M2B4 i am in love!!!!!

[rob quilter]

How many of you have driven a bimmer and what did you think?

I've driven tons of the past few years working in the motortrade, M5's, M3's, M6's, 1 series, 7 series, 1985 all the way up to brand spanking new, I've probably driven most BMW's to be honest.

And....i think they're pretty jobby to be truthful, boring outside, boring inside, some models with common issues, not as fast as the owners always think they are.

[eDaniel]

The BMW drivers are infamous for their driving skills (or lack of) and their offensiveness. They behave exactly in the same way here in Bulgaria - no indicators, flashing all the time, etc...
With some exceptions, most of the drivers with German cars here are driving like mad. Most obvious examples are:
- BMW - all series
- VW - Golf, Passat, Touareg
- Audi - all models
- Mercedes (with some exceptions here because imo a good deal of their drivers are mature enough)

[stal1878]

Do you mean BMW Phil?

I agree that BMW's are very common now. The new ones look grim as well, the X1 make your eyes bleed

You must not be driving them wrong Rob if you think there boring
Most of your bad points could be said about any car brand.
I've had a E36 328i and E46 330Ci and both were faster than my Lude, interiors better and sound better. The Lude is pretty fun to drive when you thrash it though, revs sooo high

Common issues, as I said can apply to any car. BMW have dropped some clangers though, swirl flaps and turbo/hpfp on the 335i's prob the biggest.
But the Prelude 4WS system is made of cheese so could have been made better as well

I've never come across any single brand of car that drive worse than any other. I am sure you only "see" the BMW's driving badly because of the fact you "know" that they are all bad drivers.
A good example is when you're looking at buying a car, you always see loads out and about, when in fact they were always there you just wern't paying attention before.

[Shiny]

http://www.newcarnet.co.uk/Nissan_news.html?id=6334

The original 40+ page forum thread was awesomely funny.

[rob quilter]

You must not be driving them wrong Rob if you think there boring

Yeah, ok.

[chrismc]

nice sunny day
so since the LSD box being put in only done A roads
mrs wanted to go to Chichester, so first motorway test OMG

the 5th gear pulls like a train!! my M2A4 had a real long 2nd gear and that is lost now but the M2B4 what a bloody difference

1st to 4th with no Vtec so staying under 5000rpm took me to 83mph up to 5th and at 1/4 throttle she sat happy at 85mph on 3800rpm (mpg is almost double what it was)
at 1/2 throttle she got up to 131mph and was still under 5000rpm and she was still pulling

Vtec finally hit at 135mph dead on 5000rpm and i still had 2500rpm to play with
backed off and glad i did as 1 mile on we went past a Audi A3 on hard sholder with a black Skoda Octavia VRS with his blues and two's going (plain clothes aghhhh)

if you have a M2B4 to fit get it done!!! you won't be sorry and if you think £300 is a lot to pay? think again

as said am one very happy bunny

85mph @ 3800rpm then 135mph@ 5000rpm? think ur clocks are on the blink as thats an impossible increase in 1200rpm

Very good point.

A 'true' 135mph @ exactly 5000rpm would equate to 27mph per 1000rpm in 5th gear

Thus 3800rpm equates to 102.6mph

The figures are wrong somewhere

[jjmartin349571]

I wouldn't trust the clocks, the speeds are usually a good 10% out, every car I have owned has always been well out when tested against a decent GPS on the A27 where it's easy to hold 70 for miles at a time. As a result I've always wondered if police equipment records your actual speed, or the speed the average car clocks would say... I'm not going through the local speed camera at an indicated 34 on my speedo just to test this though

As for BMW's, I've driven my dad's '98 318 and been driven in my cousin's '89 316 coupe... My Dad's car is bland inside, dated outside (compared to the saloons of it's time, I had a '97 Audi A4 that was much curvier and modern) and underpowered. My Cousin's car - I'd rip his arm off for it it's looks striking like most cars of it's time, and the interior is full leather and is still looking amazing. It's less powerful than my Dad's but way lighter too. I'm not ashamed to say the 316 will be coming my way once my cousin is done with it

As for the tossers of the roads, we all know it's Insignia and Vectra drivers these days. I don't drive slowly yet I always seem to have some tool in a new, silver Vauxhall tailgating me

[stal1878]

I wouldn't judge BMW's from the 4 pots I think the E36 is still a very nice looking car

Your right on speedos, they generally underread by 5% or so to help you not get caught and for different wheel/tyre sizes.
My 330Ci was 1mph under at 70mph.
My Fourtrak with 31/10.5R15's on was spot on at all speeds

[paul bristol uk]

I love my Soarer. Since I have owned it I have had countless people of all ages talking to me and admiring it.
How many BMW owners can say that I wonder?
Also it is not bland inside and has genuine Walnut trim and the build quality is superb. As for the engine you cannot even hear it running you have to look at the rev counter to see,not bad for a 4ltr V8 that is 20years old.As for speed all I would say is it has enough for most people!
Did I mention the fuel consumption?No perhaps I wont then
Again people admire the Lude as it is different and rare. I would not have any new breed motor they are to much the same. I have to look at the badge to see what it is these days.

[nitin_s1]

I like BMWs