GCG-german car general

no. due to safety and gas mileage regulations, on top of EVs beginning the eclipse ICE and autonomous systems set to be shoved into most cars on the road since normies love that stuff, there's no point in the future where something like the e39 m5 will ever be built again

if i wanted a 135i, should i get the 2010+ model to get the n55 engine? sounds like it's way easier to live with than the n54, even though it isn't as easy to tune for power

2011+ model year tho

>"if only" edition
i swear, all the cool stuff bmw just made ONE of

>tfw no E46 M3 touring
>tfw no E36 M3 compact
>tfw no E39 M5 touring
>tfw no V12 X5
>tfw no V16 E32
>tfw no M8
>tfw no E60 M5 CSL

>e39 m5 touring
i know the pain, would have been legendary
you can do the conversion yourself but it's incredibly involved, the whole rear subframe needs to be swapped and the body cut somewhat to accommodate the different suspension geometry

ironically, making an e46 m3 touring is pretty easy by comparison. subframe swap, engine swap, not much extra wiring or coding to make it work

actually here's the thread of a guy who did it
forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1095034
i believe he did it more than once as well

oh shit, i'm gonna look at that

and im gonna be honest, i very seldom need to carry more than what an E39 sedan can take

Also went looking at cars today:

2006 X5 3 litre, seems...okay. Just feels rough everywhere. Wanted way too much for it.

04 s4 - Engine light on, blast to drive, 2k over fair market value. Passed.

06 A6 4.2 - 150k miles, no lights, old person owned and a couple interior dings. Guy wants 5k. Probably gonna try for this one.

Do you guys think the A6 is a good buy at 5k? No leaks in bay or underneath. Brakes well, accelerates hard, everything inside works. The middle knob is loose but that seems easy to replace.

let me tell ya man, having that much space whenever you want, with basically no hit on driving dynamics compared to the sedan aside from an extra hundred pounds of weight, it really nice

i can imagine, mom used to have one of those gigantic citroens, but that's for another thread

Is it the 4.2 40V or the 4.2 FSI? Because I'm pretty sure the 40V is the infamous TIMING CHAIN GUIDES unit.

It's the 40v. Does that mean it's gonna asplode on me right out the gate? I'm assuming since it's at 150k+ miles that it's been done already.

You never know, those engines are time bombs. Some of them make it to 150k+ with no issue at all, others start rumbling before 50k. The only thing you know for sure is that it will happen at some point, and when it does you're looking at a 9k repair bill if you get a shop to do it. Hell, it could even be the reason it's getting sold right now.
The FSI units don't suffer from the issue to the same degree as I'm pretty sure they moved to metal guides with plastic wear surfaces rather than crack-prone all plastic ones.

Well, that makes sense. Probably should just back out of that deal. I thought that CHAIN GUIDES issue was for the s4's only.

It's the same engine as far as I know, so it probably affects the A6 and Allroad too.
Then again, maybe they've already been replaced and you won't have any issues. Listen for rumbling near the firewall on a cold start, that's the beginning of the nightmare.

what's your budget?
post cl

I WANT ONE

buy one before they shoot up
they're not that expensive,yet

If you are not a mechanical retard, the N54 is just fine.
People say, "Oh heavens! The N54 is riddled with problems! It's a shit engine!" This simply is not true. There are two defects with the N54 engine, the first being the HPFP (high pressure fuel pump). It is not something you know is failing until it wakes up and shits the bed one day. The warranty on these has been extended for this reason. The second defect is the wastegates rattle. This is a relatively easy fix; pull the turbos, cut the wastegats off, punch out the old wastegate bushings, press and weld in new ones, and that's it. The parts for this are about $100.
If you cant get past these two issues (the first may or may not happen, but the second will), then you will have a very powerful car.

Pic related, new wastegate hardware.

>The parts for this are about $100.
sounds like a decent bit of fab work
also getting the turbos out is a bitch

I'm looking at an '01 Audi allroad 2.7t. Does anyone know how much the back seats weigh?

>2.7t
run

googling doesn't show any information on this mod, where find

>fab work
What? You cut off the old wastegates and weld on new ones. It isn't difficult by any means.
Getting the turbos out can be done in a couple hours, it's also not difficult work.

>cutting a turbo
>welding bits onto it
that is the definition of fabrication

>2.7T
Fair warning, that engine's not for the faint of heart. Can make silly power though.

No, the definition of fabrication is the process of manufacturing or inventing something.
This is repair work, not the development of new parts.

Y?
My heart is ice. A GTI is the fastest car I've owned. APR stage 1 with carbonio intake. They're about 1000 pounds lighter, should I be worried? I was thinking about ripping everything out but the driver seat and going APR stage 1 while the sale is going on.

Vacuum lines that go bad, lots of intake piping, fragile turbos stuffed way up against the firewall, plus all the 1.8T's oil sludge issues if not treated correctly. You basically need to pull the engine at 100k miles because the turbos are done.
When you do pull it and decide to replace the turbos with bigger ones it's really easy to go overboard and build a complete monster, however. Pretty expensive though.

Oh, and Allroads add air suspension that WILL fail to the mix. It's only a matter of when.

How hard is that stuff to fix? I have a shitload of tools and a ton of time. Obviously it's not my ideal way to spend time but how bad are we talking? This is me, so how is it compared to those cars? There are a few 325i's that I'm still looking at but I want to go 3.0 if I can. If I can't, 2.7t it is.

Ha ha nigger

I think there's coilover kits out there to replace the air suspension, ripping that stuff out shouldn't be too much of a headache. Especially if you're planning to strip the whole thing out anyway.
Most of the other stuff requires you to pull the engine and preferably the rest of the drivetrain though, and the 2.7T takes up most of the available space in the engine bay so it's a bitch to reach most parts and usually requires a lot of disassembly. With the engine out it's relatively easy to build it for over 500hp though, just expensive.

Oh, and if it's auto, don't even bother. Those all blow trannies at 150k, even on a stock 2.7T or 4.2.

e46 is a fucking dreamm to work on compared to the 2.7t
in fact most bmws are far easier to work on than audis

nice 520 lad

525i M Sport*

>M sport
>no M bumper
m8...

That's a regular 525 user. I can see the headrests are from the regular comfort seats, it has the regular E34 bumper and the M Sport models also had shadowline on the windows but you've got chrome.

bought an e90 328i earlier this week, 110k on it.

how badly did I fuck up?

it's alright
did you get it rwd in manual?

yes/yes

good
the n52 is a solid little NA motor that likes to rev. i personally would have gotten the coupe tho

I could barely find e46 330ci's at that price point, and the ones that were there were auto and beat up.

Are you me? I am seeking a 3-series just like you.

uh oh
did you buy one without any service history from some dude that beat on it as a daily thinking it was a honda?

got it from some grad student, had some service history, drove smooth and engine bay was clean, but not too clean if you know what I mean.

not even the m5

is there a readily available kit and instructions on this?

I agree. The money you'll save on an N54 car is more than enough to cover the typical repairs. HPFP, turbos, and the water pump TS.

I've read the 2009 actually has the same tune as the 330 hp 1 M which explains why the 0-60 time is 4.7 secsonds that year instead of 5.1 all the other years.

On top of that you can tune it up to 370 for $500 dollars.

The biturbo design gives you almost no turbo lag.

Its a better designed engine with a few meh parts that give it a bad name.

Fellas is a 323i or 328i a decent car for a student who works part time? I really fucking want one. I live in New Zealand and everyone drives around in Sylvias and Skylines but all i want is a 2.8 inline 6

The dealership told me my E60 is clean when I came in for an oil change

Is this a compliment or do they want even more of my money?

Take care of it and t will be a decent car for anyone. Major fault points are water pumps and coolant hoses. If they aren't leaking, it will hold.

Should I get an F32 435i?

How much should money should I have saved up to take care of any relatively common issues with an E46 325/8i? If I have $1000 set aside for the car, would it be enough to cover repairs?

Are german roadsters like Audi TT and BMW Z3 good buys for 5k and under? On paper they look pretty good, good looks, comfy and plenty for sale.
Are there any reasons why I should get one over an NA or NB Miata tho?
Also dont have a garage cuz im yuropoor, so the car will stay outside all the time

The TT is all style and no substance, since it's based on the Golf chassis and only really got interesting with the TTRS and its inline 5 turbo. Still FWD-biased Haldex though.
The Z4 is pretty good, especially the first gen M if you can find onen That's a lighter, smaller E46 M3.

Also consider Porsche Boxsters. Mid-engined, two trunks, galvanized body means no rust.

get a Z3 coupe
TT is a gay version of the Golf

thinking of getting an e39 530i
good car?

because it makes me wanna kill myself
deym wedges

yeah

GOOD FUCKING MORNING GODDAMNIT

Is there any places to locate a JCW aero front bumper for an R53 cooper that ships to north america and doesn't cost a kidney?

Are you from the South?

It seems to be easier to find an automatic one that’s been taken care of with low miles, is it worth it to just be patient and find a manual?

>tfw no muscleporch
I need this 5.4 V8 GT in my life

yes
bmw automatics from the era are pretty slushboxy, but their manuals are great
be willing to take a long road trip back with the car you buy, those are always nice

oh dear

But the auto is still good for an autobox? I don’t really mind an auto for a more comfy driving experience.

if you never plan on having fun with the car the auto is gud.

>tfw will never have an e24

test driving a w209 clk 200 kompressor tomorrow.anything to look out for?

Is that still from the rustbox era? Don't know much about Merc.

the one i’ll see tomorrow is from 2004, which means it has been rustproofed, so im not worried about rust at all.

are 3 series compacts decent? thinking about getting one after my first year of insurance.

sway bar came with these endlinks and also have reinforcement plates (triangle shaped on right)

instructions say just sandwich them properly with washers and all and then torque it to spec. Wouldn't it be better to weld it ? It's going on an E30 which is known to bend sway bar tabs with 0 reinforcement

...

time for part out

...

What's a good price for an early 90s SL500?

this makes me legitimately sad

I love my BMW. Think I'll take it out for a mountain run sometime this week.

2500 in mint condition

Just finished putting on a new top, I'm pretty happy with the result. Looks a thousand times better than the old one

>practicality
>1 inch of wheel clearance

>Living in WA

BMWs m52/m54 is goddamn bulletproof once you sort out the OE water pump made of disintergratonium and other cooling components made of the same plastic shit.

e39s are possibly one of the best cars ever made, best bang for buck in a daily you can get imo.
Has that based m52, very comfy, well equipped, handles stupidly well for the luxury yacht it is and still had a 5 star real world safety rating today. Beware 1998-2001 models though, bad batch of mexican made ABS units with dry solder joints (same goes for any BMW of similar era)

my female german teacher had such a great vag

Would want a boxter but they go for 8-10k for a decent one

...

Blue pill me on the V8 M3.

I want the convertible one. They let hard tops on tracks yes?

why the vert?