Yes, I beg forgiveness and kneel humbly for fear of being struck down by lightning....
For some time now I have been thinking about getting another car.
See, the 6 is gloriously, fantastically, incredibly, awesomely, well, that good....that I don't want to use it for the mile-crunching trips I make around the UK. Nor do I want to use it when the icey white stuff starts to lay. Nor do I want to get it dirty. Come to think of it, I've become rather obsessive about it!
The wife uses her 320d every day too - so that's not an option. I can't really tell her to get the Metro, the Bus, or walk, especially when she does about 15k p.a. in it.
So I had no choice.
I wanted a diesel. I wanted something we could genuinely see benefit from in addition to the 2 above cars. I wanted something nicely styled, with a nice interior, with a quality build, with a good ride, that was very economical, yet had enough oomph to keep me from going insane.
I actually went and looked at a 120d. What a go-kart of a car. Alas, too small to keep me comfortable for my 700 mile a week trips.
I then tried a 320d Touring. Hmm. No. Too like the wifes.
So, as the title says, forgive me.
I have bought an Audi.
Yes. Sorry!!!
A 54 plated, Audi A4 Avant 1.9Tdi Sport with 10k on the clock.
....and what a storming car it is! It's superb. The build is excellent (easily on par with my wifes 320), the interior is very very good - certainly better than the 3-series new and old, it drives very well indeed, has plenty of go with it's 130ps (128bhp) engine and 6-speed gearbox...and once I'd driven it I knew I'd be getting it.
The dealers are shocking of course. Oh yes, they are indeed.
It has all the toys I could want...plus a roof mounted TV Monitor with a DVD player in the glovebox! Hence the kids are nicely amused on long runs and as it's the Avant we can go on nice long trips with lots of luggage and no cramped legs in the back.
Sorry....forgive me, but the new 3-series just doesn't do it for me and the old 320d Touring was just, well, honestly...not as good as the Audi I'm afraid to say.
They really have come on leaps and bounds. I'm very impressed.
Here it is (forgive also the crap photo's as I took them on my mobile phone shortly after picking it up and the light was fading too):