Well... after much debating and spending a while looking at 07-10 plate Honda Civic Type-R's, I realised that, actually something like a Lexus GS450h might be within my grasp.
Drove a GS450h years ago and was really impressed then, but way over my budget! It had everything - space, comfort and near silence on long journeys, outrageous performance (341bhp, 0-100 in 13 seconds etc), but could also do 40 MPG if needed, great specification, lots of interior room, and most importantly, brilliant reliability and superb service from Lexus dealers. It also has lots of great features - electric rear blind, memory seats, sat nav, Mark Levinson 14 speaker 5.1 surround sound system with DVD playback, heated and cooling seats, adaptive headlights, adaptive suspension, etc etc - and it's a hybrid so is great for both saving fuel and the most useful part f the hybrid system, the great boost in performance couple with almost instant throttle response.
Eventually, narrowed it down to a few, and after some negotiating with the dealer, trading in my wife's 14 year old 3 door Toyota Rav-4 (in VERY good condition) I drove from Central Scotland to 30 minutes from the Channel Tunnel to collect this car (430 miles). I stayed overnight after 300 miles, planning to collect the car the next day around noon, as it was being MOT'd and also some paintwork was being done on the boot lid the day I initially travelled. The car had a decent amount of paint done by the dealer for various dings, scruffiness to the bodywork and also a new front bumper as it was cracked.
However, it failed it's MOT, and I was due to collect it the next day! I was now 300 miles from home :( The parts (2 rear shocks) were only available from Lexus and would not be in stock until the day after I was due to collect.
After some negotiation and several phone calls to various dealers, we agreed to meet between the price the dealer could get them and fit them at, and the price I could get Lexus Edinburgh beside me to fit them for (with Lexus Owners Club discount). It also had a missing service book - which was OK as I had completed printouts and some receipts for everything (I also called and spoke to the previous owner - it's a 1 owner car - and he had to stop driving as he has parkinsons disease and said it was a marvellous car but "not the best in the body" so I was grateful the dealer had taken the hit with the paintwork repairs)! It also only has one key - the original owner and his wife are currently searching for this for me, but no luck yet (circa £250 from Lexus!!)
After all that rambling above, I finally picked up this November 2006, one owner, 71000 miles, GS450h in Mica Black with an ivory leather interior, at the end of July 2016. It looked in good shape, the wheels had just been refurbished to a reasonable standard (the original pictures had scuff on them and we agreed they'd be done as part of the deal). A few bits of the body work had not been assembled very well (arch liners, bumper clips) and a few minor masking issues, but overall the paintwork was actually pretty good. We agreed, I paid and off I drove.
Here are some pics of the car before collection from the dealer:
I then set about fuelling up (put in £53 to full as still had about 40 miles in the tank) and enjoyed a LONG journey home (total of around just under 600 miles that day) - hopefully worthwhile. When I got home I had covered this distance and this average MPG, from a 3.5l V6... :lol:
Overall an impressive car drives great, some things to sort, and some bits and bobs needed.
Some pics n the journey home:
Next jobs - Lexus for MOT resit and new rear suspension fitting and Major 100+ service.