Motorway Mile Munchers

philw696

Member
Messages
25,113
I rate my old 77 Daimler XJC 4.2 that I had in NZ as one of my favourite cars that I have owned in 40 years of driving.
Why don't they use springs in seats anymore ? So comfortable my Renault 4 has them and so much nicer than hard foam.
 

philw696

Member
Messages
25,113
Well my journey from Laval to Derby 550 miles in total driving my 2010 Jaguar XF 3.0 diesel gave me 45 mpg with speeds up to 90 mph and having to take some evasive action around some nasty potholes in Dover.
Not yet seen one in France in over 3 months.
It was tiring but for a car that's done 220,000 kilometers she performed beautifully.
 

Wanderer

Member
Messages
5,791
I rate my old 77 Daimler XJC 4.2 that I had in NZ as one of my favourite cars that I have owned in 40 years of driving.
Why don't they use springs in seats anymore ? So comfortable my Renault 4 has them and so much nicer than hard foam.
My old Lancia Gamma Coupe had springs in the seats, I know cos the drivers one had them sticking out all over the place....
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,539
Well my journey from Laval to Derby 550 miles in total driving my 2010 Jaguar XF 3.0 diesel gave me 45 mpg with speeds up to 90 mph and having to take some evasive action around some nasty potholes in Dover.
Not yet seen one in France in over 3 months.
It was tiring but for a car that's done 220,000 kilometers she performed beautifully.

Nice!

C
 

Wanderer

Member
Messages
5,791
Always wanted a Gamma but the head always suggested I would be stupid or mad or more likely both.
I think when I had mine there were very few Coupes left, something like 40, and I had two of them. Well, one runner and one in bits for spares. The coupe is beautiful, the saloon if fugly beyond belief.

I remember the big issue with the flat four 2.5l engine was because in a typical bout of Italian madness, they decided to drive the power steering pump off the NS camshaft, cold engine, full lock, stalled camshaft, mashed up valves. At least only on one side though!

Another was the headlights, unique; the runner I bought had a broken one, cost £300 for a new one, no scalpers or spares to be found - think I only paid £700 for actual car.....

I've got no memory of what I did with car, probably gave it away when I was clinically depressed and didn't drive to Dundee in my bare feet. I did move to Scotland tho and I suspect I just gave it away in an attempt to start anew with no baggage....
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,758
The power steering camshaft issue is well known but what a design flaw. The Coupe was wonderfully over styled and the velour seats were a sight to behold. Still one of those niggles but as you say they were rare in the day and now well unobtainible
 

hashluck

Member
Messages
1,515
Here is my contender. Not what I thought I was looking for at all but this one ticked a lot of boxes to become my new daily

2007 BMW 523i SE Auto (E60 in LCI facelift version) - no factory options except Auto and Deep Green Metallic Paint (which is a rather rare colour and rather lovely but needs a machine polish and coating. Interior is as new). Nice warm cloth seats and sensible size wheels and tyres make for a very comfortable ride even on run-flats with the super smooth straight six petrol engine. SE spec was pretty good so despite no factory extras it does everything I need and more.

Best bit is 2 owners and 31K miles only with FSH, all keys, manuals, original invoice etc. Only ever MOT failure was a blown bulb and only advisory was when the original tyres became old and cracked due to the low mileage they had not been changed (new ones are fitted now). Also came with a full service and new MOT and BMW dealer health check. BMW fixed price servicing costs look reasonable but of no concern for at least 12 months.

Had it rustproofed and very impressed with how these cars are engineered and screwed together and no issues found whatsoever underneath. There are proportionally very few petrol 5-Series out there and fewer still without huge wheels spoiling the ride. Had this been an M-Sport soot chucker (neither of which I wanted) it would have been £1500 more and likely with 80K+ hard miles on the clock so I was very happy to find this. With all the above and rustproofing I am still well under £7K.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20190210_1411218.jpg
    IMG_20190210_1411218.jpg
    178.2 KB · Views: 15
  • IMG_20190215_1415571.jpg
    IMG_20190215_1415571.jpg
    2.5 MB · Views: 14

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
My wife had a petrol touring version....525.... Great car and like yours had smaller wheels.
 
Last edited: