5 Coupe but she says it's too big!

[Chompers]

[quote="55NF"]
The ride in our 118d is awful !  Rock hard with RFT , same as the X5.  BMW must surely address this with incoming models.    As you say, the new 1 Series is better, haven't driven it & not keen on the looks tbh.  THe A3 Sport look nice with the Rotor alooys but again, not driven it.  The new Merc A Class just doesn't do anything for me.  Sat in one at the dealers & didn't want to take it out.      I;d like to look at an A5 Coupe but she says it's too big!
[/quote]

Ride was much improved on the new 118d Msport I drove. RFT's are on there 3rd generation now and given the stick BMW has had over them you would think by now they would be making inroads to improve the ride quality.

Surprised by your thoughts on the new A class and as for the A5 coupe, nice looking I guess but the drive and dealer experience tools back to a 3 series.

[535dboy]

New 1 doesn't seem to get any good write ups

I had a 120d sport when they first came out and it left me cold.

[jaynana]

for the first time i like the looks of the 1 seriese.. (not that i'd go for one).

when i saw the adverts of the new A before i knew what it was i wsa thinking 'what's that, looks like they've copied the rear end of the 1'.. and it turned out to be the A! i like the way it looks.

neither would work for me though.. mrs aint gettin one either.  >:(

[55NF]

[quote="Chompers"]
[quote="55NF"]
The ride in our 118d is awful !  Rock hard with RFT , same as the X5.  BMW must surely address this with incoming models.    As you say, the new 1 Series is better, haven't driven it & not keen on the looks tbh.  THe A3 Sport look nice with the Rotor alooys but again, not driven it.  The new Merc A Class just doesn't do anything for me.  Sat in one at the dealers & didn't want to take it out.      I;d like to look at an A5 Coupe but she says it's too big!
[/quote]

Ride was much improved on the new 118d Msport I drove. RFT's are on there 3rd generation now and given the stick BMW has had over them you would think by now they would be making inroads to improve the ride quality.

Surprised by your thoughts on the new A class and as for the A5 coupe, nice looking I guess but the drive and dealer experience tools back to a 3 series.
[/quote]

I visited Audi yesterday & the service was non existent. !  Is this the norm for Audi then?  I had a 225TT Coupe 12 years ago & it seemed ok apart from the igintion coil issue back then

[535dboy]

Like anything it depends on the dealer

Always found BMW ones terrible and yet my Audi one goes beyond the call of duty.

[535dboy]

Ps I had an S3 back at that same time and I believe mine was one of the first ofthe coil packs to go. It was off the road for about 6 weeks in the end.

Dealers were hiring warehouses to store the cars because the revised packs were taking so long to get in

[huck]

Back in 01, I bought a spare coil pack before the huge number of failures took hold....and I actually needed it. Time off road, few minutes.

Back on topic, I really like the new A class. I'm sure with their current design trends that Merc are going to be the new Audi as Audi was, once, the new BMW. What I do like about BMW, though, is that there engine tech(eg performance/economy) always seems a step up from everyone else who always seem to be playing catch up.

Re Audi dealers, I've found them all pathetically useless. Salesmen can't be arsed even when I want to buy a car and after sales was rubbish. All IMO, of course.

[535dboy]

Don't merc claim that their new AMG 4 pot is the most powerful engine in std trim?

[Chompers]

Any Audi dealer i have tried to deal with over my last 5 purchases have all been poor at best and I can't repeat on here what they were at their worst  . As huck states above Audi is the new BMW in car terms, well Audi salemen are the new BMW salesmen of old  >:D

I really was quite keen for Mrs Chompers new car to be a TT or A5 cab with quattro. We have had 6 BMW's over the last 10 years and all have been good but it would have been nice to get 4 wheel drive as our winters do seem to be getting worse and she has longer cross country journeys to do now. However there was no way in hell I was going to pass with her hard earned cash to a dealer or saleman that couldn't give 2 $h1ts!!!

Clearly its all down to first impressions and as 535dboy points out he has had very good service. should that service change in 4 years, he'll be the first to talk with his feet and go elsewhere I'm sure.

@55NF - have you considered the 3er coupe? seem to be some very good deals on the table at the moment.

[quote="535dboy"]
New 1 doesn't seem to get any good write ups[/quote]

135i seems to be well liked, but as I'm sure you are all to aware, Joe public doesn't pay much attention to write ups  )

[quote="535dboy"]
I had a 120d sport when they first came out and it left me cold.
[/quote]

No heated seats then :pokey: 

[535dboy]

Ah yes

Driven the new 135i around brands and on a slalom and that was indeed better

[MJim]

[quote="Chompers"]
... 135i a bit of a handful, dealer has 4 in the bodyshop as we speak ... [/quote]

Nice little earner for them then at BMW rates ...  :'(