BMW 3-Series 2005 and earlier

dave330i

delete one of my posts...

genie1

dave330i

genie1. ;-)

brave1heart

Besides, I have a lot of mine that I could delete ;o)

brave1heart

genie1

Actually the name's genie1

shipo

I have the 10K number, I assume that will not last too long. I will enjoy it while it lasts. ;-)

Best Regards,
Shipo

brave1heart

It works for me. Maybe we'll all share and let everyone have their picture taken that way.

dave330i

10001. I can live with that. It's got nice symmetry to it.

genie1

Are you anywhere near Half Moon Bay? I spent a week there last May as friends of mine are working at the Ritz that just opened there.

I wish we had a Bimmer when we drove through Napa. All we had was a 300M rental which was nice, but not as nice as a 325/330 would have been.

dave330i

serious about that copy with your name?

Bugatti is 1 mil?! And people complain about 3-series being expensive.

dave330i

Define near. In CA, anything within an hour drive (60-70) miles is near, and Half Moon Bay is only 50.

Personally, I like HWY 1. One of the prettiest drive around. One mistake and you're off the cliff though.

kominsky

"Assuming 17's are the only choice ..., you'd have to stay with snows that have aspect ratio of 45, no? As in 205/45/17."

Not quite... The aspect ratio is a percentage of the tread width. So as the tread width shrinks, the aspect ratio has to go up to maintain the diameter. 225/45/17 = 205/50/17 (roughly).

brave1heart

"The aspect ratio is a percentage of the tread width."?!? I thought the aspect ratio is a measure of the tire width relative to the tire height (sidewalls). If you hold the sidewall height constant and shrink the width, the aspect ratio will go up - I think you're saying the same thing, right? So the sidewall height would be the same (roughly) between 225/45/17 and 205/50/17, is that correct? Is that what you mean by maintaining the diameter?

gms13

I need some help. How do I explain the virtues of the 2002 BMW 325i over the 2002Audi A4 1.8T Quattro to my wife? It's time to retire my '92 325i.

Thanks to everyone for your responses to my DSC and snow tires in NJ question.

shipo

I think you are saying the same thing. The formula that I use to calculate the diameter of a tire (in Centimeters) is as follows:

TD = (((SW*(AR/100))*2)+(WD*25.4))/10

Where:

TD = Tire Diameter (in Centimeters)
SW = Section Width (in Centimeters)
AR = Aspect Ratio
WD = Wheel Diameter (in Inches)

FWIW, I use this in an Excel spread sheet.

Best Regards,
Shipo

shipo

Hmmm, a 325i and an A4 1.8t, both nice cars in their own right. Unfortunately, the two cars are close enough in their market segment that many people will simply like the Audi better, regardless of how many rational (or otherwise) arguments you give them.

Fortunately, my wife likes her mini-van and just takes my 328i out for a spin every now and then (especially when she has a girl friend or two over).

Good luck, let us know how it turns out. Sorry I could not be more help.

Best Regards,
Shipo

dave330i

drastic step: divorce her. ;-) They are both fine cars. Test drive both, and give the Audi a fair shake.

max93

Approximately 40 posts ago the argument was made that for "everyday driving" there is little noticeable difference between all season and performance tires. Accepting that argument is the inverse then true for winter driving: that "everyday (winter) driving" there is little noticeable difference between all season and performance tires?
I'm curious to know your thoughts mainly b/c I'm on the fence now over purchasing separate tires for the winter for my 330Ci SP. The climate in my area is highly irregular for snow accumulation and icy conditions. Thanks.

novcenthusiast

what happened, didn sign up in time to participate in the Oct. high-performance driving school? Is that what the GGC BMW club was refering to as the "Ultimate Drive"?

shipo

I have not heard of anybody who has driven both the SP and non-SP version of the E46 in snow. Having said that, according to a number of tire company web sites, the Silica that is used in all-season tires to replace the ash that is in the performance tires allows the all-season tires to remain flexible when cold. The theory behind this is that the more flexible the rubber, the larger the contact patch, yielding better traction. Add to that, a better tread pattern for grip in the snow and (once again) in theory, you have a much better tire for driving in the snow.

I have personally driven my 328i non-SP in fairly heavy snow and been delightfully surprised at the amount of traction (DSC engaged).

Best Regards,
Shipo

mschukar

I don't own a 3 series yet, but I think I can add some fuel to the debate-

I owned a Miata which was my only car for driving in the midwest (Iowa & Wisconsin). After slipsliding around for a couple years and one accident, I bought some used rims and cheap winter tires. The car went from terrible to fun in the snow! I was sold. We bought winter tires for my wife's Volvo which does very well in the snow.

After the original "all season" tires wore out on the Miata, I bought some Yokahama AVS Intermediate performance tires. This made a very noticeable difference in "every day driving". The car just seemed to have that extra little grip when going around corners. Again, I was sold.

Bottom line:
-I do believe you can feel a difference between performance and all season tires in every day driving.
-I will definitely get winter tires and rims on my 325i with or without sp. A set of tires and rims costs about as much as replacing the original rims (or $500 deductible) when you slide into a curb. That and the half hour in the fall and spring is worth the added safety and control.

-Murray

Can anyone explain to me why someone would spend $1700 on AWD and not get winter tires for $600?!? AWD will give you the (false) confidence to drive faster and increase your stopping distance because of the extra weight and ground clearance.

talman

Hello:

I'm seriously thinking about purchasing a 1994-1995 325i when my current lease is up. I've never owned a BMW, but am really taken by the design and styling. I've found a particular model which has 78,000 miles on it and I'm guessing I can get it for 15K or so.

My questions:

Is 75K high for a BMW? Granted, I know it depends on the care etc., but the owner has all maintenance records etc., but can a BMW that's well taken care of reach 125-150K without major repairs?

I've also considered leasing a 99 328i certified used car--is it reasonable to think I can get into one for 300.00 a month on a 36 month lease with a few thousand down?

Thanks for the help!!

dl7265

Since at 25k miles i am buying new rubber VERY SOON for my 323i sport , appreciate the threads. As afore mentioned mine came with 225/50/16 Turanza er30 with treadwear rating of 140 ack..

As i recall Shipo still has several miles left on his with more miles with A/S.

One wheel test that im aware of compared 15-18 and concluded that the 16 was the best over all performance and for reasons in upper post getting quite larger deteriorated performance .

Ive read all the tire comparisons on tirerack and the highest rated performance A/S is the Yoko AVS DB at a mere $102.00 each. ER 30's are $160.00 .And those Kuhmos at $77.00 are one of the higher rated performance.

Contrary to popular belief i think my sport rides great, wether or not its the tires or that great BMW chasis its even smooth on Dallas road's which..well suck. hope i can say that on here....

Shipo a 330i ? i was thinking you purchased not leased any reasoning for the upgrade ?

Regards,
DL

shipo

As of this morning, I have just over 31,000 miles on my All Season tires, they look like they have at least another 20,000 to 30,000 miles to go before a replacement is necessary.

As for my method of financing cars, I own a couple of small businesses and the tax rules are VERY biased toward leasing for virtually all corporations and businesses. Basically, as of 1986, when the tax rules changed, the depreciation schedule on purchased assets was changed to lengthen the time a business could write off a car over something like $16,000. On the other hand, a lease is simply a business expense, and said expenses are paid for in pre-tax income (unlike how us mere citizens pay for our cars). In essence, because of the “pre-tax” advantage, my lease is costing me essentially about $270 per month. Having said that, my current lease is up this coming spring, and while I have many options, the top two on my list are 1) order a new 330i for ED and take my wife (and maybe children) on a little jaunt through Europe, and 2) extend the lease on my low mileage 328i (according to my plan I should have over 41,000 miles on it right now) for an extra year or so and then have a look at the new 5 and 6 series cars. Sometimes it seems to be a bit of a problem having so many options. Gee, I hate this kind of problem. ;-)

Best Regards,
Shipo

njdriver1

I've been following this for 2 days now and I have to chime in. On an '01 330i (no sp), running the conti's that came with the car, will I be well served purchasing a set of Michelin Alpin or Dunlop SP Winter sports at 205/50-17 come the winter? If I'm willing to wait with the car for the 1/2 hour for the mounting, I should get longer wear over the tires, which I might have had to replace before my 36,000m lease is up anyway. Or is it a waste in NYC where the Conti's should be fine in the winter, and just trash them till its time for new ones, and I might get lucky and they'll last till the end of the lease. Any thoughts?

ccotenj

attempt to drive in ANY type of wintry conditions with "summer" tires... unless you know someone who owns a body shop that you really want to give business to...

shipo also hit it on the head with the compound (as i also posted about, say, 2000 posts ago!), the summer compound turns into concrete much below 40 degrees or so...

-Chris

shipo

The all season tires on your car should last 50 to 60 thousand miles, so no worries there. As for swapping your All Season tires for Snow tires, my opinion (remember what you paid for this) is that in the NYC metro area (where I live too), the all season rubber will have superior performance when compared to the winter tires, with the exception of a few (snow) days where the performance of the all seasons will be simply adequate.

Best Regards,
Shipo

njdriver1

i'll go slow with the all-seasons in the snow - better safe than in the body shop.

gms13

I purchased my '92 BMW from a friend. It had 75,000 miles and was dealer maintained - he never missed a service. However, he did drive the car hard. I now have 140,000 miles on the car. In the last 65,000 miles (4 years) I have had on average at least one $1,000 dollar repair per year - all done at a reputable non-dealer shop, so I saved on labor. So if you are interested in a well maintained '92 BMW 325i with new radiator, new water pump, new front end, and new bushings - please contact me. $5,000 obo. Oops, new alternator also. Don't get me wrong, I love the car but I want traction control. Of course, I may keep it and just get snow tires - that would save me about $30,000+!

genie1

I bought a CPO 98 318is four months ago. BMWFS had a 3.9% financing deal with a balloon payment deal for the 36mos term.

This sounds almost like a lease, but you can play with the amounts down/per month as well as the balloon to see which makes most sense.

It made sense to me as I wasn't planning on keeping the car beyond 3 years. I have the option to pay off the balloon and keep the car or trade it in for a new one (it should be worth a little more than what I would owe).

The warranty expires about the same time.

Leasing makes no sense unless you can write the expense off (as in a business expense). Especially for a USED car.

This is JMHO of course and others may disagree.

Overall I am thrilled with my car. It has been a joy to drive and I would recommend the CPO route for some additional peace of mind. BTW the newer model has better safety features (incl. DSC) and ought to be more reliable.

jrct9454

Buying one of these used can be a great savings on the up-front costs, but make sure you are reserving money in a fund somewhere to cover the other-worldly costs of repairing these cars [or anything made in Germany, it seems...they all share this characteristic]. Sooner or later, you are going to have to dip into that fund, and without a warranty, it's all yours to cover.

Whenever I hear of someone ready to buy a BMW with 60k+ miles on the clock, no matter what the history, my advice is always the same: make sure at least some of the money you're saving on the purchase price [over a new car] is being set aside for the inevitable rainy repair day.

brave1heart

One more reason for us to get together. We could do a 328 vs. 325 comparo on acceleration, steering, and SP vs. non-SP handling. It would be interesting to compare the SP vs. non-SP in snow. Where did you say you are in northern NJ?

As I've mentioned, I plan on driving with the SP tires in Boston this Winter but I do NOT recommend to anyone else to do that if you live in an area that gets a lot of snow. In my case, I do 99% highway driving and starting in January when my wife will be home with brave1heart Junior, I'd probably be driving her A4 1.8T Quattro in inclement weather.

Oh, BTW, if you're having trouble using up all the miles remaining on your lease, I'd be very happy to volunteer and help ;o)

genie1

Well, lust anyway.

Since brave brought up Bugatti yesterday, I looked up their website...

Wow! Check out the quicktime clips of the EB118 and the Chiron.

I have a new favorite color: Bugatti blue. And that 18 cylinder engine. But my favorite has to be the 3/4 profile of the Chiron. Absolutely gorgeous. The EB118 is just as amazing.

*Sigh* (Wishing I'd gone into industrial/automotive design so I could work on such beautiful bodies)

brave1heart

I visited the Shlumpf Automotive Museum in Mulhouse, France last year where they have about 200 original Bugattis. This is a MUST SEE for any automotive enthusiast. My mother-in-law just sent me the latest catalog of all the exhibits they have in the museum and it's fast become one of my favorite books.

ccotenj

you'd BETTER drive her quattro...

oh well... i've tried to convince y'all... crash if you must...

-Chris

sdatta

I was wondering if anybody has purchased their car through BMW's European delivery program? If so, I hope you will share your experience. I'm considering going this route since the savings is quite substantial and I don't have to go through the BS of negotiating with dealers.

Thanks.

dave330i

the ultimate drive was for the Susan Komen Foundation. Basically, you got to drive different BMWs, and what ever mileage you put on, BMW donated money to the Foundation.

There was an Oct. High Performance Driving school at Laguna Seca, but I didn't enter it. It was just too soon for my taste.

genie1

My interest in cars is a newfound pleasure. (four months old)

So I've wasted several opportunities to drool over some automotive gems.

I lived 20 minutes from the Auburn Cord Dusenberg museum/Kruse auction for two years. Did I go there? NO!

I also spent a lot of time growing up in countries where there were a lot of rich people = very nice cars.

When I was younger, the guy in the house across the street would park his Rolls/Mercedes/Lamborghini/flavor of the week outside my window.

What a wasted opportunity. If I knew then...

sdatta

I was wondering if anybody has purchased their car through BMW's European delivery program? If so, I hope you will share your experience. I'm considering going this route since the savings is quite substantial and I don't have to go through the BS of negotiating with dealers.

Thanks.

dave330i

As you have pointed out, "The car just seemed to have that extra little grip when going around corners."

How much of your driving is going around corners vs. HWY? For some members on this board, they, unfortunately, spend way too much time on the HWY, and not enough on the twisties.

For someone who spends bulk of their time HWY cruising, sacrificing corners can be a fair trade for longer tire life.

genie1

ED is a good idea. Several posters have gone that route. I would do it myself in 2003/2004 if BMW Canada offers it.

It would be great to combine a discount on the car with a vacation in Europe. (One would offset part of the other nicely). Or you could just jet in for the weekend.

Definitely a good deal.

dave330i

That reminds me of my high school. One of the kids would come to school on a Lamborghini Countach. Fact that his name was Ray Leonard Jr. might have something to do with it, but it was always fun to see that car.

shipo

Brave,

I wonder how we are going to get the Weather Man/Woman to plan a snow story at our convenience? Maybe if we let him/her participate in the test? ;-)

Sdatta,

There was a lot of discussion here about ED 7 to 8 thousand posts back. One of our board members negotiated a deal from a dealership (somewhere in the southern New Jersey/Delaware area, I think) that was about $1,500 above ED invoice. That said, that still means that you may have some negotiation in your future. The individual (I wish I could remember his name, Brave, do you remember?) also posted a delightful article about his trip and the delivery of the car, this stuff would be well worth your searching for it.

Best Regards,
Shipo

shipo

Regarding my extra miles, I would be more than happy to let you burn them up, however, now that I have just signed a contract with a company in Windham, NH to produce initial prototypes of my mouse (and most probably some production later on), I may have to burn those miles myself between NJ (Exit 171 off the GSP) and NH (Exit 3 off of I-93).

Another option (I will try to contact the leasing company next week) is to sign a zero mile 1 year lease extension. I wonder if this is possible, and if so, how much my payment would drop.

Best Regards
Shipo

genie1

did you get a ride in the Countach?


That is my favorite Lamborghini. I don't usually like a complicated profile, but that one is perfect. Actually, based on the time frame (late 80s, pre-Diablo) and my hazy memory, I'd say my neighbors was also the same.

brave1heart

That was platypus and he negotiated his ED deal at Passport BMW in MD for $1,200 over invoice + $300 MACO (I think). His ED write-ups were posted around first half of April if you feel like digging in (well worth it, IMO). I think his salesperson was Joe Ernst (?!?) and I'm pretty sure I will try this for my next Bimmer.

BTW, Shipo, CONGRATULATIONS!!! This is awesome news and a terrific success, especially considering how tight VC money is in this economy. I am very happy for you!!

shipo

Thanks for the congrats. Unfortunately, I am not quite that far down the road yet. I figure that I need working prototypes (along with the credible Medical backing that a working prototype can provide) to get the best VC deal. As a result, I am splitting the cost of the prototypes with the folks in NH. They then have the option to add my design to their product line (and pay me royalties of course), and still allow me to market it under my own banner. So far, I clearly haven't made enough for the M6, yet. ;-)

Best Regards,
Shipo

dl7265

Also i belive he added another 500.00 to be shipped to Texas if i recall.

Shipo , i thoght u might add the W8 275hp Passat to your list ?

Regards,
DL

genie1

Splitting the cost is better than paying for the whole thing yourself. They must see some value in your design.

Good going. Are you going to have to test it on some real people? I think you'll be on your way in no time.