Cars & Bikes, Driving & Riding

Postby **dodint** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:34 pm

It's a Dinan exhaust. (BMW Tuner)

Well, former BMW tuner. He sold the business and tunes other makes now.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:35 pm

Okay, I've heard of them. I'd shave back those pipes, personally.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:40 pm

That car has been on the market for 74 days. If it makes it to day 100, hoo-boy, I'm going to have to really think about it. I've fixed the SRT4 up enough that I can probably flip it for profit once it passes inspection. Trade the Z4 on the M235i and I'd be in a real great spot.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:40 pm

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:41 pm

And now that I look at it zoomed out, I'd probably cut back slightly more.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:41 pm

I love that color, though. In the same realm as the Type-S that I'd look hard at.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:42 pm

Yeah, a lot of it is the color. I've liked it on several different BMW models but have never bought one myself.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:44 pm

How small is a 235, though? I feel a little cramped in my dad's 535.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:54 pm

One of the reasons I like it is that it is nearly (within 1" in every direction) the same dimensions as my 1993 325is was.

In terms of roominess and ergonomics it has to be bigger than the Z4 is. I like the Z4 but it's about as far on the lower limit as I can go when it comes to snugness. The Porsche Boxster I looked at was below that threshold.

Our 535 (E60, 2008) was as big as a house, imo. I really prefer a smaller car.

Postby **faftorial** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:54 pm

Like VW's special blue on GTI's this year:

Postby **dodint** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:55 pm

Yeah, a good friend of mine has that exact car/color. We call it the Smurf.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:56 pm

And Faftorial just ruined the thread with his VW. Damnit!

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:56 pm

Source of the post Our 535 (E60, 2008) was as big as a house, imo. I really prefer a smaller car.

It's weird, the cabin [of my dad's 535] feels tight, but the actual car is huge.

Postby **offsides** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 11:08 pm

New York Auto Show Moved to Late August over Coronavirus

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3135 ... ronavirus/

Postby **mac5155** » Wed Mar 11, 2020 10:32 am

I've been kicking around the idea of getting back into a VW TDI. They seem to be a very good value right now - a 2013 or so could be had for under $8k.

Postby **faftorial** » Wed Mar 11, 2020 10:42 am

I've been kicking around the idea of getting back into a VW TDI. They seem to be a very good value right now - a 2013 or so could be had for under $8k.

Then get it tuned.

Postby **mac5155** » Wed Mar 11, 2020 11:49 am

I've been kicking around the idea of getting back into a VW TDI. They seem to be a very good value right now - a 2013 or so could be had for under $8k.
Then get it tuned.

For a full on tune package with exhaust and everything, youre looking at like $3k. I mean, worth it yes, but not an adult decision

Postby **dodint** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:55 pm

Spent my day in the garage replacing the convertible top motor in the Z4. Replacement motor cost is $650 for the BMW motor and $2,000 labor to take the convertible top off. I used an alternate motor from the 2014 Mustang. I found one for $100 on eBay, from a seller who was stripping out a car for racing. Motor came from the same product line but is slightly larger. Which is nice, it is about 3x faster than the BMW unit.

The BMW motor location is a design flaw. It is technically "outside" of the car, in a rain gutter channel. It is encased in a plastic housing but it inevitability leaks. What I did was relocate the motor to behind some carpet in the trunk. It should never need replaced again, certainly during my ownership. And if it does the motor can be accessed in about 30 seconds instead of the several hours it took to remove the top.

Satisfying little Saturday project.

Postby **NTP66** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 7:01 pm

Nice.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 7:31 pm

Love that kind of DIY reengineering!

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 9:31 am

I should probably wait to see what pricing cuts and interest rate drops will happen before buying a new car? We need to replace our 12 year old Odyssey, and want to downsize to a CRV... possibly the hybrid.

Postby **Fire0nIce228** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 10:11 am

I should probably wait to see what pricing cuts and interest rate drops will happen before buying a new car? We need to replace our 12 year old Odyssey, and want to downsize to a CRV... possibly the hybrid.

Manufacturers are already at 0%

https://www.chevrolet.com/current-deals ... e:traverse

Postby **CBear3** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 10:14 am

Nice work dodint.
I spent a rainy Saturday at pick-n-pull, which I discovered one of our locations is in an abandoned factory of some sort so it was covered. Nice perk when its 40° and raining.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 11:46 am

Huh, we use Hoerbiger quite a bit on our compressors at work. If I were to guess which part of the vehicle they'd be in, I would have guessed engine. Surprised to see they make convertible top motors.

Postby **dodint** » Tue Mar 17, 2020 11:52 am

What do they do for lighting in a space that size, CBear? I'm just happy the PnP here in Pittsburgh has every car lifted about 20" in the air.

I keep a car list of somewhat esoteric cars and the prices on them are starting to plummet. I sold the Delorean about 10 days before it would've likely been impossible to unload. My guess is as this worsens nobody else in the world is looking for one of the 300 V10 E63 BMW M6s made with a manual transmission. I have tracked down about 6 of them and only two of them have sold since the beginning of the year. I think I'm going hold a few more weeks and then aggressively lowball the one out in Philly.

The Viper GTS market also shows signs of softening as well. Could be an interesting automotive summer.