Hey guys,
Since selling my GTI on the forum a last year, I've kept one car for some time as I didn't need a 2nd car. When I sold the GTI, we were expecting our 2nd child and we were also moving to a new house so I needed to keep costs low so I stuck it out with my E90 320D for some time.
A year later, my E90 has had hail damage which was repaired by Dent Doctor Randburg, and with a few niggly issues on the car I was now ready to ditch it and buy a new car. I posted a feeler on here but decided to keep the car after some very good advise from fellow forum members.
So I started looking for a new family car and started by looking at 2010 models B8, and LCI E90, both of which were disapproved by my SO. We decided we needed an SUV which brought it down to four cars:
1. Audi Q5 20T (155KW) Stronic
2. 2010 Volvo XC60 D5 Geartronic
3. 2012 Kia Sportage Auto
4. 2011 BMW X3 XDRIVE20D
I didn't want to buy an X3 (if I could help it) purely because I wanted a car with a spare wheel, and so my test drives were in the following order:
1. The first test drive(s)was the Q5 as they were very decently priced. The two Q5s I drove were very quick and gearshifts were butter smooth but there was a lot of body roll on corners, the handing was very unpredictable, and suspension was very hard on rough surfaces. The one Q5 had 19inch wheels and the 2nd 20inch wheels.
2. Next car was the XC60, and this was a very refined solid car with very minimal wear. Suspension was better than the Q5 but still not smooth on rough roads despite having 17inch wheels. What really turned me off was how unresponsive and heavy the D5 felt, despite having a 2.4 Turbo Diesel engine.
3. I didn't test drive the Sportage as i was turned off by the interior which lacked the premium feel of the other cars in the price range.
4. Then I went to test the X3. Immediately as i stepped inside the X3, I was reminded why i love BMW's the interior was clean, simple but very functional. Seating position was perfect even though the car didn't have sport seats like i have in my E90. The steering wheel was dissappointing as it was the thinnest steering of the cars I test drove, but i was nicely weighted compared to the other two. The drive around the block sold the car, as it felt very comfortable despite having a more sportier handling with direct steering. The 8Speed auto was perfect and kept revs low even when driving the car under some medium boost.
I picked her up two days later, and will be installing some window tint and maybe swopping out the steering wheel for a sport one at a later stage. Other than that, the plan is to keep stock.
Herewith some pics:
Since selling my GTI on the forum a last year, I've kept one car for some time as I didn't need a 2nd car. When I sold the GTI, we were expecting our 2nd child and we were also moving to a new house so I needed to keep costs low so I stuck it out with my E90 320D for some time.
A year later, my E90 has had hail damage which was repaired by Dent Doctor Randburg, and with a few niggly issues on the car I was now ready to ditch it and buy a new car. I posted a feeler on here but decided to keep the car after some very good advise from fellow forum members.
So I started looking for a new family car and started by looking at 2010 models B8, and LCI E90, both of which were disapproved by my SO. We decided we needed an SUV which brought it down to four cars:
1. Audi Q5 20T (155KW) Stronic
2. 2010 Volvo XC60 D5 Geartronic
3. 2012 Kia Sportage Auto
4. 2011 BMW X3 XDRIVE20D
I didn't want to buy an X3 (if I could help it) purely because I wanted a car with a spare wheel, and so my test drives were in the following order:
1. The first test drive(s)was the Q5 as they were very decently priced. The two Q5s I drove were very quick and gearshifts were butter smooth but there was a lot of body roll on corners, the handing was very unpredictable, and suspension was very hard on rough surfaces. The one Q5 had 19inch wheels and the 2nd 20inch wheels.
2. Next car was the XC60, and this was a very refined solid car with very minimal wear. Suspension was better than the Q5 but still not smooth on rough roads despite having 17inch wheels. What really turned me off was how unresponsive and heavy the D5 felt, despite having a 2.4 Turbo Diesel engine.
3. I didn't test drive the Sportage as i was turned off by the interior which lacked the premium feel of the other cars in the price range.
4. Then I went to test the X3. Immediately as i stepped inside the X3, I was reminded why i love BMW's the interior was clean, simple but very functional. Seating position was perfect even though the car didn't have sport seats like i have in my E90. The steering wheel was dissappointing as it was the thinnest steering of the cars I test drove, but i was nicely weighted compared to the other two. The drive around the block sold the car, as it felt very comfortable despite having a more sportier handling with direct steering. The 8Speed auto was perfect and kept revs low even when driving the car under some medium boost.
I picked her up two days later, and will be installing some window tint and maybe swopping out the steering wheel for a sport one at a later stage. Other than that, the plan is to keep stock.
Herewith some pics:
