Ariel.Club Forum

CAG3D wrote: Fastlane, our of interest, how did you find the iPace and eTron? I’ve not driven the Audi yet, but thinking about one for the misses, chop in the SQ5.

Sorry for the delay in responding. I drove the iPace for around 150 miles around the Cornish roads and it was actually quite a wieldy bit of kit for an SUV. I had a"tussle" with a Suzuki Swift Sport around some twisties and it was good fun (I was MUCH faster than it even around the corners). It felt smaller than it looked and 0-60 in 4.5 is pretty fast! The interior is OK, but it didn't feel like a £70k car (I drove the SE). I had the eTron for a full day and did around 150 miles in it. It felt nicer inside (the test car had 12k of options!) but felt much bigger, heavier and slower (2.5 tonnes vs 2.1 tonnes) although it was still pretty fast - 0-60 in 5.5 seconds, but only for a short burst. It was competent but boring.

IMHO, if you want an electric SUV, then the Audi is a very nice place to be and a nice cruiser, but the iPace is a much better drive.

Be interested to see what you/the missus thinks if you get to drive them.

phil4 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:31 pm I think the likes of Porsche are missing a trick when it comes to sound.

We've already seen the likes of synthesised sound in modern petrol cars. Would it really be that difficult to beef this up a bit?

How about your Taycan sounding like an old air cooled 911? Sure, buy the "retro" pack for £1000

But if they really wanted to, they could do better than that. We know electric motors have no gears and oodles of torque, but why not programatically add the torque curve, and pseudo gear changes into the mix. Then at the push of a button you could have a car that sounded and drove more like a petrol car... and indeed any petrol car they chose to emulate and sell you.

Sure it'd not quite be the real thing... but it'd be a lot better.

Here you go, sort of...

2001 Ford Focus saloon Ghia 1600 with just 25k miles on the clock. Its mint. Bought as a station car for £850 with a year's MOT. I've tripled the value of the car by adding a private reg and double din stereo.

I’ve got a 2015 Audi TT TDI ultra, does 65mpg on a good day and 7secs 0-60. My wife has a Audi A5 cabriolet so you can see we are sensible with cars seeing as we have 5 kids lol

Used to have a C350e as a company car as it cost me £59 a month tax, waiting for next year when the BIK rates to go down to go back to a company car where it will be 2% tax.

I’m also planning swapping my Audi TT for AP brakes all round and better suspension and the performance upgrade

That’s a good swap in my opinion as I need to give my 50% deposit in April so the timing is perfect for the new tax year


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So today I chopped in the BMW X3 diesel for a M340i.

Like the Nomad, it too has Gesture Control but sadly only for controlling the Infotainment system, and not for communicating with other road users. Nomad wins there then...

[mention]Karl V[/mention] Fantastic car, my wife has a 340i M sport a 2018 version so not the new 2020 340M version. Our car has less power than the new one but it is plenty fast for the road and such a great daily driver, got it for a steal price to, fully loaded with 10k miles. They can tow 1.8 tonnes as well. Put the gearbox in sport, engine/chassis in sport and it turns into a beast 0-60 in 4.8 not too shabby for a "road" car. They are that good I think they would even be good fun on track.

You will enjoy for sure!

Cheers Simon. 375 bhp with a 0-60 of 4.4 - apparently.

I mean... Lots of legroom, boot space for the in-laws and a centre divide at the back to stop boy child from invading girl child's space. Many boxes to tick. Sigh....

Currently an M135i which is a great little daily. Tesla Model 3 Performance company car on order for when the BIK rates drop to zero. I do c.25,000 miles a year so the Tesla will save me a lot of cash on fuel costs.

With all the nice daily’s in here I’m not sure I dare and post that I own a Dacia Logan MCV 0.9 liter 3 cilinder and a Ford Transit Connect as daily cars...both brand new, but nothing as exotic as a RS4 and the lot.

I do also have a 2002 WRX STI with 400bhp, but thats not really a daily, its more like the fun car for when it’s cold, wet, snowy or when I’m picking up kids from school.

speedmachine wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 9:45 am I do also have a 2002 WRX STI with 400bhp, but thats not really a daily, its more like the fun car for when it’s cold, wet, snowy or when I’m picking up kids from school.

I am jealous! my childhood dream of owning a WRX STI has not yet been full filled, I would love one. Is that the "bug eye" version? A good one costs quite a bit of cash now. I was looking for one end of last year but gave up temporally because I could not find a good one.

Given the stock market has taken a serious tumble last week I will have to wait until it picks up again before considering one. I was thinking importing from Japan is the next best step...they seem to suffer a lot of rust over here

simonrhart wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:16 am

speedmachine wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 9:45 am I do also have a 2002 WRX STI with 400bhp, but thats not really a daily, its more like the fun car for when it’s cold, wet, snowy or when I’m picking up kids from school.

I am jealous! my childhood dream of owning a WRX STI has not yet been full filled, I would love one. Is that the "bug eye" version? A good one costs quite a bit of cash now. I was looking for one end of last year but gave up temporally because I could not find a good one.

Given the stock market has taken a serious tumble last week I will have to wait until it picks up again before considering one. I was thinking importing from Japan is the next best step...they seem to suffer a lot of rust over here

I have a bugeye and be carefull buying one, mine had a full bottem restore aka swap. So they swapped out about all parts underneath the car with a jdm version because the European ones are rust, rust and some more rust.
Buying a jdm all together is even better, I didn’t because we are lhd over here.

A good, hard, sort of original one sets you back about 14-15k

I have one too many cars, when the Nomad arrives in a couple of months. MG ZT260 (which I will probably sell), BMW 435D and a Octavia VRS 245 on lease.

Also have a Defender on order, although the electric thing may make me cancel and switch to an I-Pace.

Dream garage, Nomad, 435D and ?

Nissan leaf as a daily for last 4 years! "Upgrading" to a Audi E-tron next month to take full advantage of the BIK tax!!

Oh dear. 4 days in to M340i ownership and it seems there is a problem already.

Back to the stealer then at the weekend...

That is disappointing, the ejector seat doesn't work...