X-Type or V40

[tinweevil]

The DVLA tried to kill me this morning. Yesterday I got the registration document for the car I bought on the 9th, today I got confirmation of not owning the Volvo any more and (this is the bit that nearly caused a cardiac) the refund on the outstanding tax having done nothing at all to claim it. S#it me the system works.

So which did I go for in the end? This:




316i, (1.8 engine) so the baby of the range. I had a 316 E30 years ago which swayed it.

I decided against the V40 for three reasons, it would have to be an LPG version and the tank on those is nearly as teeny as the in the V70. I'd probably have been filling up around the 250-270 miles mark vs 220-240 in the V70 but that's still twice a week. V40s rust a lot more than a 70. Lastly the V70 and Mundano estate I had on hire would only just turn on my drive in a single shunt. A V40 is only better by a foot.
I decided against the Jag for two of the same reasons, turning and the tank. A very nice 4wd ready converted to LPG came up but the range would be between the two Volvos. A converted 2wd would be about the same as the V40.

The reasons I went for the BM are:
Correct wheel drive. I hadn't thought of that but when I realised I did rather latch on to it.
It's already cheap enough on fuel without a conversion, 39 mpg last week and 41 this.
It has an absolute cavern under the boot floor, I've not checked yet the range an LPG tank in there would give but I'm guessing just north of 300.
Correct wheel drive
Related to the correct wheels being driven it has a vastly better turning circle.
Cheaper tax
No cam belt
It's a colour. Volvos don't come in colour and X-Types are rare. The 4WD I liked was a green I could certainly have lived with.

It felt at first under powered and a slug, I don't care and got it anyway. After two weeks with it I've found that if you get the revs up it really does go quite well. It handles like a car rather than an oil tanker. It's much smaller than the V70 and although I did use the space it wasn't that often I rammed it full. So far I like it. I may convert it to LPG but not immediately, LPG has only fallen 4p so the payback time on a conversion is increased just at the moment. The price should fall more even if oil and petrol go no further.

I'm still waiting for a refund from the insurance for the car I hired myself (sent out once with the wrong name on the cheque) but the payouts for the car exceeded what I paid for it and bought the BMW plus 6 months tax.

[SprintMWU773V]

Looks nice, Keep the arches clear though as they are prone to rust.

[mbellinger]

An excellent choice Julian, and far better than either of the others that you were considering. E46's are good to drive and actually handle better than the later model. You are driving a car with a British manufactured power unit as well....

[tinweevil]

Thanks all for the reassuring words here and in PM.

It's not been a totally smooth start with this car so far. At the weekend two coils failed, one stone dead and the other weak. The weak one may have been that way since I got it as I'm getting better fuel economy this week, I'll reserve judgement on that until I've done 2 full weeks. There's a common fault with the internal blower that is getting worse, it is speed hunting. A real joy of a job by this account. I noticed that when I tested it though so no complaints on this one. Then yesterday morning the engine management light came on again so I've ordered the OBD reader I didn't get around to with the Volvo. Oh and the front ARB links are knocking, exactly the sort of thing I expected to get on a 109k car so no complaints there either. The car sat for about 4 months between owners so nearly 500 miles a week is probably coming as a bit of a shock to it.

Not a smooth start but I'm not put off yet. I feel far happier putting my hand in my pocket for this car.

[cleverusername]

There was an article looking at rust on modern cars in carmechanicsmag and the Jag X-type featured. it didn't do well. The sills rot badly, OK on a 70's classic, modern car steer clear. The car that came best was actually the Rover 75, which seems to be completely rot proof.

[Toledo Man]

A lot of BMW's money went into developing the Rover 75 (and to prevent it competing with the 3 & 5 Series no doubt) so it should've been built to last.

[SprintMWU773V]

But the engine budget was about £4.50 which explains why the Rover petrol engines are so s##t.

[cliftyhanger]

Really? didn't the K series win a design award? And it was/is good enough for Caterham.....

[Toledo Man]

They don't suffer abuse or neglect. I once managed to get water into a K series engine (R8 shape Rover 214). This was followed by freezing temperatures before I was able to get it repaired. I was lucky that I didn't kill the engine.

[SprintMWU773V]

Yes it did win an award but not a proper one like engine of the year. The concept is fine but the manufacturing quality was poor and when actually in service it was fragile for a variety of well documented reasons. I've had 3 K series engined cars. 2 were fine one was a disaster.

Must admit never really understood why BMW didn't put their own 'locally made' engines in the 75? It wouldn't have been impossible to engineer it for FWD and would have been a better choice in the 75 than the 1.8 K series.

[cleverusername]

Yes it did win an award but not a proper one like engine of the year. The concept is fine but the manufacturing quality was poor and when actually in service it was fragile for a variety of well documented reasons. I've had 3 K series engined cars. 2 were fine one was a disaster.

Must admit never really understood why BMW didn't put their own 'locally made' engines in the 75? It wouldn't have been impossible to engineer it for FWD and would have been a better choice in the 75 than the 1.8 K series.

The K-series problems mirror those of the triumph 1500. Triumph needed a bigger capacity engine, so stroked the existing unit too far. Rover needed an engine to replace Honda units, so they enlarged the K-series. I don't think the original design was meant to go beyond a 1.4. They can be made to work, modify the cooling system, better gasket and oil rail, but who wants to rebuild their engine to make it reliable?