Moving on...

MrGringo

Member
 Oxford
Had an interesting day yesterday arranging a deal to swap my Z4 for a Golf GTI privately.
The owner contacted me via pistonheads and we ended up doing the deal last night at a service station on the M4.
Sounds and felt a little dodgy but after test drives both of us felt happy with each others cars, and after checking service history, HPI checks and our identification we went for it. It is encouraging to know that the car will be looked after, and that the other owner had taken care of the Golf. I have to say it was quite a leap of faith but I'm hopeful it will work out. We'll see how it goes, I'm going to get the VW checked out at a garage next week but all seems good so far.

Just wanted to thank all the forum members for the advice, entertainment and ideas that I have had from using the site for the last few years. To me, being part of the z4-forum has been a big part of the ownership experience was and I have enjoyed it very much so thank you all.

Hope you all enjoy your lovely Z's, I am sorry to see mine go but needs must and it is nice to have sorted it all out with plenty of time to spare before our first baby is due in March.

All the best,
Matt
 
ksher said:
Any pictures?


You wanna see his wife's scan??

As for swapping cars in motorway services - I just hope he didn't give you a cheque fro £20k and allow you to keep part of the excess for your trouble in cashing it.
 
No cash involved just a nominal monetary exchange of a £1 coin and a car!
It's a 3 door so not quite the perfect solution but the front seats come quite far forward and there seems to be plenty of space to get baby seats in/out of the back. It has ISOFIX and passenger airbag deactivation too so I think it will be practical enough. We nearly bought a 1-series coupe and I'm sure that would have been much harder for daily use with a baby.

The car is Shadow Blue and has DSG with paddles, cruise, 6-cd changer, MFSW, iPod connection and controls, parking sensors, 18" monza alloys, auto headlights/wipers/dimming mirror, lumbar, and some other options I can't remember but I'm sure I'll find out eventually. I'll go out and get a few quick pics on my phone as the sun is shining for those who're interested.

I've told the new owner about the forum, having explained why it had the tri colour MFSW etc. I guess he may well be around in the future, if so I'm sure you will recognise the car as I've sold it on with the 330Ci Clubsport alloys.
I'll keep an eye on the forum, and join in where I can. I have a few bits left to sell off once I get things sorted which I'll sell off via the forum.
 
Sorry to say that you should really have gone for a 4/5 door car. Having brought up 2 to maturity experience tells me it's an absolute nightmare getting child seats in and out of the back of a 3 door car.

Easy enough perhaps on the drive when long doors can be fully opened, but in the supermarkets, doctors, play groups or whatever that the car will frequent you'll discover just how tough it is. Once they are big enough to clamber in themsleves then fine.

anyways good luck and sorry to see you leaving :thumbsdown:
 
Thanks guys.
CJ's advice echoed by several I must say but at least this way it hasn't cost me anything to try it, and any other deal I think would have.
 
Am a huge fan of golfs, and would love one again, after my first 3 cars were golfs.......great car, reliable and solid - good move mate and congratulations on the new baby!
 
I had a Celica when my daughter was a nipper, the seats came forward enough to get her in and out of the back AND when she could reach things, she had no doors to try to get out of. I found it ok once I'd got the nack of reaching in and doing the straps/belts up. £ doors are not ideal, but work well enough. Hope you pop in to see us Mr Gringo from time to time. :D
 
I`ve owned a couple of Mk V Golfs mate ( GTI and R32), and they`re lovely motors, so I`m sure you`ll enjoy it. 8)

Yours sounds well-specced, too, so all you need now is a re-map ! Out of all the cars I`ve owned, I found the GTI to be one of the ones that responded best to a re-map, and you`ll find that it makes the GTI into one very quick car.

Enjoy it mate, and pics once they`re available..... :thumbsup:
 
Hello all,

Proud new Z4 owner here!! :D

Matt told me to join this forum for advice, some laughs and general abuse!!!

It was a weird week but glad with the outcome - I am happy the GTI went to a good home!Glad you're chuffed with her mate shes a brilliant car I enjoyed every minute of my ownership - as you know I even had it serviced in between services!!! :roll:

Really good experience with the swap think it was important for piece of mind that we were so thorough - 2 sets of address and one photo id!!

You got a 4 seat pocket rocket and I get some weekend roof down fun!

I wish I had test driven a Z4 before i bought a Porsche Boxter a couple of years ago!! All of the fun without the reliability worries.

El Gringo good luck with the new addition (Baby not car!) - a pleasure doing business with you. Regards to your better half! Keep in touch.

JP
 
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