TheXUDfiles

I lost my password some months ago. While sorting out my old laptop, I found it, alone with some pictures of last year's moronic, ongoing  activities. Enjoy. 
I've not been posting about any of my cars anywhere for a long time - to be honest I've been quite happy just driving them, and haven't really done anything that interesting with them anyway.
14 months ago, a fairly disgusting 605 SRDT came up for grabs on Gumtree in the middle of a pandemic. There was no way to legally view it, so my partner and I bought it blind and had it Shipley'd over, communicating with the seller only via email. 
It was a leap of faith, but if you don't have faith in 90s diesel Peugeots, quite frankly you should give up on life. 
A week later, this was deposited on our driveway. 



It was owned by the same lady its whole life, as the blue V5 was testament too, but I don't think she washed it very often. Odd, as it's a well known fact that old ladies dig car detailing. 



 
 
But still, let us worship at the altar of originality, and praise the holy dealership sticker, clinging on for dear life in the back window. 


Lo,  thou interior may be tidy, if be brown where once was grey. 


First impressions were of a car which drove very well and had been well looked after, which happened to have not moved for quite a long time. A binding calliper at the back was the first sign of a long slumber. During covid I volunteered to do prescription runs for older people in our village, which gave me a chance to actually drive it. Oddly, the air con was still working. 
If it wasn't driven for a couple of days, the battery would go flat. 

Ever have those: "what am doing with my life?" moment?

Thankfully, the '90s battery charger was called upon to rescue the '90s car (and probably '90s battery).


A weeks later I decided it was time to address the binding calliper. It turned out the calliper had rusted onto the disc as one ancient rusty blob. Just as well I threw it the garage who were happy* to take on the challenge** of hellicoiling snapped bolts out and attacking it with a blow torch. Here's some pictures of when I came to bring it some grapes and a get well soon card. 

 
I attempted to MOT it, then both front coils snapped on the ramp. I don't have any pictures, but I counted four pieces on the floor. Had it fixed, after going to NCIS lengths to track down the right coils (it turns out 308 springs will fit) and we passed.
Deep cleaned it , and found it to be quite nice under the ming:



So, what is it? It's an SRDT, which means you get more wood trim, the posh radio and air-con. However, being shod on plastic covers and lined with cloth seats, you, and the outside world are reminded that you're not quite good enough. DT denotes that its a turbo diesel (living up to my user name).
This is the 3rd 605 I've owned, and probably the best. I can see this sticking around for a long time with us, and after a year of ownership its still my favourite in our little fleet.
But it's weird. I've always wanted a phase two, dark blue 605 with cloth seats and wheel trims (I'm aware that that sentence is a portal which allows you to look into my mind, and see just how perverse I really am). Don't ask me why, I just have. 
The amount of time I spend cleaning, polishing, and looking at this thing probably looks a lot like mental illness to the outside world and Asperger's Syndrome to my ever-tolerant partner, but there's nothing better than making a dream come true - even a dream as pedestrian as this one.
 
 
 
 

Merhaba, ben türküm tesadüfen konuyu buldum ve ilgilenmeniz hoşuma gitti. Bem 1973 anadol marka araca sahibim yakın zamanda restore ettim sizlerle paylaşmak isterim.

See also 
 

We've had snow showers here and a lot of ice about, so the gritters have been out in force. I had to get the BMW over to a garage for a quote, so buckets and sponges were scrambled in short order when I got home.
The soapy water (which came out of the house warm) had frozen before I could rinse it it off and I couldn't feel my hands. Can't remember the last time I has a car I loved enough to do that with. 
I can't clean the underside so I'll have to find a car wash over the weekend. God, I hate salt!

Also, quite a lot of American oils seem to get very dirty very quickly.
That there has seen 450 miles since last change.
Phil

Cars like that are worth their weight in gold.

This is great advice. When they are a chore it's time for a change.
It looks lovely.

Totally agree with this, I had the same feeling with my Volvo S80, after a shit day at work sliding into the leather seats just felt so relaxing. I would get in raging and be completely calm by the time I got home. 

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Funny you should say that, I was talking about that with a friend about that last night. 
And you have no sense of adventure. The first thing a do with a new car is launch it off a multi storey. If it survives, I keep it.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Gran Turismo 2 without a doubt. Felt so fancy rolling into North City and spaffing 101,000 credits on the 740i. 
The e38 content was the only reason I bothered watching Tomorrow Never Dies, though. Well, that and the bit where he electrocutes German Basil Fawlty with a mobile phone.
 

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Did they call in the Royal Engineers to build a bridge to get from the car to the curb? FFS. 

Just joking it was the phone that James Bond used to remote control his 750i in Tomorrow Never Dies

 
Edit: my first mobile, shortly after that film came out was an Ericsson so clearly it made a great impression! I've mostly had Ericsson, Sony Ericsson and Sony since then so that was some successful product placement! I've still never had a BMW though, as much as I still love the 36, 38 and 39 among others 

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

It is indeed Biarritz. Would have preferred Orient, but you can't have everything you want! Handy to know it's a Nokia phone. 
I don't think it's the screen itself at fault, from the digging I've done. Which will probably make fixing it more of a pain, but never mind! 
Yes, I am aware of the fuel tank leaks  This one seems alright - but I'm fully expecting it to go at some stage in my ownership.
 

Funny you should say that, I was talking about that with a friend about that last night. 
And you have no sense of adventure. The first thing a do with a new car is launch it off a multi storey. If it survives, I keep it.

Well, this year has been interesting. Speaking personally I was having one of the worst years of my life this year, and that was even before some dick in China wanted to find out what a Pangolin tasted like. 
Most of my fleet has been scrapped or sold, or is waiting to be. Now the dust has settled, a minty 2005 Polo is my everyday car. A standard, four door Granny spec Polo - maybe shite in five years time? My Mum has given up driving, and offered it to me as a gift. Being my Grandmother's from new, I remember going with her to collect it. So that's a nice slice of reassuring motoring outside which has always been there in the background while various cars came and went over the years.
VWs get a bad rap on here (mostly because they're overpriced junk) but this little Polo hasn't put a foot wrong in the last 15 years, other than needing coil packs soon after I took it on. 
As normality and my sanity tentatively stick their heads over the parapet, asking if it's safe to come out yet, here I am throwing rocks at them  with what I'm replacing the Peugeots and Mercs with. 
I've wanted one since I was about 10, and decided this was the year I deserved one. Deserving for not going all Columbine Massacre and killing every living thing in sight maybe (apart from birds, I really enjoyed watching Yellowhammers over lockdown), or not being committed? 
I'm under no illusions that this will be cheap to run, but considering that I'm consolidating the running costs of five old cars into this majestic '90s lump of capitalism, I'll probably be fine. And unlike many of these things, this isn't a badly modified, neglected piece of poo on Irish plates with Angel Eyes from Wish.com full of water with plastic flowers hanging from rear view mirror.
Mine spent most of its life in Surrey, probably as a retirement car going by the kind of names on old invoices before surfacing on FB marketplace, being sold by a bored engineer on furlough who wanted a project, renewing consumables and fixing little niggles. 
Like most of these on the small wheels seem to be, it's a 728i. People say they're slow, but in reality it's fine. Using the optional steptronic it can shift its two tonnes of weight with alarming ease. The engine doesn't so much roar, but harrumphs at you. Not that this will be driven hard in my care, because it shall be a Sunday car or taken into work when I feel crap and need to feel a little better about myself. 
Because this car is very good at that. It's only now that I really understand the difference between an executive car and a luxury car - something like a 5 series is there to pleasant and competent - this does something to you (other than bankrupt you). Maybe it's the way it's quiet on the motorway and seals you off from reality around town, being your own personal, impenetrable, luxurious bubble. The classy, old money charm  is almost enough to cancel out the turd circus 2020 turned out to be. Anyone else think the '90s were the pinnacle for the luxury car? 
Things which normally irk me on the road don't really register when I'm driving this thing. It also does 32mpg, which is a genuine surprise. And no, the phone doesn't work. The wire doesn't look too clever, so if I get very bored and want to get it working I shall probably start there. Or perhaps you have to engaged in thinly vailed flirting with your PA, orchestrating a hostile takeover or on the phone to your divorce lawyer for it to come alive?

But working or not, it's a nicely Patrick Bateman addition.
If this gets a clean bill of health when I get my trusted garage to check it over, this will be sticking around. The normal e38s killers of bad gearboxes and rotten fuel tanks don't seem to be an issue here, and the seller took care of most of the issues the old boy who had it for the last decade had let slip.
What's left to do? It has the start of the dreaded BMW shimmy at 50-60mph, but I've got an idea of what it is. The infotainment screen is backlit, but doesn't work. Frustratingly for him, the seller got the non-working radio to work again but knocked the screen out somehow! And there's a dented door and a poor repair to the rear bumper. 
And to reiterate, I really, really hope to keep this.  It's the last car on the bucket list, and the one I've always wanted the most. I always said, the first thing I'd do after winning £1,000,000 would be to buy an e38 and spend the remaining £998,000 maintaining it. 
It's a funny feeling having your boyhood dream car outside, knowing it's all yours and you can drive it any time. And just remember: don't be shy of chucking out deadwood for something greater. It's never too late to reinvent yourself.

I shall forever regret selling my 728i Individual, I chose a quick profit and was very stupid doing so
 

I do love a 7 series. 
 
you sir are now winning!