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#91
12-09-2019, 10:52 AM
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LOL, don't blame me. It was there when I got the car off another G.I. When I got it I was told it was a 1972 2002 body with a 1974 2002ti engine. Later when we had to tear into the engine to try and fix what we expected was a blown head gasket we found a mystery. As we tore it down we found the head had been shaved, ported, and polished. We also found domed pistons in the block to raise compression. The head scratching really started though when the proper head gasket didn't match up to the block. Local dealership got with the home office and after about a month or so we got a response back. The engine was from some kind of 70's race program and they had no clue how it wound up in this car. Long story short, the car was scrapped for parts since we still had not found what was cracked and the body was really rough with rust at spots too. Hard to tell in this picture but the driver's seat was a Recaro with a metal shell and adjustments were done via bolt/lock bolt setup. Also had a 5 point harness in it. I weighed around 140 those days and that seat held me tight. It was only a 4 speed manual but man was it fast. Would run 120 mph on the autobahn all day but that was also pretty close to the top end. Super quick from a stop though which I imagine was partly due to gearing. Last edited by jamesdak; 12-09-2019 at 10:54 AM. 
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#92
12-09-2019, 11:05 AM
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My Father has the exact same car the OP is looking at. Not sure the exact year but it's the same car, same generation.
I would say: - Grass is greener on the other side, this is not that exciting of a car. It might only look exciting cause you have an Outback right now. (Note, I have the same Outback) . Maybe more exciting if you live somewhere where BMW 3-series are not as common as Hondas and Hyundais. Here everyone has them, they have 0 prestige. Not that fast, not that efficient, not that big, and here everyone is stuck in the traffic jam no matter what kind of car you have. - This car is a better buy when you get a CPO with barely any miles on it that includes a lot of warranty/factory maintenance plan still in effect. My father's has had a lot of work. Engine has been fine but routine maintenance items seem to need to be done WAY more often then they should for a car of it's modest performance. Think brakes needing to get done 3X more often than your Outback, lots of little things breaking. Expensive Tire changes. My Father almost got trapped in his car recently.. the overly complicated door/keyless entry stuff failed. These cars will get you every time if you're coming out of something boring and reliable & frugal. My Dad was driving a ton for work and billing the miles.. he went SUV -> Prius. Saved himself a ton of money. Felt like he was emasculated driving the Prius and after about 200k got the BMW. Likes the BMW, knows it costs a zillion dollars if he's driving for work. Tries to work from home as much as possible now. (He's very close to retirement) Cars don't make your life exciting or make you young again.. that is all marketing. Only way cars powered by gas become fun for me again is: - My Kid grows up and moves out - Not stuck in the daily grind commute - Get to get out of my area on weekends, road trips, etc.. again like I did when I was single I am hoping eventually getting an electric car (hopefully one more performant than a BMW 3-series) will add some excitement since at least I won't feel guilty stuck in all the traffic all the time and the maintenance & gas will be cheap. Last edited by benb; 12-09-2019 at 11:09 AM.
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#93
12-09-2019, 11:44 AM
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Reading so many of the dreary, negative posts here sort of makes me sad for some people. Glad I live life everyday. Of course I chose to come back out west and live vs staying on the east coast in the D.C Metro area and making a ton of money. Quality of life rules over making money. My drive is an experience every day and reading all these reinforces that I made the right choice years ago.
The road in the background of this picture that's going up the mountain is part of my work drive when I chose to take the mountain route vs the canyon route. Perfect road to fully experience a BMW on. 
Last edited by jamesdak; 12-09-2019 at 11:53 AM.
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#96
12-09-2019, 01:53 PM
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My dad was a mechanic, as a boy I saved up and bought my 1st project car when I was 14, cars have always been a fun part of my life. My wife has been wanting a smaller ezer to live with car, she has been driving BMW 7s and now drives a newer Jag XJ, so nice full size cars. We drove a lot of nice small cars, and in the end bought a used BMW i3. Its fun to drive (Its BMW fastest 0-30 car), has lots of room inside for its size, and looks to be very cheep to own and maintain. I did not plan on really liking EV cars, but after driving this i3 for a couple of weeks, gas cars feel so crude. If you can get past the i3 quirky looks and try one, Ill bet you will like it. .
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C64 SR12 EPS SPEEDVAGEN Integrated Road Intense Tazer MX Last edited by KarlC; 12-09-2019 at 01:56 PM.
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#97
12-09-2019, 02:40 PM
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Are you prepared to work on the car yourself? If not I would seriously consider getting a Toyota or Mazda of some kind instead. That particular BMW is a nice car but as others have said it’s not particularly high performance although as far as fun and driving feel it’s head and shoulders above a Subaru. Unless you need AWD I’d be looking for a RWD model and possibly a higher performance variant. With BMW it seems like the cheap ones need the same amount of maintenance as higher performance ones.
I’ve been driving the same E36 M3 since it was less than a 10 year old car so you could argue that I’m biased towards BMW, however my good friend has a lot of newer ones in his family and they have been more work to keep up than a Toyota or something. Again they aren’t necessarily unreliable but you can’t neglect them, and parts will cost more than other cars. If cost isn’t a big deal I’d consider a higher performance version imho so to me a standard normally aspirated 3 series is all of the work with not much of the fun. If you can swing it the newer turbo cars are very powerful and get good MPG so I’d be looking at something like that. My friend and I rented a new 540i and it was a beast. I’m not trying to be negative at all but that’s my only argument as far as trying to talk you out of buying it. I’d say drive it and if you like it (you will coming from a Subaru) then get it - just be aware of what you’re potentially getting yourself into. Take some of the advice in this thread with a grain of salt - for example the E39 M5. My good friend has had one for a while now and it is NOT a cheap car to maintain despite what some may try to tell you. It’s worth it though considering how it drives, but I wouldn’t be willing to put the same level of effort into something that’s basically a normal car but with better driving feel. A good alternative to BMW would be a Mazda. They have the best driving feel of the Japanese brands and approach BMW levels of sportiness while costing a lot less overall.
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#98
12-09-2019, 02:53 PM
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All those roads.. way more fun on a bicycle or a motorcycle than any BMW car. Let's also put it this way. I don't really think the 3-series has anywhere near the fun factor for me to balance out the issue that it'd probably spend more days in the shop, and I'd have to drive further away to get it serviced than the cars I've owned. A day with the car in the shop is generally a day I'm not going to "live life". Cause if I have to take the car to the shop usually what gets sacrificed is stuff like going for a bike ride, the stuff that actually brings enjoyment!
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#99
12-09-2019, 02:59 PM
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#101
12-09-2019, 03:17 PM
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#102
12-09-2019, 03:34 PM
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Different perspectives. 100% honest I'd rather ride a bicycle or motorcycle through the mountains than even cars a lot more fun than an Alfa. (Like say an all expenses/maintenance paid Ferrari.) Not everyone buys into the car thing. No matter how "fun" the car is you're still sitting on your duff for the day. There's a reason they get called "cages". Now I don't really have the money/want to retire some day but owning a race car and taking it to the track I would consider totally different... and the FUN:PITA ratio there would be totally different. But for the price of the BMWs that actually stretch into the really fun zone (M3 at minimum) a dedicated track car starts sounding pretty good to me. Last edited by benb; 12-09-2019 at 03:37 PM.
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#104
12-09-2019, 03:58 PM
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 But come on, if driving doesn't count as an experience for you and part of living life then you'll never see things my way and we won't agree. It's all good. It's all in the experience. Oh, and biking that is a blast. Do it all the time. Although coming back down is a WHOLE LOT more fun than going up, LOL! Still trying to beat 55.4 mph on the way back down that but haven't gotten there yet. I've yet to have any day where either of my 3 series Bimmers left me hanging. The 5 years with me 330ci saw no trips to a mechanic, I did the normal maintenance myself. And so far none with the 340i. If it does need work I've got a small indy shop right by the house that works on all sorts of foreign cars. So take it in, walk home, and get on bike, get in truck, or whatever.
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#105
12-09-2019, 04:00 PM
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Just read an article on the new Mustang Mach E, using Electrify America level 3 charger, assuming you can find one, it gets 47 miles of range in 10 minutes. In contrast, the Tesla Superchargers v.3, which are now being rolled out, will give you 151 miles in 15 minutes....that’s amazingly fast! And Tesla charging is supposedly 1/3 the cost too! Of course, YMMV! Good Luck!
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