It's been an interesting few years, and we've had our ups and downs, but I really grew to love this car.
There are threads elsewhere on what it's had done to it in my tenure, not all positive, so I won't repeat them here, suffice to say that I've done over 24,000 miles in it in various stages of tune and loved nearly every one of them.
I bought it as an ex demonstrator in January 2014 from MB Harrogate after the sales person brought it round to my house. I instantly fell in love with it, mainly due to the colour scheme and interior. It also helped that it had a list of options longer than my arm. A part exchanged figure was agreed on the XF-R I owned at the time and that was it really, deal done. The pick up was a bit of a let down as the car had no fuel in it whatsoever, and I was pointed towwards the petrol station next door. Also a damaged alloy which I didn't spot until later (parked by a kerb on collection) but at least the dealership got it sorted for me. The front splitter was also missing, again not spotted until I parked it next to another model though this was also eventually replaced. There were also a couple of bits and pieces which should have been spotted on a proper PDI, though these were eventually sorted out. This just seemed a very poor service from a prestige dealership, and somewhat soured the buying experience.
Bad bits over I decided to just enjoy the car, and what a lovely car to drive. Effortless power in something which drove like a dream around towns and in busy situations, yet could become a monster when circumstances permitted. I was going to leave things as they were and keep it pretty much standard, though decided a limited slip differential could only help with the poor traction, so that was the first modification. I then went on to do several other mods, some good, some pretty bad really but, as nobody in the UK had touched one of these at this time, there was a fair bit of trial and error involved. The car is currently running at around 860bhp with just short of 1,000lb/ft of torque and, whilst being a bit of an animal when provoked, can still be driven sensibly in normal situations which was exactly what I had aimed for from the start. A big thanks must go out to Acid at MSL for putting up with all my whining, Anthony at Weistec for answering all my questions and more, Jerry at Eurocharged for helping with the mapping and last, but in no way least, John at Big Fish Tuning for smoothing everything out.
The car hasn't been advertised for sale as my target market already knew it well and what has been done to it, though once I mentioned that I was thinking of selling it, I had a lot of response pretty instantly. There were obviously one or two lowball offers but these were ignored and the right person for it soon appeared. I can liken my sentiments to re-homing a cat really, in that it had to go to someone who would look after it and not just bling it up or abuse it. I know that this is a bit sad, and "it's only a car" but it was treated by me with care and respect and I wanted the same for it elsewhere. Some on here will know the gentleman in question but I don't feel it's my place to state who it is yet, though I'm sure he'll let you all know eventually.
It will be replaced in a couple of weeks with something nice and sedate which has already been ordered and had a deposit left on it. I'll be part exchanging my Range Rover for this so in reality I'm replacing two cars with one daily driver. I may post a thread up on this new one when I pick it up if I decide it's worth it. The 190E Cosworth will be staying and will be slowly improved over the Winter, mainly cosmetically though there are one or two little bits and pieces which need a dose of looking at.
There are threads elsewhere on what it's had done to it in my tenure, not all positive, so I won't repeat them here, suffice to say that I've done over 24,000 miles in it in various stages of tune and loved nearly every one of them.
I bought it as an ex demonstrator in January 2014 from MB Harrogate after the sales person brought it round to my house. I instantly fell in love with it, mainly due to the colour scheme and interior. It also helped that it had a list of options longer than my arm. A part exchanged figure was agreed on the XF-R I owned at the time and that was it really, deal done. The pick up was a bit of a let down as the car had no fuel in it whatsoever, and I was pointed towwards the petrol station next door. Also a damaged alloy which I didn't spot until later (parked by a kerb on collection) but at least the dealership got it sorted for me. The front splitter was also missing, again not spotted until I parked it next to another model though this was also eventually replaced. There were also a couple of bits and pieces which should have been spotted on a proper PDI, though these were eventually sorted out. This just seemed a very poor service from a prestige dealership, and somewhat soured the buying experience.
Bad bits over I decided to just enjoy the car, and what a lovely car to drive. Effortless power in something which drove like a dream around towns and in busy situations, yet could become a monster when circumstances permitted. I was going to leave things as they were and keep it pretty much standard, though decided a limited slip differential could only help with the poor traction, so that was the first modification. I then went on to do several other mods, some good, some pretty bad really but, as nobody in the UK had touched one of these at this time, there was a fair bit of trial and error involved. The car is currently running at around 860bhp with just short of 1,000lb/ft of torque and, whilst being a bit of an animal when provoked, can still be driven sensibly in normal situations which was exactly what I had aimed for from the start. A big thanks must go out to Acid at MSL for putting up with all my whining, Anthony at Weistec for answering all my questions and more, Jerry at Eurocharged for helping with the mapping and last, but in no way least, John at Big Fish Tuning for smoothing everything out.
The car hasn't been advertised for sale as my target market already knew it well and what has been done to it, though once I mentioned that I was thinking of selling it, I had a lot of response pretty instantly. There were obviously one or two lowball offers but these were ignored and the right person for it soon appeared. I can liken my sentiments to re-homing a cat really, in that it had to go to someone who would look after it and not just bling it up or abuse it. I know that this is a bit sad, and "it's only a car" but it was treated by me with care and respect and I wanted the same for it elsewhere. Some on here will know the gentleman in question but I don't feel it's my place to state who it is yet, though I'm sure he'll let you all know eventually.
It will be replaced in a couple of weeks with something nice and sedate which has already been ordered and had a deposit left on it. I'll be part exchanging my Range Rover for this so in reality I'm replacing two cars with one daily driver. I may post a thread up on this new one when I pick it up if I decide it's worth it. The 190E Cosworth will be staying and will be slowly improved over the Winter, mainly cosmetically though there are one or two little bits and pieces which need a dose of looking at.
