Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
-Chris
"To ensure that your vehicle provides maximum economy throughout a long service life, we request that you observe the following instructions.
Because of its engineering design, the BMW M3 is an especially high-quality vehicle. It is in your best interest to follow the break-in instructions very closely. Doing this, you will create the basis for a long, optimum service life.
Engine and differential
Until a km reading of 1,200 miles (2,000 km), drive at varying engine and road speeds, but do not exceed the following rpms or road speeds: 5,500 rpm or 105 mph (170 km/h). Obey your local and state maximum speed limits. Do not depress the accelerator pedal to the full-throttle position.
After you have monitored the breakin period for 1,200 miles (2,000 km), you can begin to gradually increase both engine and road speed."
There are separate procedures for tires, brakes and clutch, but they all basically say "this system does not operate at optimal efficiencies until after the first 2-300 miles, so be careful."
Essentially, this is no different from the 325 or 330 break-in procedure, so yes you could have just as much driving fun with an M in Europe as you could with any other new Bimmer. That's where that pesky money thing comes into play again! :-)
3 series5 series.
38.4 : 38.7 - head room - front (in.)
37.5 : 37.8 - head room - rear (in.)
41.4 : 41.7 - leg room - front (in.)
34.4 : 34.2 - leg room - rear (in.)
54.4 : 56.8 - shoulder room - front (in.)
54.2 : 55.9 - shoulder room - rear (in.)
91.0 : 93.0 - passenger volume (cu.ft.)
11.0 : 11.0 - cargo volume (cu.ft.)
Shipo or others who have researched the 5er - Can you confirm this?
1) They are a little off, check the following corrected chart:
3 series : 5 series
38.4 : 38.7 - head room - front (in.)
37.5 : 37.8 - head room - rear (in.)
41.4 : 41.7 - leg room - front (in.)
34.4 : 34.2 - leg room - rear (in.)
54.4 : 56.8 - shoulder room - front (in.)
54.2 : 55.9 - shoulder room - rear (in.)
90.8 : 94.9 - passenger volume (cu.ft.) - Changed
10.7 : 11.1 - cargo volume (cu.ft.) - Changed
2) While the above chart shows .3" of extra head room on the 5er, it seems like a lot more. In my case, because of the extra room, I can sit noticeable more vertically in the 5er without my head touching the ceiling, thus giving the back seat passengers more like an inch or two of extra leg room (foot room in the case of my children). In this case, said extra room is just enough to prevent my kids from having to angle their feet at an uncomfortable angle when they sit in back.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best Regards,
Shipo
You are so correct; on paper they do look almost the same. However, when I stuck my kids in the rear, booster seats and all, they clearly had more room when the front seat was set for my preferences.
As for goodies, the most obvious are the dual climate control (I like it cold, my wife likes it warm, classic battle of the sexes), and MUCH upgraded audio system when compared to the HK, said audio system is also integrated into the OBC, using the display for other stuff besides the Audio program. I cannot remember off the top of my head what the others are, those two are the most important to me, I will update y'all when I remember.
Tenet1,
I caught your initial oblique reference, I just thought that salt might be used on an on going basis as a PC mnemonic for your word of preference.
Also, when I was in the USMC (Uncle Sams' Misguided Children), when you referred to someone as an "Old Salt", you could easily have used something else in place of "Salt", respectfully of course. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best Regards,
Shipo
Regarding the M3 break-In in Europe. Yes If you just plan to keep the car for a year and sell it then by all means go to Europe, and beat the salt out of it. 105mph isn't too shabby i guess. You'd probably get funny looks from the guy in the 320d (diesel) passing you on the autobahn wondering why you're going so slow!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
So far, I am having a pretty salty day!!
PS, my 330i got passed by a Smart car on several occasions and my ego didn't take too bad of a hit
As for the obscenity thing, I think it's a pity we have to concern ourselves with the occasional use of 4-letter words to spice things up. Who do we think we're protecting anyway? Kids? I don't know about you guys and gals, but by 2nd grade I could give most sailors a run for their money in the cussin' department!
this is quite possibly the wisest piece of advice that has ever been posted on this thread...
triple digit speeds have a way in resulting in really really bad situations, especially:
1) with a driver that is untrained at that speed.
2) in a car they've never driven before.
3) in a car that has performance that they likely have never felt before.
-Chris
Your advice is wise as well.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
nyccarguy, if you ever do ED do yourself a favor and shoot for a stay of 10-14 days. You won't regret it!
Shipo, you will definitely be one of the younger 5-series owners. And one of the youngest by heart especially!!
All true but I am beginning to wonder if he's actually seen the car... I suspect if he had, it would look much better than that. I hope they don't carry that design down to the 5- and 3-series but if the spy pictures of the redesigned 5 are any indication, I may be hoping in vain.
PS: I know I set myself up for some snide comments telling you all that I've got this worked out on an excel spreadsheet!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
in case there is someone here, or more than someone, who didn't know that and did care.
The owner was requesting a buy-back at this point, and all things being equal, we probably would have done it. But there were some key facts the owner must have forgotten to mention...
We had the technician do a full interrogation of the engine computer (called the DME, if anyone wants to know) and discovered some interesting stuff. He had the DME reprogrammed to remove the fuel cutoff so that he could rev pretty much as high as he wanted to. The logs showed that the highest he had ever revved the engine was something like 8700 rpm, which probably would not have accounted for this damage if he hadn't held it at that engine speed for almost 8 minutes.
The managers decided not to go ahead with the buy-back...
Those interior room figures given earlier for the 3 and 5 are amazing, almost unbelievable. Why/how could the 5-series have less rear-leg room? The 5 is, what, about 12" longer than the 3? They must have used that extra length in the trunk and hood. But, shipo, you said your perception was that the 5 definitely had more leg room in the rear. I think there must be some explanation we haven't thought of.
After 3 weeks i concluded that even with the additional weight that the 528i had the 2.8 felt way more powerful , thus nixing any plans for a 525i with less power.
DL
As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a maroon."
Does anyone have hotel recommendations for Freiburg, Heidelberg, Bielefeld, and/or Amsterdam? Something in the $70-$100 range -- with atmosphere but private WC/SHOWER/BATH?
anyone had any problems similar to this?
Were you going 65 mph? I don't remember a Smart car been able to go over 80 mph. Last time, I was in Germany (about two years ago), it seemed as though my brother was now let anything pass us but BMWs and MB. It seems as though you don't realise how fast 90 mph is until to you get to The Netherlands. Not a cool place to go speeding and the roads are too congested.
I still get flashbacks of driving downhill thru Liege at 90 mph only to find a traffic light at the bottom of the mountain.
Nobee:
Every gone thru Liege??? Who designed the road? My wife said it reminded her of the state of Washington or Colorado. The scenery is nice but it is hell on brakes.
I have been buying Shell premium, since I bought the car, usually from one of two stations, the station I use most is the same one the dealer uses. On the dealers suggestion I tried dry gas no help... and running it down to fumes to refill a whole new fresh tank... same problem though.
The problem has been going on for several months. I love the car but this is driving me nuts.
Another thing that I have noticed, on the older E39 5ers, the back of the front seat was a continuous arc from left to right, on the 2001 and later 5ers, I have noticed a relief sculpted into either side of the back of the front seats, offering more room for the legs/knees/feet of the rear seat passengers. Given that the center spine of the backs of the front seats is still the same distance from the front of the back seats, the measurement has not changed, but there seems to be a little more room on the later cars.
All that said, there is certainly not as much difference in interior space as between the C320 (1.1” LESS total legroom than a 330i) and E320 (1.5” MORE total leg room than a 530i) Mercedes-Benz cars, where the E320 has 2.7” more total legroom than the C320. Would I like an inch or two more legroom in the 530i, YES, do I NEED more legroom in the 530i, well, no, not really. Maybe the new E60 5-Series will find an inch or two for the back seat, but, if it ultimately hits the streets “Bangleized”, no thanks, I’ll keep my 2002.
Best Regards,
Shipo
Best Regards,
Shipo
Our SAS flight gets in @ 4:15pm so we'll overnight in Munich. Any recommendations for a reasonable hotel ?
We do like to bike and, time permitting, we'll take you up on your recommendation. I haven't done much research yet so I don't have a good feel for distances in Europe. I'm hoping 10 days will be enough to get down to Italy and back without being rushed. Ciao and have a great time in Paris & Stuttgart.
POSTOAK Thanks for your help with ED posts. Your info. saved me a lot of money and put me in the driver's seat, as it were. When are you going? We're to arrive on April 18th(late) for a 19th delivery. Where's the Hotel Uhland?
Another brand I highly recommend is SRS SRS is another high quality brand of hotels that can be had for a great price via the internet.
-nobee
-nobee
Jim
derprofi - "Hotel Uhland is about 10km from the delivery center at Lilienthal Allee 26. The gentleman who delivered our car actually drew us a great little map that got us there in probably 10-15 minutes."
My wife and I like to stay in small hotels with some character, but with the modern conveniences. Hoel Uhland seems to fit that description:
http://www.hotel-uhland.de/uhlandpi.html
A double room with private WC/BATH/SHOWER was, either $87 or 87 Euros per night. This includes breakfast. They also have a private parking area. This was their highest priced double -- they have less-expensive ones. You can make your reservation via email from their website, but probably want to phone in your credit card information to confirm it.
We will arrive in Munich on Sunday, 6/23. Factory tour on Monday (Mondays and Fridays only). We'll pick the car up on Wednesday, 6/26.
Now all I need to do is buy the car!
postoak, hope you have a blast in Muenchen! If you're getting the most expensive double in Hotel Uhland, then you'll probably find that it sleeps 4. Ours had a little separate room off to the side with a sleeper sofa and it's own TV and windows. The Frau of the house is a whirlwind of efficiency and knowledge if not gushing American-style friendliness, Birute is a sweetie and the 50-ish gentleman who worked nights when we were there was also super friendly. Be sure not to miss breakfast. PS, bring back plenty of pictures. Drop me an email if you have any last-minute questions.
nyccarguy, if there's a better way than Excel to work out ED vs. US pricing, I've yet to find it! As long as you've got no embedded charts in yours, I won't give you any salt about it.
Re: finding hotel deals in Germany, I found some decent rates on this site in addition to the other hotels I discovered through friends, Frommers, and by accident.
Reasonable accomodation in Germany isn't a problem -- everything seems inexpensive compared to here. It's finding something that meets my other criteria, and has a good location, that can be hard.
I forgot we had to shorten our stay in Munich by one day, and will be picking up the car on 6/25.
Our first stop after that will be Valhalla, near Regensburg -- anybody been there?
Best Regards,
Shipo
Munich to Paris: 500 miles. Hmmm...Let's see 500 miles from NYC is OHIO or maybe North Carolina! Europe seems like a very interesting place.
Let's say I do ED in the fall and I've only got a week in Europe...What countries are must sees the first time around? My girlfriend's first choice is obviously Paris. I'd like to do Germany.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
Best Regards,
Shipo
Ben... 8700 RPM for 8 minutes? What on earth was he doing (in your opinion)? He had to chip the car...like the M3 isn't fast enough already! So maybe his car went 0-60mph in 4.79 seconds instead of 4.8 big deal! And he wants you to buy the car back? Is this guy a stand up comedian?
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD