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I came out of the latest A6 Avant 3 Litre 245 BHP Diesel Quattro - superbly built, very quick, brilliant technology - boot not very useable at all because of the rake, particularly for carrying around a big dog.

I have to say, as nice as it was, it really lacked character and was very much like most other "Euro boxes" but just much more expensive

Golf GTD is a brilliant car - when we have another shuffle round, I can see us having one on the drive as our "family hack"

^^ Hence the A6 is being replaced by a FFRR and the GTD currently will be replaced by a Golf R (maybe an R400!!)

I did have a 535d touring a few cars back, superb car but very unreliable... Over £10k in repairs (under warranty luckily)

Neither the Golf or the A6 have been back to the dealers. Every BMW we had was a problem child.

Was hunting for a commuter myself recently (the S6 is bit too brutal on MPG for 100 mile round trip).

Looked initially at Golf GTD, then realised you can get a Leon Fr diesel 184 (i.e. same chassis/engine, different shell/interior)for a LOT less, test drove both and there wasn't much in it so was about to sign for the Leon until i stopped at the BMW garage for "a quick look" and walked away with.....

A 6 month old 64 plate F10 530d.

Price was right and after test driving the Golf and Leon it was a no brainer, especially spending ~2 hrs/day in the car the additional comfort and toys were well worth the extra cash.

52MPG average so far over the last 1k miles and only £130/yr tax and a very smooth straight 6 to boot. Only 0.5secs slower to 60 than the V10 S6 as well, so that's probably for the chop shortly!! '08 Audi S6 Avant 5.2 V10 with Milltek non-resonated. Vrrrrrrmmmmmph
'59 Ford Kuga Diesel (boring but AWD and 40mpg...)
2007 (07) Subaru Forester XTen 2.5 Turbo. (Roundabouts are fun again!)
2007 (07) 4.4 V8 Vogue (gone)

Have narrowed it down to an F10 5 series, just need to find the right one now...... or could forget it and get a 5.0SC, which wouldnt make sense but...... back to man maths

Good choice. The 520d is pretty underwhelming, the 530d is good, but the 535d is sublime!!! Having owned a mapped e61 535d a few years back (0-60 timed at 5.5) I cannot image how good a F10 535d would be mapped. The 335d xdrive I have heard mapped is down close to 4 seconds.

And for some reason there are cheap lease deals on them right now.... £463 on a 3*23

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