e36 328 ownership experience
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Lee36328
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Met up w some old friends. Told them about my recent car project.
"Why don't u sell the car and buy a new car?", was the response, typical.
I asked what car I could buy for the same amount of money.
"Altis?"
How much?
"About RM100k."
But that's way more than what I spent doing up my car.
"Yeah, but the maintenance would be lower."
So, let me get this straight. You're saying it makes more sense to incur more debt, about RM100k, pay interest on that for 5 years, while it depreciates by more than RM50k in that time, and drive a Toyota instead of a BMW.
"Yeah, but the maintenance would be lower."
This from a guy who bought a Volvo brand new at more than RM200k. and sold it a couple of years back for RM20k.
"It just doesn't make sense to me."
I said it's ok, I would be worried about my decision if it made sense to you.
"Why don't u sell the car and buy a new car?", was the response, typical.
I asked what car I could buy for the same amount of money.
"Altis?"
How much?
"About RM100k."
But that's way more than what I spent doing up my car.
"Yeah, but the maintenance would be lower."
So, let me get this straight. You're saying it makes more sense to incur more debt, about RM100k, pay interest on that for 5 years, while it depreciates by more than RM50k in that time, and drive a Toyota instead of a BMW.
"Yeah, but the maintenance would be lower."
This from a guy who bought a Volvo brand new at more than RM200k. and sold it a couple of years back for RM20k.
"It just doesn't make sense to me."
I said it's ok, I would be worried about my decision if it made sense to you.
Lee36328
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A simple yet detailed calculation quickly showed that it is costlier to own a brand new Altis for 5 years than my 328 for the same amount of time, all elements including depreciation, cost of maintenance, resale value, interest, road tax, fuel consumption, other major things which may go wrong, etc, all that I could think of, fully factored in.
Altis still comes up about 9% more expensive to own and run for 5 years compared to the beemer, even if assuming the Altis depreciates gradually while the beemer had zero resale value.
When compared to a more equivalent capacity, the Camry at 2.5 liter engine, a new Camry is a whopping 40% more expensive to own and run for 5 years than the old beemer..
Hmmm... I never knew that. I had always assumed along w everybody else that the maintenance of a beemer is expensive compared w reliable Japanese cars like Toyotas. It seems true intuitively. But calculations revealed otherwise.
Altis still comes up about 9% more expensive to own and run for 5 years compared to the beemer, even if assuming the Altis depreciates gradually while the beemer had zero resale value.
When compared to a more equivalent capacity, the Camry at 2.5 liter engine, a new Camry is a whopping 40% more expensive to own and run for 5 years than the old beemer..
Hmmm... I never knew that. I had always assumed along w everybody else that the maintenance of a beemer is expensive compared w reliable Japanese cars like Toyotas. It seems true intuitively. But calculations revealed otherwise.
Lee36328
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Wow... new life in my 16-year old ride.... zipping around nicely.
What happened?
Well, there was a noise from the right front wheel, so I had it checked out, thinking it was probably some bush issue. It would 'clunk' when I turn, esp on incline.
Turned out, the steering rack was loose. My guy had it tightened slightly, which seems to have fixed the noise.
But as a bonus, the car felt A LOT more responsive. More crisp feedback, if u know what I mean, I can point the nose more accurately and sharply.
Going straight also felt better. I did not expect that.
I am guessing, it makes sense that when the steering rack was loose, some energy is lost as things moved about, aside from dulling the feedback. When re-tightened, the sharpness and responsiveness returned.
Simple tweak, but so beneficial... So, check your steering rack from time-to-time.
Don't overdo it though, or else the steering won't spring back to straight when you let go after a turn.
Enjoy!
What happened?
Well, there was a noise from the right front wheel, so I had it checked out, thinking it was probably some bush issue. It would 'clunk' when I turn, esp on incline.
Turned out, the steering rack was loose. My guy had it tightened slightly, which seems to have fixed the noise.
But as a bonus, the car felt A LOT more responsive. More crisp feedback, if u know what I mean, I can point the nose more accurately and sharply.
Going straight also felt better. I did not expect that.
I am guessing, it makes sense that when the steering rack was loose, some energy is lost as things moved about, aside from dulling the feedback. When re-tightened, the sharpness and responsiveness returned.
Simple tweak, but so beneficial... So, check your steering rack from time-to-time.
Don't overdo it though, or else the steering won't spring back to straight when you let go after a turn.
Enjoy!
Lee36328
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Sometimes the best solution is....the simplest ones.
The symptoms were worrying:
1. gear started shifting down for no reason, from 4th to 3rd to 2nd. then it went away.
2. a few days later, gearbox warning light - ding!
3. gearbox felt more and more sluggish by the day - I thot old age, cannot be helped
4. kicking (ka-boom) as it shifts up became more frequent - I thot, gearbox nearly gone again
All those familiar symptoms.... oh boy... and I just rebuilt it too... that sounds expensive.
But, thanks to my knowledgeable trusty mechanic/friend, a socket near the gearbox was found to be corrupted by oil. Replaced the socket, simple fix. Source of minor oil leak, plugged.
The result was instantaneous and immediate, felt right from the start as I put it into Drive. Smooth! Precise! Responsive! It has become slurry-free and the upshift kick (kaboom) is almost non-existent. Wah.... forgot how it feels.
So, be nice to your mechanic.
I am so thankful. And joyfully appreciating the gearbox now.
Enjoy your ride and be safe.
The symptoms were worrying:
1. gear started shifting down for no reason, from 4th to 3rd to 2nd. then it went away.
2. a few days later, gearbox warning light - ding!
3. gearbox felt more and more sluggish by the day - I thot old age, cannot be helped
4. kicking (ka-boom) as it shifts up became more frequent - I thot, gearbox nearly gone again
All those familiar symptoms.... oh boy... and I just rebuilt it too... that sounds expensive.
But, thanks to my knowledgeable trusty mechanic/friend, a socket near the gearbox was found to be corrupted by oil. Replaced the socket, simple fix. Source of minor oil leak, plugged.
The result was instantaneous and immediate, felt right from the start as I put it into Drive. Smooth! Precise! Responsive! It has become slurry-free and the upshift kick (kaboom) is almost non-existent. Wah.... forgot how it feels.
So, be nice to your mechanic.
I am so thankful. And joyfully appreciating the gearbox now.
Enjoy your ride and be safe.
unstopables_7
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Wahh.. that much difference the oil makes.. btw nice find out .. if non bnw enthusiasts surely will be screming all over the place especially after just rebuild it..
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Lee36328
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Just saw an episode of Top Gear where Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond tested an old 8-series and an old Merc which were very expensive when new but now only cost around 3k pounds.
They marvelled at how cheap these cars were compared to new cars in the market and praised the benefits of owning older cars. James May was sceptical because he thought the cars would be expensive to fix when they inevitably broke down.
As the segment concluded, they announced they loved the idea so much, they had actually bought the cars themselves to own and run and would be reporting on the outcome in future shows.
As inflation hits the selling price of new cars, this is beginning to make more and more sense.
They marvelled at how cheap these cars were compared to new cars in the market and praised the benefits of owning older cars. James May was sceptical because he thought the cars would be expensive to fix when they inevitably broke down.
As the segment concluded, they announced they loved the idea so much, they had actually bought the cars themselves to own and run and would be reporting on the outcome in future shows.
As inflation hits the selling price of new cars, this is beginning to make more and more sense.
Lee36328
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Interesting... I am watching Top Gear from Hypp TV, which shows it regularly but not in sequential order. So I did not see this episode.Chrix said:
Who is the Spaniel?
In UK, high cost of labour (but lower price of parts) makes it a different proposition compared to our local market (low cost of labour, high cost of parts.)
ICEMAN 68
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i just got myself a much more older car and been loving it too every single day and night ....an e34 and e28 ...next in line would be the e24 ...
e36 just sleeps and eat dust only every single day ... so datuk lee when wanna take ya beast out for a rempit run ....
heard there is this white colour e36 owned by one of the committee here named slyder is somehow the most powerful e36 around ....he seems to terrorize most of the e36 out there ...
e36 just sleeps and eat dust only every single day ... so datuk lee when wanna take ya beast out for a rempit run ....
heard there is this white colour e36 owned by one of the committee here named slyder is somehow the most powerful e36 around ....he seems to terrorize most of the e36 out there ...
unstopables_7
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We(e36ers) are waiting for the e36 tt bro ice..
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