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Thread: dodint's Automotive Evolution

  1. #691
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Decided on the BMW (shocker). Flying out Friday morning and if everything is as represented I'll buy it and drive back. The trip home looks like Scottsdale-Amarillo-Indianapolis-Pittsburgh which will take 10/15/5hrs per day respectively. Will probably stop in OKC or Tulsa for a nice long lunch and to rest up on Saturday.

    I'm going to take the Grom Bluetooth adapter out of the E46 and bring it with to save my sanity for the 31 hour drive back. I'll get all of my school lectures out of the way, as well as a bunch of podcasts for sure.

  2. #692
    I'm gooder. Phil_SS's Avatar
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    [Judge Smails]Well? We are waiting....[/Judge Smails]

  3. #693
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Sorry, that trip wore me out a bit. You'd think sitting there staring off into space for hours on end wouldn't tire you out but I was depleted yesterday.



    Somewhere in east New Mexico. This is about where the drive hit flatland and got pretty dull. The first part through the hills of Arizona was stunning, though. I followed a big thunderstorm on the horizon for a few hours, but when it cleared I had a beautiful view of the Milky Way from the highway in west Texas, that was really cool. I ended up staying in Shamrock, Tx that night.





    The car is good, very mechanically sound. Has some small issues that I've mostly fixed. The dealer was your typical small time local car dealer. I'm not certain I would do it again if I knew everything I know now. They gave me a $300 discount on it for me being a veteran, but when I got there they slipped in a $295 cleaning fee. They mentioned the cleaning service to me over the phone, but not the cost. It's basically glorified febreeze that neutralizes odor. Ultimately the owner gave me $100 in cash back and they filled the tank after I test drove it, so they met me about halfway on it. Still, it wasn't right and if it were a local dealer I would've gone home. Financially it wasn't significant enough for me to fly back home that day so I chose not to stand on principle.

    They claimed they did a state safety inspection and emissions test on it the day before I flew out. That statement may be true, but they failed to mention that one of the xenon headlights is out and the washer fluid motor was dead. Two items that would have failed a safety inspection here in PA. They performed the open recall that was on it, I verified that with NHTSA this morning.

    Anyway, on Sunday I:
    -Took the washer motor from the E46 and moved it to the Z4; deleted the system from the E46 since I no longer need it.
    -Added the bluetooth module, it installed cleanly in the trunk, very nice. It's a Grom I've been using in the E46 for a few years, glad to get continued use out of it.
    -Painted a trim piece I didn't like; it was a switch cover in browning clear plastic. I had some trim paint so I made it black. It's a flip cover for a system that isn't used anyway (BMW Assist) and it looks much better this way.
    -Ordered some wide angle mirror glass to help with the HUGE blind spots; one of the mirrors is severely browned from the heating 'fluid' that it's embedded with.
    -Ordered some Z4 specific luggage made to fit the trunk. Since the car is out of production it was actually pretty cheap.
    -Ordered a xenon headlight bulb and igniter. Hope to install this weekend. You have to take the whole front bumper assembly off to do it so I need to set aside some time.
    -Ordered a new hood roundel; the current one is blue/chrome and it looks dumb against the silver.

    Other notes:
    -The tires are square when they should be staggered. The wheels are aftermarket so I'll see if I can accurately measure their width and when I'm done with this set of Bridgestones I'll buy a more correct setup. Doesn't affect drive-ability but it does annoy me.
    -The tires are the wrong outside diameter so the speedo reads over by about 6%. Lame.
    -It has one of those 3M clear bra's on it that is starting to peel; going to take a heat gun to it and get it off. Looks bad.
    -I need to find a phone mount solution that I like. I have a few ideas but nothing is jumping out at me.

    The silver is really radiant; it was a compromise to pick a car of that color but it really does pop, particularly under artificial light. Ash really likes the car, it's easy to drive and she loves having the convertible. We'll probably take it down to the beach with us in a few weeks. The hood is so long you don't really feel like you're in a two seater, then you realize you can practically reach behind you and grab the rear brakelight if you want. The cabin is small, everything is a compromise; small glove box, small door pockets, etc. Seating ergonomics is fine, lots of footwell room to stretch out. The car is 'fast' but the automatic gearbox delivers the power so smoothly it doesn't really feel like it is doing anything. But merging onto interstates is easy, you're triple digits by the time you get to the highway if you keep your foot in it.

    Overall I'm glad I have it but I'm not sure it was worth it when you consider the totality of the circumstances.

    As an aside, with this trip I have effectively driven coast to coast over the course of my life. When I was in the Marines I flew into Phoenix once and drove to San Diego/LA. This is the first time I've flown into Phoenix and driven east. When I got to St. Louis it linked up my collective routes. Pretty neat.

  4. #694
    Jedi Cam's Avatar
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    Wow, a stunnah!

  5. #695
    I'm gooder. Phil_SS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cam View Post
    Wow, a stunnah!
    Totally agree, and the car is pretty nice as well.

  6. #696
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Oh, you guys!

  7. #697
    Jedi Cam's Avatar
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    Where's the heart-eyes emoji?

  8. #698
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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  9. #699
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    Very nice.

  10. #700
    Awesome! Always good when the SO likes it too.

    I love a good road trip in a new (to me) car. AZ is indeed beautiful in the greener, more mountainous areas.

    Which engine does the car have? The ad lists HP/TQ specs that are more than the N52/51, and less than the N54/55. Maybe a special tuned version of the N52? The N51 feels pretty adequate in my sedan. I can imagine your car feeling nicely quick.

    I think the Z4 is based on the same platform as the E90, or at least shares a lot of parts with it (like the 1-series does). I'd imagine at least some of that speedo error is a factory 'feature.' My E90 has the correct tire sizes and the analog speedo reads a fair bit high. I spent my first 2 days in the car driving I-95 at 5mph below what I thought I was doing. I ended up coding the 'BC' screen to add a digital speedo readout, which for some reason is true and accurate (ie, it reads lower than the analog speedo).

    Show us your roundel when you get it. I've only ever seen monochrome ones, aside from the factory colors.

    For the tires, it's possible a square setup will handle better. Often, non-M BMWs have insufficient front camber and too-narrow front wheels/tires, giving them a lack of front grip and a bias towards understeer. My E90 is this way, although it still produces surprising amounts of overall grip on the Michelin AS/3+s. If a square setup is done right (wheel offset, overall tire diameter, wheel-to-tire correctness), it can be better. Particularly with a somewhat larger front sway bar... *backs away before delving into upgrade-itis*
    Last edited by CudaMan; September 9th, 2019 at 08:54 AM.

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