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Comments
-nobee
Is there a kimchee-car discussion in Edmunds??
I would love an M3 convertible, but I cannot currently afford it. I even have it planned out - Imola Red with grey leather (Buckeye fan!)
And I admit I am one of those people who likes the Z4. I saw my first one on the road yesterday evening. Someone was driving one around downtown yesterday from Advantage BMW. It was silver, though I find the steel (or sterling) grey far more appealing on the Z4. Have you seen the BMW film with the Z4, it seemed to me that the car was made to be in that steel grey color! I priced one out, and it was more expensive than my 330, so I find it hard to replace my 330 so soon with a more expensive vehicle. I just had my first oil change after 13 months of ownership! I am not tired of it, but I do see more appealing cars out there! I actually haven't been driving it that often, I have been car pooling with the SO in his Acura MDX. Time together just seems more important than driving my car right now. I still drive it a couple days a week to work, because of client meetings, etc.
To make you feel better leenelsonmd, traffic has been strangely worse on 288 for the past three weeks. Always backed up, and this started happening suddenly right after daylight savings time ended.
I will be sure to be on the lookout for your car!
Happy driving!
Kelly
Back to BMWs, I think you have passed me numerous times. Do you exit at McHard Rd heading to CountryPlace?
Kelly
FWIW: I do not want to blaspheme, but I almost enjoyed the 5 sp in the 330 more than the 6 sp in my M3--I found it easier to shift and thus throwing the car around corners seemed a little more effortless.
dave330i: when I junk the contis on the rear do you think I should get rid of the front too? My suspicion is that I will have bald rear tires soon and the fronts will still be brand new. I thought about trying to get one set of new rear tires and then when these wore out replacing all 4.
seivwrig: we are both aging prematurely. I can promise you that--but driving a 3 series keeps you a little younger.
brave1: i share some of the concerns about the M3 and reliability. I do not think it is a major problem, but certainly there have been a higher ratio of complaints than one would expect based on the numbers alone.
Good to hear that you like the car and the new stereo.
Your plan of replacing rear once before replacing all four will work as well. It just means you'll have to wait longer for great tires. If you plan to do this, I believe you should replace the rears with contis again.
sopecreek: Z4 is replacing Z3. My understanding is BMW plans to renumber their cars. The sedans & suvs will be odd number while, coupes & roadsters will be even.
I would REALLY love to get the 3.0, but it is about too much for that car. It could very easily go from WOO HOO to UH OH much to quickly!
From my rear end dyno, the 2.5 AND the 3.0 both had enough oomph for what the car is designed for. If people want to complain about the performance of a convertible, perhaps they need to understand that convertibles are not always about being the fasted, but about being balanced, and the Z4 has that in spades, with much of the credit going to the tried and true engines and 3 Series heritage under the skin.
Styling wise, I am mixed. I like the rear view. Something
I agree that the styling is a bit much in some areas - that front end takes some getting used to and I noticed that there are BMW roundels on every side of the car. I keep waiting for the Stinger missiles to come out of the side ones.
But when all is said and done, you don't see the lines when you are behind the wheel anyway. You just have to watch for the bugs in the teeth.
-Paul
Commuting on Tilghman St, huh? Yuck. I was born and raised in A-town and been moving west in small increments ever since (Macungie, Kutztown, and now Shartlesville) but have been continuing to work in Allentown for most of that time. Fortunately, my commute involves the highways and not in-town driving. My car goes in for Inspection 1 in about a week. If Daniels still has a Z4, I'll have to get it out for a drive.
With people buying manumatics and SMGs, what does the future of M look like. Especially given that M cars have manuals only. A question that I have always pondered, why do AMGs have automatics? This is contrary to Dave330i use of the term Sport (insert what you want). If I knew Dave330i 10 yrs ago, I don't think I would ever drive an automatic. But Dave 330i does make a point. AMG SL 55 should not be considered a sports car. I know that the Audi S models are manual, what about the Jaguars R models.
If it me, or does it seem like after "The Fast and Furious" came out, everybody wants to create a 200+ HP car with average handling and high 0-60 mph times. Is this a phase in automotive circles? What happened to refined autos like BMW? I expect to get flamed here because I have seen many posts about BMW only have 186HP and 220 HP engines. I like my 186 HP engine. If I want more, I can go buy a $4000 supercharger for the grocery getter to race 330Ci.
It always amuse me to see people so focused on hp & torque. High hp & torque may be great in the glossy info packet, but that doesn't make the car any better.
Latest issue of Automobile compaired the M5, E55 AMG, S6, & S-Type R. M5 was the oldest design in the group, and had the second to lowest hp, but it still won because it's such a well balanced car.
Also, it's never too late to start driving a manual. I didn't start until 2000.
How long those it take for somebody to legally amaze the fortune require to drive this cars? and at that point, the concept of fun is so distorted, that the pleasure of driving a manual does not exists any more.
On the other hand, the ones with enough residual enthusiasm, will drive Ferraris and so.
Thats my take on it
The high HP thing that not make sense to me. The driver is what makes the difference. If ones reflexes are slow they would wrap a Chevy Nova around a tree in no time. Responsive cars have the ability to save lives if one decides to take classes. I believe that most people on this list love spirited driving but safe driving too. I am kind of scared to drive on the road with these pocket rocket flying down the speedway. Even worse, when my wife is behind the wheel, people get to urge to race the BMW. I should take off the model designation. I think that would put an end to that.
SL55: A joke! 493hp and an automatic! Weighs 4500lbs -- you thought the M3 was overweight. Cost $120k. I do not have a problem with those who want to buy them, but I will never do a double take on that car.
Mercedes in general has a problem. They are going towards more and more electronic control and are insulating the driver from the driving experience. This formula will probably work in the US, but it does nothing for me personally. I am more impressed by the Subaru WRX driver myself. It doesn't matter to me what people drive, but I love to see someone who LIVES to drive and wants to get the most out of it. My perception of the Mercedes crowd is that they don't care for the experience of the drive so much as the experience of someone seeing them drive.
Echo Dave330i: Check out the article in Automobile magazine. Was very fair and praised some of the new high end sedans out there, but in the end, the M5 won because of its balance and the experience that it gave the driver. Great article. (The M5 is at the end of its product cycle and was the least powerful car in the bunch).
Z4: Not awful, but 4 roundels is overkill (it is sort of embarrassing actually).
TIA.
Ron
mikekabrisky1: I would try BMW North, if you want to buy in Houston. leenelsonmd will tell you how much he enjoyed his experience there. Second to that I think is Advantage Downtown, where I bought mine. They were pretty fair, just not great, about prices. I have no idea about Advantage Clear Lake, I don't know how independently they operate from Advantage Downtown. I like the downtown dealership since I work downtown and can drop my car off for service very easily. leenelsonmd, does BMW North deliver the loaner car to you when you need service (I had a friend who had that service from them)? If so, that would make me buy my next one from them, considering the dealership is on the other side of town from my house, while the other three are all within 20 minutes drive.
I would stay away from Momentum, if they are still trying to convince people that everyone pays MSRP for all BMWs. A 330ci is common enough to rate a discount. Now, if you were buying an M3 or the new Z4, you would have a problem getting it for less than MSRP. I would, however, go to Momentum to have them take you on a drive on the test track. I felt no guilt about doing that and then not buying my car from them.
Hope this helps!
Kelly
-Ron
http://www.caterham.co.uk/showroom/sevens/superlight.htm
Exactly. I'm happy to push the limits of my driving and car in a controled environment (i.e. track), but on public roads, I keep it well within the limits (of course well within the limits of 3 series is still quite high).
I once heard a Mini owner brag about how he got his car to do a 4 wheel drift around corner. Even if the roads are empty, people shouldn't be doing that kind of stuff.
Discover the two-wheeled world, an $11,000 sportbike will lay waste to any Lotus 7... more practical too.
I say this because the comparison of a 1-series to a Seven is about the same.
-Colin
During the time that I have been putting off the purchase I decided to save some extra money for the deposit instead of financing the entire purchase minus trade. Several months ago I had my mind made up as for the options I wanted and packages. But as I read this board daily, my mind keeps changing. I guess I just need a sane place to put out my thoughts and listen to the feedback instead of silently struggling with what options and packages to buy.
Here is what I originally decided:
2003 BMW 330XI
Steel Blue/Sand Leather
Automatic/5 speed Steptronic
Cold Winter Package
Premium Package
Sports Package
Xeon Headlights
NAV system
I am having second thoughts in two areas of my future purchase:
1. Automatic vs. Manual
2. Sports Package vs. no Sports Package
The first item has been a good source of discussion here. I have listened to everyone's opinions and views about the differences between automatic vs. manual. My first impression was to get the automatic because I currently drive an automatic and I like the ability to do things like talk on the phone, sip my coffee/water. I figured I would loose all of that freedom if I was to purchase a manual. Plus when I test drove a 330 as a manual, I found myself constantly criticizing my shifting.
My concern with buying the automatic is that I am loosing something that should really be there. IMHO buying a BMW should be manual because of the extra control you have over the car. But I don't want to be laboring when I drive.
The second concern is purchasing the Sports Package or not, my reasoning again is one of great discussion here. My thinking is that I don’t want to have to worry about getting the best tires, or the fastest race my car. I am somewhat concern about the possibility of speeding unintentionally. And is it worth the extra money for some features in the car I will not know how to properly use.
Any feedback would be welcome. I plan to start my purchasing around December/January.
Jeff Pierce
Rhode Island
But I don't think they will refund your deposit if you just changed your mind or don't want the car any more.
If you're willing to drive about 50 miles North, you could try Prestige in Route 17 Ramsey, NJ. They are pretty good in dealing customers and offer decent price. Just let me know if you want further details.
-Ron
The bottom line is there is no performance enhancement for the xi SP (it is more aesthetic), although I do like the sport seats and 3-spoke steering.
Re sport package, this is different on the Xi than the i. On the 330i it entails a much more aggressive tire setup. The Xi just gets run-flat versions of the stock 205/50-17 size. So less impact (positive or negative) on ride and handling.
To me the biggest advantage of the sport package is the sport seats. They are vastly better than regular seats (again, to me). But a few people don't like them. Make sure you sit in or drive a SP-equipped car for quite a while before making your decision.
If you're certain you want AWD, get the Xi. However Car and Driver did an extensive test of AWD vs RWD and winter tires, and generally found that RWD + winter tires equaled or exceeded AWD + all season tires. Here's the article:
http://urlizer.com/00/1366
However if that leads you to the 330i and sport package, make sure you drive one extensively first. While the 330i SP handles fantastically, the sport tires can make the car a little choppy riding, plus steering tends to tramline, or "hunt" a little on some road surfaces. It's not excessive but it's probably different from what you've experienced before. Non-sport 3-series aren't as much affected, but they don't handle quite as responsively.
-- Joe
If the car is being manufactured for you, most likely the dealer will ask for a non-refundable deposit. If you're buying one off the lot, there is no reason the dealer can't ask for a $100 deposit. According to law, you have three days anyway to back out of the deal.
But why put a deposit down on a car that you don't want. You should make sure you put the deposit on a car and deal that is right for you.
If you do you're homework before hand, there should be no problem, the cars will be there.
Personally, I think getting an automatic in the 3-series ruins the car, but everyone has differing tastes.
Just thought I would drop to a note to say I'm doing just wonderful with my new 325ci. The black color and chrome factory 17" WoW! Seems as if I'm always "stopping" traffic Haha..not to sound big headed or anything. I haven't had this much fun since my 91 Nissan 300ZX Turbo.
To J.P.
I know everyone will give their 2 cents worth, so here is my 2 cents
If you must have an auto, get the 330 if you can afford it. 0-60 time with the auto 330 is around 7.1.
I bought a 325ci coupe last weekend and it's a 5 speed. It's the first 5 speed I've owned. This week, I must say that it's getting very easy to drive. Just as many have noted, it's not that bad if you don't live in stop and go freeway traffic. It's really easy to drive. It shifts as easy as a Honda Accord. It's effortless. A lot better than a VW Passat with a 5 speed. I always said that I would not own a 5 speed around Dallas, but it's a lot of fun now. I really think it depends on how good the clutch and shifter is on a car. I've been able to drink my morning juice while shifting as well. I just get a sip when I'm at a stop light. I believe 5 speeds can force a person to become a better driver. You're forced to keep up with what's around you. Drivers become more distracted with Autos..i.e..talking on the phone, drinking, eating, etc....(talking on the phone and driving a major source for driver accendents on freeways and highways).
My two cents
Oh, and a note to the person who asked about my audio system I had installed in my 325, I will send you an email with the details.
thanks!
I just think that people who have recently started to drive manuals have something to prove and will go too far in ridiculing those that don't (I have seen this in the past on this board and others). I for one enjoy technology and appreciate the step (I drive in manual most of the time) despite its slower response times. I have learned to shift slightly sooner than would be neccessary. You just adapt. Some day, when I can get my dream car, an M coupe, I will be very tempted to try the SMG.
Driving an auto does not make one a lesser man, is what I am trying to say.
Thanks in advance
I did see Doug Jenson, the service manager. He is far and away the best dealership service manager I have ever met. My wife's car has not needed any work, but he did spend about 15 minutes talking to her when she took delivery of the car.