The other day, I part-exchanged my Land Rover Freelander 2, after owning it for just 9 months and 10,000 miles. I liked the Freelie's chunky styling, the solid all-leather interior, and the feeling that the car could go anywhere... but my car was flawed. It had a seemingly impossible-to-rectify fault which caused the car the lurch or hesitate on gentle acceleration from a standstill. This fault completely spoiled any enjoyment in driving the car. I also disliked the agricultural ride, and the rather heavy six-speed manual gearbox. An automatic would have been so much better.
Here's the now-departed Freelie...
And so...
I have bought a BMW X3......
To give it its full title, it is a 2013 X3 X-drive 20D M Sport Auto.
What???!!! I've bought a BMW..??? Urrrrgh!!!
To me - the X3 is a bit of an 'old man's car' (so maybe I now have the perfect vehicle...???) Yes, the X3 is very smart and superbly comfortable, if not very pretty to look at... It has more power than the Freelander, has a larger load-space, yet is more economical on fuel (and cheaper on vehicle excise duty too...) After just a few miles of driving it, it is very apparent that the X3 is leaps and bounds more refined than the Freelie (better finished, smoother, quieter, more comfortable). I acknowledge that the Freelie would be the far better vehicle off-road... but I don't drive off-road... The auto gearbox in the X3 is superb - and works just like the Jaguar, with steering wheel paddles for manual gear changes when in sport mode.
What's not to like...??? Oh yes - it looks like a beached whale...
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| ... but it's a nice place in which to sit! |
1 comment:
It looks comfortable. Many safe comings and goings in it!
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