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By the way, after reading several days worth of postings from being away on a business trip, I think blueguy is also away, and his 15 year old son is posting with his sign on
Yeah, I won't even tell you what I caught him doing with my credit cards. He's now locked back in the root cellar. I swear, the other kids hear those pathetic pleas for food and water and they always let him out. I need to sell some of them on ebay...
i tried that...darn kids lopped off one of my fingers. i woke up when they with hovering over my eyes holding pliers. sheesh, kids nowadays.
I drove from DC to Philly this weekend (150 miles each way)and was amazed that I got 33.7 mpg with an average speed of 70 mph (which included many tollstops, delays, and several bursts upto 95mph). And I had a huge smile on my face through the duration of the trip.
Add to this that you can throw in a stroller and plenty of bags for a weekend trip, and you do have the Perfect Family Car. I feel no need to get anything different or bigger.
Mydealer got back to me and said because of some CA law they stopped shipping touch up paint to all 50 states. I'd love to know if that's just a line or what. It seems easy enough to mix up some and just put it in little jars, they have to do it for auto body work.
parnola - a couple of options: check out mail order pricing through some of the classic discount mail-order dealerships (Cutter, Center, Pacific, Crevier, etc.) If you are a member of the BMWCCA (and you should be - a nominal membership fee gets you a lot of priveleges, including a $500 rebate on new or CPO 3-series cars after a year of membership), check out the ads in the back of Roundel and call up the listed dealers (well, except Peter Pan... god I hate those guys).
A brand new, OEM trim set can run upwards of $400, but on black leather does tend to look spiffier than the wood trim IMO. The trim I believe that you are looking for, the silver metallic trim, is called Matte Chrome, and will run quite a bit less than the new Brushed Aluminium which you might mistake it for.
The second option is to lurk on the "For Sale" boards at Roadfly.org or E46fanatics.com, waiting for someone to put their old trim up for sale. You can save some money this way, but be forewarned, the crowd there is painfully young and it shows. Also, the competition for Matte Chrome Trim is intense - lots of people who have wood trim want to swap it out, and so don't expect to have a massive amount of bargaining power.
Finally, a note on installation. From reading the boards, my understanding is that the dashboard pieces are very straightforward and easy to install. If you have a coupe or convertible, the armrests are a bit more challenging. The sedan door trim is different than the coupe and convertible pieces, and the center piece for convertibles is different from sedans and coupes. Make sure you order the right set for your car.
BTW, after talking about it for a LONG time, we're finally heading up to Boston this weekend. We're planning on spending Friday in Salem and then the rest of the weekend in Boston.
If you're interested in doing a Shipo type car trade for a day or two, let me know. I'd like to check out those swaybars. The downside is that we'll have the wife's Odyssey so you'd definitely be getting the bad end of the deal. hahaha! But it is good practice if you and the Mrs. plan on adding a couple more wee ones to the pack. ;-)
http://www.e46fanatics.com/faq/faqs.php
No, there is no difference.
ksso
While the suspension tuning is the same between sport and non-sport (true for 325Ci only, not 325i), the larger diameter wheels/tires will stiffen up the ride. The reward would, obviously, be superior handling. The only way to know for sure which is more desirable to you would be to drive them both on your roads, in your style.
Just got back from a 2-day driving school at Watkins Glen tonight. I had a great time - this is one unbelievable track!! I burnt through my front street pads in a few sessions and ended up putting in racing pads. They pull the cheeks off your face under hard braking. I think I'm not going back to street pads even for street driving.
ksso
My dealer gave me a VIN# and the 11th digit is a 'P'. Does anyone know where it is being built. He said it is built in Germany but doesn't know which plant.
http://www.bmw-z1.com/VIN/VINdecode-e.cgi
A= Munich
B= Dingolfing
D= Dingolfing
E= Regensburg
L= Spartanburg
N= South Africa
I'm looking for real world experience with the SMG option, so if anyone has it, I would appreciate your feedback. Is it better than step or annoying in the "auto" mode? Do you find yourself really using it in "manual" or keeping it in "auto" anyway?
It seems to be making its way into more models so I was wondering on the pros and cons.
Thanks
Thanks.
Since there are still people on vacation until the first week of September or so, traffic may be heavy in certain areas. www.viamichelin.com has an excellent route planner.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
If you're looking to buy used cars, just get the unlimited carfax option for $25. Money well spent. and you can use it to help others.
The 2003 5er's have incentives for few bout another week. You can get a 530 for about $3000 BELOW invoice and a 525 for $2500 BELOW invoice. This puts them in about the same price range as the 330 sedans! Bigger car with very little loss in handling... Check some of prior posts on the 5er prices paid area...#299,302,307,359
Good luck.
Night and day, my friend. I would not buy a 325i. I loved the handling but the car lacked the punch I wanted for 30k+. The G35 was a great deal of fun and for 30k (msrp of about 33k) it was a hoot. Once I tried a 330i with manual, I was hooked. Then I got into my 330i with the Performance Package (ZHP) and it was all over.
Someone else wrote: I have a 325 and compared to the 330 I do not feel that there is a very significant loss in power/performance. I believe that it is all about one's driving style. I drive my 325 hard and love the ability of this car to really move.
Obviously, he didn't drive a ZHP. 0-60 in 5.6 seconds vis-a-vis the 325i's 7.5 or so. That's not a big difference? Performance in terms of handling was also markedly different. Every magazine comments that the ZHP is the closest thing to an M3 sedan that BMW makes in terms of raw performance and handling. The car flat out cooks.
Yesterday I took a quick trip up to Temecula from San Diego. The speed limit on the 15 is 70 mph. I was running between 90 and 110 up there. 80 miles covered in 50 minutes (there's a checkpoint for contraband of some sort right outside Temecula that slows you down to a crawl for 5-10 minutes). The ZHP was smooth as silk, quiet and scary solid. I haven't pushed much past 110 yet but it's still got plenty of room to keep going. Oh and I averaged 26.5 mpg.
Drive a ZHP and a 325i back to back. And when I say drive them, I mean shift the ZHP at 6300-6500 rpms. Take it through real corners. The 325i will feel like a dog after that.
Still, if you're after more luxury and performance, I'd say 30k or so on a G35 is a shrewd move. And if the power of the 325i doesn't bug you that much, go test drive a 6 speed TSX - for my money at 26k it's nearly as good a handler as a 325i, but with better reliability, a better engine, better interior appointments and a much better tranny than any BMW 3 series (the one thing I hate in my ZHP is that cruddy, binding, harsh 6 speed).