Water temp is a delayed secondary indicator of engine operating temp (ie oil). At best. I guess easier to boil and lose (which lets the oil cook and the engine seize) so maybe better to monitor that?

 

One of my "gripes" with the BMW is the lack of a coolant gauge. They use oil temp instead (on my Zed/4 at least). I get it, but... Takes forever for the oil to heat up... Then again, it's got almost 2 gal. of oil to heat up. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I've a friend in Canada with a 135i M-Sport 6MT with only 45k miles on it. The car is perfectly maintained, both in appearance and mechanically. And yet his transmission just crapped out on him, and now he has no reverse gear. Apparently this isn't uncommon with the 135i, but it's also not cheap. Over $6000 to repair. Ouch.

BMW sure is an expensive car to own, or so goes the stereotype.

 

When we were looking at new cars for my wife the X3 or 5 was her first interest... maintenance is a hard pass if not included in the purchase price. And since we tend to keep cars about a decade, that would get expensive quick.

One of my best friends in NC has an E90 with the V8 and it's *constantly* broken. I think the most recent thing was the turn signal housings were melting from the heat from the light bulbs, were not available from BMW, and the replacements were almost as bad so he had to 3D print new ones from some temp-resistant plastic. Not as bad as the Cadillac XLR which have to be totaled out when a taillight fails, but...

 

Pretty rare for manual gearboxes to fail but anything is possible. I have the DCT and so far, thankfully. It's been bulletproof.

This was very common on the late 90s-2010 models. LED bulbs took care of that.

But, overall, yes they are money hungry machines. A lot of it is German "over engineering" and the BMW "tax." But when they are on point they are beasts that leaves you grinning.

 

Found myself going down the next-car rabbit hole today, reading reviews, watching videos, standard stuff. Anyway, the 2025 Dodge Charger is looking pretty sweet. No 6MT, but still an appealing drivetrain with that twin-turbo inline-six and AWD. One of the last big coupes available, two doors with a giant hatch that looks like a trunk.

Been thinking a lot about retirement lately... assessing IRA's, pensions, SS, next-house stuff weighing current and future debt, etc. And with all that comes the idea of a clean retirement car with two doors. I love my sedan, and I very decidedly chose my sedan over a coupe, but I still think "what if" on the coupe all these years later. The new Charger could be that coupe, without compromising comfort and position.

The Charger Daytona R/T Coupe has a lot of appeal, too. A relatively large, AWD EV Coupe that looks like a reimagined muscle car.

 

I had one as a rental. Drove like a couch on viagra. IMHO not a refined enthusiast's car.

 

The current Charger with the V6? I suspect it would be a soulless slug. The next gen Charger with the I6 TT... that should be a much different animal.

 

R/T scat pack. FWIW, IIRC the Charger is the 4-door, the Challenger is the coupe.

I did get a ridealong in a Hellcat Charger as part of the GT-R experience I got as a gift. It's brutally fast but even with huge brakes the driver tiptoed around the corners, just blasting through the straight parts.

 

Hmm, the R/T Scat Pack should be a fun drive... but I've never driven one either, just a keyboard jockey opinion.

The Hellcat doesn't appeal to me. It's just crude, IMO.

 

It's fast. Like Space Race fast... but I wouldn't want to own one. It's massive overkill for anything but a drag strip, or maybe a track that isn't that tight of corners.

 

Well things have changed for my wife and I again. We had been looking to replace her Cruze sometime soon and we were looking at the 2024/5 Elantra N for quite a while. We even test drove one and liked it.

Turns out my wife prefers us getting something with more ground clearance and a bit more room as we are looking to start a family, so basically that means crossover/suv time. This is something I've been wanting to avoid but knew the time would come. I have stipulations though, I'm going to have to enjoy driving it because I'll be driving it fairly often myself. It's our main family vehicle too, my G is just a weekend or project car.

So what did I do? I searched online for "sportiest fun crossover suv to drive" and one of the most common results I found (within striking distance, pricewise) was the 2020 BMW X3 M40i. Long story short after doing my research, this will be our next vehicle to replace the Cruze. 382HP turbocharged 3L inline 6 and it's HP numbers are underrated so that's basically the wheel HP. B58TU engine that's stellar and widely known as a winner. Throw on a simple off-the-shelf tune and it'll be more than plenty fast enough, with good handling that reviewers have compared to a sedan almost. Nice features, it looks great IMO, pretty much the whole package.

 

An X3 with 382 hp? "Fun" is an understatement. That's going to be awesome.

OK, now indulge me for a moment. In a couple of years, you're going to want a minivan with powered sliding doors. That might seem like a crazy statement, but trust me... when you're loaded down with am infant carrier and groceries, having that huge side door automatically open for you will be so-o-o nice.

 

Yeah with that kind of power, it shouldn't get boring. 0-60 in about 4.0s 🥹

Never!!

 

Fun in a straight line. They still handle like an SUV, which even if it's good, isn't as good as the comparable sedan -- the M340i for example. Still an awesome car, with a beast of an engine, and if you want to start a family...

I posted the we ditched our A6, but don't think I posted the replacement. Probably would have kept the Audi, but my wife's sister took her life and left 3 kids, so something that could fit our kids and "the cousins" as we call them took on more importance. Crap fuel economy, more than good driving dynamincs for a 7 passenger 5K pound suv thanks to the air suspension, turbo 6 is plenty powerful if not "fast". Double laminate glass keeps it quiet AF, and I never had a car with massage seats, but...wow...just did a couple 580 mile days and...wow. Glad to get one more vacation with our dog, who at 14.5 isn't getting any younger. Her 4th time to Destiin. Sooooo loves my youngest.






G37 related.....when I sold my G I got a CarFax. Over the years I've gotten a handful of notifications for the VIN. Most recent was an oil change, in Minnesota, with 163K. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I've always in some ways regretting getting rid of the G. R is a fantastic car, faster, undoubtably more tech, but the G was so much more special. Too bad I didn't know the world would shut down and I'd be working from home, I'd have had about 85K on the ca now, and have saved some $$$$