Post #261,481
7/13/06 8:10:09 AM
|

New Car!
We decided to get rid of the Almera while it still had a trace of residual value. Jo hunted around and couldn't find a car she wanted, so she said "I'll have yours, then, and you can have something stupid and big".
So I traded the Almera in against this:
[image|http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h262/pwhysall/Cars/528i.jpg||||]
It's a 2001 E39 528i SE. In English, that means "big German barge with comfy leather seats".
It's got a 2.8L I6 engine which is smooth as a baby's bottom, all the toys are present and working, and it has a full BMW service history.
Peter [link|http://www.no2id.net/|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes! [link|http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?pwhysall|A better terminal emulator]
|
Post #261,482
7/13/06 8:31:56 AM
|

You think a 5-series is big? Sheesh
That barely rates as mid-size over here.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
|
Post #261,485
7/13/06 8:54:10 AM
|

I briefly looked at a long wheelbase 7 series
Bloody hyarge, it was. And about 10 grand more than I could afford.
Peter [link|http://www.no2id.net/|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes! [link|http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?pwhysall|A better terminal emulator]
|
Post #261,483
7/13/06 8:32:25 AM
7/13/06 9:47:43 AM
|

Nice, but...
...How are you ever going to get that big German barge turned around on your street?
-YendorMike
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, 1759 Historical Review of Pennsylvania

Edited by Yendor
July 13, 2006, 09:47:43 AM EDT
|
Post #261,484
7/13/06 8:42:22 AM
|

192-point turn
It's actually smaller than next door's daughter's S-Type Jaguar, and she parks that OK.
Peter [link|http://www.no2id.net/|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes! [link|http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?pwhysall|A better terminal emulator]
|
Post #261,495
7/13/06 9:33:43 AM
|

Nice! May you drive it in good health.
Two out of three people wonder where the other one is.
|
Post #261,510
7/13/06 10:54:13 AM
|

thats nearly my dream car
just a couple of engines short. I am all aflutter about the M5 or its stripped version the 540.
Now I have to come to visit you so I can drive the bugger:-)
Too much of today's music is fashionable crap dressed as artistry.Adrian Belew
|
Post #261,526
7/13/06 11:29:09 AM
|

I could go for the M6
When you say the 540 is a "stripped" M5, how stripped is it? And is there a comparable version of the M6?
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats]. [link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
|
Post #261,539
7/13/06 11:58:57 AM
7/13/06 2:55:56 PM
|

Re: I could go for the M6
When you say the 540 is a "stripped" M5, how stripped is it? And is there a comparable version of the M6? The 540 is basically an M5 with the 4.4L V8 rather than the 5L V10 in the M5. The M5 pulls about 500BHP, whereas the 540 doesn't. Equipment levels are comparable, which is why the M5 and M6 are such amazing cars; they're luxury saloons that really, really move. M cars are also wallet-shatteringly expensive when they break, which is why people regularly cough up \ufffd1100 a year for the extended warranty.
Peter [link|http://www.no2id.net/|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes! [link|http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?pwhysall|A better terminal emulator]

Edited by pwhysall
July 13, 2006, 02:55:56 PM EDT
|
Post #261,522
7/13/06 11:28:04 AM
|

Congrats!
I'll continue to be your bad luck sink. ;)
Hurt me if you must, but let the duckie go!
|
Post #261,536
7/13/06 11:48:44 AM
|

Purdy. I hope it gives you many years and kms of great fun.
|
Post #261,596
7/13/06 2:38:45 PM
|

schweet!
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 50 years. meep
|
Post #261,606
7/13/06 3:23:19 PM
|

Sal-lick!
Very nice, Peter.
jb4 "So don't pay attention to the approval ratings that say 68% of Americans disapprove of the job this man is doing. I ask you this, does that not also logically mean that 68% approve of the job he's not doing? Think about it. I haven't." — Stephen Colbert, at the White House Correspondent's Dinner 29Apr06
|
Post #261,816
7/15/06 1:33:00 AM
7/15/06 1:36:50 AM
|

Picked it up yesterday lunchtime.
Agony & ecstacy - I had to spend 45 minutes in the very manky DVLA office while they sorted out the tax, but then I had my new toy!
I went out for a spin at five o'clock this morning and was struck by a couple of things:
1. I live in a beautiful place and I need to go out at this time more often - next time, with camera. Bunny rabbits, mist lying in the fields, the sun on the moors, etc.
2. 6 cylinders sounds great at 6000RPM (in the open countryside, natch; pootled through the villages out of consideration for the residents).
2a. It goes very fast if you want it to.
Peter [link|http://www.no2id.net/|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes! [link|http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?pwhysall|A better terminal emulator]

Edited by pwhysall
July 15, 2006, 01:36:50 AM EDT
|
Post #261,818
7/15/06 2:16:55 AM
|

Seductive, that be -
Well, I deem that it has a pleasing shape, bitchin proportions - no contrived bling.. and I expect that the wind passing by will find it similarly bereft of places to play with vortices.
(And while I find a mere 5 cyl. to be adequate for topping 120 mph at 4000' elev., who could resist a W-32, were it foisted upon a pretty jaded-One? ;-)
Now ya gets to wrestle with the Preservation: Shall it be dino-oil, Sir? or the lovely syn-oil with superior ash remnants, better lubricity and a few other constants, yada?
Do we trust the wheel-installers / tyre-rotation folk to use their air-wrenches.. or shall we Insist upon seeing a sometimes-calibrated torque wrench applied to each of our critical wheel lug nuts? (Note that over-torqueing, with some hub designs can lead to early brake-rotor warping. Fershure on mine, via reports.)
{sigh}
Trouble with us techno- perfectionists is not unlike imagining the keeping of Windoze from its inherent longing for seppuku: all those nit-picky Lists of Stuff you'd sorta wanta periodically check.. and all.
Meanwhile, if you're not going to do all of the fiddly-bit maintenance yourself, it's good to have some of that faith elixir, just Believe that the white smocked ones really do pay attention. (I yield to that one, now more often; still - doverai ni proverai remains my motto: trust.. but verify!)
Hope you have a garage for its off hours! Ta,
The Happy Motorcyclist ..has bugs in his teeth.
|
Post #261,821
7/15/06 3:51:52 AM
7/15/06 3:54:09 AM
|

Re: Seductive, that be -
Well, I deem that it has a pleasing shape, bitchin proportions - no contrived bling.. and I expect that the wind passing by will find it similarly bereft of places to play with vortices. It's lovely and quiet, yes. One of the things that attracted me to this particular car was the fact that it has relatively small wheels (16") and pretty low-key alloys. (And while I find a mere 5 cyl. to be adequate for topping 120 mph at 4000' elev., who could resist a W-32, were it foisted upon a pretty jaded-One? ;-) Vroom! Yes, anything more than 4 sounds teh nice. That said, nice-sounding 4-pots do exist, for example, the flat-4 in the Subaru Impreza. Now ya gets to wrestle with the Preservation:
Shall it be dino-oil, Sir? or the lovely syn-oil with superior ash remnants, better lubricity and a few other constants, yada? All synthetic, all the time. Most Krautmobiles of the past 10 years have this requirement. Something to do with low viscosity at low temperatures. Do we trust the wheel-installers / tyre-rotation folk to use their air-wrenches.. or shall we Insist upon seeing a sometimes-calibrated torque wrench applied to each of our critical wheel lug nuts? It's going to be serviced at an Approved Independent BMW Specialist. This means that it will maintain its "Full BMW Service History", but I won't get the valeting, the courtesy car, or the round of golf (no, I'm not joking) that you get at a BMW Stealer. It's also about half the price. (Note that over-torqueing, with some hub designs can lead to early brake-rotor warping. Fershure on mine, via reports.) I leave that sort of thing to the men with spanners. {sigh}
Trouble with us techno- perfectionists is not unlike imagining the keeping of Windoze from its inherent longing for seppuku: all those nit-picky Lists of Stuff you'd sorta wanta periodically check.. and all. Ar. However, the 318 showed that a BMW engine can work well even when a bit broken; it had an airleak in the inlet manifold which buggered up the oxygen sensing, and the ECU just got on with it. Meanwhile, if you're not going to do all of the fiddly-bit maintenance yourself, it's good to have some of that faith elixir, just Believe that the white smocked ones really do pay attention. (I yield to that one, now more often; still - doverai ni proverai remains my motto: trust.. but verify!) Ian and the gang at Teesside AutoTech have a unblemished reputation. I'm better off trusting them than trusting me!
Peter [link|http://www.no2id.net/|Don't Let The Terrorists Win] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes! [link|http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?pwhysall|A better terminal emulator]

Edited by pwhysall
July 15, 2006, 03:54:09 AM EDT
|
Post #261,855
7/16/06 1:58:28 AM
|

stupid and big??
ha! I used to have a [link|http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/367000-367999/367676_3_full.jpg|'76 Chevy Impala], 4 door V-8 land barge. I used to enjoy backing into parking spaces labeled "Small Car". Seeing that big grill over the sign always brought a smile.
So, congrats on the new wheels. I'm sure you'll enjoy it for many years. Drive it in good health.
Have fun, Carl Forde
|
Post #261,868
7/16/06 11:14:16 AM
|

Me too
Or close.
My 1st car was a 77 Impala.
|
Post #262,114
7/18/06 11:52:45 PM
|

May it serve you well, Peter!
Alex
When fascism comes to America, it'll be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross. -- Sinclair Lewis
|
Post #262,178
7/19/06 1:42:31 PM
|

Nice ride.
Smile, Amy
[link|http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?Amy%20Rathman|Pics of the Family]
|