Prologue
I moved to Melbourne in early 2016, and Dad retired later the same year.
Before I moved, Linea MJD Emotion Pack was my Daily since 2012 and I did over 100K kms in 4 years with it; since I was relocating and we had other vehicles as well, so it was decided, we get rid of the Linea. I found a buyer, and the deal was sealed, just a day before, I was to fly to Melbourne. We still had 5 cars in our Garage.
I have been flying back often since then, on my first trip back home, dad who is fond of cars as much as I do; expressed his desire to own a AT, since all our cars were MT. So in January 2018, it was decided, we replace our 2014 Polo Comfortline 1.2P (Mom's Car), with an AT hatch. Polo GT Tsi was ruled out primarily due to It being the same car. We had a Look at Ignis AMT and a Swift AMT and ruled them out. I went back, and the idea of getting an AT was dropped for the time being, since our usage is very less, when I am not around. Years went by, and it was November 2020, when I came back home for a long hiatus.
The Endeavour Saga
Due to some unforeseen circumstances back home, I had to travel, and this was supposed to be a long trip. In January 2021, Dad, again expressed his desire to own an Automatic Transmission Car, so the search began, we had a look at the new options and decided, that let us replace Polo with a Used Polo GT Tsi. So, the search began, and as expected there were hardly any good clean GT Tsi cars in the market. When buying preowned, it is our rule to not even look at a second owner car, no matter how clean it may be. The search for a used Polo GT Tsi was getting us nowhere.
One odd day, got to know of a 2011 Ford Endeavour 3.0 4X4 AT being sold by an acquaintance, the vehicle’s history was clean, Single owner and 61K kms with records. Dad has always been a fan of this vehicle due to its size and shape, somehow, he managed to convince mom that this is going to be her Polo’s replacement. No time was wasted in closing the deal, and the Endeavour was home.
Upon Arrival, My Mom’s First reaction; I am not driving this Truck!
So Endeavour was home and the Polo was retained.
BMW Fables
Exactly 2 days into the Endeavour Ownership, we were back to square one, the plan was to replace Mom’s car with an Automatic, and now we had an Automatic car in our garage, which My Mom Will not touch. So, we resumed the search for an automatic small car. I contacted an old friend, who recently fell on tough times and from being owner of a manufacturing unit, has gotten into used car sales. He informed me that he does not have any Small AT cars, however what he has is a clean single owner E90 BMW 320D Msport.
Upon hearing this, without consulting anyone at home, I asked him to bring the car over.
And true to his word, the car was really clean, Single owner car with 37K kms on its odometer. Upon closer inspection, I figured out that the car had a fair bit of extras apart from BMW Motorsport division apart from M sport bits. The Extras on the car were as follows, listing out Msport bits first, and then the BMW Motorsport Extra’s
Msport Bits- Black Grille
- Msport Rims
- Side Skirts
- CF Boot Lip.
- CF Mirrors
BMW Motor Sport extras- BMW M Performance pack that includes A ECU with 205bhp Map, Bigger Intercooler, A Muffler with twin Exhaust outlets.
- Big Brake Kit, I am not sure, but the calipers are 380MM, they, look a size bigger than 330MM Brembo’s I have on my Alfa Romeo in Australia.
- Strut Brace finished in Brushed Aluminum
- BMW Motorsport Flat Bottom Steering wheel with LCD display for displaying Oil/Water temperature, Shift lights, Lap timer/ Quarter mile timer and few other things.
- illuminated BMW Motorsport Scuff Plates
- Carbon Fiber Diffuser for rear bumper.
It was love at first sight for me, and I decided I wanted this car no matter what.
But then, our typical problem, too many cars and not enough users or even usage to justify another car. Got both my parents to drive the E90, and they really liked it. Dad knew about F30, so he was like why not a F30, had a look around, and most F30’s in our budget were either second owner, or with too many kms 75K+, even asked another friend of mine to bring over his F30 for my dad to test, since he is the one who will drive, it when I am back to Australia.
Being an old school guy, he absolutely hated the joystick shifter of F30 as compared to gated shifter of E90. So, the path was clear, and E90 was coming home for sure; now, what should it replace? The Thar Crde?, since we had already got another 4WD the previous week, or my beloved W124 E220. Since W124 is the least used car in our garage, and me being the only user, it was decided that we will replace the W124 with the E90. It was an extremely difficult decision for me, but E90 was too good to let go. After a fair bit of negotiations and arguments with the middleman, the E90 was home.
Solving the F30 Vs E90 Dilemma
Coming Home
Love the LCI Lights and Rear CF Diffuser with M Performance Pack Exhaust
Side Skirts
Love the Pull Up Sun Shades
All Black Interiors
Red Cushions add a nice Subtle touch, Came with the Car
Piano Black Finish and Flat Bottom Wheel, really miss the M sport Logo
Msport Rims
Big Brake Kit
Strut Brace
Illuminated Side Sills
I love the wheel as it displays Water and Oil Temperature
The Start Up Sequence!
I had people already lining up for my W124, and I had deposit for it in my account the next day.
As a family, we have this habit, of getting attached to cars, I still remember, back in 2001, when we sold our Gypsy, my younger brother was inconsolable. Thankfully, parking space is not a problem for us, so one fine morning, dad acknowledged all my efforts, that I had put in the W124 to bring it to its current shape, and he asked me to return the deposit, and retain the car. So while looking for a AT replacement for our trustworthy polo, we had gone overboard, and added two more cars in our garage within a span of 7 days. The Polo was still here and So was the W124.
While Window shopping before closing the deals of these two cars, we came across two interesting deals, apart from usual A4's/3's and C's.
Two Porsche Cayenne's (Both V6 Petrol's) which were being sold for a song, both were V6's and the Golden Beige one was Sold for a Slightly lesser amount than what we paid for the Endeavour!
Porsche being Porsche, we Walked out of these two deals for some other day