More BMWs 😀
I love the 8-series. A good one goes for more than 20000 euros here. And I don't want to buy a bad one 😀 It's quite a rare car, so parts will be rare and expensive as well. And they have a reputation for being unreliable. But yea, I bet a good one is a great experience to drive 😀

Loving the XR6, 540 and 840... I haven't seen an 8-series for ages here. I think rust got most of them and failing suspension/cooling systems/electronics got the rest. A manual 840 would be the best bet these days I guess.

Put new rear tyres on my 130 last week. Another set of Goodyear F1 Asym 2, these have been great in the past. Planning a suspension refresh next year, I will be up to around 90k by then.

kanecvr wrote:

Unfortunately in Romania tax on anything with displacement larger then 2499cm3 is ridiculous (compared to the average income anyway). For a 4L it would be about 1000 euro / year.

Ha! I sold my old Transit to bunch of fellas who drove it back to Romania. They never bothered to return the plates or inform Finnish officials about it so it now has 300e worth of unpaid vehicle taxes and a driving ban in Finland. 🤣 I hope they registered it back in Romania and got new plates if they ever decide to come back...

Scali wrote:

More BMWs 😀
I love the 8-series. A good one goes for more than 20000 euros here. And I don't want to buy a bad one 😀 It's quite a rare car, so parts will be rare and expensive as well. And they have a reputation for being unreliable. But yea, I bet a good one is a great experience to drive 😀

The V12 850ci are the unreliable ones. The engine in the 850 is basically two M20 engines "glued" together. While it has a custom block, the basic design of the cylinder heads is very near to the M20 (6-cylinder off the 1978-1989 3 and 5 series) so they are prone to cracking and overheating.

The later 840ci cars share the same v8 engine with the late e34 / early e39 5-series. Parts for maintaining the car are silly cheap (engine, bushings, brakes, etc), but if you crash it, you're crewed. Body panels and bumpers are very expensive.

Currently I'm driving a 2002 Dodge Dakota SXT, which is basically a low to the ground version of the larger dodge pickups of that time and with a 6 cylinder. I think it was meant to be a sporty pickup but it's basically a car with a bed and really hard suspension. 🤣

My first car though was a 1994 GMC Jimmy and man did I love that thing even though it was a POS mechanically. I swear I dumped over 2k into that thing in repairs right before it finally kicked le bucket.

kanecvr wrote:

The V12 850ci are the unreliable ones. The engine in the 850 is basically two M20 engines "glued" together. While it has a custom block, the basic design of the cylinder heads is very near to the M20 (6-cylinder off the 1978-1989 3 and 5 series) so they are prone to cracking and overheating.

The later 840ci cars share the same v8 engine with the late e34 / early e39 5-series. Parts for maintaining the car are silly cheap (engine, bushings, brakes, etc), but if you crash it, you're crewed. Body panels and bumpers are very expensive.

Hum yea, I was just looking at the specs, and it's amazing how far performance has come over the years. My 325i is barely slower than the 840ci. The 850 is somewhat faster, but the fuel consumption is just ridiculous 😀
Just had a look and I think my engine is the N52B25: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_N52
Mine is rated at 218 bhp though. Perhaps because of different markets.

Mitsubishi Lancer.

Scali wrote:

Hum yea, I was just looking at the specs, and it's amazing how far performance has come over the years. My 325i is barely slower […]
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kanecvr wrote:

The V12 850ci are the unreliable ones. The engine in the 850 is basically two M20 engines "glued" together. While it has a custom block, the basic design of the cylinder heads is very near to the M20 (6-cylinder off the 1978-1989 3 and 5 series) so they are prone to cracking and overheating.

The later 840ci cars share the same v8 engine with the late e34 / early e39 5-series. Parts for maintaining the car are silly cheap (engine, bushings, brakes, etc), but if you crash it, you're crewed. Body panels and bumpers are very expensive.

Hum yea, I was just looking at the specs, and it's amazing how far performance has come over the years. My 325i is barely slower than the 840ci. The 850 is somewhat faster, but the fuel consumption is just ridiculous 😀
Just had a look and I think my engine is the N52B25: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_N52
Mine is rated at 218 bhp though. Perhaps because of different markets.

Yeah, horsepower-wise a modern 325i is competitive, but the 4L v8 has way more torque. Acceleration on an 8 series is bound to be better. If your 325i is a non-facelift E90, then you have the N52B25. Otherwise you have a 3L N54B30 since these are the only two engines used in the 325i E90.

sf78 wrote:

kanecvr wrote:

Unfortunately in Romania tax on anything with displacement larger then 2499cm3 is ridiculous (compared to the average income anyway). For a 4L it would be about 1000 euro / year.

Ha! I sold my old Transit to bunch of fellas who drove it back to Romania. They never bothered to return the plates or inform Finnish officials about it so it now has 300e worth of unpaid vehicle taxes and a driving ban in Finland. 🤣 I hope they registered it back in Romania and got new plates if they ever decide to come back...

these kinds of things happen a lot more often then I'd like to admit. It's doubtful the "fellas" ever plan to return to Finland in that ford - it will most likely be registered and put to work here for some construction company or sold to one such company for a profit.

bjt wrote:

Loving the XR6, 540 and 840... I haven't seen an 8-series for ages here. I think rust got most of them and failing suspension/cooling systems/electronics got the rest. A manual 840 would be the best bet these days I guess.

Put new rear tyres on my 130 last week. Another set of Goodyear F1 Asym 2, these have been great in the past. Planning a suspension refresh next year, I will be up to around 90k by then.

I've seen very few rusty e39 5-series and even e46 3 series here in Romania. Very very few. 90% of what I've seen are rust free and the other 10% have been in minor scuffs and left unfixed so they rusted. Even that takes quite a while since the metal is well treated. (then again it doesn't rain nearly as much here as it does in the UK) The 540 and generally M60/M62 BMW V8 engines don't have any particular cooling issues as far as I know. As long as you replace your antifreeze once every two years (regardless of the number of miles / km driven) and replace the water pump / thermostat and expansion tank cap in a timely manner. The early e34 M20 based 5-series on the other hand have LOtS of cooling issues. Warped and cranked heads are commonplace. Suspension wise it's just a matter of timely maintenance and road conditions. I just had all rear bushings on my e46 replaced. That includes the rear control arm and final drive bushings. They lasted for 15 years, witch is quite impressive in my opinion.

kanecvr wrote:

Yeah, horsepower-wise a modern 325i is competitive, but the 4L v8 has way more torque. Acceleration on an 8 series is bound to be better. If your 325i is a non-facelift E90, then you have the N52B25.

Yup, it's the E92 actually (they no longer mark the Coupe versions with Ci), and it's the 2.5, not the 3.0 (sadly).
And I was looking at acceleration as well. The regular 850i does 0-100 kph in 6.8 seconds, where mine does it in 6.9. The 840i does it in 6.6, faster, but still not that much. The 850CSi is the fastest, in 6.0 seconds.

I guess a big factor there is that the 3-series is also a lot lighter than the 8-series. It's a difference of about 400-500 kg.

Also fun: they have 235-tyres front and rear. I have 225 front, and a massive 255 rear (M-rims).

I have the exact tire setup. Style 166 18" M5 wheels (the ones in the pictures) with 225/45 R18 on the front and 255/40 R18 on back. I down-tuned the engine to a little over 150 hp and that increased torque dramatically (and improved in-city mileage quite a bit), so wide tiers are a godsend. They also help with braking.

For the winter (it snows quite a bit here) I run Style 42 16" wheels with 225/65 R16 Mud+Snow tires.

Honda Civic 2.0 2005

y2k se wrote:

2011 Nissan Altima 3.5SR. 15% FormulaOne Pinnacle Series tint.

That tint is outrageous! Loving it.

2000 Altima SE is what I used to drive. I sold it after I finished school. It was still based on the Bluebird platform, but the interior/exterior was redesigned by a woman to appeal to female buyers in the US market. The 1998-1999 models were butt ugly, and the available paint colours were disgusting. After sales took a hit they did an exterior facelift in 2000. It was a lot better than before, but still only moderately attractive in the SE trim. It was the stupid sloping trunk that ruined the looks. I picked mine up in 2001 as second hand for a very low price. Thankfully the handling on the SE trim was quite nice, and the power offered by the 2.4L I4 was great for the time. With the 5-speed manual it did 0-60 in 7.4 seconds (only 2000-2001 models), which I guess is laughable by today's standards. A few things that pissed me off about the car was the horrendous turning radius,the truck like clutch, and the over sensitive gas peddle.

I've been riding public transit and using a bicycle for the last 10 years, but I may buy another car in a few years due to the hilly town I'll be moving to at the end of next spring. I am considering VW Polo, Nissan Micra, Honda Fit, Daewoo Matiz (now Chevy Spark) and a Chinese domestic market EV which is classified as a bicycle and does not require insurance or a licence.

A '97 Ford Explorer with a laundry list of problems. She gets me where I need to go though.

My commuter is a 2014 Honda CB500.

190kg wet / 34.3 kW / 201kmph top speed.
15.70 litre fuel tank / 350km per tank.

An annual fuel bill of approximately $600.

2003 Ford F-150 XLT with barely 100,000 kilometers on it.

Also, a little Gen 1 Honda CRV...it's a great little car.

bbhaag wrote:

A '97 Ford Explorer with a laundry list of problems. She gets me where I need to go though.

I still have a '93 explorer (that is only used as a secondary vehicle anymore). It was plagued with engine issues and power train gremlins. I replaced just about everything there could be replaced except the block itself. Then I replaced the ECU with a new one that had been recapped, and it was a night and day difference. All the idling and random stales went away. It was like a brand-new car again.

Something (slightly) older than the first IBM PC. Don't ask, I just love vintage things, from PC hardware to audio gears to automobiles.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Something (slightly) older than the first IBM PC.

Wow. That's an awesome land cruiser. ..a great example of a classic Toyota. Very nice.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Something (slightly) older than the first IBM PC. Don't ask, I just love vintage things, from PC hardware to audio gears to automobiles.

That is one beautifully monstrous beast. Love that utilitarian style - it must be a bitch to drive and maintain though? What's the aircon situation?!