What was your best built car....?

Angelus666 · Post by **Angelus666** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:02 pm

As per title really, would be interested to know about the best car you've ever owned. To my mind I think the Z4 has a pretty average build quality, every single one of them I've been in has some form of dashboard rattle....the new 3lt I bought in 2004 had it's dash replaced 3 times, but still didn't fix the problem. I think the chassis is too stiff for the cabin fixings, it jolts things loose eventually...

For me, the E46 CSL and especially the E39 530 I owned were by far away the best built cars I've had, nothing went wrong over the 3 years I had them, not a single squeak or rattle.

PerryGunn · Post by **PerryGunn** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:07 pm

Angelus666 wrote:As per title really, would be interested to know about the best car you've ever owned. To my mind I think the Z4 has a pretty average build quality, every single one of them I've been in has some form of dashboard rattle....the new 3lt I bought in 2004 had it's dash replaced 3 times, but still didn't fix the problem. I think the chassis is too stiff for the cabin fixings, it jolts things loose eventually...

For me, the E46 CSL and especially the E39 530 I owned were by far away the best built cars I've had, nothing went wrong over the 3 years I had them, not a single squeak or rattle.

Definitely my old E39 535i V8 - felt as though it was carved from a single piece of granite...

z4pilot · Post by **z4pilot** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:08 pm

Not one I owned personally, but it was my dad's car - Saab 9000. Mid 90's saloon that was the best product of a tie up between Saab, Fiat and Alfa. (Fiat Croma anyone?

) He had it as a company car for 3 years and took it from 0 to around 75000 miles. Felt as tight the day it went back as when it arrived and had a properly solid build quality.

SeanConnor · Post by **SeanConnor** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:23 pm

My old SW20 Turbo. The later SW20s were farmed out to Mitsubishi by Toyota and almost hand built. Everything was properly bolted and screwed together. Still sweet as a nut when I sold it with 150K on the clock.

Worst ever ? I once had the dubious honour of owning a Cavalier GSI ... absolute sh*te build quality.

cj10jeeper · Post by **cj10jeeper** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:24 pm

z4pilot wrote:Not one I owned personally, but it was my dad's car - Saab 9000. Mid 90's saloon that was the best product of a tie up between Saab, Fiat and Alfa. (Fiat Croma anyone? ) He had it as a company car for 3 years and took it from 0 to around 75000 miles. Felt as tight the day it went back as when it arrived and had a properly solid build quality.

Strange - that is exactly the car I was going to post from a pure build perspective.

Had a 9000 CS and it was carved from granite. Not a rattle or squeak from the day I had it.
Had all the big makes since and nothing as good, although my early X5 was faultless fro 100k and 1o years of ownership.

85genius · Post by **85genius** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:25 pm

When I read the thread title before I even opened it I was thinking of my old E39 so not surprised to see them in the first 2 posts. Built like a tank! I was actually looking on ebay yesterday at the possibility of picking up an old V8 just for the laugh really

Angelus666 · Post by **Angelus666** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:36 pm

Ha, I was also looking at them as well....amazing car for the money really! I do keep thinking shall I get an E39 M5 as it must be a decent buy and place to put £10k....hmmmm

GuidoK · Post by **GuidoK** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:42 pm

Volvo V70/xc70 with 5cyl diesel.
Pretty much indestructible.

85genius · Post by **85genius** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:51 pm

Angelus666 wrote:Ha, I was also looking at them as well....amazing car for the money really! I do keep thinking shall I get an E39 M5 as it must be a decent buy and place to put £10k....hmmmm

Haha Yeah I did exactly the same thing, was looking at the 535 (cheap as chips) then was wondering what I could get a 540 for... bit more expensive but still a stupid amount of car for the money... Next thing I know I'm half way through convincing myself this is a good investment

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-M5-5-0-20 ... Sw6n5Xtsrf

pvr · Post by **pvr** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 1:32 pm

My 740 was the best car I ever had. Seems telling that all the best cars are roughly from the same era ...

d3matt · Post by **d3matt** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 1:40 pm

I would agree with the E39. I had an 520 estate.
But also up there was my 1989 Audi Coupe 2.2e, like this one

And my early Mercedes E-class estate. Like the E39, the W124 was the last Merc that seemed to have quality before cost.

maxman · Post by **maxman** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 1:49 pm

My best built car up to now was a Japanese built 2.0 GLI Toyota Carina.I sold it with 78k on the clock to a friend ,who owned it for 15 yrs,and in all that time other than servicing plus tyres all that was needed was a battery.
He sold it with 180k on the clock.

Marlon · Post by **Marlon** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:11 pm

My Audi A4 2.0 T FSI S-Line was as solid as a rock during my 3 years of ownership

pvr · Post by **pvr** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:28 pm

To be fair, my Audi A3 is as ~~boring as hell~~ solid as a rock as well

Marlon · Post by **Marlon** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:35 pm

pvr wrote:To be fair, my Audi A3 is as ~~boring as hell~~ solid as a rock as well

I sort of miss it though - its 220 horses really kicked in when you planted the right foot and it was a great motorway cruiser. In an perfect world I'd have both

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