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BMW 3-Series 2006
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Thanks for all the great discussions on this forum. I've found them very exciting and informative. After many meetings with my calculator, I finally placed my order for my 1st BMW ever . I'm pretty excited about it since it has been something that I always wanted to do. Anyway, I ordered it from a dealer located in southern NH with the following options
Black saphire w/terra leather and burl walnut wood
Premium and Sport Package w/18in 162 style wheels
Heated Seats
Auto trans.
Nav. system
I first offered 3K under MSRP but the dealer would not accept :mad: . So we agreed on 2K under MSRP. I hope this was a good price since I am not used to pay more than $300 over invoice for any car.
Anyway, I visited tirerack to order some snow tires, and found out that wheels and tire packages are offered in 17in and 18in for this car. Is there any difference on snow driving performance between these sizes? Anybody worried about damaging the 18in rims in the snow? Also, I have read in this forum that it is not recommended to swap the tires and use the same wheel rims all year long. Is this mostly because the tires may be damaged changing them so often?
Last question, I tracked my order in bmwusa with the production number given by the dealer and the wrong color comes up with none of the options I ordered. Should I be worried about this and contact the dealership? The last thing that I want is to have to wait 10 weeks for delivery and then get the wrong car.
Thanks in advance for any replies,
Dom
It's a good price if you're comfortable paying it.
Don't worry about it for now, what the dealer did is probably found a car slated soon for production and is switching the color on the order. The options will typically never show-up on bmwusa. The correct color should appear in a few weeks.
I have noticed significnat improvment in car initial pick up and response of first gear after break in period.I have 4000 miles on my 325 i and it appears that with time it is getting better.
I travel about 130 miles a day and gas consumption on average is 29 MPG 30 % city and 70% high way). It is amazing how this car performs over 100 miles per hour. I have gone upto 135 MPH with no problems and the car has been very stable and responsive.
Just wondering what is up with automatic climate control. AC stays on even when the out side temeperature is lower that inside temperature. Guys what a difference in acceleration when you turn off the AC.
Does anyone else share similar experience.
SIT
You don't have to worry about your beautiful 18" SPort Package wheels getting ruined by the salt from the roads nor do you have to worry about damaging them if you can't avoid the craters in the road that the DOT refers to as potholes.
It will also be cheaper for you in the long run. In stead of getting the wheels and tires mounted and balanced every winter & spring, you can just have the tires & wheels swapped (or you can do it yourself if you are adventurous).
You might also want to check with tire rack to see if they offer a 17" wheels & tires package for the 330i. There are a few advantages to going with a minus 1 wheel & tire package during the winter. 17" snow tires are cheaper than 18" snow tires. You'll have a slightly taller sidewall and narrower contact patch. The taller sidewall will have more air in it and give you a better cushion if you can't avoid the pot-holes I mentioned above. The narrower contact patch will put more of the tires surface area on the road (due to the more concentrated weight) and give you better traction.
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
I assume that you are asking about snow tires, since this is a forum for a car that just came out in May. Most folks on this forum are buying winter tire/wheel packages from tirerack. The winter wheels come mounted and balanced on a dedicated set of winter wheels. You could get winter tires only and use the wheels that came with the car. However, it is supposedly difficult, risky and costly to dismount and remount low profile run flat performance tires. I do not know of anyone who is going that way.
Based on the reviews submitted by tirerack customers, the Dunlap Winter Sport M3 is more highly regarded than the Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22. And guess what? It happens to be the less expensive of the 2 tires. So I'm going with the Dunlap.
I'm not sure what to do about the wheels. I figured that this is the place where I would try to keep down the cost of the package, especially since I like the looks of even the least expensive wheel. I was of a mind to select the $88 one and come in just a bit under a grand for the package. But when I called tirerack yesterday, some guy told me that the $129 one is the most popular and it comes with BMW center caps whereas the $88 one does not. I like those caps. Now I'm thinking about getting the $129 one, though $164 is a lot of money just for caps (I like the looks of the two wheels about the same). Maybe I could buy the $88 wheels and swap out the center caps for BMW caps that I could presumably buy from BMW as parts or accessories. I haven't looked into that yet.
Has anyone taken the winter plunge yet? If so, let us know what you got.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
Looks like tirerack is already out of those wheels, since they don't come up as one of the options. How much were they going for?
Also bought one unmounted Snow + Bridgestone Re050A RunFlat.
This way if I get a flat with summer or winter tires I'm covered!
My brochure says it will be available later in the year
Thanks
It's partially a software charge, and partially an intake modification. It's debatable how much is attributable to each. Personally, i think the evidence indicates strongly that the majority of the lost torque, at least, is due to software.
$139, I think.
the "Tecnical advisor" at BMW dealership told me that he was told by BMW that 06 325 engine has the camshafts different from those in 06 330. Sounds strange.
All available information does not add up. I am just curious.
I bought 06 326i with stick-shift and I am very happy with the car and the engine,
so I can compensate for the torque just downshifting.
Best regards,
Lehrer1
Unless you get seriously dumped on, xi isn't worth it, and if you do get seriously dumped on, xi probably won't have the ground clearance you need, so it's still not worth it.
Many on this board have done fine with i and snow tires.
Thanks,
mr_anton89
DL
Dom
Thanks,
Dom
My dealer will also pick mine up and leave "no more than 2 or 3 year old BMW" for me to drive while they are working on mine. I live 30 miles away.
They told me that while I was negotiating the deal. I guess it varies from dealer to dealer, but both dealers I talked to said the same thing.
2020 Ascent Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
I noticed something the other night while I was trolling on my local BMW lot. The right exhaust pipe on the 330 has a moveable vane in it that can shut that pipe. The 325 doesn't have it. I'm guessing this creates some additional pressure that boosts hp/torque at some point. Maybe at the low end? Thoughts?
Also, I think there's something new on BMW's website. At least I hadn't noticed before tonight. There is a link to "Driver's Guide" that has videos to explain various features of the car. It seems to be quite extensive. So, for those of you too lazy to read your owner's manual.....(no one on this forum, I'm sure)
I use BMW of Greenwich for my 330i. It's a brand new service facility with ample BMW loaner cars. Although my car is barely more than a month old, I've already been in for service twice. Both times I got new Bimmers for loaners. An X3 for a day, and a 330i for a whole week.
Maybe try another dealer for service, or keep using the same dealer but schedule your appointments well in advance and specifically request and confirm a BMW loaner car.
CZ
Too many people expect perfection in everything, it's hard to deliever in the real world.
"Basically the premise is as such: Build one product and then disable "WORKING" features to price differentiate."
That's not what BMW did. They used differing induction & exhaust for 325 & 330. When you change hardwares on an engine, you generally need to change software as well. Nothing disabled.
Yesterday I finally had a chat with my wife about winter wheel/tire packages. "You're spending how much money on this?" "Are you out of your mind?" "More than $1,000?" "Why can't we buy only tires?" "Why do tires cost that much?" "Why do we have to buy wheels too?" "Why doesn't our car come with a spare tire?" "Where are you going to store the off-season tires?" "I'm not driving the car if you are going to do those tire changes by yourself." "And if you are going to have it done by BMW or the local garage, how are we going to manage bringing a set of wheels/tires to them and taking a set of tires/wheels home?" "What will we do with the extra set of wheels/tires when our lease is up?"
My answer: "Uh, well, I'm doing this for you so that you can feel safer in winter. We've had problems with RWD in past winters. So I checked and found that this is what people do to overcome those problems."
Botton line, rather than spend all that money on a winter wheel/tire package and incur the associated inconveniences, she'd rather just stay home the few times it snows (or use our FWD minivan if she really has to go somewhere). She can basically get away with that because she is a teacher and usually doesn't have to go to work when it snows.
daylight running lights
blinking clownnose
auto-lock doors
all windows & sunroof open with remote
Please, add your items.
I'm from the Bay Area as well and I bought my 325i E46 from Stevens Creek BMW. I've been back to them several times in the past 2 years for various services (ignition coil, lights, temp sensor, etc.) as well as Service I. If I make an appointment, I get a 3 series loaner. If I go there unscheduled, they are usually out of BMW loaners and sends me to a local car rental, which they pay for. At my recent Service I appointment (which I was given an X3), I asked my SA whether you can get a loaner even if you did not buy the car from them and he claimed that it did not matter where you bought the car. I have not taken my car to any other BMW dealer so I cannot test his theory. Some users here say they only provide loaners to their own customers; some say it depends on the dealer.
Oh one thing. this loaner has Premium leather , non sport. The seats are way to slippery for my taste I prefer my "ette".
Also, I received my Ultimate Ownership experience Package today,
DL
What's that?
Best Regards,
Shipo