Nick

splooge

greenbacks

Well, it depends on a lot of factors...How many miles does the car have, how well was it maintained, what engine is in it...the thing about BMW's is that you can almost pinpoint when something will need to be replaced. So as far as the cars being unreliable, it is more or less a situation of preventative maintenance...If you find the right places to look you can get parts for better prices than what the stealership will sell them to you. Generally the price of parts aren't that bad...what's killer is the labor rates to have stuff installed, and if you can prevent taking the car to shops and do stuff yourself then you should be pretty good. Luckily there is a wealth of information on these cars online with complete writeups and photos of procedures from guys who have been through the same things. These cars deffinitely require a lot of attention. Some more than others. Like I said, it depends on the model, the year, the engine, and how many miles it has and how well it was maintained. Infact, sometimes it is better to go with a slightly higher mileage one (assuming all maintenance was taken care of) because then you can be sure a lot of the issues that occur in the first 70-100k will be taken care of. I don't know the complexities of the STS, but BMW's are actually fairly straightforward to work on. Their engine bays are pretty accessible and aren't cluttered with wiring and whatnot. With the help of BimmerForums (the BMW forum i frequent) and the Bentley manual (the import/german equivalent to the chilton manuals I believe) I can pretty much tackle any task myself. Now, I'd be lying if I said these cars were cheap...They can get pretty pricey and require significant attention depending on the situation. But they are very good cars that can, and usually do last a very long time. I just saw a 97 or so M3 with 213,000 miles on it going for 7 grand on auto trader...the thing looked immaculate and I'm sure it still runs great. I remember reading an article in a BMW mag of a guy who still had his e34 after 350,000 miles or so and that too was still in great shape. I believe he traded up for a 2001 M5 or something... But yea, BMW's are enthusiasts cars for a good portion of owners. They tend to be well taken care of and proper atention has been given to them. In enthusiasts hands they will run for very long times. These aren't cars that just die on you or give up the ghost, they are solid cars. You've just got to do your homework before hand. If you're interested in a BMW, I can point you in the right direction for information and people to talk to. If not, then that's cool too. BMW's are great cars, and for me, I feel the price to be paid for owning one is deffinitely outweighed by the total package and driving experience. They are deffinitely different cars..something about them, it is hard to explain...maybe it is that they have soul. BMW's are just one of your many choices out there though. I'm not trying to push you to get one...just throwin it out there for ya :AH-HA_wink:

thrust

gay

old

French

Beat me to it. An e39 might be a little out of range...well, if it is a 540 that is. You could find a decent 528 for 15 atleast...I'd deffinitely look into an e34 5er. They are very good, solid cars. For 15 you could easily find a nice 540 in clean shape. Or then there are e36 3ers which you will be able to find very easily...hell, for 15 you could even find a 4-door M3 if that's what you want. You could possibly even find an e46 323 for 15 or less I think also. Or if you want something bigger you could look at the e38 7ers...they actually have depreciated quite a bit and you can find them real cheap. Unfortunately the main reasons why they are so cheap is because of reliability issues I believe...I'll check around on auto trader for you...If you don't care for a bimmer, then I'd say go for a b-body SS deffinitely. What's your zip-code 68? I'll do some checking around your area...

crazy

Haha...nice kill 68...literally...

Type 35

Kwik-E-Mart

Wo0...100 What do I win?

newark

from what it says on that website, these are the problems with piston slap...I for one don't know much about piston slap, so I can only go by what I read or hear...what's your guys take on these issues? bullet A loud embarrassing and annoying internal engine knock. Many are defective due to design and manufacturing quality consistency problems. Listen to piston slap here. bullet Higher than normal levels of wear related materials in oil analysis samples performed by independent laboratories. bullet Vertical piston and cylinder wall scuffing/scratching or scoring on the hammering (noisy) cylinders upon visual inspection. See photos here. bullet Reduced combustion chamber compression on the hammering (noisy) cylinders. bullet Increased oil consumption. bullet Increased exhaust emissions. bullet Did GM or there agents tell you they would fix your defective vehicle in writing/and/or verbally when the phantom "New Piston" fix WAS TO arrive in the spring or summer of 2002? GM did in fact admit it had a problem and that its engineering department was working on the fix. The fix was promised to be made to consumer’s engines in the spring or summer of 2002. As the number of slapping engines grew and the cost to repair them grew as well, GM changed its policy.

kill

ICE

crackle

mars

weed

cheese

up

Those things were the coolest!Periscope

Hot car! I especially like the rims (I believe they are Radenergies...don't look like Hamanns anyways). Those top speed readings dont seem correct though. I have seen vids of a stock M5 doing 200+, and I can't imagine the M6 has more drag than the M5, so I wouldn't be suprised if those mods push it well over 200.

Labs I guess for my second it would be Rottweilers...My buddy has one and, while he is the laziest dog I know, he is also the sweetest most affectionate one I know as well.