The Cyborg is dead, long live.....

It is a limited edition Kev. Could be the Bulitt. It is wickedness on wheels. I couldn't stop looking at it.

I loved the Mk1 MINI but it was rough around the edges and tiring to drive over long distances. I don't know why I didn't like the Mk2. It just seemed a bit plain, funless, and less well built. Or it could have just been me. The Mk3, to my eyes and bum at least, feels like a return to cheeky form, in a package that feels solid, drives well, looks funky but not silly and is comfortable. My loaner was a six speed manual that was so easy to use, that it reminded me why some people who have only ever driven decent manuals, don't easily see the point of an automatic.

 

Thank you Sean and Kev. It does look rather naughty. A bit cartoonish. Maybe I'll do sensible next time. Maybe.

 

Ohhhh, you don't want to start that.....

The 6 is looking fabulous, Harry - hopefully you're now set for many trouble/incident free motoring miles.

 

Thanks John. I sure hope so.

It still isn't getting cold enough down here to switch to winters. They would be on the old X5 by now, but last winter, which was about the same as this winter (so far), the X6 felt like it was on the wrong tyres.

 

Harry, the X6 looks great with the new ceramic coating.

If you don't mind me asking, what do they charge for the Gtechniq treatment?

 

It does look superb. If it had a 68 plate no-one would be any the wiser.

 

Thank you both. Sometimes I forget that it's about to celebrate its ninth birthday.

I'm a fan of Gtechniq products and most of what I now throw over and wipe off the cars has Gtechniq written on it.

At any given time, something will reside at the top of the Gtechnique coatings range which is only available through the trade. At the moment, this is Crystal Serum Ultra. Which is what both of our cars have on them.

What you pay depends on car size and what you have done to it.

A full paint correction on the X6, Crystal Serum Ultra, additionally covered with a coat of Exo (their high tech coating for civilian use), all glass treated apart from windscreen took 4 days and cost £1K.
Why put Exo on top of their top of the range coating? It's to add to the lustre and grime repellent qualities. While Crystal Serum Ultra is bullet proof and long lasting, they find that putting EXO over it, which can be done quickly and will last 1-2 years, deepens the shine, brings out the colour and makes the surface even more slippery to water and dirt. You don't have to have it. We thought, well, in for a penny.....

Helen's 320 Touring was fully corrected, stone chips touched up, Crystal Serum Ultra plus Exo, wheels off and coated with Crystal Serum Ultra both sides, interior valet and plastics treated, leather treated, all glass treated with hydrophobic stuff apart from the windscreen. 4 days at £800.

The X6 revisit this week took 2.5 days and was at a specially negotiated cost for doing half a car for a loyal customer. He ended up doing the whole car again - correction of resprayed panels and body shop gunk over the rest of the car, which needed machining but didn't require a huge volume of sweat or time. Crystal Serum Ultra from top to toe again, plus EXO over that. He didn't touch the mud flaps because there is a new product coming soon for flexible trim which I will try when it's launched. Putting anything on the mudflaps this week might affect the ability of the new product to key in and cover evenly.

Gtechnique has a network of accredited detailers which is not a huge network but appears to be expanding. Syetem Clenz in Weston Super Mare are the people I currently use. They've done the X5, 320d Touring and the X6 twice. I can't recommend them highly enough. It ain't cheap and I wish they were located closer to me, but just look at the results!

They also do a car wash service for drive ins and appointments. I think it's about £25 and it's a thoroughly professional job. I'd use it if I lived closer of had occasion to pass them more often.

 

That is stunning Harry....
A real credit to YOU and the marque....
Awesome.... shame to drive it...


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Thank you.

When I first saw photos of the proposed X6, words like "pointless" and "daft" jostled for thought space. But I always admired BMW for having the vision and the balls to throw something in from left field, just because they could. When I saw one in the metal I understood it instantly. Still big and rather pointless, impractical, poorly packaged for sane people, but brutally beautiful.

Now every car maker and their dogs are knocking out jacked uo four door coupe SUVs. And people are queuing round the block for them. Turns out that BMW were more astute than belligerent. That didn't stop the M Division going bonkers and attracting another barrage of ridicule. This time, I half agree with the criticism. How can something that big and heavy be an M Car? Trouble is, with the possible exception of the M2, all M Cars are too big and too heavy for their respective classes. Lightweight, normally asiirated and RWD are no longer the core values of M Division. Things have moved on. And now, every car maker and their dogs are producing jacked up four door coupe supercars.

If I'm going impractical, I might as well go bonkers too. This car is a good balance of stupid and mad. Until you drive it. At which point you can delete "stupid".

 

Thanks for the info @Harry. Those prices seem quite expensive, but the results look great.

I did consider ceramic coating when I purchased my F30 at 2 months old, but I ended up sticking to the traditional carnauba wax products.

I might consider the Gtechniq treatment if I'm feeling flush, some time in the future.

 

It's a big car. But yes, it's expensive.

If you are thinking of a Gtechniq treatment, their website shows their accredited detailers with links to their websites. This should give you a better idea of what your nearest centre(s) will charge for the particular jobs you want. I can't remember how much the X5 cost to do, but it was less. Maybe around the £450-500 mark. This was because it wasn't corrected before being treated.

The truth is that there is as much twaddle as fact in what they all claim. I don't take any notice of the "revolutionary breakthrough" hype from any company, Gtechniq included. But having tried their products I do rate them for car detailing, as opposed to pushing back the frontiers of science!

 

Simply Stunning , X6 looks great .

 

Tanks Murray.

The rain is refusing to stay on it today. It lands, it rolls straight off.

 

Harry, your car looks amazing. I can't help but wonder why BMW display a 7 series so poorly painted (previous comment by @mach one) when they could have one looking like yours.

 

Thank you.

Maybe they don't want to fork out for the paint correction? Might affect profits!

 

good to see the X6 back to looking its best, I cant believe it was June when you had your unfortunate incident with a trolley jack and finally the car is back to where it was in June before said incident

it is wise t let the new paint harden and fully cure before detailing and the newly coated car should be easy to keep clean over the winter months

 

Good looking car that.

I totally buy into paint protection and have someone do my cars. £40 for a very good clean inside and out is worth it and twice a year protecting the paint.

It helps he used to work for me so I get extras rather than a discount but it really does help long term


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Thank you both.

It's been a long and odd summer. I did get to drive a variety of loan cars. Although the novelty wore off long before I got Beast back.

I have concluded that the Safe Jack is too narrow and too tall. It relies on a box section along the top with the foot on top of it. Too many parts with a potential to move about relative to each other when placed on top of a jack, and not enough lateral spread of the load where the car meets the jack. As the car lifts, it moves sideways. The Safe Jack can become unstable, even if you compensate. Even if you've got the supporting legs in place, the car is still experiencing sideways force and the box section with the proud shoe won't spread the weight evenly. Looking at my compressed air jack, the curvature of the telescopic pillar is considerable when the car is up. I hadn't comprehended how much it can move sideways, even though I knew it was doing it,. and allowed for it when I had just a trolley jack.

 

I have to use a plywood board under the trolley jack when i am jacking the car up on the drive, my drive has Marshalls Priora Permeable paving and the jointing gap between blocks stops the trolley jack from moving so as the car lifts the jack doesn't move under the car, i nearly got caught out by this a while back and now always use a board on top of the block paving

 

I remember you describing this after my embarrassing incident.It was just before I thought "yeah! That makes sense!" And commenced kicking myself.

Live and learn. Or if all else fails, live.