By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
BTW, I'm over the 1200 mark, hit 110 MPH once (of which the sales manager told me would be good to vary my speed driving back to Dallas and to hit 110 MPH if I felt comfortable with it), took it over 5000 RPMs maybe a half dozen occasions (most by accident), and tried to take it out on the tollway and highways apart from all the city driving. I'm ready for some more rigorous driving with this sweet 2.5L. Is there anything I should still be cautious of beyond common sense? I had so much pure fun during the first 1200, and I'm sure to have much more now!
Regarding the "fast lane" issue, this is something that drives me positively nuts. I commute on the Dulles Toll Road in Virginia daily, and I find it frustrating to drive to and from work with complete nimrods driving 60-65 in the fast lane. Granted, the speed limit is 55 mph, but traffic is usually moving at a 70+ mph pace. When there are wolf packs blocking the other three lanes, I look to pass on the left. Invariably there is someone in an SUV or a Saturn who thinks the left lane is for nose-picking, butt-scratching or just stupidity in general. Then I give a quick flash of the high-beams, and it pisses them off. This, I can't believe. I get the finger, brake lights, angry looks, etc. There's not much that can be done, except pass on the right. This, I believe, is not very safe b/c you're passing between two lanes of vehicles. It takes about four or five cars to pass these people on the right for them to finally realize, "Duh, maybe I should move over." Sometimes they just sit there, cruising along in blissful stupdity. Yes, the country is full of morons who somehow passed their driving test by the skin of their teeth (like passing kids in school who can't read).
I believe large part of it is ignorance. I know there wasn't any questions on the written test about left lane usage, and I'm not sure if Drivers Ed. covered it or not. Then there are drivers who don't pay attention to what's happening around them. They have a tunnel vision up front, and don't bother to look to their side and behind.
I heard from a Maine resident, that HWY patrol cracks down on improper left lane use. Not sure if this is still true or not.
It should go somehing like this:
"Question # 1: The fast lane is designed for
A. Slow drivers
B. Fast drivers
C. Big and/or tall drivers
D. All of the above"
I personally often pass on the right if there is no other alternative. I never tailgate (especially behind performance cars with good braking) and I don't flash my lights. It's just so much easier to signal and pass on the right, except that you need to exercise more caution in case the driver in front decides to move back to the middle lane just at the point when you're passing them. I avoid driving side by side with other vehicles (especially 18-wheelers) and I pass as fast as I can to reduce the time the other driver has to alter my intended course. Driving a BMW certainly gets you a lot more right of way than just about any other car. I guess people know that BMW's typically go faster and they know to let you through (if they are paying attention and see you, that is). After 15 years of driving, I've developed a pretty good sense for determining whether the car in front will let me go through. It's close to 100% certain that a slower BMW will let you go through, regardless of what you're driving. On the opposite end, bigger SUV's are least likely to let you through. Pickup trucks are surprisingly good overall. Female drivers yield without making fuss, unlike male drivers who often have something to prove. Camries/Accords/<<name any other boring car>> drivers are likely to be less alert and if they do move out of your way, it would be only after a while. Vans: expect anything and be very careful around them. Bluehead in a Buick Park Avenue: self-explanatory. Cars I'm not certain about get no more than 5 seconds after traffic allows them to move over, after which I signal and pass on the right. It works for me.
Thanks for your responses to my question regarding the Continental ContiSportContacts. I checked out Continental's web site and they mention that the tires are asymmetric and non-directional. According to jrct9454's, that means the same tire can go on either side of the car, but the tire can only be mounted one way on the wheel. That's great to know!! Thanks again.
Thanks for any info!
Zaino: Results after clay bar, Z1, Z2, Z6, Z5, Z2, Z6 are great, but it took me about 2 1/2 days to do the whole thing....takes a lot of work. I also tried the Zaino glass cleaner...it sucked....left smudges on the window. I also tried the tire cleaner....so so; nothing great. I still have the interior of my car to do....sometime in the next 2 weeks I'll Zaino the leather, plastic and vinyl. My friend tried something called Plexus or Plextor for his plastic on his S4 and the results were great.
P.S. after nearly one month of driving (1750 miles), I had my first stall-free day!!! I didn't think it would take this long, but now I'm finally starting to really enjoy driving the car. It's FANTASTIC!!!!
Great minds think along similar patterns! ;-)
Guru,
Tried the Klasse this weekend, REAL easy to use, took all of 20 minutes to apply, the shine looks great and it does in fact remove bug guts, bird poop, chewing gum, tar, and big green loogies from the finish in the process (disclaimer, it took a little rubbing for some of those). Naturally, we had a monsoon style rain the very next day. When I came out of the office, all of the cars on the lot were wet, mine was almost completely dry, I guess that the stuff is so slippery, that the water had nothing to bind to. Thanks for the recommendation.
A question on brake pads; I noticed on the TireRack.com site that they were selling "EBC Greenstuff Brake Pads". The info on them claims to have greater stopping power than OEM pads. At the same time, they are supposed to not generate the brake dust problems (under normal driving conditions) AND be kinder to the brake rotors. They base their claim upon two things; 1) that they use Kevlar as a friction material which does not carbonize until surface temperatures on the rotor reaches 1000 degrees, and 2) that their compound has a friction co-efficient of 0.46u, whereas OEM pads are generally 0.25u-0.35u. Do you know what the friction co-efficient is on our BMW pads?
Best Regards,
Shipo
Isn't Virginia the (first) state who, about six months ago, outlawed driving in the left lane unless passing? I saw it on CNN and I'm fairly sure Virginia was the state.
If you want the piece of mind, put the 2K in a safe investment and spend it if you have a major problem. In the end, I suspect you will come out WAY ahead.
Best Regards,
Shipo
I'm fuzzy on the details though - can anyone else here supplement my memory on this?
(A memory is a terrible thing to forget where one left it, you know?)
Pat
Host
Sedans Message Board
Where can I find the information on the VIN - what the numbers/letters stand for? I know this was mentioned a while back.
The only thing that bothers me more on that commute is getting stuck behind a string of schmoes at my exit who take 20 seconds to fish out their quarters and toss them in the basket. Please tell me you have a SmartTag transponder!?
I've mentioned this before, but my favorite parts place is Crown Richmond (VA) BMW at 800-237-0130.
Everything is always 20% off (for everybody, not just BMWCCA), and shipping is free if order is over $100.
VIN info is at www.e46fanatics.com in the FAQ section.
Anyway, do you ever just replace one tire? I've heard you should buy at least two. But would you drive with two new tires and two with 50% tread? I ended up replacing all four tires, but I got a free pliers!
For those of you with a true full-size spare, which I define as the exact same tire AND alloy wheel as the other four on the ground, it's my recommendation to use all five tires in the rotation sequence, to prevent just this kind of scenario - losing one well-worn tire to a puncture, and then having a spare that has never been on the ground, and should not really be used for any distance without a matching new tire on the same axle. If you have doubts about the rotation sequence to use, it goes like this:
Spare to Left Rear; LR to LF; LF to RR; RR to RF; RF to Spare.
I reiterate: absolutely nothing is more important to the way the car feels, and your personal safety, than taking care of the tires. I hear lots of good-natured discussion about stereos and chips and air filters and wheel designs and colors, and this is all well and good...but buy yourself a good tire gauge, a good torque wrench with appropriate socket, and a couple of cheap Wal-Mart floor jacks, and start using some time and energy on your tires/wheels, and the payback will be a lot more rewarding than all of the other things you can do to the car, combined. Leaving this to your friendly dealer, especially with the extremely extended service intervals that are now part of the picture, is a recipe for potential disaster.
[Yes, my start as a car nut 40+ years ago was as a "go-for" at one of the local tire distributors in the SF Bay Area...this is the one area of the car I know more about than any other...]
Just saw a Titanium Metallic Silver 330 with sport package-what an awesome looking vehicle!
Yes, I do have a Smart Tag. Great idea, and I wish more people would get it. Just laziness I suppose--it only takes 5 minutes to sign up for it, and the automatic deduction makes everything seamless. I do NOT understand it when people search for change when the come to a complete stop and when they knew full well thirty seconds earlier that a toll was coming up. Sometimes my Smart Tag doesn't get read by the system, but I've got a load of change in the square compartment of the center console. I just grab my change and let it fly like buckshot as fast as I can.
With my first set of tires, I did not rotate. Of course, the tread on my rears was gone while my fronts had at least 40% tread. With my most recent set, I have been rotating tires. While I was skeptical, I have to say that I see some reason for BMW's recommendation. Although I have kept my wheels perfectly aligned and my pressures and balance correct, after each rotation, there is a period of time during which the car feels less certain. I attribute this (perhaps ignorantly) to the tires having to wear in to their new positions. I'm not sure what I'll do now that one rear has blown. At the moment, I'm riding on my spare which is the OEM Bridgestone Turanza. I think I will probably put two new RE730s on the rear and leave them there. We'll see.
Also, reubencahn said he has "OEM Bridgestone Turanza", while I have "Continental ContiSports Contact" as OEs... Did BMW change to Conti's for 2001 models?
btw, according to tirerack.com, among the ultra-high performance category, the ContiSports Contacts have the lowest ratings from the consumers' survey, and the Bridgestones RE730s have the highest. I think I'll switch to the RE730s after the Conti's are done.
If I had a full size spare, and money was an issue, I would get one new tire, put it on rear wheel, put the spare on the other rear wheel, and put the undamaged tire in the trunk as a spare. Doesn't work quite as well for those of us with different size front/rear tires.
When I took delivery, I think the tire pressure came with the "max" (5 passengers with some cargos in the trunk). And it was at 35 front, 42 rear.
***IMPORTANT*** Make sure you check the spare tire pressure. Since it is a full-sized matching spare, it should NOT have the "space-safer" (donut) spare pressure listed in the manual, which is 61. It is WAY over the limit for the ContiSports Contact at 51. I found this "error" when I changed my tire the other day...
As far as wear you might get 22 or possibly even 25k out of z or w rated tires but 20k is all you should count on.
When I bought my car, January 2000, sport package tires were generally either Bridgestone Turanzas, Conti Sport Contacts and maybe Dunlop 8080s. Of these, I would have preferred the Dunlops but you get what you get. The Turanzas were lousy tires. When they wore out I replaced them with the RE730s and was amazed by the improvement. I am very happy with these tires.
I have had several cars equipped with high performance low profile sticky rubber, and I never failed to get at least 35K miles on a set. I am stunned that SP equipped E46 cars are achieving only 20-25K miles, what's up with that? I guess that another benefit of my all season rubber is that I currently have 28K miles on the original tires (no rotations) and they still look new.
Another item of note, I do not baby my car. I LOVE taking a nice freeway ramp at twice the posted speed and driving curvy roads as much as possible. What I find interesting is that rarely have I pushed hard enough to hear the tires complain, even while being WAY beyond what the local constabulary would consider to be appropriate. Having said that, I cannot imagine how much harder one would have to push to take the SP rubber to its limit.
From my perspective, I will probably get SP on my next E46 (probably next spring), however, I will be trading off great tire wear and all season traction for a better look, better seats and better handling/braking at the limit (which by the way are no slouch now). I wonder if all season rubber can be had in the tire sizes that come on the SP.
Best Regards,
Shipo
The dealer was ok. But I had to call 3 times to see if the car was ready. Plus they didn't give me a discount on my fog light replacement(rock hit lens) as they said they would on phone until I reminded them when I got there. Definitely not a 5 rating. It seems they care more about receiving 5s than earning them.
Shipo - the idea of putting all-seasons in the SP crossed my mind. However, I did not find any all-seasons in the 225/45/17 size on the tirerack.com, so I guess it's not a popular choice. I think the summer tires handle marginally better than z-rated all-seasons but you probably give up a lot of traction in the snow and I'm not sure if it's worth the tradeoff.
I have put over 2,000 miles on it, about half of which were from a trip from DC to NJ and another from DC to Boston. I am in love.
My gray ghost handles so well, I am continually smiling and surprising myself as I take it a little further, accelerating harder, revving higher, taking turns more aggressively.
I was just out in San Francisco for a few days on business, and while I was there I rented a Camarro convertible. Driving this car for a few days really underscored how special my 330 is.
Of course, the Camarro is a well known American pony car, reputed to fast with superb handling. It was an automatic, which of course is always a disappointment, but you simply can't rent a manual.
The Chevy was dramatically slower than my 330. I chalk a lot of this up to the automatic vs. the manual in my 330, but nevertheless, it reminded me just how fast my Bimmer really is.
The steering was slightly heavier than my 330's, but it would not be noticable if I wasn't looking for the difference. It was also less precise. The precision of the 330's steering is simply incredible.
The handling on curves was good in the Camarro, but again, it really doesn't compare. The 330 hugs the road like an overbearing momma.
Finally, the interior appointments and ergonomics simply don't even begin to compare. The seats, the dash, the steering wheel... everything... the Bimmer makes the Camarro look like amateurish.
Of course, there is a substantial price difference. However, after driving both, I see what the price difference pays for, and I can say that I find it worth every penny.
bmw323is et al: To update as promised....Well, I've put a $1000 deposit down for the CPO '99 323i 4dr/Jet Black, Sand Leatherette/Manual/Cruise/SP/Wood Trim/ AM/FM/In-dash CD/Fold-Down Rear Seats/Moonroof with 16236 miles! Original asking price was $26990 and I negotiated down to $25990! I feel pretty good about the deal! I ran the VIN through CarFax and all seems OK - it was a Leased vehicle. So hopefully it came from a good home.
It's currently in the BMW body shop for rework on the paint (I was told the passenger side was keyed) and should be ready by coming Monday!
One other thing, according to the VIN, this car was assembled in Germany, not SA. I thought these models were all made in SA? Also, does this model have the "old" tight steering?
Thanks all for your invaluable information, and I'll let everyone know about the salesperson, dealership and delivery process next week!
The base Camaro only has a 205HP engine with 15 inch wheels and "sport" suspension and H rated tires. However, it has a broad torque curve with wide gear ratios.
The 330 will be faster 0-60 with manual than the base Camaro, and possibly the automatic. However, the Camaro will be faster than the 330 automatic off idle from a rolling start, especially mid range. The base Camaro will do 0-60 in the mid 7's and the 1/4 in the mid to high 15s (similar to slightly slow than a 330 automatic depending on data used). The car will pull between .82 and .84G on the skidpad (similar to 330).
The Z28 has 310HP and 335 ft/lbs torque 5.7L V8 with 17 inch wheels high performance suspension and Z rated tires. The SS further upgrades the engine and suspension for 335HP and 345 ft/lbs of torque. The Z28 and SS have a curb weight between 3200 and 3500 depending on convertible/coupe and automatic/manual in addition to other options.
The Camaro SS with the automatic will do 0-60 in 5.1 seconds and run the 1/4 mile in 13.5 at 105. The 6 speed manual will do 5.0 flat 0-60 and run the 1/4 in the low 13s in 110MPH range. The Camaro SS and Z28 will pull usually between .85 and .90G on the skid pad. Popular mechanics got a nearly identical yet usually faster Firebird Ram Air Trans Am to do 0-60 in 4.9 seconds and the 1/4 in 13.1.
The bottom line is the base Camaro is fun car for under 20,000 dollars, and really shines in the 60 to 140 on the straits and long sweepers and s-turns. However, The Camaro SS and its Trans Am twin, can run with the M3 and M5 in terms of brute acceleration, cornering and braking.
You can of course argue in favor of beemers on refinement, luxury, and "handling" (i.e. sense of control, responsiveness, and stability). The M cars may also do better on a road course due to their short length and narrower width. However, even on such a course they will hard pressed in straits, and especially "out of the whole" when exiting corners. I would not mess with these cars on the high or at a stoplight, in anything less than the M5.
You may be able to play at the stop light in the new E46 M3, if you are willing to do a high rpm launch and shift at 8000RPM and get the perfect 4.7/4.8 0-60. However, the muscle car will still be just a few ticks behind and in its powerband even with a average driver, when you shift into the bottom of third.
Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 (300 A A):
http://www.michelin-us.com/us/eng/tire/catalog/docs/doc_pilotmxm4.pdf
Michelin Pilot XGT H4 (400 A A):
http://www.michelin-us.com/us/eng/tire/catalog/docs/doc_pilotxgth4.pdf
Pirelli P7000 SuperSport (320 A A):
http://pirelli.pearlcomm.com/pneumatici/USA_Site/Product/p7000ss.htm
I do not know if any of these tires are available on the TireRack site.
Best Regards,
Shipo
I know the Z28 and the SS are a whole other level of muscle than the 330, and more comparable to the M3 in acceleration, if not handling, refinement and ergonomic design.
My point was simply to compare the 330 to what is generally considered to be a "base" sports car. While the 330 has the refinement, style and ergonomics of a luxury car, it performs substantially better than the Camaro, a sports car with over 200 HP and a pretty good reputation.
Take it for what it's worth...
and may be worth a try. Thanks for the research - it may come pretty handy
if I decide to go with that setup.