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Loxy's Type R #5 - '65 BSB FK2 GT - The car that never was

I spoke to the dealer again this morning, but not before I tried Honda again. Contact centre only at weekends, and head office are only back in on Monday so no chance of getting any more concrete info.

Played it dumb to start with, just going with the news that Dave84 had had it confirmed that his car is delayed 4 weeks and he has been offered a courtesy car by his dealer. He said last week when he spoke to logistics, the date hadn't gone back, in fact it had gone forward a couple of days.

Now the thing is, he said he couldn't ring them to check today because they don't work weekends, yet his email last week saying he had checked was at 9:56 on Saturday and he was replying to an email I sent on Firday and he doesn't work Fridays. So something doesn't add up there.

I then told him I had spoken to Honda yesterday because I remembered he doesn't work Fridays after I sent the email asking him to ring me. I told him Honda have confirmed that based on my order date, my order is in the batch that would be delayed 4 weeks. Silence from the dealer for a good 10 seconds, which was broken by him saying that all he could do was chase them up on Monday.

I then asked him if I could drive the Demo again tomorrow, to which I got, a negative response of it's very busy tomorrow etc., etc. I then told him I was going driving an M135i tomorrow at Blackburn and sitting down with them on the figures. I said spec'd up the same as the Civic but with dealer discount that car is £1,500 cheaper to me than the Civic and I've been told I can get a factory order car in 10 weeks which would around the same time as the Civic would now arrive. At this point I actually felt sorry for him, you could hear the breath leave his body.

Miraculously now though I'm driving the demo again tomorrow. So I've got the back to back test drives.
 
Good work John!! I think back to back test drives is the perfect answer, you can then compare the positives and negatives from both cars, wouldn't worry so much about the delivery dates (within reason) as long as you end up with the car you want and spending 30k> you need to be sure.
 
Loxy said:
That's because you were waiting to find the right one and you're reliant on someone else for that. Once you did and paid the money, it took less than 5 months didn't it?!
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Yeah, from deposit to actually finding a car it was 6 months. Then part payment to car in the country and pick up was the rest.
 
Loxy said:
I spoke to the dealer again this morning, but not before I tried Honda again. Contact centre only at weekends, and head office are only back in on Monday so no chance of getting any more concrete info.

Played it dumb to start with, just going with the news that Dave84 had had it confirmed that his car is delayed 4 weeks and he has been offered a courtesy car by his dealer. He said last week when he spoke to logistics, the date hadn't gone back, in fact it had gone forward a couple of days.

Now the thing is, he said he couldn't ring them to check today because they don't work weekends, yet his email last week saying he had checked was at 9:56 on Saturday and he was replying to an email I sent on Firday and he doesn't work Fridays. So something doesn't add up there.

I then told him I had spoken to Honda yesterday because I remembered he doesn't work Fridays after I sent the email asking him to ring me. I told him Honda have confirmed that based on my order date, my order is in the batch that would be delayed 4 weeks. Silence from the dealer for a good 10 seconds, which was broken by him saying that all he could do was chase them up on Monday.

I then asked him if I could drive the Demo again tomorrow, to which I got, a negative response of it's very busy tomorrow etc., etc. I then told him I was going driving an M135i tomorrow at Blackburn and sitting down with them on the figures. I said spec'd up the same as the Civic but with dealer discount that car is £1,500 cheaper to me than the Civic and I've been told I can get a factory order car in 10 weeks which would around the same time as the Civic would now arrive. At this point I actually felt sorry for him, you could hear the breath leave his body.

Miraculously now though I'm driving the demo again tomorrow. So I've got the back to back test drives.
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I would test them both and go for the one you truly want regardless of how long you have to wait. I know in this instance both are going to arrive around the same time, but it should not matter how long you have to wait as long as you get the car you actually want to drive and own. Waiting can be frustrating but all that will go once you have it.
See which car gets you the most excited and make your decision. Enjoy your test drives

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Heard from another source today is that they've run out of brakes to put on the car. That's what they have been told anyway.

I am hoping that a drive in it tomorrow makes me want it again. I'm not cherishing the prospect of waiting until January for it though.
 
Clearly having supplier issues then. Either that or its all just a smokescreen for manufacturing taking longer than originally estimated!
 
I know not even close to your situation Loxy, but as mine was a second hand car but I waited over a year to find a decent EP3 Premier edition and the wait paid off. :D

Enjoy the test drive of both cars and let us know how you get on. :D
 
I drove both the Type R (again) and M135i today back to back.

I'll start with the Honda as that is the most relevant to this thread.

I pulled up coming out of the dealership and indicated left, to which the dealer said, "No just go right." I then asked, was I not allowed to drive it on the route I had planned, he said no, just round the industrial estate. So I only had two laps of the estate and less than five minutes in the car to remind myself what it is like. I couldn't even get it warmed up properly in that time and only took it to 5k once. Hmm, I iz disappoint.

Maybe because I also wasn't super excited about it, I also got to look it more subjectively. The car was super notchy going into 1st and 2nd and dragged going into 2nd gear on the couple downshifts from 3rd I did. Brakes were good but cold. It pulled well but again cold so I couldn't exploit it. Turn in was sharp but I didn't get to drive it through any sort of decent corner again, so couldn't tell you about the grip. All I've got really is memories of driving it 2 and a half months ago and they haven't really been rekindled.

I went back into the dealership with the dealer. He was still adamant mine isn't delayed. I told him about the memo to all dealers, he said the dealer principle is in the loop and my car isn't affected. He showed me the order screen and mine is showing delivery due to them on 10th November now, so it has come forward 8 days, not back and it has a green light next to it. Worryingly no VIN though, so it's either not been built and is therefore delayed and the system date is wrong, or it has been built and the system hasn't been updated with the VIN, but personally I think that is unlikely as it would have had to have been built and sat there for over a week without the system being updated.

Dealer then left me sat in the showroom as he had another set of customers on the go and he was juggling us both. My fault really I had pretty much told him I was coming over for a drive today, rather than fitting it in around his appointments. That probably also explains the short test drive. He did say I could come back in the week, but I met that with a curt reply of, "Yes, but I don't have a car to get here... I'm in the wife's today."

Parted on good terms. He's going to ring Honda and so am I now that I've got the Honda system order number.

Over to the BMW (this was actually before my trip to Honda). Massive dealership, had a BMW bubble car in the foyer, the car and the showroom was immaculate. Got made to feel like a valued customer the second I walked in the door. Greeted by the receptionist and the salesman and a BMW service technician. Proper welcoming party.

I drove a brand new unregistered 3 door M135i that was their new demo. It was pretty sparse on options but did have the red interior and the semi-auto box I wanted to test.

First impressions were that the back was cramped, especially being a 3 door and with the transmission tunnel, it didn't help getting James and Jayne in the back. We did look at a 5 door 118i afterwards for size/comparison with extra doors and this looked a little easier. The car itself felt fantastically put together, solid, plastics were quality, soft touch and felt like they wouldn't scratch. The steering wheel was small, chunky and didn't punch my thigh between itself and the seat when I got in and out. :lol: The seats were great, supportive and comfortable, but not up to the Type R's standard it has to be said. Full leather though.

The gearbox was well, a semi auto 8 speed and the changes were fantastically quick in sport+ mode. You could equally put it in D (full auto) in comfort mode and it would just waft along like any auto does, but with savage bit of kick down if you gave it too much right foot. The engine, well oh my god. It had comical amounts of torque, all of the time. No matter what gear and with any amount of load it would just pick up and throw you down the road. It's a little muscle car without a doubt, and the noise it makes. It is pure theatre. Lovely blips and burbles on down shift, sings like a V10 on full chat, it is a lovely power unit. Brakes to match too, not a lot to say, they are well assisted and you got plenty of feel as to what they are doing. The steering on the M135i is a variable rack, which I really didn't know how I would get on with, but it feels intuitive when you're driving it and took no time at all to get used to. Basically, when you are going faster it take small inputs to get you round bends, but when you slow down when parking it takes more of a turn. It does therefore feel light around town, but when you on a county road, completely natural. Lot and lots of grip too. The roads were greasy today as it had just rained, and I had the family in the car, but it never once lost composure or felt like I was about to break traction. The standard fit Pilot Super Sports may have had something to do with that.

The test drive was about 40 minutes, over the hills near Blackburn. Country roads and not a speed camera in sight. Went back to the dealership, had a coffee and got a print out of the finance. BMW were offering another £1,500 discount for taking their finance, so even with it being at 5.9% APR, it still works out much cheaper than a personal loan.

Overall, I am sold on the BMW. It does the mundane work very well an it comes alive when you flick it into manual and turn the throttle map and steering weight up in sport+. It's a split personality car, much like the Type R. Circa 8 weeks to delivery on the BMW.

As it is, it's all very up in the air. I'd happily have either of them at the mintue. I'll see what Honda say on Monday, and the BMW dealer isn't back in until Tuesday anyway.
 
John, BMW offered me 4.9%, not sure if it's a Cotswolds thing or BWM wide. They've also offered to top up my deposit by £2k. I'm not sure on M235i prices yet, they tried calling this morning but I wasn't in the mood to talk so let it go to voicemail. I've just dropped them an email. I'm tempted to look at M2 prices and order one for April/May delivery, just as the S2000 prices will rocket.
 
Interesting read Loxy. My Dad has a BMW as I have mentioned and the BMW garage treat him like that every time he goes in for a service. Different League.

I did laugh at the Pilot Super Sports comment. :D I have found my Pilot Sport 3s on my CTR to be awesome. I know a lot on here have other suggestions for what tyres to use but I have for one been happy with the Michelins.

Will be interesting to see which route you now go down... :D
 
I've always been torn between Honda and BMW. I have had 4 type r's and in that time my mate has had 3 m3's so have quite a balanced experience of each manufacturer. BMW defiantly have a better customer service and their warranty and after sales support is second to none. Also strangely enough I have probably spent more maintaining my Honda's than my mate has his M cars due to their brilliant warranty. BMW's also do feel more solid but do go wrong more which doesn't matter to much as it's obviously under warranty. The BMW community is really good as well. I regularly go to M3 cutter meets and everybody is great. Only downside is the price of parts when you want to start modding. The M sport carbon parts make a huge difference to the looks but cost a fortune.


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One of the guys at my station has a 135i. I can put you in touch with him if you want so can get an idea of running costs / experience over a longer period ( I think he has had his over 12 months now)
 
It's a real shame you couldn't get the Honda warmed up for a proper side by side comparison as its the car your living with more than the customer service although it wouldn't hurt for Honda to be more attentive.
 
Reading your reply Loxy i can see you in a BMW by the end of the year.

Good luck with whatever one you choose.
 
Speaking of FN2's I saw a. I've red Ctr with grey wheels gunning towards me around the back roads of Salisbury this afternoon. Looked the tits. I was just on the way home after driving a Megane 250. Quick car. Have you considered one lox? They are much better screwed together than the old generation Renaults.


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stayfreejc said:
I've always been torn between Honda and BMW. I have had 4 type r's and in that time my mate has had 3 m3's so have quite a balanced experience of each manufacturer. BMW defiantly have a better customer service and their warranty and after sales support is second to none. Also strangely enough I have probably spent more maintaining my Honda's than my mate has his M cars due to their brilliant warranty. BMW's also do feel more solid but do go wrong more which doesn't matter to much as it's obviously under warranty. The BMW community is really good as well. I regularly go to M3 cutter meets and everybody is great. Only downside is the price of parts when you want to start modding. The M sport carbon parts make a huge difference to the looks but cost a fortune.


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Funny you should say that. When my dad had his 5 series he had nothing but grief and the dealers were shocking. I guess it just depends where you go really.


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