Cars We Drive!

[epb]



Finding your black 3 series in a parking lot full of black 3 series.

As the former owner of a black E46 - definitely. Speaking from Chicago, finding a silver 3-series in your typical mall parking lot would be even worse. Even tougher downtown in multilevel lots where you're supposed to remember hearing the Beatles or a Carl Sandberg poem when you parked/rode the elevator.

 

[bawlin]



Looks like i8 is going to be really plasticky. I guess they have to save weight somehow.

Considering most of the body is carbon fibre, I don't think they're overly worried about saving weight.

 

[otc]

Looks like a rendering... Probably looks a little fancier in real life

 

[Find Finn]



As the former owner of a black E46 - definitely. Speaking from Chicago, finding a silver 3-series in your typical mall parking lot would be even worse. Even tougher downtown in multilevel lots where you're supposed to remember hearing the Beatles or a Carl Sandberg poem when you parked/rode the elevator.

You guys don't have color coded, so you park at green 8, row 4.

 

[Cary Grant]



Considering most of the body is carbon fibre, I don't think they're overly worried about saving weight.

On the contrary- BMW has said shaving pounds anywhere is very important. For instance:

• they'll be the first to use hardened glass (think iPhone glass) in all the windows except the windshield
• fusing carbon fiber with aluminum rather than 100% aluminum in doors
• lightweight magnesium structures in the instrument panel
• all the screws and bolts are aluminum
• carbon fiber wheels where allowed

It's not the lightest thing though... blame the batteries, but for all it's advancements a Mclaren weighs 200lbs less.

 

[rocks]

Jet Black E46 ZHP kit and Lowered on BBS LM's has always been easy for me to spot, no issues in various states...

 

[mbaum]

... all this talk on car keys ...

That's a real car key. Put it in, turn it, listen to the fuel getting pumped to the Webers, press in to start. Heaven. For everything else, I have my iPhone ...



And that's what I will drive on the new year's ride with my buddies next week in OC ...

 

[GreenFrog]

So true. I miss depressing the clutch and cranking the ignition of my e46.

I need to buy one again in the future.

 

[jet]

Nothing better than rowing the gears man, if I see you on pch I'll throw a thumbup your way.

 

[epb]



You guys don't have color coded, so you park at green 8, row 4.

Nah, here in Chicago it seems to be "remember your floor, then look around." No rows, numbers or anything. There was a color associated with each poet, but people seemed to forget the color as often as the poet - you often saw people wandering the floors trying to remember where their car was. Interesting elevator conversations - one guy's wife got a kick out of us debating the imagery of Rios' "The Cities Inside Us" vs the word play of "A Hundred Bolts of Satin" before they headed for the opera.

 

[GreenFrog]

Got to drive my car today after two weeks on the road.

Windows down, jacket on, seat heaters on, hot air on medium-power. It's 40 degrees so the cold air alters the exhaust note ever-so-slightly.

Instant stress relief.

Love dat v10, but I'm toying with the idea of getting a different exhaust.. something a bit louder.

Also, was watching a Chris Harris video on the audi r8 v10 plus with its DSG transmission. Really makes me wonder what the e60 m5 would be like with a DCT transmission.

 

[impolyt_one]

I had my muffler gutted. Went to SE Asia for some biz for a week and dropped the car off at the shop for an oil change, and had them do little things, like gutting the muff and had them remove the stupid window tint that came on the car when I got it. Sounds pretty good. Thinking of getting the Turner test pipes and getting those front O2's coded out. Originally I thought it was just an enthusiast private garage for all makes (as they advertise) but it turned out to be very BMW M-oriented, and the main mechanic is former BMW. When I went, they had a pair of twin E46's M3's in nearly identical setup (same color, same aero, same BBS LM) two E39 M5's, an E36 and two E92 M3s. I feel pretty good about taking my car there now. Labor prices were also legit.
I looked into wheels when I went overseas and there's no cost effective way for me get the better BBS wheels without paying twice as much, so I am just gonna get OEM ZCPs I think, plus the facelift tails, pro-kits, and the M Poerformance CF decklid spoiler. Test pipes and a tune suited to the 100 RON gas I seem to be constantly feeding her. That's probably about all I want done to the car.

 

[GreenFrog]

Nice. Love the ZCP wheels and LCIs are a must on the e92. When I get an e92 m3, I'm going to get it in jet black too. I ******* love the hood bulge.

I'd want a loud exhaust on the m3, too. Perhaps one with the electronic valves so you can have a 'quiet' mode.. but then it would always be open, so what's the point? Reminds me of the power button on my car. Why does it even exist? It should always be cranking all 100% of its HP. In fact, it's annoying that I have to go through this ritual every time I start my car:

Press dial knob to acknowledge i-drive system
Press power button
Press transmission shift button two clicks for fastest shifts
Disengage parking brake

and then shift into gear and take off. I need to get my car coded to skip steps 1-3. First world problems.

Oh, and i-drive ******* sucks. I hate it. I want to sell my 2008 and get a 2010 so I can have the updated i-drive system. Would be easier than retrofitting the CIC navigation, which I was actually considering doing a while ago.

 

[evilWagon]



Aston and Jaguar shared engines etc. for years and years, so it would make sense to make it one big company and share the budgets.

Shared engines, chassis and ownership. They were both part of Fords PAG along with land rover and Volvo.

McClaren would have better success developing their own GT vs buying a top heavy company like Aston. I'm a big fan of AM but they're less and less relevant, better they be euthanized now than bear the indignities of a slow public death.

 

[SomethingWitty]

Nice. Love the ZCP wheels and LCIs are a must on the e92. When I get an e92 m3, I'm going to get it in jet black too. I ******* love the hood bulge.

I'd want a loud exhaust on the m3, too. Perhaps one with the electronic valves so you can have a 'quiet' mode.. but then it would always be open, so what's the point?

Reminds me of the power button on my car. Why does it even exist? It should always be cranking all 100% of its HP. In fact, it's annoying that I have to go through this ritual every time I start my car:

Press dial knob to acknowledge i-drive system
Press power button
Press transmission shift button two clicks for fastest shifts
Disengage parking brake

and then shift into gear and take off. I need to get my car coded to skip steps 1-3. First world problems.

Oh, and i-drive ******* sucks. I hate it. I want to sell my 2008 and get a 2010 so I can have the updated i-drive system. Would be easier than retrofitting the CIC navigation, which I was actually considering doing a while ago.

It's been a while since I had my E63, but can't you configure the shift speed with the M button? That would eliminate one step at least.