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      08-13-2014, 07:48 AM   #103
bradleyq
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Drives: F30 340i M Sport
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: United Kingdom

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Firstly thank you to jacar, rjb, nicknaz who all replied to my post and also to the other posters on here.

Secondly, sorry for the slow response.

Anyway, I'm happy to report I'm now the happy keeper of an AH3, as per the spec in my original post, and mostly, the observations were spot on.

In terms of speed, handling, comfort and all that good stuff, the car is just great. It is like lightning when you floor it (and again, I'd state my last car was was a 997 C2S) and although it obviously can't compete on handling, it's not at all bad.

Another massive bonus is that silent running, at low speeds. I love it. Also, the stop-start thing works so much better as you take off, on electric power (there's nothing worse than all the modern diesels that kick when you pull away - nasty).

On MPG, I was pretty worried when running it it, getting just 30MPG (UK, which is 25 US). And that was with fairly conservative driving. But, on my current tank, I am doing 35MPG, which is closer to what I had (tentatively) hoped for. On a 150 miles motorway run, door to door, I got 40mpg, which for a 335i in disguise, is pretty damn good.

I'll admit that a 335d would have given me a good deal more MPG (I would guess easily 40's), but I wanted a petrol and 35mpg(ish) will do for me, as it's a material saving compared to sub-30s (whereas the saving I've lost from being at 35 as opposed to 40ish is considerably less).

As nicknaz said, I could have gone for a 335i and borne the extra fuel cost, but, I did get rather an insane lease deal (cheaper than a 335i), I do put down 15-20k miles a year, and we have to put up with the kind of fuel price you mention - which is painful. And, having some friends with 335i's/435i's, I feel pretty sure that I am getting a good 6-7mpg more than them, if not more. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up.

One last thing, I had serious order anxiety during my 8 week delivery wait, thinking white with red leather was a bit too much. But, I am happy to report, it looks the balls (particularly with the black special order kidney grille)
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