Got a 'significant' birthday coming up, and as one of my pressies Mrs F has very kindly hired out a BMW 320d for 3 days. That period includes a trip up to Nottingham and back to celebrate with parents and sister's family who all live up that way.
Now I know there are members of this forum whose own vehicles are faster and/or more luxurious than a 2 litre diesel 3 series, but hey, compared to our 1.3 Colt it's in a different league. And initial impressions on the drive back from Heathrow, once we'd worked out how to start it and get it into gear (it's an auto), were pretty favourable. It's certainly got a bit of grunt - very easy to end up on the wrong side of 70 (resulting in a ding-dong and 'speed warning'!). Must find out how to adjust the steering wheel so it doesn't obscure the speedo. It also has flappy paddles for manual gear changing, but I haven't plucked up the courage to try those yet. Thankfully it doesn't have an EPB :)
The heated leather seats are nice, and overall it's definitely something I could get used to...
BTW can anyone point me at a downloadable owner's manual? Did do a quick search but couldn't find a UK 320d (F30) version. Nothing in the car.
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Cannot help you with the manual but a rep who visits us has had two 320ds in succession. He drives around 60k miles pa and is just about to take delivery of a new C class. I suppose if you spend most of your life behind the wheel a change is as good as a rest, but he rated them very highly.
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Lucky you didn't get it a couple of days earlier - in dodgy weather you'd have been better off iin the Colt!
I had a quick look for the manual but don't see one. Odd that BMW don't have them on their UK website.
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>>He drives around 60k miles pa
Driving 240 miles per workday!
Legacylad - When does he find time to do some work?
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If he's a rep, then he probably drives in the early mornings to where he needs to be and then again home in the late evenings. It's normal sadly for these guys in the modern world. Time was there was enough work for a rep to cover just a handful of counties but it's now not unusual for one or two guys ( or girls for that matter ) to be covering the whole country depending on the business they're in.
When there was an abundance of independent retailers of pretty much everything there was plenty of "travelling salesman" work but as the big retailers get bigger and the small ones disappear or get squeezed onto secondary, or more often tertiary sites and then add in the inexorable growth of Internet shopping etc then the sales opportunities in those traditional sectors reduce. Fewer field based sales staff can be afforded but they are now often covering vast pieces of geography.
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>> Driving 240 miles per workday!
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>> Legacylad - When does he find time to do some work?
>>
I always think that, I can't see how any work can get done. Mind you sales is something I've never worked in and no nothing at all about. So I suppose it must pay otherwise no-one would bother doing it.
60k pa seems crazy to me, this year I've done about 7.5k pa and due to fall to probably half that next year. A cheap V8 seems a good idea :-)
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>> Driving 240 miles per workday!
>>
>> Legacylad - When does he find time to do some work?
I've done jobs with a commute of 120 [mostly motorway] miles each way either side of a normal office day. You do what you've got to do.
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>> I've done jobs with a commute of 120 [mostly motorway] miles each way either side
>> of a normal office day. You do what you've got to do.
That's roughly here to Sheffield and back. I couldn't do that. I'd either be ineffective at work, a liability on the road or both.
In your line of work I'd be looking or client to pay some hotel overnights or a train ticket. Driving to Wellingborough and using a train would be dandy. Still half an hours drive but the other ninety minutes would be productive or restful.
Seriously though an employer who expects, maybe even tolerates, those sort of daily mileages needs to look at his exposure to driving at work risks.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 29 Dec 14 at 15:41
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>>In your line of work I'd be looking or client to pay some hotel overnights or a train ticket.
Indeed they will, although in this particular case a train was not possible. However, I have spent so many nights away, I avoid it whenever possible, although sometimes its unavoidable.
If I get home by 8pm, I get to see the girls. Same reason I do not work on a Sunday.
To be honest it was under two hours, unpleasant but not a killer.
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I couldn't do that. I'd either be ineffective
>> at work, a liability on the road or both.
>>
Me neither, I think my longest (daily commute) was 25 miles and that was on a pleasant cross country commute but that was still plenty for me. Biggest commute I've personally known was about 70 miles, no way I could do that.
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>> Seriously though an employer who expects, maybe even tolerates, those sort of daily mileages needs
>> to look at his exposure to driving at work risks.
>>
I think they starting looking at our place at 65 miles if commuting.
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At one point I lived in my house in San Francisco and worked in Sao Paulo, Brasil.
Home every Friday night and back to work Sunday. Now that's a long commute.
Also, don't forget i can stay in a hotel any time I like at someone else's expense, so if I was too tired I would and sometimes do.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Mon 29 Dec 14 at 15:59
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In the current 5 series there's an electronic version of the handbook accessible via the iDrive controller / screen in the car. Worth a look at least...
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>> In the current 5 series there's an electronic version of the handbook accessible via the
>> iDrive controller / screen in the car. Worth a look at least...
>>
I'd happily pay an extra £25 for a printed handbook for a car rather than scrolling through a system of on screen menus to find out which damn switch does what.
Online manuals are a curse, be it for computers, cameras or whatever. I was pleasantly surprised to find my recently aquired Cannon DSLR came with a proper handbook which I was able to peruse in comfort on the armchair rather than trudging through some PDF on the PC.
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Online manuals are a curse, be it for computers, cameras or whatever. I was pleasantly surprised to find my recently aquired Cannon DSLR came with a proper handbook which I was able to peruse in comfort on the armchair rather than trudging through some PDF on the PC.
I must be growing (?) demented . I like on-line manuals.. at least those with a proper index.. Makes life so much quicker...
I ALWAYS download manuals if available.. much easier to find next year than the paper one... (which I store in the original packaging.. in the loft)
Last edited by: madf on Mon 29 Dec 14 at 10:54
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Whilst I don't disagree, given that hire cars, IME at least, never have handbooks the ability to access an on board version must be of some use...
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>>I'd happily pay an extra £25 for a printed handbook for a car rather than scrolling through a system of on screen menus to find out which damn switch does what.
No No No!!
The joy is going through every menu and selecting every option to see what it offers as alternatives. No point in buying fancy cars if you are going to leave everything in factory default modes.
What you mustn't do though however is flick through the menus in a mate's car and change the language to Italian and then leave it like that........ ahem.....
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>> What you mustn't do though however is flick through the menus in a mate's car
>> and change the language to Italian and then leave it like that........ ahem.....
Several years ago, on arriving in France for a break, as well as setting the Berlingo's clock for the time difference, just as a joke I set the display language to French.
Never put it back.
It still reads 'Coffre Ouvert' if I don't lose the boot lid properly.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 29 Dec 14 at 17:45
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>> It still reads 'Coffre Ouvert' if I don't lose the boot lid properly.
I meant of course close the boot lid. Must repair the C key on this keyboard or learn to hit it hard enough.
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>> Must repair the C key on this keyboard or learn to hit it hard enough.
>>
Or reed wot you ave ritten?
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>> Or reed wot you ave ritten?
I do but what I see is what should be there rather than what is. According to the teachers in family that is common amongst those who learned to read by the 'look and say' method.
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There's an astonishing thing I saw once, maybe it's common knowledge, but it was new to me, but if you write a perfectly normal sentence but within each word you jumble up the order of the letters it's still quite readable. Your mind sort of autocorrects it.
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It's true. You only need the first and last letters of the words to understand it if you know the language
Terhe's an aitniosnshg tnihg I saw ocne, mabye it's cmomon kgldenwoe, but it was new to me, but if you wirte a preteflcy nroaml secnntee but wtiihn ecah wrod you jmbule up the oredr of the lerttes it's sltil qiute rbadelae. Yuor mnid srot of aotrceuctros it.
www.douglastwitchell.com/scrambled_words.php
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Cmomon kgldenwoe, I like that !
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Took me about six weeks to figure out how to get the Insignia back into English after my brother changed it to Czech.
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>> Took me about six weeks to figure out how to get the Insignia back into
>> English after my brother changed it to Czech.
Something with a Cyrillic alphabet would have been funnier.
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I change the sat nav in my car to the language of the country I'm driving it in and also the readouts to kph if that's the local convention.
The language thing is more to get my brain thinking in that language a bit so that when you stop and need to speak to someone you're not totally at sea with it. Of course it doesn't teach you much but it's more about reawakening those few phrases you might have and a reminder of pronounciation conventions.
However, I do find you get fairly random food in restaurants when you ask the waiter to take the 3rd exit.
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>> In the current 5 series there's an electronic version of the handbook accessible via the
>> iDrive controller / screen in the car. Worth a look at least...
Thanks Peter - yes, we found it eventually, and it was pretty useful.
Was scratching my head this morning though. We were setting off from the hotel, and the car was making a loud electronic squeal. At first we thought the parking sensors were on the blink, but eventually realised it was just the car trying to tell me to take the handbrake off :)
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Thought you were going to say you'd tried to use the indicators then and that the car wasn't happy about that !
Have you found yourself pricing hair gel yet?
;-)
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Ha - indicators did take a bit of getting used to, as they're the type that don't stay up/down, which is new to me. But I was determined to break the BMW driver stereotype mould. Had to ignore Mrs F telling me to get up the a*** of the car in front all the time :)
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In fact page 26 of the U.S. PDF available online shows you how to access the on-board electronic user manual in an F30 3 series.
www.f30post.com/goodiesforyou/3/f30/F30_Sedan_Owners_Manual_F30POST.pdf
Can't imagine it's accessed differently in a UK/EU model, though perhaps it does need satnav installed?
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New car for 3 days here also...
...well a Transit van - most years I hire a Transit from the local Enterprise for a few days as they are dirt cheap (builders off for Xmas/New Year) - usually around £15-20 per day or just under £100 for the week.
Lets me dump bulky rubbish and garden material that won't fit into (or I wouldn't want to fit into) the household cars.
And there's something 'back-to-basics' about bopping around in a white van :-)
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>> And there's something 'back-to-basics' about bopping around in a white van :-)
we'd start to worry if you, as a doctor, started driving around in a black transit....
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And there's something 'back-to-basics' about bopping around in a white van :-)
It's the way cars get out of your way I like.
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Ah now you see, that would be to allow the movement of goods or chattels deemed too mockit, clarty, manky, minging, or stoorie to put in the family car.
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>> I hire a Transit from the local Enterprise for a few days as they are dirt cheap...
>> Lets me dump bulky rubbish and garden material that won't fit into (or I wouldn't
>> want to fit into) the household cars.
The tips round here charge if you turn up in a van, whereas you can have the largest estate car on the planet full of stuff and not get charged.
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As much as i am sure i would enjoy driving the 320 that the OP has borrowed, the lack of any spare wheel would rule it out for me, along with the rest of the BMW range. Still, ruling out BMWs makes the man-maths easier when it comes to choosing a new car!
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>> As much as i am sure i would enjoy driving the 320 that the OP
>> has borrowed, the lack of any spare wheel would rule it out for me
Luckily never got to notice that! Helps explain the big boot though I guess. Anyway, went back this morning :(
How long before I know the hire company aren't going to send me a bill for new scratches etc.? We did spend some time putting lots of crosses on the existing damage diagram we handed in when we took it, but I'm worried they'll take that as a challenge :)
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No proper spare wheel is a modern outrage. And those small get-you-home jobs are utter crap.
But hire firms don't really care about scuffs and scratches. Argue - point to all the others - and they'll probably shut up, unless of course you've graunched it really seriously. Even then they won't give much of a damn.
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I think minor damage is ignored - in the UK. Hire from some of the cheaper hire places in Spain and they'll get you for previous damage if you don't take their expensive insurance.
I once picked up a car in Milan with some minor scratches and it was in a car park away from the terminal. So phoned them and agreed I'd take photos. Which were pointless because I wrote the car off a little later - or rather an HGV/tanker did.
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Boxsterboy, are you saying that all new BMs are bereft of any kind of spare tyre? My 330 has a spanking new space saver, size unknown, in the boot. A pal has just taken delivery of a new 235i, so I shall ask him tomorrow. And I would dearly love a ride in it ASAP when the roads are quiet. Ugly looking thing IMHO, but peach of an engine.
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>> Boxsterboy, are you saying that all new BMs are bereft of any kind of spare
>> tyre?
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It was my understanding that all BMWs and MINIs have run-flats as standard, and no spare or even gunk.
One of my friends has just got a 2-series coupe, diesel, as a replacement for his 56-reg Z4 coupe. They remind me of the 2002 ti that my uncle had when I was a kid.
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New car! For 3 days anyway... - legacylad
