Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Regards,
Chris
I bought my '03 530i (SP,PP, CWP) at BMW of Peabody and recently purchased winter tires (Dunlop M2's) and wheels (Borbet
Not only do I used Peabody for my service but I also purchased my car from them. So far, so good.
The weather forecast is for possibly 6” to a foot of snow by this weekend. Not quite ready for winter weather, yet. Just in the limited amount of snow on Tuesday, it was obvious that my car with the summer tires struggle to get around.
Regards,
Chris
I decided to take the Port Huron border crossing to avoid Detroit and midway between London (Ontario) and Port Huron I was caught in a freak snowstorm. For about 40mi I went through some of the worst conditions I've ever encountered - 6in of snow, white-outs much of the way and high cross-winds, with a few hills to make it interesting. I lost count of the number of cars in ditches and jack-knifed tractor trailers but the car was rock steady and I didn't have a single problem.
That scary trip has reinforced my belief in the value of DSC, a full tank and gentle use of the pedals.
A little history, last year I purchased only tires as I was driving a 02 530i w/o the Sport pkg. This year I upgraded to a 03 530 w/ the Sport pkg resulting in the need to buy 16” rims.
Regards,
Chris
The LATCH system holds the car seat very tight. In fact, the entire car will shake if I try to move the car seat that is attached using the LATCH anchors.
ny540i6: I too ordered the aforementioned set of winter tires that are going to arrive just in time for the 50 degree weather on Tuesday/Wednesday here in the city. My Prelude and It's V rated Bridgestones sit rotting in a garage next to my store in The Bronx.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD, 2025 Toyota Camry SE AWD
Thanks!
1. The door didn't have that hefty feel and didn't close with a nice clunk like on the 3series or the prev gen 5 series. I hope the quality isn't deteriorating. On the 3 series dvd that came with my car they showed a clip of how engineers worked to get that perfect "clunk" when you shut the door. Looks like they gave that up with the '04 5 series.
2. The interior ceiling was lined with material that looked out of place.
3. Seems like BMW and a lot of other car manufacturers are moving away from the center dash cluster tilted inwards towards the driver. While this is very minor (as are the other observations noted above) I like being the center of the universe in my car ;-)
I also got to sit in an X3 but I'll post my observations on that board.
The 2.5 liter 6 could not be smoother, but does not have much bottom end (best with manual trans.) Always a pleasure to drive, though, and comfortable to ride in, too. (Very big trunk.)
Obviously, this is 12 year old car you're looking at, that warrants careful checking by a mechanic, but if properly maintained, I don't think 200k miles is out of the question.
But I always joke that all maintenance is in $500 increments (small jobs, $500, medium repairs, $1000, etc.) If you want to economize, get a Toyota. Generally, my car was quite reliable, but I did not scrimp on costly maintenance (coolant and brake flushes, etc.) Nothing was cheap, but I liked it enough to buy about the identical car. Get full service records to see what's been done, items that needed work on mine are typical, I believe.
Monty@lmnands.com
Yes, I am biased towards my 2002 530i. The 2004 was parked in the garage two spaces from my car, and yes I like the looks of my car better. I think my car is more elegantly styled. The 2004 just does not look as classy and expensive.
Inside the 2004, I noticed that the seat did not feel as comfortable nor was the feel of the steering wheel as nice (maybe not a fair comparison, because my car has M steering wheel included in sports package).
First thing I did was play with the i-drive. I was able to figure out its basic functions very quickly. But I think that it is more of a driving distraction than a benefit. Instead of reaching over and turning a knob or pushing a button, you now have to concentrate at a screen and go through menus. However, you can avoid i-drive except for the radio because there are no external radio controls. This is a pain. I like pushing buttons and turning knobs. In most cases, I can do it without taking my eye off the road. However, there is a volume control on the steering wheel. I did not notice a channel control on the steering wheel like my car, but there may have been one. I like the climate control dials better than my car's, but the plastic material is cheap feeling. The cup holders are very strange, coming from the passenger side. Not really an improvement on my car's (which are terrible - mine is currently broken, dealer will fix at no charge). The tilted window lift buttons require a little time to get used to also.
The gages look cool, especially when they are lit up. However, I again like mine better. I like the idea that the information readout on my car is in the instrument cluster, instead of on a separate screen at the center of the dash. Also, they still have the useless mpg gage. Why bother? The center arm rest is still not adjustable, but at least it has storage and has a little more padding.
The car drove smooth and quiet, but I really cannot compare it directly to mine, which has sports package and is manual. Also, it was not my car and had just 150 miles on it, so I was not going to put it through the paces. However, a complaint I have about my 530i is that it should have more low end torque. Also, I wish the car had an easier to use clutch. Even now, 24K miles later, I still have to work on getting smooth 1-2 shifts. Both of these also would probably apply to the 2004 530i.
I sat in the back. A little more foot room, but not by much. The back center arm rest has cup holder slots built in. That corrects the lack of rear cup holders on my car. The trunk is odd shaped, but appears slightly larger than mine.
Again, I think I am a little biased. I love my 530i, both the way it looks and the way it drives. From what I have seen today, I don't think the 2004 is that much of an improvement. Just different. But this is not bad, because being near perfect is hard to improve on.
-Paul
There is a simple fix for clutch woes-BMW put a clutch delay valve(CDV) in the slave cylinder hydraulic circuit. It's purpose is to help cushion abrupt shocks to the drivetrain, but it also makes the clutch difficult to modulate. The best way to eliminate the problem is to replace your CDV with a modified unit. See: http://www.zeckhausen.com/CDV.htm
I have found the combination of hard to modulate clutch and the traction control (turned on in slick conditions), make 1-2 shifts a pain. I'd rather spin the tires than get the uneven acceleration I have now. Less of a problem in the dry with TC off, but still poorly modulated. Dealer claims (correctly), they all do that: get used to it.
HiC
"RADIO"
"FM"
"Station 1" or
"95.5"
"Climate"
"Air"
"71 (degrees)"
"Eject"
"Passenger"
"Front"
BOOM
err
"Open Roof"
"Eject"
"Passenger"
"Front"
WOOSH
1.IF the dealer was a jerk
AND
2.That dealer knew the CDV was gutted
then that dealer could try to deny coverage for any driveline part from the clutch back. Some cretinous dealers comb the CCA chapter newsletters for autocross results so they can deny coverage on cars that competed. IMHO I doubt anyone would ever notice; I'll bet that a large percentage of BMW dealer techs think that a clutch delay valve is something you buy at an adult bookstore.
"Tea"
"Earl Grey"
"Hot"
sorry, too much idiot box
My intent there was to show that the commands could be very simple. Simple commands would make the voice recog part easier to get working in a car producing noise (wind, road, electrical, etc) and have it work reliably. You wouldn't want to try and program recog software to recognize "Tune the radio to 95.5 and set the air conditional to 71 degrees."
Even IBM can do voice recog when the words are simple. It would just be a matter of providing the owner with the software's vocabulary. Better yet, allow programming of phrases into the unit and having it do several functions at once...
Example:
"Cool down the car" could turn the AC to max, roll down the windows a bit, pop the sunroof, and lower the rear shade. That'd be cool (no pun intended)
-Paul
-Paul
Only way you'll see things about subjects like this is either mention in press or published court opinions. Remember seeing a Federal 8th Circuit Appeal court decision on their public web site from within the past decade in which a dealer in Des Moines (think might have been Jaguar franchisee?) sued over the manufacturer's use of the CSI data. Forget how the mfgr was using it, but think it had to do with getting an additional franchise or keeping the one he had. Was interesting information about how the CSI data was collected and how used by the parties.
Conflicts over CSI data have periodically flared up between powerful franchise dealers (who usually have quite favorable treatment under state law) and the manufacturers.
Edit: found it on their web site (Lease return requirements, under the safty tab):
"Five (5) serviceable, BMW recommended tires.
At least a 1/8-inch (3-mm) tread depth from wear indicators on all tires, as measured by the BMW Inspection Wheel."
HiC
Also thanks cmr530i for the info. 28K and looking good. Maybe it is possible on these tires. But I will not drive the car like my grandma to get there.
There is the infamous "holdback". You can see that routinely discussed in books, etc. Some mfgrs reportedly don't do this.
But there is the even murkier world of what does the mfgr link to the CSI numbers received by a dealer. Money? Car allotments? "Hot" cars?
Believe the original query focused on the latter (CSI-link payments) rather than the former (holdback).