gangzoom

As much Clarkson is a fool sometimes he does talk some sense... The RCF has two major issues...Weight and Price The RCF had a kerb weight of 1800kg, which means a real life gross weight of probably 2 tons!! The up and coming GSF weighs the same....that has much more space inside for people and luggage...and given similar powe/weight ratio I suspect wouldn't be much slower if at all. The M3, well at over 200kg lighter, you can see why the RCF got thrashed in a drag race... But the irritating thing is Lexus KNOW how to make lighter cars, the IS300H, despite been a hybrid with an additional 2 electric motors and battery pack only weighs about 100kg more than the equivalent 3 series. Than there's the price, the RCF more than £3k more expensive than a M3 in basic form...and the top spec RCF has a OTRP of £68k, even ticking all the options boxes on a M3 your struggle to hit that figure (Carbon brakes excluded). And though BMW isn't doing offers on the M3 at the moment eveyone is waiting for the 15-20% off list price deals to come out....Lexus isn't known for doing big discounts. So ask your selfs, forget the brand, but would you pay £10-15k more for a car that weighs more, has worse power/weight ratio, and is less practical?? I do love our new Lexus IS300H, it makes my BMW 335i look very dated...and though I always said I'll replace the 335i with a Tesla S, if Lexus do an hybrid GSF, I would find it hard to resists But on the RCF....Sorry Lexus but you can do better, a lot better

No sense braking after the crash. I told my parent in laws about the automatic braking....the first thing my mother in law asked when slowing down for a set of traffic lights, was 'Is your foot on the brake' ...I can sort of see her logic, but had to explain the whole point was to try and avoid an accident, not cause one The engine bay is pretty packed!! I thought I take a quick pic, doubt it'll be this clean ever again.

*********updated the post, 400 miles and 10 days in************Post 11********** So after waiting nearly 3 months the replacement to our trusty Civic has arrived…It’s a Lexus IS300H Premier. Electric every thing, internet access, pre-crash braking, surround sound, memory seats, reversing camera and best of all the hybrid drivetrain…All of a sudden my BMW 335i seems very very outdate. I think me and the wife will be fighting for the keys to the Lexus . Did 70 miles today, mixture of M ways (80 mph cruising) and city traffic, fuel gauge hardly moved, computer reporting 47mpg, range of 630 miles...So just a bit better than the 25mpg and 300 miles range I'm currently getting in the 335i . The apparently engine doesn't fully loosen up till 8000 miles, and real world mpg should be around 50-55. Need to give the car a coat of hard sealant, and get some miles in loosen up the engine, but so far 100% happy we choose the Lexus over the Jag XE, Merc C class. They had a nice GS450H in the show room...I'm not quite yet ready to let my 335i go, but the driving around in EV mode around town in the IS really is a surreal experience that I could get use to 100% of the time!!

I think people these days are far too obsessed with warranties/claiming for repairs etc. At the end of the day you don't buy something like a 645i to count the pennies. It's a car, things will break, and when they do you pay to sort it out. If you cannot afford the running costs, sell up and get something cheaper. Life is far too short to spend worrying about car repair costs.....Or may be its just a state of mind you get into when you buy into BMW ownership

Glad your getting on well with the car, these BMWs are high maintenance though, mine is going back to Mitz again in the next few weeks with a leaking radiator....I might as well pre-book the car with him on a monthly basis At least our Civic replacement is arriving this weekend, after been use to 50mpg+ in the Civic, 20-25mpg was abit of a shock. But my wife did point out the Bimmer does cover ground quite quickly

The 'carbon' version with a LSD is £67k, to be fair to Lexus you can spec a M3 to £70k, and currently your struggle to get any thing more than £2k off the list price on a M3, and I bet you wouldn't get a penny off list on the Lexus. My local dealer only offered my £2k off the list price on a £41k IS300H, and that's a car which has been out on the market for over 2 years... Lexus are also very funny about only having specific engines in some markets and not others. For example the IS350 is getting rave reviews in the US, matching and beating the 335i / S4 in many reviews (The Infiniti Q50 usually comes last ). But Lexus don't see a market for the IS350 here in Europe so we just get the IS300H. If you look at howmanyleft, Lexus is probably right, BMW sold more M3/M4 than the 335/435i in 2014. One thing is for sure nice cars are getting expensive theses days

I've seen one in the flesh, looks good/interesting, but not £60-70K good. It's also heavy, 1800kg for that is essentially a 2+2 Coupe. The GS-F on the other-hand is much more interesting, same weight, but size of a 5 series, 5.0 NA V8 ....Though it ONLY outputs 470bhp, which these days seem quite tame compared to the super saloons coming out of Munich/Stuttgart http://www.lexus.co....x#/Introduction

This is same feeling we got when driving home in the Civic after handing back the Lexus IS hybrid after a 24 hr test drive. Infact we are so sold on the EV/Hybrid concept as the future of cars ended up ordering a Lexus hybrid for the wife (Due in the UK next week ), and even got the go ahead from the wife to get a Tesla S when the time comes to get rid of the BMW As for battery concerns...there isnt much. Consumer reports tested a 10 year old Prius thats done 200,000 miles and found hardly any loss in performance. Toyota do a 100,000 mile / 5 year warranty on hybrid units, Tesla do UNLIMITED / 8 year warranty. Currently if my BMW gets through 6 months / 5000 miles without having to vist Mitz for repairs I'll be looking out for flying pigs http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2011/02/the-200-000-mile-question-how-does-the-toyota-prius-hold-up/index.htm?userWantsFull=true

Your struggle to get any UK insurance company to insure on the 'ring, i tried a few brokers in the summer and none wanted anyhting to do with the 'ring. Apparently German law says ALL German insurance companies have to cover the 'ring because it's a toll road, not sure if thats ture, but could explain why the locals go nuts on it because they are covered by default. Try http://www.ultimatedrives.net for route ideas. I used their routes as a guide for the European road trip I did last summer... If you've been on the autobahn before than your know what its like. Personally I didnt enjoy driving in German, not even when doing 140mph legally. The sceneary was mostly as pretty as Brimingham, lots of road works/traffic, and on derestricted bits people just go nuts....I cannot see how they dont have some massive accidents, the speed differential between the outside lane and inside lane is sometimes 100mph+. I did notice though people do have much better lane displane, and most shift off the left lane pretty sharpish when they spot something quicker behind them Anyways, maybe its just we were spolit by driving Switzerland first...Cannot wait to go back there this summer

I looked briefly at the Q50 hybrid as replacement car of the wife, the performance numbers of the hybrid are very good and priced well, but its very hard to tempt people away from the ubiquitous BMW/Audi/Merc. Despite how common they are, the 3 series and C class are very very good cars, with hard to beat running costs interms of company car tax/mpg/road tax, and very good discounts available. We went for Lexus purely because the Lexus hybrid drivetrain suits my wifes needs more, and there was a decent discount off the list price. If it was a car to replace my 335i, than a Q50 hybrid would have been on the short list. Lexus are starting to understand how to play the marketing game by offering a IS version that has no road tax,just enough equipment to keep people happy, and cheap lease/finance deals. Even than Lexus sales figures are hardly noticeable compared to the German brands. I hope Infiniti keeps going in the UK, but I think in the last 2 years I've seen 3 Infiniti's on the road, its good for uniqueness, but cannot see how that can be a sustainable buissness model

I picked up an genuine used SJ4000 (wifi version), with 2 external cases (one waterproof one not) + loads of mounts + spare battery for…£60. It does 1080P, and for the money really good value, and it works with all GoPro mounts. Only compliant is no external microphone jack, but actually internal microphone is fine. At 1/3 the price of some GoPro models I think the SJ4000 is a bargain, I'm going to get a car mount and than pair up the video with audio recorded via my iPhone+external mic. Here's a video I did quickly, plenty of reviews on the web, bare in mind this is compressed non-HD quality, original file is 1080p. Just make sure you get an 'genuine' SJ4000....a lot of the ones on sale ion eBay are fakes.

Best TopGear episode for a while, Clarkson for once taking senses, hybrid/EV is the future of performance motoring. The BMW I have now will be the last internal combustion powered machine I buy.... But the i8 what a waste of time/money, a Tesla S is cheaper/faster/more economical/and a lot more practical

If you want a fast small BMW, pick up a used 135i for <£15K, send it to Birds BMW and get fitted: 1: 430bhp conversion - bigger turbos, intercooler, downpipes etc - £6K 2: Dynamics pack - LSD, Spring, Dampers, Anti-roll bar - £3.2k 3: Alcon brake kit - front - £2.5k = Total price including donor car at £15K = £26.5K, which is a bargain for the performance your getting per £££. Your end up with something that will be more fun, faster (significantly), lighter, and much more unique than any of the current generation M135/235/335/435….and your be saving about £20K compared to a M235i. If I had £30-40K to spend on a small fast BMW that’s what I would do. http://www.birdsauto...adar-april-2011

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_N47#Timing_chain_problems

What's all the excitement about, looks like every other 911/Boxster/Cayman since forever....Might as well get a VW beetle, squash it a bit, and than stick a wing on Says the man that drives a rep mobile

Sorry to hear....Was the NAS an raid set up?? I'm counting on the chance of two hard drive failing at the same time to be pretty remote....Though if the actual NAS unit got stolen I'll be buggered....Recently considered setting up another NAS backup in the garage using powerline plugs. But don't know if that's just over kill interms of backups.

NAS drives all the way for photo/Audio storage. If wifi is a problem just use powerline plugs to creat a Ethernet point (no need to run long network cables). I've been using a synology NAS drive as main storage for my Lightroom and iTune library. Because the Synology is set up as Raid 1.0 i can worry less about hardware failure. I also have cloud storage for the more important photos/documents via FlickR/Drop box. But if you have a Mac, I really recommend having a working TimeMachine back up, be it via a Timecapsule or NAS drive. The system software on my wife's laptop recently got corrupted, which essentially meant I had to reinstall the entire operating system. Normally that a pretty big job, but because we had a uptodate TimeMachine back up, all I had to do was choose 'restore from time machine' option and essentially had the laptop back up and running within a few hours, with no need to install any of the already installed programs. TimeMachine has also saved my bacons few time by allowing me to retrieve important documents/emails that I had accidentally deleted, but only realised 6 months later I wouldn't trust any vital/critical data to be store on just a USB device. I've experinced many USB/hard drive failures over the years, so these days have 2-3 backsups of all my important files!!

So wife's new car is due in a few weeks, and yesterday go the private plate transferred off the Civic. Original plan was just to take the car to WBAC, which have quoted £4K for the Civic. Looking at auto-trader, dealers are asking for £5-5.5k for the car, with private sellers asking for around £5K. Given WBAC is likely to try and knock off 10% of their quote value (no idea if that correct), I may be able to get nearly £1K more for the car if I sold it privately... Only problem is the last time I tried to sell a car privately, it was a total nightmare, wasted time sitting at home waiting for people to turn up, random phone calls/message from time wasters....In the end, PX the thing anyways. What does other people on the forum do?? Put up with the hassle of a private sale for some more £££ or just get rid the quickest/easiest way??

If some one gives me £70k I'll have one tomorrow.....Though prices have come down, a bit, the 380bhp model is now £50k. Use to be about 10% more, with a bit less power. Tesla still reckon they are going to announce a £30k car in 2017, but given how much the Model X is delayed I doubt we'll get a RHD driven £30k Tesla before 2020

I don't quite understand why people have doubts about this car?? £33k for a BRAND NEW RWD 400bhp V8 coupe, no doubt it will have little electronic driving aids, so seasonally it's a good old fashioned NA RWD V8.....Surely that's every petrol heads dream?? And at that price why wouldn't you buy one...I much rather have the Mustang than a M135i/Golf R/AMG Merc. If I didn't have a family, was still single etc I would have pre-ordered one already...probably by re-mortgaging the house

£33K for a brand new V8, with all the equipment you need coming as standard fit....sounds like the bargain...if I was still young (sadly more middle aged these days ), I would be borrowing/begging which ever way I can to raise the funds . Still Ford is either very brave or very stupid to be bringing a V8 to market when everyone else is going the other way, BMW have even mentioned future 4 - 3 cylinder M cars ....Not to mention the New Focus RS is due soon, which I would imagine would be priced at a similar level. Good on Ford, I wish them luck...Lets just hope oil prices don't rocket back up in the next 12 months once Russia, the US, and OPEC decide to stop playing games with each other.

I've worked/trained on a Cardio-Thoracic team in my younger days, assisted in a few dozen bypass operations and have done a fair bit of training in Cardiology. Bypass operations are pretty straight fowards these days, 4hr for a straight foward operation, and if all goes well recovery is quick. But it's still a major operation that involves stopping the heart, intricate surgery on very small blood vessels, and from time to time things do go wrong (Though thankfully rarely). Having suffered a heart attack before the operation makes it more risky, but if the Cardiologst feel that a bypass is urgently needed than they must feel the risk of doing nothing is more than the risk of a urgent operation. So I would try to make the effort to go and see your dad. The recovery phase is just as important as the actual operation, and having a familiar face around can only help... Good luck with your dads OP, and am sure things will be Ok

Great looking car!!

I know a few people here have looked at BMW 335is as possible next cars, thought I share this deal I've seen. Coast2coastcars , brand new F30 335i M sport manual with pro Nav, £30k!!!! As far as I can tell these are new build to order cars, not pre-reg machines sitting in showrooms unsold. That's 24% off RRP, I specced one up with heated memory seats/HUD etc...after discount it's coming out at £35k....Which is an amazing deal, when you consider an Jag XE S is £45k before options, and an specced up S4 after discounts is around £40k. Ok I know the XE/S4 have more BHP on paper, but in the real world the 335s dyno at 310-320 stock, and post remap/chip all are near 400bhp machines. If I didn't love my E90 335i so much I order one in a heart beat, £30k is a bargain for a brand new 335i!! Just bear in mind the reason the 335s are been shifted is because a new face lifted 340i is due. BMW have not released any engine details it'll have a totally new re-designed 3L turbo unit, be about 330 BHP stock, with no doubt better mpg than the engine in the current 335s.

cheers for the advice guys. Think I'll give the film a miss, and wait to see what the paint is like on the car. The CarPro stuff does look good though, but I cannot see my self parting with £400-500 per treatment from a professional detailer.....The kit it self isn't that expensive, so might give it a go my self, but any one who has seen my handy work at cleaning cars knows my idea of polishing isn't really all that good