[dunc69]

The Stinger is leaving!

A variety of reasons, but mainly increased mileage, more local trips, and an average of 27-28mpg means I am going to try something different.

I have an appointment at WBAC tomorrow morning. They have offered very strong money (the market has gone crazy). If they try to low-ball me, I will sell privately.

Full post summing up a fantastic car to follow shortly.

 

[Banzibarn]

Yes, my WBAC offer meant a depreciation of £218 per month over my ownership, very strong!

Do you think you'd still be selling if it wasn't for the roof? Or, do you tend to get bored quite quickly anyway? Are you still thinking of moving to a big German barge? Have the value of those also gone up?

Good luck finding another car with ventilated seats, HUD, and all the other goodies Personally, I'm now a bit confused about what kit I consider necessary on a car, because it's highly unlikely that my next car will be as well equipped! I uses every feature on the Stinger!

Any thoughts about going EV next, or is it still a bit soon for you?

 

[dunc69]

Hi, the roof creak is bearable, and only at slow speeds in warmer weather, but it doesn’t help.

An A8 55 TFSI with comfort and sound pack was top of the list.

But, a bit big for the country lanes near me and my lad has started at a new school in the opposite direction from my daughter‘s school. Miles going up, short trips and a bit fed up putting £80 of super into the tank.

Will be going for a well-specced 530E. Split folding rear seats (rare), Harman Kardon, fabulous infotainment. No HuD but rarely looked at mine. Will charge at home every night.

250bhp and 6 sec 0-60 is probably sufficient too! Rarely floored the Stinger, fun as it was.

Will do a comparison at some point.

 

[msimega]

Hope it goes OK for you, Prices being offered for cars on WBAC and Motorway etc are crazy at the moment, Please do a write up on the next car you buy to replace the Stinger, that would be quite interesting. Although I really enjoyed the 2 Stingers I had, I do not regret going Full EV with the Ioniq 5, tried Sport mode in anger for the 1st time this morning - god for a 2.2 tonne SUV type car it's quick off the mark (Not Tesla insane quick) but quick enough. And at the moment due to free charging while shopping costing me nothing to run...

Kind Regards

Phil

 

[Keegs]

Sold my Kuga through bestcarbuyer .co.uk 2 weeks ago.
The guy from the collection company said motorway pays the best prices.
At the moment used car prices are silly, from February till July the price of mine went up by over £4k, even in the 6 week wait for my Niro to arrive it jumped another £1k!

 

[Banzibarn]

This looks really nice!

View attachment 11750

 

[ODONO]

I had always been worried about maintenance costs on BMW, my friend runs his own garage and a good one but refuses to work on BMW due to the eye watering cost of parts

 

[Goatwidcoat]

I had always been worried about maintenance costs on BMW, my friend runs his own garage and a good one but refuses to work on BMW due to the eye watering cost of parts

A guy at work, his brother just picked up a 3 year old 535D, luckily with an extended warranty and has had £5k of repairs in the last 6 months. Needed a new turbo at 40k miles and a few other bits and pieces. Think he is just very unlucky but it's when they do go wrong, they sting the wallet a lot!

 

[solarpower03]

I am thinking to get rid of my Ceed as well. An annoying rattling issue which can not be diagnosed and fixed by the dealer.

 

[dunc69]

A guy at work, his brother just picked up a 3 year old 535D, luckily with an extended warranty and has had £5k of repairs in the last 6 months. Needed a new turbo at 40k miles and a few other bits and pieces. Think he is just very unlucky but it's when they do go wrong, they sting the wallet a lot!

Yep, the Stinger has certainly been reliable, rattles aside.

I am buying the 530E from a main dealer, so will have a year’s warranty to hopefully ensure all is spot on….. 🤞

The Stinger leaves at 2.30pm today 😭
Will update later.

Will also post up my overall thoughts after 26 months and 25500 miles of very happy Stinger driving before too long….. will really miss it.

 

[dunc69]

This looks really nice!

Thanks!

 

[dunc69]

So, the car was sold to WBAC yesterday. They paid top money and didn’t take a penny off.

I have a few Stinger bits to sell off. I will list them on here first before going to the wider FB audience.

Mods, can I list them on this forum so Stinger owners can find them? Thanks

 

[dunc69]

Overall, the Stinger has cost me (purchase price minus sale price) £272 per month of ownership. £310 if I include the service package.

Of course this doesn’t include tyres and petrol, quite a lot of both having been consumed.

 

[dunc69]

Brief summary copied across from PH:


So, the Stinger was absolutely amazing and did everything I would have expected. The ride in Comfort was sublime due in part to the long wheelbase and also the wizards who set up the chassis.

The V6 is the part I will miss most. Butter smooth and bloody quick in any setting, even more so in Sport.

The interior looked amazing, had every possible toy and the nappa leather seats were so nice.

Niggles? Mainly the sunroof. Multiple attempts to fix it, as documented here, couldn’t solve it. Others have the same issue. Some are lucky, but if the roof creaks, it will creak forever. The only solution is to open it or play loud (720W) tunes. Otherwise, the car was totally solid.

The Harman Kardon, with a sub under each front seat, was fantastic. I’m not an expert audiophile, but I love my music and the kids and I just loved listening to it. Mrs Dunc just though that it was too loud!!

I changed because I decided the roof irritates too much, my short commute and my parents moving closer meant that 27mpg was my average, and because I was offered silly money by WBAC.

The 5 series is obviously a lovely luxury car, but the 540i wouldn’t have been much more economical and would have been ££££ more.

The 530E is perfect for a 6 mile commute and other local journeys, and is well specced enough to hopefully keep me happy. I’ll miss the V6, but silent local motoring bizarrely appeals. 0-60 in 6 is sufficiently quick too. 4.7 never got boring, but became irresponsible in my head on the road. And it chewed tyres and petrol.

New car day tomorrow! 👍🤞

 

[dunc69]

Just home guys. A very different beast from the Stinger.

Slower for sure. I will miss the instant urge of the V6 for a while.

But, amazing build quality and interior materials. Sooooo quiet and refined. And fuel economy is in a different league. Only Day 1, so will add further thoughts later.

The kids are gutted - “We miss our Stinger Daddy!”

 

[Banzibarn]

Looks really good, and no sunroof! I'd definitely turn round to look at it if you drove past.

Have you had a wall charger installed, or is that just 3 pin?

 

[dunc69]

Looks really good, and no sunroof! I'd definitely turn round to look at it if you drove past.

Have you had a wall charger installed, or is that just 3 pin?

Thanks Banzi!
That’s a 3-pin. Wall charger ordered.

 

[Banzibarn]

Suppose a 3 pin is fine for an over night charge as the battery must be quite small. What's the capacity? Might be worth looking at Octopus energy as they have an EV tariff which provides cheap charge at night. I have a referral code to get us both £50 off our bills if you fancy switching! (you need a smart meter though).

 

[dunc69]

Thanks, we have a smart meter, but have ordered a Pod Point - I can’t tell it when to use electricity, but it’s £300 cheaper that the smarter chargers, like the Zappi. Our tariff is the same cost at any time I think too.

9.2 kWh battery I think without checking. Good for >20 miles. It’s hilly here in the Mendips, so no way am I gonna get the quoted 29.

We have solar panels (installed in 2013), so that should help some.

Still trying to work out the best settings for the car and fuel savings. 44.2 mpg so far, but not sure I’m all over which setting to use when …..

Had to floor it across the Mendip Motorway today (B3134 - long and straight along the top of the Mendips towards Burrington Combe) as was late for an appointment. It pedals, but isolates from any noise other than tyres. 0-60 in 6. Quick enough for me.

 

[Banzibarn]

Presumably, the best eco will come from journeys which are majority electric. What's the performance like on electric only? It will be interesting doing some experiments. For example, what's more economical on a 30 mile trip - 20 miles on electric, then the last 10 on petrol, or driving with both for the whole journey. Presumably there's an eco setting which will work this stuff out for you, but it's not going to know in advance how long your journey is, so not sure how it could make the correct decision.