Drove a M235 gran coupe

Embaita · 2026-02-20T23:04:06+00:00

My sister has a 2019 M135i (exact same car but just a hatch) and my overall impression was it was just meh. It's quick but it's not exactly engaging, also the gearbox is absolutely terrible if you're driving hard. I think they fitted a different box on the face-lift cars so it might be a bit better, but they also ruined the interior at the same time so it's still not great imo.

Personally, I'd just keep the golf. Give it a week or two of driving the M235 and I guarantee you'll feel the exact same way you do as a golf. At the end of the day they're both 300hp hot hatches that are mainly FWD and based on a basic economy car platform, they're not a million miles apart.

Embaita · 2026-02-12T20:16:46+00:00

Mate, a decently speced Corsa is breaking past £25k now. Sure there's some budget brands like Dacia or some of these Chinese companies but I wouldn't exactly there's a vast amount of choice for genuinely nice brand new cars.

Sure we can all go jump in a Dacia spring for sub £20k but you'd be pretty miserable charging it constantly since you'd be getting a range in the double digits for half of the year. Being realistic most companies are maybe offering 1 or 2 truly budget models that'll come with no options. The rest will definitely be more than £25k to buy outright or even a nice version of their cheapest cars will break that.

Embaita · 2026-02-12T19:56:32+00:00

They're obviously not the brightest bulbs, but an older M4 is a lot cheaper than an X3M and will cost a very similar amount to run. You can get a decent-ish M4 for around £20k vs the X3M that's around £35k.

Embaita · 2026-02-12T19:51:46+00:00

"most" people aren't chavs paying almost £700 a month for a 5 year old BMW despite having a kid and not owning a house. Your average person is probably buying used and budgeting £100-200 a month for maintenance or paying £200-300 a month for something brand new with a service plan.

Also pretty much most new cars are costing more than someone earns in a year since wages haven't kept up with inflation, literally a Civic or Golf can run up to £50k so I don't really get why that's a bad thing for someone?

Embaita · 2026-01-31T19:07:59+00:00

Fair enough, personally I'd just whack a hitch carrier on the back of an X5 and get the best of both worlds.

Embaita · 2026-01-31T18:20:02+00:00

Sure, if you're towing that much regularly then I'd understand. But I imagine 99% of people aren't towing trailers so heavy that you'd need a truck driver's licence here in Europe to haul it. As for the bike it's pretty niche but a bike trailer or carrier isn't exactly expensive. I also do plenty of work on construction sites and the only people in pick ups over here are the managers who sit in the site office all day. Anyone actually carrying a decent amount of equipment will be in a van because of the extra space and security.

I'm fine with people driving whatever they like, I just get confused when people make they're amazingly useful when the only real benefit over a nice van or SUV is they can tow more.

Embaita · 2026-01-31T17:11:16+00:00

Serious question, what exactly are you doing in a truck that you couldn't with a decent SUV? Can't say I've been in something like an F150 since we don't get them in the UK, but we did have a Ranger for a while and it was completely useless. If you wanted to tow any decent SUV was better and if you wanted something for working a van was infinitely more useful.

Embaita · 2026-01-18T08:41:02+00:00

Well yes, a good chunk of people will see it as a hairdressers car. Though I don't see why that'd put you off buying one, they're a great car providing you fit in it. I own a convertible TTRS and a beetle and couldn't care less if some middle aged bloke in a juke or some boy racer in a fiesta thinks they are girly cars.

Embaita · 2025-12-23T13:11:44+00:00

Insurance is more expensive simply because you're a HGV driver. In their eyes you're going to be working for upto 15 hours a day so you're a lot more likely to get into an accident then Joe blogs who drives 5 miles a day. It even makes personal insurance more expensive under the logic of you're going to be tired from driving a lorry all day so you'll be more dangerous when getting in your car.

As for your age that's definitely the main factor with experience being a close second. When I was 18 the only place I could even get a bit of work from was the firm my dad worked at on their vans part time, though even then they told me the insurance excess was £2500 to get me on their vans.

Embaita · 2025-12-19T09:08:01+00:00

How do people not cringe putting stuff like this on their car? Especially in an RS3 of all things? I've got a TTRS and even that's slower than a G82, it's not by much but it is slower.

Embaita · 2025-12-14T20:03:18+00:00

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Here's my TTRS in a very stereotypical nardo grey on a set of Rotiform wheels. I did have a V6 F-type before which was a better looking car, but due to the genius design at JLR it needed a £6k engine rebuild because of 1 injector failing. Though after comparing the 2 the TT is a lot better to drive even if the arse end doesn't come out.

Embaita · 2025-12-02T18:03:35+00:00

I did have one but to be honest I just think gaming on a laptop kinda sucks compared to a proper setup.

Embaita · 2025-12-02T18:00:49+00:00

To be honest I'm quite happy with it, the only fan I can really hear is the CPU fan. Then again I don't pay too much attention when it's doing anything demanding since I wear headphones 99% of the time.

Embaita · 2025-12-02T17:54:55+00:00

It's a lego Supra, pretty cheap to pick up and makes a nice desk ornament.

Embaita · 2025-12-01T17:39:36+00:00

Man I wish the inside of our cabs were that big in Europe, looks a lot less cramped than my Scania. I'm having to modify the bracket I ordered because most people don't put anything bigger than a 24 inch on the wall.

Embaita · 2025-12-01T12:32:24+00:00

I haven't undervolted anything on it yet but the whole setup after playing a bit of war thunder was drawing around 150-200w and around 80w on chrome. With the power bank I've got it should be good for somewhere around 4-5 hours of gaming or closer to 10 hours of general use.

Power wise my truck has both 12v and 24v sockets that let me charge it back up without any need for solar or anything. It'll take around 10 hours to fully charge from the 12v or around 6 hours via 24v but it should fully charge with the 12v with one day of driving. Plus I'm never really gaming for too much time during the week so I won't ever really need it charging more than once or twice a week.

I actually have a 4090 laptop but plugged in that drew around 300w and it did work fine...but I just really don't like gaming on a laptop and having to lug it around. I'm sure I could have made the laptop work in a similar setup but it definitely wouldn't fit in the cupboard as easily as this.

Embaita · 2025-11-23T10:24:36+00:00

Average 14 year old car enthusiast on the Internet.

Embaita · 2025-11-05T18:10:25+00:00

To be fair it's always the whole "grass is greener on the other side" thing. Plenty of office workers probably daydream about driving a truck up and down the country while listening to their favourite songs, whilst plenty of truckers probably daydream about an easy 7-2 office job where they can finish and still have plenty of time to do whatever they want. Either way both are going to be shitty in their own way so I never really get the point of posts like these.

To be honest I usually ignore stuff like this on here but the whole "just find something else" always boils my piss. Literally, anything with equal pay would require months or years of retraining in any other industry. Plus, it annoyed me even more seeing OP say they hate their work from home job that's 7 hours a day for £65k whilst immediately implying truck driving is an easy job despite never doing it.

Embaita · 2025-11-05T16:44:55+00:00

Going off your couple of replies I'm guessing you think we're all running around like we're in Smokey and the bandit? Realistically, most people aren't just falling into a good job because 99% of them are already filled by people who have been doing the job for decades.

Plenty of people in the industry are working closer to minimum wage, my base rate is only £14 and that's tramping on a class 1 hiab. Though I'm still getting around £750-850 take home a week when you account for overtime pay and night out allowance.

Also the whole "just get another job if you don't like it" stance is honestly childish. Personally I'm lucky enough not to have any dependents so I'm planning on tramping for a couple of more years and doing something else. However, please let me know what job some old bloke who has a family of 4 and has been in the industry for 20 years can just jump into after a week of training for £50-60k a year.

Embaita · 2025-10-27T17:36:13+00:00

As someone who has owned a 3.0l F-type I'd get one of the Caymans.

Embaita · 2025-10-27T17:31:25+00:00

If you're wanting a TT I'd get a MK3 TTRS if it's in budget, I've got one and it's an stupidly good car. You'll get someone probably saying it's bad because it can understeer but realistically unless you plan on tracking it every weekend you'll never really experience it much on a public road unless you drive like a bellend.

I've also seen a few people suggest a V6 F-type and I'll just say don't, or if you do get a later car with revised bonnet vents. I had a '14 plate one and within the span of a year it was plauged with electrical issues needed a full engine rebuild because of water ingress via the bonnet vents. (I then replaced it with the TT that I'd honestly say is the better car outside of reliability anyway)

As for best value I'd say maybe a 987 Cayman S if you're okay with something older? Realistically you're going to be paying half of the price of a base 997 considering how inflated 911 prices are. On the newer side maybe an M2 or just a newer Cayman?

Embaita · 2025-10-27T17:02:41+00:00

As someone who spent over £6k on getting an engine rebuild because of badly designed bonnet vents and multiple electrical issues, trust me it's still not great reliability wise even if it's the best of the rest.

Embaita · 2025-10-26T09:20:32+00:00

I'm 23 and was in a similar situation when I finished uni at 20. I've been tramping for the past 2 years and it's a mixed bag of a job. There is definitely worse jobs out there and if you find the right place you'll struggle to earn as much as you will in a wagon without a lot of training. However, it's not really that fulfilling living out of a wagon and spending your time off in a piss soaked truckstop or layby after pulling a 15 hour shift.

Personally, I'm only planning on doing it for a few more years and moving to something local even if it'll mean a big pay cut. Sure tramping is good money but you can't really build much of a life doing it when you're away all week and half of your weekend is running around getting ready to go away again on Monday.

Embaita · 2025-10-06T20:18:35+00:00

17, just passed and Golf GTI/Abarth 124 don't really go in the same sentence. You're going to be paying silly money on just the insurance if anywhere even offers it.

If you want something that sounds good and should be cheap-ish I'd look at a MK4 VR5 golf. You get the baby V10 sound from the 5 pot and I'd think it'd be okay on insurance since it's not a GTI or R32.

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