Need a new daily driver

Well.

I just sold my 2003 325ci Clubsport on Friday, and the hunt for a new car has started.

Today I went to BMW and had a look around....

Took a 2005 730d for a spinn and that huge car really impressed me.
Nice comfy drive, but did not feel its size at all, had this active suspesion kit on it som felt really good on curvy roads too.
Must say I'm impressed with the car.
The only thing is that I'm a single guy with no kids so what do I need a huge 7 series for??

Then I had a drive in a 2006 M5.... WHAT A CAR!!!!!!
This must be the ultimate car EVER buildt. The insane kick as you floor it and as you shift gears the car just propells you forward like a bullet....
The 8 suddenly feels slow.....
My absolute dreamcar.... I actually have the finances to buy this car, but 100.000£ and 200.000$ is a massive amount of money to spend on a car..... But it's an M5....

I really don't know what to do now.....

Having an M5 and an 850 parked outside my house.... I can imaginge worse things.....

The E60 M5 must be the best car ever, tha handling was fantastic, yet comfy and the power.... oh, my the power... this thing just takes off like a plane and shows no sign of stopping.

The only thing that I had a little problem with was the gearbox.
In manual playing with the paddles was fun, but with 7 gears to change between it was alot of playing, so I imagine you get tired of it after a while.
I then tried the auto function and to my surprise it was horrible.....
Shifting up it was ok... a little rough, even harder than my 8 in sport mode.
Down shifting was..... well, crap.... As you approach a crossroad or a roundabout the gearbox changes down hard and sudden, you hear banging and clunking noises from the whole drive train and everytime it shifts you're whole body moves..... not good.

Now this gearbox is supposed to adapt to you're driving style, so that might have been part of the problem, the other part might be that it requires a cetain technique to drive it.

I guess you get used to it in a while, and quite honest I think I can live with it, 'cause this car was just fantastic.

And today I did it, signed a contract for a new car.
Took a day trip to Munich in Germany and had a look at the car.

What did I get, well, a fully loaded black/black 2004 M3, at 31.500 euros
[INDENT]The sad thing is that when the import tax to Norway is paid the total is just over 83.000 euros...... sometimes I just hate politicians and their damn taxes.....

And just for the record, I'm still keeping the 8.
[/INDENT]

Zitat von Paul_M;51154

Very nice car. Presumably you went for the full manual, rather than SMG?

Those import taxes are insane though!

No, I wanted the SMG gearbox, so thats what she's got.
The taxes are insain, could probably get a new M3 for that price in Germany, or a new M5 for that matter.

Found one with most of the options you could get, like navi, H/K stereo, rear window rollo, PDC, Tire pressure monitoring, rain sensor, automatic headlights.
The interior is black with shadow-alu (brushed alu), the exterior trim is high gloss shadowline (Piano black)

This is the ad from Mobile.de.
http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrze…sCar&lang=de&pageNumber=1

Tony.

I love my country, but my love is wearing thin when I see these taxes.
A quick run through on the taxes I have to pay.

Price of car 31.500 € - refunded German Vat(19%) 26.000€
then add 25% Norwegian Vat to the 26.000€

-add tax for the cars weight, for 1495kg
the tax pr. kg increases in intervals.

-a tax on co2 emissions, that has replaced the engine displacement tax that we used to have.

-finally a tax in the cars horsepower, this tax borders to the insain in steps the last one is 300€ pr. KW (above 140KW).

the final amount is staggering, but since the car is 4 years old I get a 40% discount on the tax, a second hand deduction.

Still the tax is about 58.000€ pluss the good 26.000€ i pay in Germany, adding up to 82.000€.

This i why a new M5 is 200.000£ in Norway. and the new M3 fully kitted is 150.000£
even a 118i is over 35.000£

Zitat von TerryY;51224

I think I will stay in Oregon

Each state is different here on taxation and registration. There is no Federal VAT or property tax, only what the states charge. That varies a lot from state to state but nothing like that much.

what's the housing marked like there right now??
My job pretty much allows me to live wherever I want.

The situation is changing in Norway right now, we have been booming for the last years.
I bought my 75sqm appartment for 300.000usd (todays exchangerate) 3 years ago when the national bank interest was at it's historic low of 1,75% my mortgage efficient interest was then 3.25%.

Then the prices took of.... my appartment is today apriced at just over 450.000usd.
To get a 200sqm house under 1million usd in my region is almost impossible.

The situation now is that all the people that took a maximum mortgage 3-4 years ago is now struggling.
In Norway the mortgage interest is not fixed, but controlled by the marked. The interest has gone up rapidly and is now closing on a 7% efficient interest.

These people are now facing a massive increase in mortgage payments over the last 2 years due to the 4% interest increase.... and the peak is not reached, the prognosis is 8% at the moment, but some 18 years ago it was a staggering 14%, and we might get there this time too.

In Norway the average single persons annual income is probably around 60.000usd, women a little less, men a bit more.
An average household income is therfore 120.000+usd, then ad a 1million usd mortgage on 25 years downpayment at 7% interest.... it's tough I can imagine.

For my region however the marked is leveling out, but it's a popular place to live, lots of work som many people move here.
So the prices may dop elsewhere in the country, but not here.

My new M3

Well, I gust got my new car.

As I said before, a carbon blac 2004 M3 SMG.
Here are the pictures.

well.... the M3 and the 8 are completely different drives.
the M3 is wild, lots of revs, blasting through the gears, superb handling and great fun, however can also be driven nicely and work well as a daily driver/cruiser.
I had 290kph yesterday on my speedometer and there was still more to go, but I got into traffic (yes it's de-restricted)
Was funny to downshift in 240kph..... never done that before.

The 8 is more of a steady push all the way, more subtile you may say.
I'm stil going to use my 8, but it has nowhere the same explosive power delivery or handling as the M3.

Two very differnet cars, with two very different images.
The M3 is more of a toy car, just brutal and raw, though cn be driven like any other e46.... but then its just another e46 right??
The 8, now thats something special.

But just so that I have said it, an 850 is no match for the e46 M3, I would leave it trailing in dust all the way to to the end.