Thanks Joe. I think you are spot on. Apparently there is a pause now and they are clearing out existing orders as they are gearing up for the 2018 models. This may mean the the straight 6 will be released around that time. If I order now delivery will be in May. I don't know if that means I effectively get the 2018 model. I know that car companies always release the next year's models before the end of current year but 6 months or more ahead seems ridiculous.

It will be interesting to see how the straight 6 goes but if it replaces the V6 it will probably be in a power class that is more than I want because of the tax and insurance costs. The V6 is no slouch either 0-100 KM/H in 5.1 seconds

Originally Posted By pandy
I was interested enough to see why you've decided on a diesel (in view of recent threads about the way the wind is blowing politically for oil burners) to have a look at the configurator.

I see the AWD only seems available as a diesel. Is this right ?

Italy is still pretty much wedded to diesel, mainly because it is more economic to run, and I am told a second hand petrol BMW, for example, can be quite hard to sell. Given that I expect relatively low mileage I would have opted for benzine but, as you quite rightly say, the AWD is only available in diesel. I think that with anti-particle filters and AddBlue the pollution aspects are pretty low anyway.

I must say that if you put your foot down the reaction with 430 Nm of torque on tap over a wide rpm range is pretty nice. To put that into perspective the Aero 8 and the Plus 8 have 490Nm but at lower revs would have much less. The AWD XE can do 0-100 KM/H in 7.9 seconds which is almost the same as the Plus 4.

I was thinking of going to have another look at the BMW Series 3 GT 320D but somehow I couldn't be bothered. I reasoned that if the price, features, and performance where all about the same which would I pick, and I decided the Jag, so I expect I will place an order for the Jag on Monday.


Peter

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