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Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
mortgaging expert
Expatriate Mortgages Experts
INTERNATIONAL MORTGAGE PLANS (IMP) are the UK's leading independent providers of expat mortgage finance for British expats purchasing or refinancing UK property for family use or commercial letting. IMP also provide mortgages for Foreign nationals looking to finance property in the UK.
Established in the UK in 1975 and in Hong Kong in 1987, IMP are also represented in most expatriate locations. We access the mortgage market via a constantly reviewed panel of bank and building society lenders . Expatriate mortgage finance facilities are available to individuals and intermediaries.
Current Market Conditions - With lenders terms and criteria changing daily please complete our online mortgage enquiry form. This will enable us to let you know which terms are available to you.
Browse our site to find details of current expatriate mortgage offers, Exclusive remortgage and buy to let schemes. No obligation quotation available via our online mortgage enquiry form
International Mortgage Plans (IMP) have numerous plans with mortgage lenders that will cater for expats purchasing or remortgaging their main UK property or UK Buy-to-Let properties, be it one property or multiple properties. We have arrangements that will cater for offshore companies and trusts looking to arrange finance on UK properties. Due to our established track record with lenders over a number of years IMP are able to obtain bespoke terms for loans over £1 million.
Our IMP mortgage news gives details of the UK mortgage market and the latest property news. For details of our current exclusive mortgage schemes please see our Expat mortgage rates and Buy-to-Let mortgage pages.
For UK residents we can send you details of our current market leading buy to let mortgage terms
You can contact us by phone, email or complete our online enquiry form and we will respond to your needs.
INTERNATIONAL MORTGAGE PLANS (IMP) are the UK's leading independent providers of expat mortgage finance for British expats purchasing or refinancing UK property for family use or commercial letting. IMP also provide mortgages for Foreign nationals looking to finance property in the UK.
Established in the UK in 1975 and in Hong Kong in 1987, IMP are also represented in most expatriate locations. We access the mortgage market via a constantly reviewed panel of bank and building society lenders . Expatriate mortgage finance facilities are available to individuals and intermediaries.
Current Market Conditions - With lenders terms and criteria changing daily please complete our online mortgage enquiry form. This will enable us to let you know which terms are available to you.
Browse our site to find details of current expatriate mortgage offers, Exclusive remortgage and buy to let schemes. No obligation quotation available via our online mortgage enquiry form
International Mortgage Plans (IMP) have numerous plans with mortgage lenders that will cater for expats purchasing or remortgaging their main UK property or UK Buy-to-Let properties, be it one property or multiple properties. We have arrangements that will cater for offshore companies and trusts looking to arrange finance on UK properties. Due to our established track record with lenders over a number of years IMP are able to obtain bespoke terms for loans over £1 million.
Our IMP mortgage news gives details of the UK mortgage market and the latest property news. For details of our current exclusive mortgage schemes please see our Expat mortgage rates and Buy-to-Let mortgage pages.
For UK residents we can send you details of our current market leading buy to let mortgage terms
You can contact us by phone, email or complete our online enquiry form and we will respond to your needs.
financing
In this article, we'll cover the choices you have for financing, what determines the interest rate you get, and how to determine if you're really getting the best deal, as well as some scams to watch out for. We'll even give you a cheat sheet to take with you when car shopping to help you figure out things like whether taking the rebate or getting the zero-percent interest deal is best.
If you're like most people, paying cash to buy a new car just isn't in the realm of possibility. And even if it's in the realm, you may not want to deplete your savings account to buy a new vehicle. This means that you're either going to be leasing the car, or buying the car by financing it. If you're buying, then you're probably financing it through the dealership, a bank or credit union, an online financial institute, or maybe even a family member.
While leasing is good for a lot of situations, it's a whole other animal, so in this article, we're focusing on financing. If you know you want to finance your car rather than pay cash, then you need to do your homework and decide how to get the best financing deal.
If you do have the money to pay cash for your car and are considering doing it, how do you know if it's really the right thing to do? Here are some instances when paying cash really is in your best interest.
* If you could pay more interest by financing that amount of money than you could earn if you invested it or kept it in a savings account of some sort
* If you don't have a very good credit rating and would have to pay a high interest rate to finance (more on this later)
* If you have a lot of debt already but enough cash on hand, and don't want to further damage your credit rating
But if you're like many people, you probably need to finance your car. So in the next section, we'll look at the pros and cons of financing resources and find out how to determine the best rate.
If you're like most people, paying cash to buy a new car just isn't in the realm of possibility. And even if it's in the realm, you may not want to deplete your savings account to buy a new vehicle. This means that you're either going to be leasing the car, or buying the car by financing it. If you're buying, then you're probably financing it through the dealership, a bank or credit union, an online financial institute, or maybe even a family member.
While leasing is good for a lot of situations, it's a whole other animal, so in this article, we're focusing on financing. If you know you want to finance your car rather than pay cash, then you need to do your homework and decide how to get the best financing deal.
If you do have the money to pay cash for your car and are considering doing it, how do you know if it's really the right thing to do? Here are some instances when paying cash really is in your best interest.
* If you could pay more interest by financing that amount of money than you could earn if you invested it or kept it in a savings account of some sort
* If you don't have a very good credit rating and would have to pay a high interest rate to finance (more on this later)
* If you have a lot of debt already but enough cash on hand, and don't want to further damage your credit rating
But if you're like many people, you probably need to finance your car. So in the next section, we'll look at the pros and cons of financing resources and find out how to determine the best rate.
abt lnissan
We have a few reservations about the 370Z - mostly that its general approach, and specifically its engine, aren’t the most sophisticated. There would also appear to be some variation between cars; I tried two roadsters, one had a smoother engine, the other a better gearbox, but both handled more sweetly than the coupe we had for our Britain’s Best Drivers car event.
However, it’s impossible not to be won over by the exceptional blend of entertainment, performance and value for the money. And while the Coupe remains the purer model, the roadster version asks far fewer compromises than the 350Z ever did.
However, it’s impossible not to be won over by the exceptional blend of entertainment, performance and value for the money. And while the Coupe remains the purer model, the roadster version asks far fewer compromises than the 350Z ever did.
nissan
Nissan 370Z Roadster
Test date Wednesday, September 02, 2009 Price as tested TBA
Nissan 370Z Roadster
350Z's vinyl roof has been replaced by a fabric unit
What is it?
The convertible version of Nissan’s recently released 370Z sports car. Like the coupe, the 370Z Roadster is both shorter and wider than the old 350Z droptop, and is powered by a larger 3.7-litre V6, producing 326bhp.
What remains unchanged is the Z’s back to basics approach – this being an honest take on the sports car: rear-wheel drive, a large capacity naturally aspirated engine, solid mechanical gearchange and in the case of this roadster, a conventional fabric roof.
What’s it like?
Aesthetically a great deal more resolved than the old open 350Z. Because the roof is longer and has a more steeply racked rear screen it flows more neatly into the lines of the car. In short, it looks much less like an afterthought, such that the 370Z is more handsomely proportioned with the roof up.
To improve perceived quality the roof is now constructed from cloth rather than vinyl, and has an inner skin to enhance refinement. With the roof lowered, the absence of metal work above the rear deck emphasises the 370Z’s broader more overtly sculptured rear arches. Meaning even in roadster form, the 370Z is a very muscular looking car, much more so than the old 350Z.
To drive, the 370Z roadster is pretty close to the coupe. Which means good on technical ability (pace, grip and poise) if a touch light on finesse (engine refinement and delicacy of feedback), but crucially, big of charm.
A Boxster may offer rewards that run deep and last longer, but there’s an immediacy, honesty and accessibility to the Z that’s difficult to resist. To which this roadster detracts only marginally while providing several other benefits. The roof mechanism and chassis strengthening add just 61kg to the weight, so the performance suffers only slightly and is still entirely adequate.
While there is more body flex, for a convertible it is well checked (rear torsional stiffness having been improved by 45 per cent over the 350Z). Where the Roadster scores over the coupe, principally comes down to noise. The Roadster allows a better appreciation of the V6, while also suffering a little less road roar with the roof raised (the cabin being separated from the rear wheels by the roof storage compartment).
Roof down the refinement is less impressive. While Nissan claims less wind buffeting than the Boxster, this doesn’t tally with my personal experience.
Test date Wednesday, September 02, 2009 Price as tested TBA
Nissan 370Z Roadster
350Z's vinyl roof has been replaced by a fabric unit
What is it?
The convertible version of Nissan’s recently released 370Z sports car. Like the coupe, the 370Z Roadster is both shorter and wider than the old 350Z droptop, and is powered by a larger 3.7-litre V6, producing 326bhp.
What remains unchanged is the Z’s back to basics approach – this being an honest take on the sports car: rear-wheel drive, a large capacity naturally aspirated engine, solid mechanical gearchange and in the case of this roadster, a conventional fabric roof.
What’s it like?
Aesthetically a great deal more resolved than the old open 350Z. Because the roof is longer and has a more steeply racked rear screen it flows more neatly into the lines of the car. In short, it looks much less like an afterthought, such that the 370Z is more handsomely proportioned with the roof up.
To improve perceived quality the roof is now constructed from cloth rather than vinyl, and has an inner skin to enhance refinement. With the roof lowered, the absence of metal work above the rear deck emphasises the 370Z’s broader more overtly sculptured rear arches. Meaning even in roadster form, the 370Z is a very muscular looking car, much more so than the old 350Z.
To drive, the 370Z roadster is pretty close to the coupe. Which means good on technical ability (pace, grip and poise) if a touch light on finesse (engine refinement and delicacy of feedback), but crucially, big of charm.
A Boxster may offer rewards that run deep and last longer, but there’s an immediacy, honesty and accessibility to the Z that’s difficult to resist. To which this roadster detracts only marginally while providing several other benefits. The roof mechanism and chassis strengthening add just 61kg to the weight, so the performance suffers only slightly and is still entirely adequate.
While there is more body flex, for a convertible it is well checked (rear torsional stiffness having been improved by 45 per cent over the 350Z). Where the Roadster scores over the coupe, principally comes down to noise. The Roadster allows a better appreciation of the V6, while also suffering a little less road roar with the roof raised (the cabin being separated from the rear wheels by the roof storage compartment).
Roof down the refinement is less impressive. While Nissan claims less wind buffeting than the Boxster, this doesn’t tally with my personal experience.
bmw
Test date Wednesday, September 02, 2009 Price as tested £40,810
BMW 5-series GT 530d
Three-litre diesel has 242bhp and 398lb ft of torque
What is it?
The X6 is all well and good, so is the 7-series and so is the 5-series Touring. BMW insists, though, that if you make a triangle out of those three cars, the car that fills the space in the middle will be perfect for a lost generation of potential buyers who want some of each car, but not all.
So the 5-series Gran Turismo was built specifically to mop them up and, BMW evangelistically claims, to create an entirely new market segment – something the car industry really hasn’t managed since the Renault Scenic.
So BMW’s got big claims behind this car, but it actually does offer 7-series front and rear leg room, luxury and entertainment features, as well as X5 head room, monster luggage space and cracking new engine and gearbox technology.
What’s it like?
All of that evangelism can turn you off a car before you even drive it, but that would be a mistake with this car.
For starters, there’s the technology. It has the latest generation of 3.0-litre diesel, which is expected to comfortably outsell the 535i GT in Europe. It deserves to as well, because it has 241bhp of power at 4000rpm and 398lb ft of torque from 1750 to 3000rpm.
It will help that it’s the cheapest Gran Turismo, but it’s also the best of the GT’s engine range.
But while it’s not the fastest, it never actually feels wanting. Our side-by-side charges showed the 535i consistently pulling away, even in rolling in-gear sprints, but the 530d version was never humbled as it smoothly charged through its eight gears, swapping seamlessly regardless of whether the brilliant new transmission was in its softest or sportiest settings.
BMW claims it will pull 43.5mpg on the EU combined cycle, but we didn’t come close to that. In fact, we comfortably halved it without even trying and, with only a 70-litre tank, the GT might be stopping to refuel more than we’d like.
Short-range tank apart, it will be a legendarily good cruiser. The engine idles at 700rpm, and at 62mph it’s only ticking over at 1350rpm. At 80mph it’s only pulling 1700 revs – which isn’t even at the torque peak yet – and at 124mph it’s still only around 2200rpm. Relaxed? You bet.
If the driveline is comfortable, the cabin backs it up, and then some. It will be the tank dictating your stops, not your back. The seats are brilliant, with soft initial cushioning and firm support beneath it – and that goes for all four of them (a bench seat, with a strictly temporary middle seat, is actually standard).
It’s almost better in the back, too. It sits on exactly the same wheelbase (and tracks) as the 7-series, so there’s plenty of space, but it’s been cleverly worked on. The design of the dash and front doors flows beautifully into the rear, where the seats adjust fore and aft individually and so do their backrests. And BMW has rediscovered the joy of oddments storage space in the cabin.
BMW makes much of the rear hatch, which has a small opening that doesn’t crack the passenger bulkhead and a big one that does, but the important thing is that the space is very flexible, with up to 1700 litres with the rear seats folded down.
All of that would mean nothing if the chassis wasn’t this astonishingly good. At 1960kg, the 530d GT has every excuse to be a floppy mess. It isn’t.
Dynamic Drive Control, which tweaks the gearbox, throttle and steering maps and the dampers, is standard and ranges from Comfort to Sport+ programs. Forget the extremes (Comfort is too wallowing and Sport+ is too aggressive on bump) and keep it inside Normal and Sport and you’ll find a terrific chassis lurking here.
It’s balanced, it never gets unsettled, it’s quiet, the ride quality is brilliant and there’s so much poise that it’s difficult to imagine how you’d ever throw one away, aside from falling asleep in it.
Its only noticeable flaw – and, even then it’s magnified out of all proportion by the quality of everything else it does – is the thumping noise out of the rear suspension as the air spring pushes its shaft back down on broken, square-edged holes. It’s like that, we were told, because the spring rate has been set for the car to run at its maximum load, which is 600kg heavier than as tested.
Should I buy one?
BMW 5-series GT picture gallery
That depends on a lot of things about you, such as what you need, what you don’t need and how big your parking space is.
Don’t automatically nay-say it, though, because it doesn't feel like a 5-series and it doesn't feel like an X5, either. The driver’s hip point sits exactly between them, and so does the whole feel of the car.
The front suspension is pure 7-series, the rear is from the next generation of 5-series Touring and somehow they’ve been combined to make the GT feel as though it does indeed occupy its own turf, yet it still feels like a BMW.
It ends up being a car that is just so crackingly good that you forget everything BMW has tried to convince you of and just respect is as a superbly engineered machine. Because it is.
Definitely a drive-it-before-you-discount-it proposition.
BMW 5-series GT 530d
Three-litre diesel has 242bhp and 398lb ft of torque
What is it?
The X6 is all well and good, so is the 7-series and so is the 5-series Touring. BMW insists, though, that if you make a triangle out of those three cars, the car that fills the space in the middle will be perfect for a lost generation of potential buyers who want some of each car, but not all.
So the 5-series Gran Turismo was built specifically to mop them up and, BMW evangelistically claims, to create an entirely new market segment – something the car industry really hasn’t managed since the Renault Scenic.
So BMW’s got big claims behind this car, but it actually does offer 7-series front and rear leg room, luxury and entertainment features, as well as X5 head room, monster luggage space and cracking new engine and gearbox technology.
What’s it like?
All of that evangelism can turn you off a car before you even drive it, but that would be a mistake with this car.
For starters, there’s the technology. It has the latest generation of 3.0-litre diesel, which is expected to comfortably outsell the 535i GT in Europe. It deserves to as well, because it has 241bhp of power at 4000rpm and 398lb ft of torque from 1750 to 3000rpm.
It will help that it’s the cheapest Gran Turismo, but it’s also the best of the GT’s engine range.
But while it’s not the fastest, it never actually feels wanting. Our side-by-side charges showed the 535i consistently pulling away, even in rolling in-gear sprints, but the 530d version was never humbled as it smoothly charged through its eight gears, swapping seamlessly regardless of whether the brilliant new transmission was in its softest or sportiest settings.
BMW claims it will pull 43.5mpg on the EU combined cycle, but we didn’t come close to that. In fact, we comfortably halved it without even trying and, with only a 70-litre tank, the GT might be stopping to refuel more than we’d like.
Short-range tank apart, it will be a legendarily good cruiser. The engine idles at 700rpm, and at 62mph it’s only ticking over at 1350rpm. At 80mph it’s only pulling 1700 revs – which isn’t even at the torque peak yet – and at 124mph it’s still only around 2200rpm. Relaxed? You bet.
If the driveline is comfortable, the cabin backs it up, and then some. It will be the tank dictating your stops, not your back. The seats are brilliant, with soft initial cushioning and firm support beneath it – and that goes for all four of them (a bench seat, with a strictly temporary middle seat, is actually standard).
It’s almost better in the back, too. It sits on exactly the same wheelbase (and tracks) as the 7-series, so there’s plenty of space, but it’s been cleverly worked on. The design of the dash and front doors flows beautifully into the rear, where the seats adjust fore and aft individually and so do their backrests. And BMW has rediscovered the joy of oddments storage space in the cabin.
BMW makes much of the rear hatch, which has a small opening that doesn’t crack the passenger bulkhead and a big one that does, but the important thing is that the space is very flexible, with up to 1700 litres with the rear seats folded down.
All of that would mean nothing if the chassis wasn’t this astonishingly good. At 1960kg, the 530d GT has every excuse to be a floppy mess. It isn’t.
Dynamic Drive Control, which tweaks the gearbox, throttle and steering maps and the dampers, is standard and ranges from Comfort to Sport+ programs. Forget the extremes (Comfort is too wallowing and Sport+ is too aggressive on bump) and keep it inside Normal and Sport and you’ll find a terrific chassis lurking here.
It’s balanced, it never gets unsettled, it’s quiet, the ride quality is brilliant and there’s so much poise that it’s difficult to imagine how you’d ever throw one away, aside from falling asleep in it.
Its only noticeable flaw – and, even then it’s magnified out of all proportion by the quality of everything else it does – is the thumping noise out of the rear suspension as the air spring pushes its shaft back down on broken, square-edged holes. It’s like that, we were told, because the spring rate has been set for the car to run at its maximum load, which is 600kg heavier than as tested.
Should I buy one?
BMW 5-series GT picture gallery
That depends on a lot of things about you, such as what you need, what you don’t need and how big your parking space is.
Don’t automatically nay-say it, though, because it doesn't feel like a 5-series and it doesn't feel like an X5, either. The driver’s hip point sits exactly between them, and so does the whole feel of the car.
The front suspension is pure 7-series, the rear is from the next generation of 5-series Touring and somehow they’ve been combined to make the GT feel as though it does indeed occupy its own turf, yet it still feels like a BMW.
It ends up being a car that is just so crackingly good that you forget everything BMW has tried to convince you of and just respect is as a superbly engineered machine. Because it is.
Definitely a drive-it-before-you-discount-it proposition.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
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