Car recommendation

[jdm61]

I just thought that I would chime in with a car recommendation in case anyone is looking to buy something once the credit crunch lets up a bit. I just got my BMW 3 series out of the shop where I had to have the fuel pump replaced. How is this a recommendation, you may ask? Well, I'll tell ya. This is the first "mechanical" repair that I have had to do to this car other than replacing the regulator on one of the power windows, which always have the potential to fail on the windows that you rarely operate in the Florida heat no matter what brand of car you buy. The reason that this warrants a recommendation is that my BMW is a 2001 325i that just rolled over to 143,000 miles on the odometer and I have never been known for babying cars. As a matter of fact, I don't treat them very well on occasion. The only other work I have had done on this car is replacing "comsumables" like brake components, tires, filters, belts etc. I plan to see this one roll past 200,000 with no problem.

 

[MVF]

+1 on BMWs. I've only got 86,000 trouble-free miles on mine, but I talked to a guy the other day who has 2- 1 has 249,000 miles on it! -and he's looking for another one for his son's graduation.

 

[jdm61]

+1 on BMWs. I've only got 86,000 trouble-free miles on mine, but I talked to a guy the other day who has 2- 1 has 249,000 miles on it! -and he's looking for another one for his son's graduation.

I had a 1979 320i that gave me a good bit of trouble, but it was an issue of them converting the old 2002ti engine into one with U.S. specs emissions controls in the '78 and '79 models. The early 323i's had a similar problem in that the excess heat cause the head to warp on some cars. They got it right in 1980 with the new 1.8 liter engine and the rest, as they say, is history. That newer block was the basis for not only the first M3, but also the 1200 hp monster midget that powered the early to mid 80's F1 cars. Prior to the late 70's and early 80's when they became the graduation gift of preference for pretty young things in LA and Miami, BMW's were known as blindingly quick little sports sedans and coupes that didn't have the ridiculously overbuilt bulletproof reliability of Mercedes of that day, but were a lot more fun to drive. My dad had a Bavaria as a company car in the mid 70's. This was the predcessor to the original 5 deries and it had the same engine as the 3 liter CS couple. It was an absolute Autobahn screamer that would run circles around any other German sedan short of the big Mercedes 280SEL 6.3.!!! One night, we outran an Olds 442 on the interstate outside of Hartford with Dad, Mom and two kids in the car. I know that speedometers are notoriously incaccurate at high speeds, but the needle said we were doing a hair under 150 when the guy in the olds gave up, so we had to be doing at least 135-140!!!!!!