E63 645/650i

[nige]

Assume you’ve seen this one:
http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/bmw/...01902285399938

Nice low mileage and would look the business if you changed the wheels.

[JordanCoupe]

Unfortunately that’s the one I looked at the other day, drives lovely but the interior is awful and the bodywork just needed too much work, the crowd selling it in fairness know what they have and took a very substantial chunk of the price but it needs a lot more than just wheels

[JordanCoupe]

Righto after a pretty fruitless search and finally listening to some people who are far more clued in with beemers than me iv dropped the idea of an e63.

My new hard found ideal car is an e92 335i. There’s none for sale here so iv been looking in the uk. Gonna give it a week or so before I get moving on a uk car in the hopes that one pops up in Ireland. To that end does anybody know someone who may be tempted to sell one?

[dergside]

Given the whole Brexit thing, I wouldn't spend to much time searching for a unicorn here.

[JordanCoupe]

They either get kicked out next week or get an extension so I reckon iv got a little bit of time or else I’m already too late :L

Are they really that rare here though? I really can’t see where the hell all the quick cars have gone. I’m hopping there gone the way of the e46 m3 in that they do exist in the country just lads aren’t pushed on selling them and don’t want the hassle of going to the open market with them.

[Big H]

The 2008 on co2 tax rules have fucked over every car enthusiast in the country. When was the last time you saw a post July 2008 Impreza STi or an Evo 10+ for example ? I drove a relatives VXR Insignia recently up north and it's a very quick car in a straight line and not a total basket case in the corners in fairness. They're not a bad car to have given the relatively low used prices, but when I looked at the tax rate - €2,350 per annum - go way to fuck.....

The only people paying that (reluctantly willing to) are those buying new €100,000+ cars - the new M5's, the GTR's, AMG's, RS6's, anything performance oriented with a V8 petrol really etc.

I'll stick to the bikes for the speed fixes thanks....

[CitizenKane]

To be fair there are still options for high-performance cars that don't shaft you on tax - the Golf R for example is only Band D I think (€570) and the M4 is Band F (€1,200). But beyond that if you're the kind of buyer who is looking at something that falls in the top tax band (new M5, GTR, etc. as Big H says) then I don't think the difference of €500 or so between the top rates of pre- and post-2008 tax rules is going to make much difference to you. The likes of the e92 M3 is in a weird category of cars that is otherwise potentially an affordable car for a lot of people, but just gets hit hard by the post-2008 tax rules.

One good thing about the shift in focus from n/a to turbo in recent years is that we're seeing comparable or better performance from cars with significantly reduced running costs.

That said, in general motor tax rates in Ireland are obscene even compared to the UK. When you combine it with insurance and VRT, it makes you realise there are a lot of cars that would be considered "affordable" if you lived in the UK but simply aren't if you live here.

[318 iS Cosmos]

Not sure I would agree on the running costs, turbos are expensive and I wonder how reliable they actually are!

[Big H]

That said, in general motor tax rates in Ireland are obscene even compared to the UK. When you combine it with insurance and VRT, it makes you realise there are a lot of cars that would be considered "affordable" if you lived in the UK but simply aren't if you live here.

The one flipside of course is that high tax (2.5+ litre pre 2008) cars are generally dirt cheap here in Ireland - in many cases, you couldn't buy, let alone import from the UK cheaper.

The one other aspect that hasn't be mentioned yet is that with the (long overdue) VRT rebate coming into effect, there's plenty of performance stuff being exported. What happens post Brexit is anyones guess of course....

[Valdelisbmw]

Not sure I would agree on the running costs, turbos are expensive and I wonder how reliable they actually are!

quite expensive to keep it running very well ..... probably same as some M cars , if not more expensive , but at least no rust and no stupid engineering boot floor cracks ..... injectors , fuel pumps, sensors, turbos, oil leaks ,and everything else as any other cars ....