Cars We Drive!

[TheFoo]

I think the new Vette is automatic only because they dumped so much money into the DCT. It’s looks are growing on me and I expect the Z06 and other models will be quite a performance bargain. If the Z06 gets the rumored flat-plane crank motor then it’ll sound amazing.

Vette always had great bang for the buck, and the entire line is going DCT only right?

No stick was developed for the car because they thought there wouldn’t be enough demand.

But the way they designed the chassis, a manual transmission is also impossible. The transmission tunnel is now foundational to the structure. Evidently, putting a shift linkage through it would severely impair structural integrity.

 

[A Y]

are they still the case (like close to E46 M3 that you might as well kind close)? and all E46 has subframe issue?

ZHPs are cult classics within the BMW community. It's not an M car but it has enough performance and is stealthy so people like it for that. It's one of those cars where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. E46s have subframe issues, but it's not hard to deal with: you just have to do it at some point.

 

[HRoi]

It’s not even that hard/expensive to address. The parts are a few hundred and the rest is knowing how to weld and sweat equity. But ain’t nobody got time for that so I got it done for less than two grand

 

[A Y]

Yeah, it's pretty straightforward unlike Porsche's IMS/RMS issues. The parts are $130 from Turner: https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-91-e46-rear-chassissubframe-reinforcement-kit/

If you want to keep an E46, other possible chassis failure points are the front and rear shock towers (strut braces' pucks can help with the front, and a simple plate can help with the rear: no welding necessary) and the sway bar mounts ripping out. There's a front subframe issue that seems to take longer to show up: this is the only issue that hasn't happened to me or that I haven't tried to mitigate (knocks on wood).

If you search for e46 reinforcement on Turner, you'll see all the parts you need for various parts of the car. They sell a complete kit for about $330.

That's one of the nice things about popular older cars: their faults are known and usually there are good solutions for them.

 

[TheFoo]

Any sources for custom floor mats? Not looking for gaudy quilted leather or anything. Also already aware of Lloyds and Coco mats.

 

[TheFoo]

Yeah, it's pretty straightforward unlike Porsche's IMS/RMS issues. The parts are $130 from Turner: https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-91-e46-rear-chassissubframe-reinforcement-kit/

If you want to keep an E46, other possible chassis failure points are the front and rear shock towers (strut braces' pucks can help with the front, and a simple plate can help with the rear: no welding necessary) and the sway bar mounts ripping out. There's a front subframe issue that seems to take longer to show up: this is the only issue that hasn't happened to me or that I haven't tried to mitigate (knocks on wood).

If you search for e46 reinforcement on Turner, you'll see all the parts you need for various parts of the car. They sell a complete kit for about $330.

That's one of the nice things about popular older cars: their faults are known and usually there are good solutions for them.

Sure, but that doesn’t win a lot of confidence in the fundamental engineering / build quality. A modern chassis should not have so many problem areas.

 

[HRoi]

Can’t argue with that. You have to be an E46 fanboi to put up with the car fo sho. And just treat these problems as some kind of rite of passage, like Alfa owners treat rust

 

[TheFoo]

Can’t argue with that. You have to be an E46 fanboi to put up with the car fo sho. And just treat these problems as some kind of rite of passage, like Alfa owners treat rust

Oh, I love the E46. The E46 M3 was a car I lusted for when it was new.

It’s just sad that BMW’s decline has been long in the making.

 

[A Y]

Sure, but that doesn’t win a lot of confidence in the fundamental engineering/ build quality. A modern chassis should not have so many problem areas.

Ideally yeah, but they are also 20 years old at this point, and things will be discovered about weaknesses in the car no matter how well-engineered: it just seems like a lot because people can rattle off a big list after 20 years of ownership. I think if you look at other older cars and talk to their owners, there will be issues endemic to the car that they've all had to fix.

These issues also don't all happen to everyone: many of them happen if you modify the car with stiffer suspension and drive them hard, like on a racetrack. My car has more than 5000 track miles on it, which is a lot for any car that's not regularly rebuilt, and Turner's stuff comes from their experience racing E46s.

I'm just glad the E46 chassis has pretty simple fixes and the car is solid once those issues are dealt with. (Also get an EMP water pump, and perhaps a metal cooling system from Zionsville.)

 

[HRoi]

Plus VANOS, rod bearings.

And then there’s all the stuff that could just be a bit better. Coilover suspension, brakes could grip better/fade less. Sound is raspy, let’s get a better exhaust (4 sections!). Oh and who can resist that sweet CSL airbox...? These are the rationales that end up with you $75k into the car

 

[clee1982]

Speaking CSL, almost 20 years (or 25 years is the magic number?)

 

[Dino944]

Any sources for custom floor mats? Not looking for gaudy quilted leather or anything. Also already aware of Lloyds and Coco mats.

Keith Collins floor mats. Highest quality I've seen in terms of details, especially if you want a car logo. They are very expensive, and you are limited really only by your imagination and what you want to spend. They will do anything from abstract designs, to car logos, car model name/number, your initials, some other script etc. They can do it in carpet, or mouton lamb wool. I have a set for my 328. The carpet background is plush black mouton lamb, the prancing horse is red, and it the horse is in carpet material for contrast, and even the horse looks sculpted and is three dimensional. A friend of mine has the Keith Collins floor mats, for his Quattroporte. He did the entire mat in carpet rather than lambs wool, which is less expensive than mouton lamb, but they still have beautiful details and the Tridents look 3 dimensional. Their website does show one car with the Porsche crest (See below, it looks to be the standard carpeting). Check the website for other examples of what they did for a Maser, a Bugatti, an Aston (those appear to be mouton lamb), a Rolls, etc.

Automobiles - Keith Collins Creative

www.keithcollinscreative.com

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Buddy of mine is looking at cars and I found a relatively low mileage (21k miles) 2015 6 speed manual M5. I told him to buy it because it is the last RWD and the last manual ****** M5. Told him he could drive it for 2-3 years and sell it for nearly what he paid for it

he's dragging his feet though

 

[clee1982]

I thought F10 is the least favorite generation of M5, it's a lot more "muscle" car approach

 

[HRoi]

Speaking CSL, almost 20 years (or 25 years is the magic number?)

2029. Circle your calendar. Better yet, buy one now why you still can for £60k-ish and put it in storage for a few years