Realising a dream!

[sbz8]

What exquisite taste! Well done, and good work getting started on this forum as well. It's a font of all knowledge, and quite a lot of buffoonery as well.

Don't rule out non-auto Grtanturismos. None of them have a gear lever and all have an auto mode, it's just the degree of automation that varies.

Depending on where in the country you are, a more southerly dealer of renown is Nuvola London. Like Dickie, extremely discerning and a joy to deal with.

Why, thank you! I've only been on this forum for a matter of days, but I'm genuinely overwhelmed at how helpful people have been.

Ok, that's interesting - I will look into it.

 

[sbz8]

Welcome, sbz8!
Where do you live? Someone is bound to be nearby and want an excuse to make some noise for you to experience!
Is great to hear you'll realise the dream by 30 and I'm sure you've earnt it.
Go and play with a few, meet a load of us and see the various options. Then buy a car, join us lot regularly, say goodbye to your liver function and acquire a bunch of real friends.
I can't help on the Granturismo front but I can say that noise is good.

Thanks buddy!

I live in Wolverhampton (for my sins!). That would be AWESOME!

Regarding this - "Go and play with a few, meet a load of us and see the various options. Then buy a car, join us lot regularly, say goodbye to your liver function and acquire a bunch of real friends.". I can't tell you how exciting that all sounds!!! Genuinely looking forward to it in the future, especially saying good bye to my liver function (sounds so wrong, but feels so right... )

 

[sbz8]

Welcome!
Not much I can add, that hasn't been well said already.
Your best friend isn't your dog. It's the search function here Everything you're curious about has been discussed again and again, over time.
Probably the best suggestion I've read on your thread is to get down to a dealer and drive the different options. There's no substitute for this. Don't buy on impulse. Think about resale. A dealer may offer you a great deal on a gold coloured car, with a one off interior. But only because nobody wants it. A regular feature here are the oddball cars that come up for sale and endlessly amusing they are too.
With a few exceptions, it's a buyers market. Haggle like a Colombian drug dealer. If that's not your thang, take someone with you who has no shame What you might save, could pay your first year costs of ownership.
Your commute may be exceptionally short, but I guarantee that you'll be wanting to add a few miles to it, just to spend more time with your car, listening to the glorious sounds made by the engine.
I've tended to be lucky with cars. Apart from a few early disasters in my teenage years, which were my fault and not the car's. My 2008 auto has been the most reliable car I've owned and it just loves to rev. Boy, does it Love to rev.
Just about everything you need to make your ownership of one of these beauties a pleasant one, is right here.
Care for it like your first born and drive it like you stole it! Otherwise, what's the point

That's some incredible advice, thank you so much!

 

[sbz8]

I know you said you were looking for a Granturismo but I have a cracking 2009 QP 4.7 S with GTS grill and wheels for sale, for an awful lot less than your budget but still a stunning car...check it out on the forum and also on Autotrader. It's already had its variators done plus a whole lot more.

Thanks buddy, but my heart is set on the Granturismo

 

[sbz8]

PlayStation generation

I'm just a man that likes convenience

 

[Silvercat]

No worries...

 

[Sam McGoo]

Welcome to the club. All the above has been good advise, and if you look at other similar threads you'll find plenty of info on what to look for when buying.
I don't think anyone has picked up on the fact you said you were going to commute just 2 miles in it? Is that the plan?
I don't think it'll do the car much good as it won't even be up to temp in that time, so I'd be planning on taking the long route home if I were you. Or buy something for a grand for the commute and an MC-Shift for the weekend!

 

[Wagons-Lits]

Yes, just too many miles for what I’m looking for; I’m after a nice GTS or S for our family car for a while.

You know I’m biased but this is the best family car this side of a Rapide AMR, FF or GTC4 Lusso. Can’t think of a better contemporary family car with as much style or pace

oh and welcome to the forum sz8! As the others have said set aside a few thousand for normal annual running costs. Consumables and unexpected breakages both

 

[sbz8]

Welcome to the club. All the above has been good advise, and if you look at other similar threads you'll find plenty of info on what to look for when buying.
I don't think anyone has picked up on the fact you said you were going to commute just 2 miles in it? Is that the plan?
I don't think it'll do the car much good as it won't even be up to temp in that time, so I'd be planning on taking the long route home if I were you. Or buy something for a grand for the commute and an MC-Shift for the weekend!

Thanks Sam

Yeah, that's right. Well, slightly over 2 miles there and back. You think the short commute regularly would be detrimental to the car?

I'm not planning on getting rid of my current car (2006 Mercedes CLK), so I'll always have that as a back up, but ideally I want the Granturismo to be my every day car.

 

[sbz8]

You know I’m biased but this is the best family car this side of a Rapide AMR, FF or GTC4 Lusso. Can’t think of a better contemporary family car with as much style or pace

oh and welcome to the forum sz8! As the others have said set aside a few thousand for normal annual running costs. Consumables and unexpected breakages both

Thanks mate!

I sure will, albeit, extremely reluctantly....

 

[Lavazza]

Thanks Sam

Yeah, that's right. Well, slightly over 2 miles there and back. You think the short commute regularly would be detrimental to the car?

I'm not planning on getting rid of my current car (2006 Mercedes CLK), so I'll always have that as a back up, but ideally I want the Granturismo to be my every day car.

Two miles is nothing. A GranTurismo is a big GT, I'm not saying a short journey now and again will do it any harm, but these things need a good blast - like a few hundred miles of running at speed, that's what they're built for. For routine short journeys of two miles, personally I'd walk or cycle or if I had to go in a car, I'd use a runabout or something electric, like an i3.

 

[sbz8]

Two miles is nothing. A GranTurismo is a big GT, I'm not saying a short journey now and again will do it any harm, but these things need a good blast - like a few hundred miles of running at speed, that's what they're built for. For routine short journeys of two miles, personally I'd walk or cycle or if I had to go in a car, I'd use a runabout or something electric, like an i3.

That's the thing... I really don't NEED this car, but I just want it so badly. Guess it just means I'll have to give it a good thrash around on the weekends

 

[sbz8]

I came across this beauty earlier on today, and thought I'd share.

It looks amazing! I love the spoiler/duck tail thing on the boot (I don't know what to call it!), however I don't see every Granturismo with something that prominent? Also, I did a car check on it, and was really surprised to see that it is a 2008 mode. However, it looks way more current. I thought that pre-2011 or 2012, every Granturismo had 4 pipes?

 

[Lavazza]

I came across this beauty earlier on today, and thought I'd share.

It looks amazing! I love the spoiler/duck tail thing on the boot (I don't know what to call it!), however I don't see every Granturismo with something that prominent? Also, I did a car check on it, and was really surprised to see that it is a 2008 mode. However, it looks way more current. I thought that pre-2011 or 2012, every Granturismo had 4 pipes?

Generally speaking, oval pipes are MC Shift, twin are on Auto's. There are some exceptions though.

 

[Ewan]

Looks like a very early 4.7 GT-S MC Shift, with the MC-Sportline rear spoiler. But both the rear boxes and spoiler may have been retro-fitted to an earlier car.

By the way, a 2 mile commute is fine. That’s the same as me. Do it in the car you want to do it in. Any other decision would be, frankly, perverse.

 

[UlstermanAbroad]

Do it in the car you want to do it in. Any other decision would be, frankly, perverse.

That almost sounded good enough for a tag line Ewan.
Through my morning fog, I had 'Drive the car you want to drive. Frankly, any other choice would be.....a sin.'
Shot of the Arch Bishop of Canterbury getting into a Granturismo and driving off to exhausts howling, tires spinning and burning rubber a plenty

 

[sbz8]

Looks like a very early 4.7 GT-S MC Shift, with the MC-Sportline rear spoiler. But both the rear boxes and spoiler may have been retro-fitted to an earlier car.

By the way, a 2 mile commute is fine. That’s the same as me. Do it in the car you want to do it in. Any other decision would be, frankly, perverse.

To be honest, as much as I said I'll leave it to the weekends, I don't think I'll be doing that for sh*t..!!

Glad that you do the same, and have no horror stories.

 

[Sam McGoo]

By the way, a 2 mile commute is fine. That’s the same as me. Do it in the car you want to do it in. Any other decision would be, frankly, perverse.

To be honest, as much as I said I'll leave it to the weekends, I don't think I'll be doing that for sh*t..!!

Glad that you do the same, and have no horror stories.

I'm not saying don't do it, but just be aware that it's not great for the car. You'd need to go for a proper blast/longer journey once a week to get the temperatures up. Also, consider changing the oil more frequently than the scheduled 2 years / 12k. Frequent sort journeys will cause condensation in the crankcase and water will form in your oil. Only if the oil gets above 100c for a period of time will this water boil off.

 

[sbz8]

I'm not saying don't do it, but just be aware that it's not great for the car. You'd need to go for a proper blast/longer journey once a week to get the temperatures up. Also, consider changing the oil more frequently than the scheduled 2 years / 12k. Frequent sort journeys will cause condensation in the crankcase and water will form in your oil. Only if the oil gets above 100c for a period of time will this water boil off.

To be honest, I'm certain I'll be making excuses to go for drives on the weekend, so even if I drive it briefly mid-week (commute wise), hopefully it'll be okay.

Thanks for the advice regarding the water/oil, I would never have thought about that.

 

[sbz8]

Looks like a very early 4.7 GT-S MC Shift, with the MC-Sportline rear spoiler. But both the rear boxes and spoiler may have been retro-fitted to an earlier car.

By the way, a 2 mile commute is fine. That’s the same as me. Do it in the car you want to do it in. Any other decision would be, frankly, perverse.

Regarding the MC Sportline rear spoiler - if the car I end up getting doesn't have this, is it relatively easy for whatever is there previously (if there is?) to be removed, and this installed?

Also, I found this on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Painted-...900387&hash=item4b56365a1d:g:iYMAAOSwzLlXhakR

Would this suffice, or is it best to avoid versions on eBay? Sorry for sounding so amateurish about this!