Well, we set out to find out :D
Bought initially by Hitlersaurus Rex after haggling from the original €700 to €300 *Cue MASSIVE cheers haahaahaa*, after a week or so the biblical fuel bill for his daily 3mile urban commute had him questioning the barges usefulness in his daily life other than for striking up conversations with petrol pump cahiers or random Eastern Europeans looking to buy it.
So after a quick email out to the 40AoY bloggers, a deal was struck between us for €350.
And so it was that Saturday that I set off from Cork to Limerick on the bus. Mission - minimise how much this yoke was going to cost me for a couple of months driving, and enjoy the barge experience!
Hitlersaurus met myself & NomNom de Plume in Limerick. After stopping for a splash & dash and picking up a hearty MaccyDs in Shannon, Geeves (aka NNdP) made full use of the V8s grunt while myself & Hitlersaurus scoffed calories, me in the back waving pope-like at the subjects I was passing. It was a fine place to travel, at home on the motorway and with plenty of grunt. It drove tight as well - not a creak, or a groan, the engine humming along, the gearbox responsive, the suspension performing perfectly. €350!
To celebrate once we got to Galway we had a plutocratic business lunch, which quickly merged into a plutocratic dinner and, Bandit Pockets demolished, a olygarchs drinking session. With a bit of exorcism thrown in. It was time to peruse the casinos, always an uplifting scne @ 3am on a Saturday night. We emerged with our shirts intact. Time to make this baby pay.
A B+B was €30 for a bed. I had figured a good move for the P&L account would be to sleep in said BMW so had brought a sleeping bag. Between beer jacket & 3 season down bag, and some strategic movement of the 14-way electrically adjustable 'comfort' seats, I slept the night away, serenaded by the nasel delights of an 18yr old car, a SuperMac meal, and the Bandit Pocket starting to complete a lap. My dreams were raw chaos.
The next day dawned bright but soon descended into a dank, rainy Sunday. That afternoon I brimmed the Beemer (see above!!!), NomNom clambering into the passenger seat via the drivers door as the passenger one was having a strop, I dropped him back to Limerick and continued to Cork. It was in its element, the old 7. Sitting in traffic, no stereo working, wipers squeaking at the top of the arc, but wafting the miles under it, with 60mph only dialling 1,800rpm up. It averaged 25mpg too, which wasn't catostrophic considering the random act of Flet & sploshing around NomNoms lanes looking for civilisation.
No sooner had it arrived in Cork than it was pressed into duty again that week. I'd a site visit in Athlone, followed by a 3pm meeting just north of Strabane, followed by a run back to Dublin that evening. A chance to see if going large really does make a difference. A casual 10 flicks of the handle had the drivers door open, the water temp gauge was up to the middle after 3/4 mile, after 5 miles the fan temp went from stone cold to sahara, after 10miles we were shaking off the slow commuter traffic then out the tunnel and cruise set as the sun was rising...
Soon it we were on the way again. Not motorway so no photos. I took a direct route, which was why I was on the B122 going cross country between Fivemiletown and Fintona. Gearbox to Sport, dampers to Sport, and off we went. What a hoot. 153k up, rough around the edges, but you could just tell it never saw much in the way of mechanical abuse. It was tight & engaging, well-balanced and swift, intuitive and slightly ludicrous. Being picky, even in Sport it was short shifting under brakes into the bend sometimes so you'd have to give it a stab to get your gear back, and 2nd gear is too long for this sort of driving (75mph before the red paint). I wish we had smell-o-vision so you could share the scent of brake with me below.
If you haven't been, hit the B122. It is a great road. Short enough, but really great. And you can hook some other good roads together, like the Widowmaker or the B52 through the Sperrins which was where I was going! It was stunning up there as the sun had made its way behind me and started its drop again behind the Sperrins.
Meeting complete, sun gone, and a dark run back to Dublin. In the rain. At this stage the craic was gone & in its place FOCUS. Time for some progress, and it didn't leave me down; tight overtakes, good lights, responsive box, solid middle pedal that hadn't wilted all day, v8 dusting off the red paint. And once on the M1 it was the BAWS. So much so that when I parked up in the hotel carpark in Dublin after 450miles & many hours of driving it just seemed appropriate ......
After a couple of days working in Dublin culminating in a full on 2hr session with the crisp suited & strong tie legal eagles with identikit attractive legal aids, circulating lots of cognisance of injurious affection banter, with some hearty laughs thrown in along with ‘here’s another 15min bookable slot entered into’ looks between the respective partners session, I climbed into my €347 BMW (I had found some change in it) - it was time to hit home and brim the tank. 25.6mpg was the measured average, which I was happy enough with considering of that 457 miles, 1 hr was spent in city queues, another portion spent con-calling kickdown with some hard corporate stretch target instructions, and the remainder in the outside lane of the motorway with the Autocrat dial set to 11. 11 was dialled up again, and we hit for Cork.
I bought a touch-up pen for the myriad of keying scratches, rust-ridden stone chips, flaky arches and so forth. That morning after washing the car and wiping the black plastic, vinyl & tyres, it was arts & crafts time for my 4yr old girl. We moved from paper to a BMW 7 series as canvas, and spent a happy hour approximately touching up the rust spots. With a squint it looked much better, so I took some tasty photos for the impending DoneDeal advert.
After that the BMW was pressed into occasional duties in & out of work, picking up the xmas tree, and just schmoozing around when the mood took me. I didn’t do a lot of miles but, with the NCT up in March, I said it was time to lever that value-add disc and the paintwork attention it got because rust was already starting to come up through the touch-up again. So DoneDeal was hit.
A few weeks of entertaining text messages, a test drive where miraculously both doors opened first time a first in 3months, and a deal was struck with a sound young man who was acquiring with an intent to continue my recent usage profile and philosophy.
So – the maths of What Could Possibly Go Wrong ..... Enjoy! (the minus indicates a profit :D)
730i Running Costs
| |
(Cost / Mile to date)
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-€ 0.47
|
Overall car purchase cost
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€ 347
|
Petrol cost
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€ 313
|
Touch-Up paint
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€ 11
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B&B saving
|
€ - 30
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€ -
| |
€ -
| |
Expenses 2012
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-€ 566
|
Sale price
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€ 575
|
PROFIT!!!!!!!
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-€ 500
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