The car looks brilliant, even more so with the roof down, however, looks just a nice and sporty with the roof up.
Safety. All in all the car is safe enough. It has a rollover protection system that will operate in the event that the wheels leave the road, these are situated behind the passenger headrests. And the front windscreen pillars are reinforced as well.
Comfort. Not a lot of room, especially in the back, very cramped and not alot of storage space in the cabin, which tends to mean the door bins are always full. The boot is suprisingly deep and holds a lot.
The sports seats are fully electric, with 3 memory settings, and heated, however, your outer thighs feel really cold against the unheated side cushions.
The foot pedals are very close together in true BMW style, which can be a pain sometimes, i'm only a size 7 and i still find myself hitting 2 pedals when braking.
Handling. Not very good, the car really needs to be in the high revs (4000) for any performance, which will of course use more fuel. It's quite a heavy car to drive and can be quite shuddery in the low revs, like the 3 series is. It does lack a bit of a punch.
Engine. Be aware that there appears to be a common fault with these cars for cutting out and losing power (intermittent). I've spoken to 3 other owners who experience the same intermittent fault. Pulling away from roundabouts and junctions can be a little daunting, as sometimes it just crawls out, the garage is struggling to source the problem.
The power hood packs away in about 15 seconds, which is really good and folds back up about the same. There's no problems with water ingress or wind noise, even at high speeds, very secure.
The roof does require waterproofing treatment every so often, however, i use waterproofing for tents and outdoor clothing, a good deal cheaper than BMW's products, and does the same job, 1 can does the whole roof for about £6.
Once up and running the car cruises great on the motorway, which is where i do most of my driving, and does return a decent MPG, especially if you stick beow 60. Operating the car from the wheel mounted controls in cruise control is very easy, even for braking.
Insurance is very reasonable and not as expensive as some think, it was cheaper than my 4x4, only £200 a year.
I wouldn't get another one though, they really are for single people/ couples, or a 2nd car, your passangers won't like being in the back too long, it does get uncomfortable and cramped, so definetly not a family car, which is why it's for sale.
I'm in the process of changing to an X Type Jag, so hopefully that will be better, i'll let you know.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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Thanks Matty,
i will add to the review, as more comes back to me after mulling over it a bit more, lol.
Just when i think i've written everything, something else comes to mind!
mattydalton 06.12.2008 16:36
Hi and welcome to Ciao! A good start but I would have like to have read more - after all, £15000 is a lot of money!! Hope you like it here.
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Dec 5th, 2008
(Dec 29th, 2008)
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