Toy Time: It's a New Car! (sorta)

He says: It's a '99 BMW 318i E46 SE - 125hp, 5sp man, 4dr, ABS, EBD, ASC+T, PAS, EM, EW, AM/FM with 6xCD and wood trim.
She says: It's a green one.

After 2 weeks of scouring the internet and local car rags, we've finally picked up the new car! As you may or may not have been able to determine from the above spec, it's a green BMW 318i four-door which we picked up for about 40% of what they're going for in Australia. Yeehah!

With a 1.8 litre engine it's not quite the rocketship my old turbocharged WRX was, but then again it will go about twice as far on a tank of fuel (I'm not kidding - we did 300 MILES on half a tank last weekend). And at AUS$2.20 a litre that's MUCH more important. It also goes round corners extremely nicely (being rear-wheel-drive and all that) and, should anything go awry, there are airbags all over the shop. Unlike the Rex which was an airbagless driver-skewering missile.


Amongst the nice creature comforts are the 6-stack CD changer in a pod in the boot, the multi-function leather-rimmed wheel, nice woodgrain around the cabin and on the gearstick, cruise, and climate-control AC. The only options it doesn't have are the things I reckon are a bit of a gimmick anyway - radar parking beepers (PDC), fancy-pants Harmon-Kardon stereo and electric seat adjusters with per-driver memory. OK actually the seat memory would be pretty cool - when you "plip" the remote to open the car, it knows who will be driving and puts the seat in the right position - up/down, fore/aft and back angle. I have short legs hanging off a long body and Bec is "normal" (let the comments begin!) so there's usually a fair bit of tweaking needed when we swap!

So there we have it. We'll definitely be putting our new baby (she's called Beatrice, by the way!) to good use, zipping all around the countryside, and experiencing it all from Land's End to John O'Groats. Pure Driving Pleasure ;-)