New Wheels

With my time at Verizon quickly coming to an end (3/22) I can no longer commit to the V7 as my commuter vehicle. I'm pretty deep into interviews with a couple companies, both of which require much longer commutes and more importantly, more formal business attire than can be reasonably accommodated on a bike.

So, I picked up this little buzz bucket to get back and forth to interviews and ultimately, work:

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2001 BMW Z3 2.5i - figure it's pretty close to two wheels that still has a roof. Bought it very reasonably from a retiree with only 67K miles and excellent mechanical condition. Fixing the couple cosmetic things shouldn't be to hard or costly.

Interesting color too. The Steel Grey does 'flop' quite a bit in the light and there were only 198 produced in 2001.

Sweet!

Good choice!

Kev M wrote:
Good choice!

Have has several BMWs in the past and the Z3 I had was by far the most reliable AND entertaining. Hoping history repeats itself and it doesn't kill me with maintenance like my 330Ci did.

Very nice - good luck

Very nice, good luck!

That'sa nice'a car

Like it, good luck!

The car is going to need a number of the bushings replaced including window registers, seats, front/rear control arms & sway bars and the big one: rear subframe. I guess BMW uses softer than needed rubber and nylon and they all perish in 15 years regardless of care or mileage. All are pretty easy DIY except the rear subframe.

So much for German perfection. Still driving my 2003 Honda Pilot which has had only a couple of items replaced.

Mac wrote:So much for German perfection. Still driving my 2003 Honda Pilot which has had only a couple of items replaced.

You do realize that's flawed logic right?

Comparing a sport utility to a roadster is bad enough, but then assuming that the wear and tear of use or time on one is equivalent somehow to the other is the real error.

German "perfection" has to do with engineering a machine for a level of performance (as well as a level of long usefulness) but both come at a price of maintenance. The periodic replacement of parts that are designed for a limited shelf life, but to give greater ___________________ during that life.

Those softer bushings might mean less harsh ride and handling during their service life, damping vibration or torsion better than some harder substance that might last another 5-10 years.

So it depends what you want.

And I work on JAPanInc. products daily, I still don't buy a blanket superiority to their design/reliability - though they have their strengths.

I was just at the local Honda (MC) dealer and had that same conversation with the service guy, comparing the maintenance intervals and other routine replacement on the BMW compared with the Honda.
The Valkyrie is big, heavy and should ride like a Cadillac, but with it's 1970's suspension design it rides like a buckboard (or Harley).  The BMW while shorter and half the weight goes down the road smoother and the small bumps disappear (Think Rt70) and the handling in the twisties is far superior to my skill.   The engines are similar in technology and performance but the Honda requires little maintenance compared to the Beemer.
But things wear fast on the Beemer and are expensive to purchase.

But Harry, didn't you upgrade the BMW's suspension with Öhlins?

Nick wrote:But Harry, didn't you upgrade the BMW's suspension with Öhlins?

Yep - and I upgraded the Valkyrie with progressive suspension on both ends. after that when I went over one of those patches where they put in sewer service it no longer felt like the top of my spine was digging into the bottom of my brain. But it still rides like a buckboard and I can still feel the little bumps on Rt70..

Right fork does rebound, left compression and twin shocks on a dual swingarm, you can only take that so far.

The Beemer with Tele lever in the front and Para lever in the back feels weird at first (kind of like the first time you drive a car with electric assisted steering) but once you learn that when you set up in a turn NOTHING will throw you off your line it's a thing of wonder. The Ohlins made it better but it was a good system to begin with. Again, because everything is working all the time, you get maybe 30K out of the stock shocks and if you go 50K on the Ohlins your pushing it.

Mac wrote:So much for German perfection. Still driving my 2003 Honda Pilot which has had only a couple of items replaced.

No question that my roadster is far more maintenance intensive than a Pilot. But it IS perfection when it's time to lower the top, rail corners and get strangers (even cute ones) to smile and wave.

My other car is an Odyssey van - which at 48K required a full engine rebuild because Honda didn't engineer the pistons and rings correctly. At least the class action lawsuit entitled me to a zero deductible / extended warranty repair. The two bad wheel bearings, malfunctioning rear hatch and cracked manifold were also repaired at the same time.

Consider yourself lucky to have only had a 'couple' repairs...