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I'm thinking about getting a new (old) car in the next few months. I used to drive a 2nd gen. WRX (and a Miata before that) but I sold it to move into the city for my new job. A couple of months in though, me and my wife have realized that, even in the city, weekends and shopping kinda suck without a car. I'm getting paid near double what I did at my old job so I can afford something a little more exotic (which here in Japan means German) so I'm looking at various Audis, Benzesezes and, finally coming to my point, BMWs. Based on price and availability, I've narrowed it down to the E82 135i or the E92 335i. The wider internet wants to convince me that they're accursed money pits, but Miata and WRX forums taught me well not to pay attention to anyone who hasn't paid  to voice their opinion.  What I want to ask really is, is the cheaper N54 worth the risk of trouble? Would it be worth ponying up the extra for an N55? (No N52s in Japan if you were wondering) Or should I probably just give up on the whole idea if I'm a cheapskate? (Side note, whichever way it goes it'll be an automatic because manuals aren't really available in Japan and my wife refuses to drive manual anyway. On that note, comedy option: E46 M3 SMG?)
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May 4, 2019 13:09
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 20:07 |
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RillAkBea posted:What I want to ask really is, is the cheaper N54 worth the risk of trouble? Would it be worth ponying up the extra for an N55? (No N52s in Japan if you were wondering) Or should I probably just give up on the whole idea if I'm a cheapskate? I've been saying "look at my thread" and laughing, but that's partially in jest. The car I had was 160k miles of deferred maintenance, which those cars despise. In reality, I think a sub-100k mile, well-maintained N54 is a fantastic option, especially if you get it as stripped as possible. No X-Drive, no E61 rear hatch where all of the electrics are connected with wires that cost-savings dictated to be 1 inch too short for prolonged service, etc. The stock N54 is good. $300 in modz and it is ridiculous fun. Plan on 1k of maintenance if it hasn't been done -- clean the intakes, valve cover replaced with new gasket, oil filter housing gasket, all the basics, and the motor is p solid. It's all the other BMW glitches that can still catch you up, though. And god help you if you have a BSD issue to track down.
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May 4, 2019 13:30
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EVERYWHERE 
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RillAkBea posted:I'm thinking about getting a new (old) car in the next few months. I used to drive a 2nd gen. WRX (and a Miata before that) but I sold it to move into the city for my new job. A couple of months in though, me and my wife have realized that, even in the city, weekends and shopping kinda suck without a car. I'm getting paid near double what I did at my old job so I can afford something a little more exotic (which here in Japan means German) so I'm looking at various Audis, Benzesezes and, finally coming to my point, BMWs. 2013 135i are DCT instead of automatic if you want to go that route since you're considering M3s with SMG already
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May 4, 2019 15:02
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RillAkBea posted:I'm thinking about getting a new (old) car in the next few months. I used to drive a 2nd gen. WRX (and a Miata before that) but I sold it to move into the city for my new job. A couple of months in though, me and my wife have realized that, even in the city, weekends and shopping kinda suck without a car. I'm getting paid near double what I did at my old job so I can afford something a little more exotic (which here in Japan means German) so I'm looking at various Audis, Benzesezes and, finally coming to my point, BMWs. you live in japan and you want to buy a bog standard 3 series? for shame
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May 4, 2019 21:29
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Buy an 86 and deliver tofu ftw
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May 4, 2019 22:18
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meatpimp posted:I've been saying "look at my thread" and laughing, but that's partially in jest. The car I had was 160k miles of deferred maintenance, which those cars despise. Sub 100k mile would be very easy to find, most people in Japan dump their car before 100k km. Thanks for the advice! rscott posted:2013 135i are DCT instead of automatic if you want to go that route since you're considering M3s with SMG already Yeah, DCT is fine too, preferable for me personally if I can find one at a reasonable price. Crustashio posted:you live in japan and you want to buy a bog standard 3 series? for shame Ok, I'll bite, what car should I want, living in Japan? Bape Culture posted:Buy an 86 and deliver tofu ftw There's so many 86s in Japan I'm actually pretty sick of seeing them. Unless you mean the original, in which case the tofu tax is pretty ridiculous.
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May 4, 2019 22:28
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Supra or Skyline
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May 4, 2019 22:35
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Popete posted:Supra or Skyline Thanks to toxic consumer trends and age based taxes, the BMWs are the cheaper option, faults included.
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May 5, 2019 00:26
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some big toyota
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May 5, 2019 14:35
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Surprised there aren't 328s in japan. As far as I could tell from spending 6 months shopping for E92s, the N54 means problems galore. Wastegate issues, turbos generally need replacing before 100k, high pressure fuel pumps making GBS threads the bed again and again, VANOS, etc etc. I wanted the horsepower but I ended up skipping it in favor of an N52K. I'll probably have to replace the water pump at some point, but this thing has had both VCG and oil pan gasket done recently so I should be good for a while.
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May 5, 2019 14:46
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My mom's e92 N54 335 started to get expensive with repairs at around the 170k mile mark. I think she probably spent ~5k repairing/maintaining it over the 130k miles that she drove it. It had a JB4 on it from around 25k miles. Never had any turbo, wastegate, vanos, HPFP etc issues. Most expensive repair was the injectors iirc.
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May 5, 2019 15:18
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why do you want to deal with a big car in japan anyway
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May 5, 2019 17:00
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BlackMK4 posted:why do you want to deal with a big car in japan anyway Because broom broom go fast, look purty. Really though, I live in a fairly spacious city, nothing like the density of Tokyo. Even then, it's still not that big for Japan. I will be mostly sharing the road with the likes of old men (and young men who want people to think they're cash money) in the behemoth Toyota Crown and families who dont believe in seatbelts for kids and have them free range in the back of their cruise ship MPVs. But mostly broom broom, looks purty, over 90% of cars on the road here are Japanese and anything foreign is automatically interesting. Don't get me wrong, most of my favorite cars are Japanese cars, but 10 years here and you start to see things from the other side of the glass. KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:Surprised there aren't 328s in japan. According to by best googling Japan got the N52 on the 325i and 330i sedan, but the coupe 325i got a 218ps N53, which sounds slightly underwhelming on a car that heavy.
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May 5, 2019 18:05
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I uglied up my E46's roof this week. Thank god for the slick fixed-point crossbar anchors. Also any PNW goons thinking about going to Burgers & BMWs at the XXX Burger in Issaquah this year? Usually worth at least a quick walk through. Guinness fucked around with this message at 20:08 on May 5, 2019 |
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May 5, 2019 19:58
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GOD drat COOLING SYSTEM as I sit on the side of the highway
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May 5, 2019 21:12
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Shoulda knocked on wood after what you said last week That sucks 
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May 5, 2019 21:15
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Yeah I'm guessing the people who did the OFHG replacement may have hosed something up. Made it two hours out of town, unfortunately my target was five hours away.
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May 5, 2019 21:18
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OP; don’t buy a 335 in Japan. Get the E82. They are way cooler. The rest of you; go repent. Telling him to not buy an old bmw is akin to people saying just buy an E36 instead of a cooler E30. Look how well that has aged.
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May 5, 2019 21:30
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he is in Japan, they have the turbo jzx chassis for when you want a bmw with reliability
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May 5, 2019 21:34
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  are you loving kidding me
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May 5, 2019 23:11
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Have you seen the spark plug installation tool? https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-installation-tool-no-121230-83300496065
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May 5, 2019 23:36
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Alarbus posted:Have you seen the spark plug installation tool? 
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May 5, 2019 23:39
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It's cheaper than that hole punch in KOTEX's official documentation! https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/extractor-tool/83300495394/ and that's not even from a stealership!
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May 6, 2019 01:32
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My issue is I have those discs on the floorboards but my stupid floor mats lost the other half of the velcro circle and I haven't gotten around to figuring out if I need to buy THE OFFICIAL BMW velcro or what.
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May 6, 2019 01:32
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Ether Frenzy posted:My issue is I have those discs on the floorboards but my stupid floor mats lost the other half of the velcro circle and I haven't gotten around to figuring out if I need to buy THE OFFICIAL BMW velcro or what. You don't, I bought 2" velcro straps at home depot and glued it to the back of the mat.
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May 6, 2019 01:43
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Alarbus posted:You don't, I bought 2" velcro straps at home depot and glued it to the back of the mat. And I'll bet everyone makes fun of you for not using official ultimate driving velcro.
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May 6, 2019 01:45
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Yeah, the glue on the originals didn't succeed and I can't tell if that was user error or if I got inferior german adhesives.
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May 6, 2019 01:49
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Cojawfee posted:And I'll bet everyone makes fun of you for not using official ultimate driving velcro. That was the 325 I turned into a 330 and removed the clutch delay valve. It was funny to watch a new lot valet drive it. Also, they were probably surprised the mat wasn't riding up into the pedals.
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May 6, 2019 02:53
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Ether Frenzy posted:Yeah, the glue on the originals didn't succeed and I can't tell if that was user error or if I got inferior german adhesives. Oh no, you got the superior German adhesives
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May 6, 2019 02:58
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TrueChaos posted:Oh no, you got the superior German adhesives I painted my house with cosmoline.
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May 6, 2019 03:30
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Alarbus posted:Have you seen the spark plug installation tool? I actually got one of these because installation on the S62 was such a pain in the rear end.
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May 6, 2019 11:38
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I did too, but I think Turner had them for $8 or something, not $25.
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May 6, 2019 11:45
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BlackMK4 posted:he is in Japan, they have the turbo jzx chassis for when you want a bmw with reliability In Japan, I'd be embarrassed to drive one. They may be cool in 10 years when they get rarer but at the moment they're right at the bottom of bad taste valley. Somewhat Heroic posted:OP; don’t buy a 335 in Japan. Get the E82. They are way cooler. Oh they're most definitely on the list too.
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May 6, 2019 13:29
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drat bmw got rid of the spark plug tool after the e46 looks like you get a nicer looking tow hook though.
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May 6, 2019 18:03
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Jealous Cow posted:I painted my house with cosmoline. new thread title pls
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May 7, 2019 17:07
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Over the last two days I drove the M5 like 600 miles and nothing broke I realize I have cursed myself.
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May 7, 2019 17:11
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Over the last two days I drove the M5 like 600 miles and nothing broke I've had a door panel on for about 12 hours on my E36/5, I feel you.
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May 7, 2019 17:33
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They gave me a Nissan versa as a loaner while they wait for the expansion tank to come in, and holy moly does this thing suck. Feels like you're driving a truck because the seating position is so high, the engine doesn't do poo poo under 4k rpm and the whole car shakes when you put the wipers on high
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May 7, 2019 23:23
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I have a Kia Forte while waiting for a body shop to fix my bumper and undershield after it got all messed up after pulling out of a steep driveway. it's not too bad, but it also does nothing under 4K RPM and the wipers don't do poo poo. I couldn't see anything while driving home today. I miss the flat power curve of my N55.
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May 7, 2019 23:44
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 20:07 |
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To be fair, rental car companies seem to have some kind of moral objection to replacing their wiper blades. I was in rental cars for like four months while I looked for a car and I had to bitch at Enterprise/Hertz so many loving times to replace dangerously worn wiper blades. I remember thinking the Forte that I had wasn't bad, though. Totally uninteresting, but as an appliance it was... good? It was the kind of car where I couldn't actually come up with a truly practical reason why anyone would need something better.
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May 8, 2019 06:31
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