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Comments
Best Regards,
Shipo
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.
Bugatti is 1 mil?! And people complain about 3-series being expensive.
Personally, I like HWY 1. One of the prettiest drive around. One mistake and you're off the cliff though.
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).
Thanks to everyone for your responses to my DSC and snow tires in NJ question.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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!!
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
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
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
Best Regards,
Shipo
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.
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.
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)
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)
oh well... i've tried to convince y'all... crash if you must...
-Chris
Thanks.
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.
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...
Thanks.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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!!
Best Regards,
Shipo
Shipo , i thoght u might add the W8 275hp Passat to your list ?
Regards,
DL
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.