Back from UK

[MarkFC]

Hi everyone

Just back from 6 weeks holiday in UK, including a quick visit to Germany and a few days stopover in Kuala Lumpur.

Had a great time, saw plenty of exotic cars like Ferrari (incl an Enzo), Aston, Lambo, Bentley, Rolls. Porsche everywhere. Only saw a few 1 Series Coupes, mostly diesel. The vast majority of 1ers were the 5 door hatch, with the 3 door popular also.

Regards

[mac135i]

I just spent three weeks in the UK (mostly Suffolk, the Home Counties with a side trip up to Manchester) in November an saw very few 1er's in Coupe form. Lot of hatches in both three and five door of course though.

The Coupes I did see were all lower output models- a couple of 118's and a 123D. Nothing with either 125 or 135 engines.

I've now just spent the last week in LA. Not a 1er to be seen so far. Of course you don't even get the hatches here.

What I have seen is a lot of 335 verts - I won't suggest they are very common but they along with the new Z4 they are very noticable.

[BMW //MPOWER]

Yeah, agree, when i was working over in the UK back in late '07 i saw quite a lot of e92 318i & 320i coupes around, but next to none of the 6cylinder models, which when coming from Aus where we only get 6cylinder coupes is a stange sight.

On the US, i think the lowest output 3 series coupe/vert they sell there is the 328i.

[dubdemand]

You're all right! There are very few coupe's on our roads over here and the 5 door hatch is much more common. I think thats begining to change slightly as I've noticed more coupe's on the roads in the last couple of months but they are still a pretty rare sight!

As for the smaller engines and more common diesel models it's basicly down to how much we get taxed in the UK! My last car (a Seat Leon Cupra R) was a 1.8 with a big turbo running 225hp straight out of the box - I was paying £225 per year for road tax. In contrast my 120d coupe is costing £120 per year...

[123D-M]

Originally Posted by dubdemand

As for the smaller engines and more common diesel models it's basicly down to how much we get taxed in the UK! My last car (a Seat Leon Cupra R) was a 1.8 with a big turbo running 225hp straight out of the box - I was paying £225 per year for road tax. In contrast my 120d coupe is costing £120 per year...

Even worse in Belgium. My 123d incurred a 2500€ initial registration tax followed by 380€ per year road tax. A 125i would have incurred a 5000€ initial registration tax! Hence we don't see many of those...

[MarkFC]

Mac135,

We were in Norfolk, my wife was born in Norwich so around there is where we go to visit aunties, uncles, cousins etc. We stay in a village called Martham which is about 30 minutes from Norwich, towards the coast near Yarmouth.

I did see a 135 convert at Tesco in Yarmouth last week, pretty rare I think.

[moff]

Suprisingly quite a few Coupe's in Nottingham, but most are diesels, but still a fair few 135i's - never seen a 125i.

The 135i is pretty good that even though it costs £220 for road tax each year, it's still a lot cheaper than the higher band of £400 that my Honda S2000 was in. Very impressive for a 3 litre twin turbo car, not sure if there is any other 3 litre car in this tax band.

[mac135i]

Originally Posted by MarkFC

Mac135,

We were in Norfolk, my wife was born in Norwich so around there is where we go to visit aunties, uncles, cousins etc. We stay in a village called Martham which is about 30 minutes from Norwich, towards the coast near Yarmouth.

I did see a 135 convert at Tesco in Yarmouth last week, pretty rare I think.

We were mostly outside Bury St Edmunds - a place called Thurston which is just off the A11 on the way to Norwich. My wifes father lives there. I think I did something like 1,800 miles in the three weeks I was there. That's compared to the 700 or so km I've driven the new 135 back home in nearly three months!!!

My father in law is struggling a bit at the moment so we went visiting all his more far flung friends and family around the entire of the UK it seemed. Trips from Bury to the likes of Letchworth, Manchester, Harlow, Thame, Harwich, Chistlehurst, Cambridge and more.

So I had plenty of time to observe what was on the roads - just not many 1 series coupes. Of the three I saw I think all of them were in and around Cambridge and Huntingdon on the A14.

I would really love to get the 135 onto some of the B roads in the UK - won't happen though and had to settle for a Passat 2ltr diesel this time. Theres a great series of roads that run more or less parallel with the A11(?) from Bury, up past Diss, Thetford etc to Norwich and then on up to the North Norfolk coast. Not as good as Scottish roads but good drives nonetheless.

[MarkFC]

Originally Posted by mac135i

I would really love to get the 135 onto some of the B roads in the UK - won't happen though and had to settle for a Passat 2ltr diesel this time. Theres a great series of roads that run more or less parallel with the A11(?) from Bury, up past Diss, Thetford etc to Norwich and then on up to the North Norfolk coast. Not as good as Scottish roads but good drives nonetheless.

I hear you Mac, many times I was thinking what could have been. Then I was back to reality, driving a Seat Altera XL manual diesel!!