Whilst I do like the Amazon and the Patrol, I’ve got a FFRR itch I’m afraid. If i didn’t have it I'd go and get a Volvo estate for my needs or a Lexus RX, but there’s something about the ffrr calling to me, I’ve wanted one for ages but company cars and life got in the way, tbh thought my wife was going to get but she fell in love with the Infiniti FX, and whilst I love it as well…..I’ve still got that need for a ffrr!

Thanks for both points on the TDV8 and TD6 , we’ll see what comes up. My only concern was if the initial £2.5k contingency was enough?

Last edited by Slow progress on 9th Jul 2021 4:19pm. Edited 1 time in total

I don’t blame you for having that itch they are lovely cars, at the same time they are old now and good value so just ask yourself how much you want to invest in one.
Also just because things like turbos and gearboxes do happen it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen to the one you buy, there are plenty that haven’t suffered expensive issues.
Of course things like air suspension, bushes,tyres,brakes are more than a normal car and need replacing more frequently but they’re not the end of the world financially.
Good luck with whichever model you decide to go for and I hope you find a good one.
It’s a shame you weren’t looking early next year as I’m probably going to move mine on then and it would be well within your budget.
Also there’s nothing wrong with a Volvo estate I had a great V70 D5 that was still happily chugging along with 240000 miles on the clock when I sold it.

I’ll be looking for a rust free example around April next year, as the company car goes back early May, a vogue and diesel, non smokers car…..only other pet hate is not black!, I’m fed up of forever washing them only for them to look dirty 5mins later😀

Ideally will be silver, blue green or grey.

Although if you’re thinking of selling I’d be looking to sell this side of Christmas, it’s a 4x4 so demand will be up, and prices won’t stay this high, as new car manufacturers are expecting chip shortage to start easing around the start of December.

Good about Td6 is- cheapest to buy and run, least problems with rust in theory. Not so good(compared to later L322)- diesel sound and performance. GM gearbox(valve body) is world famous but you don’t need full box rebuild every 150-200k.
Some point also zf 6 and 8 boxes need some bigger investment and it is more expensive than old gm and zf 5 speeds. Plus everything is more expensive and time consuming on bigger diesel engines. And 2010+ are most rust friendly of them all.
In terms of luxury, performance, comfort etc newer is always at least step better.
Sure there are many good ones out there but in the end it is classsic used luxury car world- many can afford to buy but only few can/want stand the running/maintenance costs.

On the rust front why is that?

Also if the TDV8 or td6 destroy their turbos what are the chances of catastrophic damage to the engine itself?

Slow progress wrote:

Although if you’re thinking of selling I’d be looking to sell this side of Christmas, it’s a 4x4 so demand will be up, and prices won’t stay this high, as new car manufacturers are expecting chip shortage to start easing around the start of December.

As long as you don’t tell my wife that’s what I hope to get to in 3yrs or so….unless I completely fall in love with the l322. Truth is I love both 322 and the pre 2016 405. Plan as it stands is to first get an l322 because I always wanted one, and rebuild my no claims bonus, not sure how badly I’ll get stung from the company car scheme, they charge everything when they go back and your no claims isn’t protected

Company cars are a gilded cage, the term is every 4 years and the only car you can get without a trade up now is either a Renault Zoe or a VW Polo, 5 years ago it was a BMW 5 series!!, calculated last night that when the E Class goes back after tax etc I’ll be £700 per month better off the first year of the lease was good but tax in this last year is horrific. That leaves lots of saving and maintenance funds 😀

I think value for money l322 is a bargain at the moment in terms of what you get for your money!

I’ve driven a L405 and as nice as the L322 is, the 405 is a better car in nearly every way, that doesn’t mean I don’t still really like the earlier car too, it’s just progress I suppose.
Hard to ignore how much you get for your money with the 322 though.

Unnecessary quote removed

I was a company car for a very long time and had to buy my own, the insurance company accepted a letter from my employers insurance team stating how long I’d had a car and my claims history which was clean. Direct Line capped it at 5 years, but it’s a real help when you’re starting from scratch and you can build from there.

Will you get a cash allowance to help the transition as well? Also worth knowing that if you still do business miles you can claim back the difference between what you get per mile and 45p for the first 10k miles. If they don’t give you an allowance and a standard ppm but give you an inflated ppm to cover some running costs then it won’t help you. MY23 Panamera E-Hybrid
MY19 SDV8 Autobiography - Sold

They give two choices when you opt out:

1. £220 per month after tax, and 13p per mile on diesel

Or

2. No monthly support and 45p per mile

At an expected 10k miles a year (5k business and 5k private) it’s borderline, it suggests taking monthly support, but if mileage creeps up then opting out completely makes more sense. Suspect for the first year I’ll take the support and see how it goes mileage wise. 5yrs ago I was doing 65k/yr …..then it all made sense to get a company car.

Lastly once you’re out, you can’t rejoin the scheme for 12months.

So today is the day!

Just submitted the forms opting out of the company car, so the Mercedes’ E220d (2018) goes back on star wars day….May the 4th be with me

So FFRR awaits in about 5months time, I’ll be looking to find a cheaper end L322 diesel in about April assuming the winter 4x4 demand has eased off as usual. Funny thing is reading this I still can’t decide between the tdv8 and td6…final budget will be c.£5k with£2.5k set aside for repairs….and regular saving after that for other items!

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone on their guidance so far, looking forward to finally joining the ownership experience next year.

All the best,

David

I can recall recently seeing a really good Tube of You video where an engineer in his garage explains one of the major problems of the TDV6 engine, strips one down that has failed, and really goes to town giving his opinion/s and showing the suggested weakness/s of the crankshaft, how unbalanced and poorly designed (obviously it is nicked form other vehicles make) it is, and that it is WAY too small, or short, in length, and that it can be prone to failure. He also talks about how the crank doesn't like travelling in wrong gears, especially when towing a trailer, especially again if heavily laden, going uphill... The crank is really short, surprised even me...


Last edited by RRover on 6th Dec 2021 12:45pm. Edited 1 time in total

MH04 wrote:

I’ve driven a L405 and as nice as the L322 is, the 405 is a better car in nearly every way, that doesn’t mean I don’t still really like the earlier car too, it’s just progress I suppose.
Hard to ignore how much you get for your money with the 322 though.