Despite having closely studied car specifications, videos, and read numerous articles we thought it was time to visit the local car showrooms to look at some cars in person. Even cars we felt were not compatible with our most basic requirements, that of
- 4 wheel drive
- Double Clutch (e.g. Audi S-Tronic, Porsche PDK, BMW DKG) gearbox
So with our credit cards safely at home, and our most rational brains engaged we set forth into Lausanne to face the overly smiling, flattering and polite demographic, that of the Swiss New Car Salesman.
Here are the comments so far:
In Switzerland 90K buys you a 2006, 997 Carerra 4S. 911 Swiss prices are remarkably resilient to change, which is great if you own one, and terrible if you'd like to buy one.
As you can see, in Credit Crunch UK you can get a car that is 4 years younger for the same money. It is absolutely unbelievable.
On the net there are many imported or tuned GT-R. here is the text from a sample:! WARNING! EXCEPTIONAL VEHICLE!, You want to ride every day possible!, You want to ride on the racetrack, you can!, You want to ride as a family is the GTR! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, It is equipped with approximately CHF 30 ' 000 .- accessories, with an output adjustable between 480 and 600CV!, Exhaust complete GTC GTC Admission and mapping, Cobb AccessPort, anti-roll bars COBB, Injector INJECTOR DYNAMICS, Actuators FORGE turbo, brake hoses ENDLESS, Tow Hook HKS, supplemental cooling box DODSON, Carter aluminum, thermostat and special filter DODSON, brake discs and pads special oils and bridges WILLALL box springs, special height adjustable, various other accessories, More Details on the spot! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, A very special car for aficionado, a passionate performance and does not see every street corner! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, This car was part of RTGs that had the recall campaign official NISSAN for engine change . Its engine has only 14'000km.
It's a tempting car but the rear seats dont fold and the price from Nissan for 4x(winter tyres + rims) was an extra 13,500 CHF. The new uprated model is of course due 1st quarter 2011, but I'm not sure the extra power will be noticed in CaptainSlow Switerland.
We sat in the A1 and were impressed by the beautiful detailing. The car is wonderfully small but underpowered (even if the 180 BHP 1.4 ltire engine arrives). Also it's quite possibly the only 2 wheel drive Audi. Since the S1 is a rumour and the RS1 is even further away, this is not going to work.
The Audi S3 was impressive in the flesh but does not really add anything to the current TT, except it's got more room in the boot and it too tall
We got chatting to a couple who were doing the final negotiations on their new X3 at the BMW showroom. Quite ironically due to the snow all test drives for this Saturday were cancelled. Hilarious!
Well I never knew that the 4 wheel drive BMW 3 series coupe cannot have a Dual Clutch gearbox. Unbelievable. Also I found out the car is actually wider than a Nissan GT-R.
The BMW salesman tried to be diplomatic as we eyed the beautifully compact BMW 135i with Dual Clutch. In the snow he stressed, you might choose to drive another car. I think that says it all about the rear wheel drive only, but otherwise beautiful car. And of course the forthcoming M 1 series will be no better.
We sat down with the Audi salesman as he made an on screen config of the TT RS, something we had already done at home several times. It is our perfect car!
The results were a 107K CHF car and this comes down to 98.5K after a 9.5K discount (not shown above). If you recall from an earlier but still totally accurate blog post. The TT RS price is 31% higher in Switzerland than in the UK despite VAT rates of 7.9 and 17.5% respectively. I still feel deeply insulted that Audi Switzerland wants me to pay such a high price even with their special offers and free servicing deals. Just drop the frikkin price ... please.
The BMW saloon (aka Sedan in US parlance) is available with Dual Clutch, and Four Wheel drive. But it has 4 doors and looks so ordinary I think I'd rather shoot myself than buy this car.
Well we looked at the R8, which was upstairs in the showroom. The keys were locked away in a safe so we could not open the front trunk to check the luggage space. On our budget we'd have to go far a 20K KM plus 2008 Automatic model. The 2007 model had gearbox issues.Links
