BMW 3-Series 2005 and earlier

dave330i

didn't think about the alignment. Wasn't an issue with the old steering.

I've noticed big difference in low speed, not much diff in mid speed, and haven't had a chance to take it up to high speed yet.

Nothing compliments a pink fuzzy dice like a discoball. ;-)

genie1

quell horror!

Sorry guys, wrong decade. I'm more a child of the eighties and nineties myself.

So no fuzzy pink dice, discoball or crown air freshener pour moi.

I did read that you can buy some very fancy made for Mercedeses car fragrances at NM and Bergdorfs.

dave330i

and looked at the work order. They did do an alignment work, so it must be the steering which is off. Hard to tell by just looking at it, but easy when driven.

genie1: at Wal-Mart, they have even classier stuff like tiger strip dice. ;-)

Someone on another board did mention an additive which will make the exhaust smell better.

genie1

If I get the tiger stripe dice, then I'll have to re-upholster the car seats to match. I am very picky about things being color-coordinated, you know.

A gal's got an image to maintain.

dave330i

Done. ;-)

http://www.seatcovers.net/tiger_skin_seat_covers.html

Found this the other day for my SLK friend.

megrdh

Is there any opinion about this kit (from Circle BMW)? Any suggestion is really appreciated. Thanks in advance. Meg.

genie1

Get away from me. I hope it's not contagious.

jodar96

After borrowing the car overnight, I degreased the engine from top and bottom, took it to carwash, and drove it some 60-70 miles. Then put it in my garage, jacked it up, and started looking for leaks. I wash shocked at how spotless this car is mechanically on top of its appearance. There is no sign of driving over stuff, or running into curbs.

The muffler was making a loader than normal noise. there was no rust spot or holes in the body. With flashlight I looked into tailpipes, I could see separated baffles inside. It needs a muffler that costs $380 (OEM one installed by a very decent independent garage.

The alloys have no scartches or brake dust pitting. It is hard to imagine that they are orginal ones, but the owner says they are.

I offered $7600 and he agreed. I think he was impressed with the way I cleaned his car to check it out than trying to get $8200 out of the car.

I think 325 has a frustrating engine to work on. You open the hood and you have hell of time seeing the belts, and hoses easily. What happened to SINGLE serpintine belt? The oil filter housing has an unusual (but easy to get to) location.
What is the best site to get stuff like oil filter, fuel filter, and other parts for this car? At $7600, it is an excellent buy, even though, I need this car as much as a hole in the head.

I still think too much road noise is coming through (like my good old 85 VW Jetta that was made in Germany). It is very hard to give up the 96 Camry XLE V-6 for this car. I will keep both of them.

brave1heart

LOL..... I had all my colleagues look at it and we're still ROTFL. Someone suggested a classy gal like genie1 might like the leopard skin better - those never go out of style, especially in some towns around here...

dave330i

friend.

As I've mentioned to my friend, why settle for a single pattern, when you can mix and match. Cow pattern on one side, tiger on the other. Sheep/leopard, etc... ;-)

brave1heart

genie1

I remember my uncle's Datsun 120Y had tiger skin upholstery (OEM, I kid you not). It even came with a 5 mil clear plastic cover on all seats.

Thank God the AC worked!

dave330i

my tastes aren't all bad. Just wanted to see how tacky I can make my friends SLK. For being such a good sport about it, I even got her some of these:

http://yp.bellsouth.com/sites/rrcandy/

ocjerry

Very interesting sales numbers out of BMW for October in the United States. Has left me wishing I purchased my 330i now instead of in August.
BMW sold 868 330i sedans in October, down from 1466 in Oct. 200. 325 sedan sales were down about 10% to 1861. Z3 3.0 sales fell to 257 from 810.
What does this mean. It means if you go to a dealer, 2001s will be piling up. I dropped by Long Beach (Ca) BMW this weekend to show my son an M3 and the dealer had 7 or 8 330s on the lot. It had only 1 when I was looking in August. Though the dealers always claim business is great, it is not as good as it has been. Buyers should be able to break the $1,000 barrier above invoice. Pre-owned sales also have fallen slightly. Good luck shopping! And don't leave money on the table.

rpadilla

Actually, I think that you can have the clown nose replaced with a discoball, and have a multi-colored floor lights put under the seats. I believe it is dealer installed, so check there!

genie1

Can I get those as well, on my Fire Mist Red SLK with the fuzzy pink dice, discoball and leopard/gazelle skin seats?

Oh and don't forget the gold crown.

I think its missing something.

Voila, I have it: I will have the car re-painted baby blue.

dave330i

Now you're talking. Those neon ground effects are really cool. Any particular color?

Don't forget to add the clear tail lights. ;-)

genie1

Its still missing the final touch though.

tenet1

Bimmer Lovers. Check out BMW's business outlook as the economy turns as per the latest BW magazine.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_44/b3755140.htm

brave1heart

Thanks for the numbers. It's interesting that 325 sales are down the least on % basis. I think the more expensive models take a hit first - first the 5-series, now the 330. The 0 % financing on most U.S. cars and close to 0% on Japanese brands must be hurting them. The other thing is that there are only so many people that can buy cars in this range and sales increase of 30% and more a year are unsustainable for a long time. Well, this is all good news for new buyers!!

dave330i

I've got it. Add a purple filter to the xenon headlights. ;-)

genie1

Kewl!

The crowing touch:
Moose antler hood ornament...

and corresponding bull horn.

Nice, ya?

brave1heart

I didn't know that BMW's CEO is a former engineering professor...That says a lot about the company's commitment to perfectly engineered cars.

Only 1 out of 3 BMW's are leased. Guru was wrong about that. It would be safe to guess that more 5- and 7-series are leased that 3-series, and I wouldn't be surprised if only 1 out 4 or 5 3-series is leased.

2 out of 3 BMW owners are repeat buyers?!?!? That says a lot about the cars right there.

I agree with the criticism on the styling of the X Coupe concept and even the 7 series but I think that the company is in an enviable position and I would not worry about its future that much.

dave330i

not sure about the moose antlers. People might think you're a redneck.

ccotenj

yup. i do, i want 2 of them, one for the bimmer, one for my wife's truck. last month's roundel had a pretty extensive writeup on them. it looks like for anything short of a complete blowout, or sidewall failure, that you could get yourself rolling again with very little fuss or muss. important for me, because my spare is inaccessible due to a ummmm "small" stereo upgrade... (currently have a can of fix a flat and a portable compressor banging around back there, but it's not an "elegant" package, to say the least)

however, i emailed circle about a week ago asking if they had them in stock and haven't received a reply yet. if you do get a reply from them, could you post out here that you did.

bottom line, i think it's a good thing.

-Chris

tenet1

It is a great article, and shows that BMW is likely to get through a weak economy given that its sales are still up. BMW continues to be focused by cutting "Lame Rover" and doing what it does best: Produce "the Ultimate Driving Machine"

I can believe that 2/3 owners are repeat buyers because after owning my 325i for 1.5 months, I am completely in love with it and will be a repeat customer.

My favorite quote from the article was by Rhys saying "If BMW ever made an error with its 3 Series, it would be mortally wounded.". So true since a small car company like BMW could be in trouble if it lost track of its focus. Given their rpoduct line now, I am not too worried about that however.

Look out, here come another 20 models.

hippo168

My dad is a 2 times repeat buyer, and I just continued the trend... I'm planning to be a long term, multiple BMW owner.

Current: 325i
Next: M3
Then: 5-series
After: M5

and so on. : )

dave330i

M6

hippo168

Also, from the article, the CEO said, "... But every model will compete on quality, engine power, and ride--none on price. In fact, every model will be positioned at the top of the price range for each category..."

That's well said.

dave330i

high speed run. Great deal of improvement through out the speed range. Highly recommend anyone with 2001 overboosted steering to get the retrofit done. Espically if you enjoy driving.

brave1heart

After 5 months and 9K miles with my 325i, I can definitely say that I will be a repeat buyer (seat belt clicking noise notwithstanding). The only other brand that I would be interested in is Porsche. I'm guessing that even if I am lucky enough to be able to afford a Porsche some day, I'd still have a Bimmer as a daily transport. Yep, BMW AG would be in trouble if they made an error with the 3-series - it's their bread-and-butter product. It's very likely they will be very careful with changing its styling in the future, so it's safe to say that the styling of the E46 will look fresh for a long while.

brave1heart

I'll open the bid with a modest 122 mph.

rpadilla

so far, up to 115.....too much traffic to go much faster, or even sustain that speed.

mmcbride1

I'd bet that's the case because it only costs a few more dollars a month to buy a 3er than it does to lease. When I was looking, it was going to cst ~$550-600 per month on a 36 month lease. A purchase with 5.9% financing (which was available through BMWFS at the time) was in the $600 range. No wonder most buy. I would have if I got a 325i

dave330i

ask me again after Feb. Right now, I've been rumored at ~120.

ccotenj

a shade over 110... cowl shake was getting pretty bad at that point...

-Chris

jfedor1

105 this past weekend following a M3 on 81 outside of scranton, PA.

Josh

shipo

Brave,

Over 110 (was watching the road, not the speedo) ;-)

Mmcbride,

$550-$600 per month for a lease? I leased a fairly optioned 328i (sticker: $38,710, negotiated price: $36,700 plus sales tax: $600) for $510 (including tax) per month, 0 down, 39 months $26,600 residual. The same car purchased for the same amount and financed for 60 months at 5.9% with 0 down would be about $707 per month if you paid the tax up front and $750 per month if you financed the tax.

Best Regards,
Shipo

jrct9454

Better get those tires looked at...sounds like you've got one or more that are out of round or out of balance. At 110, these cars should be smooth as glass....

dave330i

I believe Chris has a convertible.

silverprincess

115 on the I-5 between San Jose and L.A. Would've gone faster but I had my wife, dog, and cargo on board too!

kominsky

Indicated 120-ish - I78 between Hamburg (PA, not germany) and Shartlesville... I've driven this road for 10 years to work and have never seen a speedtrap in this stretch. It's where I do most of my high speed "testing". Did an indicated 140mph on the VFR on the same stretch... talk about scarey!

mmcbride1

I don't have my worksheets anymore, but I had it all figured out at the time. MSRP was around $33k (for a 325i optioned the way I would want it) with residuals in the mid-high 50%s, and rather high money factors (.0033 or maybe a little higher - like .0035ish). That put the lease payment right around $550-575 (the best I could do in Denver was 2% off MSRP - we only have 2 dealers here). A $32,000 loan (assuming a couple thousand down but rolling in the taxes) at 5.9% over 5 years is $617 per month.

Sounds like you got a great deal. I could not come anywhere close to that type of deal around here.

ccotenj

i have an e36 convertible... kinda lose a little bit of that structural integrity without a roof... wouldn't trade my ragtop for a shiny top for anything though...

-Chris

shipo

You were being quoted a residual in the mid to high 50% range? When was this quoted to you and how many months was the lease? If I remember correctly, the residual I was quoted was something like 64% (15,000 miles per year) back in January 1999. It sounds like your local dealers were trying to scam you with low-ball residual calculations.

Best Regards,
Shipo

div2

I've had a Bimmer in my garage since 1983. Well, there was that eight month period in 1995 between the sale of my 6er and the arrival of the Club Sport.
As for top speed, I've seen 130 in a friend's E30 M3 on the track(Sears Point) and 110 in the Club Sport. But the officer only wrote me for 92; it took him ten miles to catch me. I don't think it helped that my BMW CCA Club Racing sticker was prominently displayed...

megrdh

Thank you for response. Telling the truth, I don't know how to change a tire that the reason I want to get this kit: just in case I have a flat tire, I may inflate it enough for me to drive to the closest gas station ... Will it help?
Meg

pen101

Did an even 200 km/hr (124 mph) on the autobaun in Germany flat out in our 3-series. It took a while for the car to get up to that speed and it took a lot of work to drive at that speed for any distance. And gas mileage really sucked. But as fast as we went, we still were flashed and passed by faster cars (MB's mostly). We probably averaged a good 180 km (110+ mph) over a 150 mile distance.

brave1heart

Your numbers are correct. My loan (taxes and all) came to about $33,100. With no money down and 5.9% over 5 years I am paying $629 a month.

brave1heart

I keep one of those flat tire sealer sprays in my trunk in case I get a flat. It happened to me once a couple of years ago in my Jetta - hit a deep pot hole that dented the rim and I started losing air fast. The spray contained the damage long enough for me to get home safely. That spray is something like $3 at any auto store - anything more than that may be an overkill IMO.