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#1. Re: 1998 M3/4 Post Mortem - from Hunter Johnson
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 10:10:28 +0100 From: "Hunter Johnson" <HJOHNSON@dbmail.debis.de> Subject: Re: 1998 M3/4 Post Mortem In the typical spirit of answering questions no-one is asking, the dust has pretty much settled on the sale of the M3/4 last weekend. For those of you who care about such things, here is what this beast cost me. If you don't care, please don't flame me...just page down. I bought a 1998 M3/4 in Feb '98 and paid $855 above dealer cost, with the help of the BMW CCA M3/4 customer cash rebate offered at the time. In July 1999 I was transferred to Germany, and since I was offered company cars, the BMW stayed home, being driven by my 60 year old mother-in-law. During this time she paid me a stipend to partially offset the monthly payment and insurance. I leased the car from BMW Financial Services for 36 months. When I bought the car, I was the controller of Chrysler Financial's lease group, so I was keenly aware of the drawbacks of leasing. Still, I leased because I was concerned how the vehicle might hold up given an intention of autocrossing, etc., and BMW had a competitive interest rate. I bought the car after attending some driving schools in a E36 325i; I quickly decided (which is of course against what everyone, including myself, suggests) that I needed "better equipment". Modifying the 325i would have cost several thousands of dollars and which would have had minimal residual value, and the 325i still wouldn't have the power of the M3. When the car was sold it had 29,xxx miles on it. I decided to sell it since (1) I didn't think I'd move back to the U.S. before late 2001, (2) I was concerned about the market values of these cars given the new 330i coming to market, plus the much lower than expected cost of the E46 M3, (3) by selling now I could avoid some cost from terminating the lease and perhaps make a bit of money (with respect to my payoff), and (4) if I got back to the States a few years from now I could always buy a 4 or 5 year old M3/4 for much less than I'd sell mine for now. Here's the cost and cost per mile of this car: Depreciation $8,420 29.0 cents per mile Interest 6,448 22.2 Insurance 4,050 14.0 Taxes 1,295 4.5 Fuel 1,040 3.6 Maintenance 1,010 3.5 Stipend (2,200) (7.6) Total $20,063 69.2 The fuel assumes 20 mpg and $1.30 a gallon, and only through 16,000 miles; thereafter, my in-laws paid for gas. Maintenance includes 5 oil changes (Mobil 1) between warranted scheduled maintenance, and four new Pirelli P7000 Supersport tires mounted by the dealer. Taxes are Michigan sales tax plus Luxury Tax. These do not include around $1,420 of aftermarket accessories on the car when sold (VDO gauges, ECE headlamps, X Brace, UUC Z3 shifter, etc.). The BMW lease had a residual value of 65% (36 month low milage = 12,000 miles a year)of the MSRP ($44,915) with a 7.15% APR. This compares to the normal loan from my credit union which was offering 7.00% interest for 60 month loans. The BMW lease added a $680 acquisition fee and a $350 fee at lease end if you early terminated or returned the vehicle to BMW (if you bought the car at lease-end, this fee did not apply). At delivery, the lease required $633 more at signing than the loan, but the monthly payment was $300 less. At the sale, had I borrowed for the car I would have received $9,902 in cash more than with the lease, since the loan would have been paid down to a much lower payoff figure. Discounting the cash flows at 10% (what I use for long-term investments) gives the result that the lease cost $287 more than the loan. If the differences in cash flow were invested at 12.96%, the loan and lease would cost the same. If you only invested your money at 6% (risk-free rate) then the lease cost $717 more. Before I give you my conclusions, let me say that the E36 M3/4 was my first new car since my 1983 Volkswagen GTI, and it was pretty much as fun to drive. But overall, the delivery quality of the car was average for the industry (I had four "conditions" on the car when delivered, two concerning the paint finish), and I find that the quality of the E36 cars is somewhat worse than the E30s (I had a 86 325es and a 87 325is, and a 93 325i). Here are the conclusions: Having bought several used cars over the past 10 years, I typically apply the formula of 80% value rentention for year one and 85% for year 2, etc. using the MSRP as a base figure, and assuming 15,000 miles per year. Using this formula my M3/4 should have had depreciation of $14,372. With Porsches, I use 85% for year 1 and 90% thereafter, so the M3/4, if it were a Porsche, would have deprecation of $10,555. So overall, the depreciation on the M3/4 was better than I expected. (The BMW lease expected $15,720 of depreciation from MSRP after 3 years, but ALG, the industry standard residual value gurus said the car'd have depreciation of closer to $17,000 -- BMW "bumped" the residual to help sell these cars). In general, however, buying new cars is expensive. The cost per mile of nearly 70 cents and driving 1,250 miles a month means a monthly cost of $865. Ouch. For the $14,868 I spent on depreciation and interest, I could have bought some fairly nice used iron and owned it outright...an E30 M3 comes quickly to mind. I think I've bought my last new car. If you must buy new, don't lease. Even though you have to pay sales tax up front on the whole car when you buy (with a lease you pay on the total lease payment, including interest, but only as long as the monthly payments go), the front and back-end fees the lease companies charge make leasing too unattractive. Plus, you have the potential turn-in hassle of arguing over what constitutes "normal" wear and tear. Buying a lease is essentially a balloon financing contract plus a put option on the underlying asset -- the car. This option costs money, but it is extremely difficult to value this option. So the lessor charges you an arm and a leg for this option. Unless you really think you might use the option (like you'll drive the car on the track and have VANOS problems), most likely you're paying for something you won't use. Leases also lock you into the financing contract a bit more. They charge you an Early Termination fee. Also, lessors typically will NOT allow you to sublet the vehicle. BMW Financial says that you can sublet it, but the original lessee retains the default risk -- if the new owner assuming your lease fails to make a payment, BMW Financial looks to YOU. Now YOU have to repo the car, etc. If you have any questions, drop me a line. Hunter
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#2. R&Ring Front Splitter - from Suzy Kraft
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 07:38:14 -0500 From: Suzy Kraft <suekraft@mindspring.com> Subject: R&Ring Front Splitter Andrew Kalman sent in a great write up on R&Ring the front splitter on his 95 M3 LTW. http://www.bmwmpower.com/TechProc/splitter.htm All contributions are very much appreciated!! Suzy
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#3. RD Strut Bar - from Roy Kao
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 10:15:58 EDT From: "Roy Kao" <bimmerphile@hotmail.com> Subject: RD Strut Bar Does any one out there in Digest-land have any experience with the Racing Dynamics upper strut bar? I know the digesters are hot on the Swaybarian product and a couple of others but I'm just doing some initial research. Any info would be appreciated, thanks in advance. Roy '99 M3/2 ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
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#4. VANOS Problem - from Monty Baugh
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 09:21:35 -0500 From: Monty Baugh <mbaugh@telecom-management.com> Subject: VANOS Problem Sean, if your car is truly the ragged-out POS that you have represented it to be, you may have a low oil pressure problem. This is typical in worn-out engines. re: the odds that three VANOS units were incorrectly installed, did the same mechanic do the procedure each time? If so, it is a very good possibility that he is screwing it up. I've seen similar incidents. MB
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#5. Anyone run 245/40-17 Hoosier A3S03's on stock 96+ M3? - from dave spragg
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 10:48:59 -0400 From: "dave spragg" <dave@spragg.com> Subject: Anyone run 245/40-17 Hoosier A3S03's on stock 96+ M3? Hi All, Have decided that since I have a set of track wheels and a set of autocross wheels I am going to splurge on the short lived and apparently very sticky Hoosier autocross tires. I want to try a bigger tire with these guys as I am not as worried about heating them up to get stick. (I like smaller width tires especially in front as they "come in" in 30 seconds or less on autox courses) I have 17x8 SSR Integrals on all four corners and everything else that matters in this equation is stock. Dave Spragg dave@spragg.com Natick, MA 99 M3 Sharked
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#6. Re: [E36M3] Let's throw out the Vanos! - from Land Shark
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 09:05:25 -0600 (MDT) From: Land Shark <lndshrk@xmission.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] Let's throw out the Vanos! On Fri, 16 Jun 2000, mill wrote: > Vanos is good for street driving, but is useless for a race car. > *Conclusion*: Throw out your Vanos, if you have problems with it in your > race car. I see you failed logic in your classes in school. If vanos sucks so much, please explain to the class why it's used on ALL the Euro motors?? There is NO problem with VANOS.. there are two problems surrounding VANOS: 1) Finicky owners (who should be driving Lexus/Toyota) to think that every little noise is a failure. and 2) (In Sean H's case) Some inability to fix what is without a doubt the simplest variable cam system on the market.. An untrained chimpanzee should be able to replace this gear properly. Jim Conforti PS: I've never SEEN a true "VANOS FAILURE"!!
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#7. Suspension Version 3.0 Review - from Wayne Miller
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 11:56:24 -0400 From: "Wayne Miller" <m3@waynemiller.com> Subject: Suspension Version 3.0 Review Last night, I drove my car with suspension Version 3.0. As a reminder, Version 3.0 consists of the Euro springs, stock shocks, UUC Sway Barbarians, TC Kline adjustable camber plates and Ground Control rear shock mounts. The first thing that I noticed is the car is noticeably higher than it used to be (with the H&R/Bilstein setup it used to be very low). It looks about the same height as stock but I will take some measurements in a few days. I then drove it and there is a tremendous difference. It rides like a normal car now without the bone-jarring thumps at every bump in the road. My girlfriend commented that is now a pleasure to be in my car and she fell asleep (which she was never able to do in my car before). The steering feels much different with the 2 degrees of negative camber dialed in and if you even think about turning, it does. It is kind of odd at first but I really like it. As for the handling, I played on a few highway ramps and didn't notice any difference in overall cornering ability but I will have to wait for an autocross or drivers school for the final judgment there. Overall, I am very happy with the results and anyone in the NYC area is welcome to try it out if they are considering something similar. One comment that I have heard before that I concur with is concerning the "adjustable" camber plates. It isn't as easy as one would think to adjust them. You can just loosen 3 bolts and adjust the camber but then your alignment will be off (because your tie-rods will move). You can adjust the caster but the strut has to be lowered completely to do this so it is more of a set it and forget it deal. I conferenced in my mechanic with Brian from TC Kline to confirm this and he agreed. This doesn't mean that I am unsatisfied with the part in any way - they are very well made and look really cool, but I just wanted to point this out. The part numbers of the springs that I used, for those of you that are interested are: Fronts: 31-33-2-228-171 (even though I do have a/c, sunroof, etc) - $166.80 (for both) from Nick Alexander Rears: 33-53-9-069-132 - $168.60 from Nick Alexander I did have to wait an extra week for the springs to be shipped from Germany but it was worth it. -Wayne '99 M3/2 with just about everything except for forced induction and my Blinder M-10 that I still yet have to install.
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#8. Ground wires.. - from Eric Gravengaard
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 12:08:55 -0400 From: "Eric Gravengaard" <elg@alum.mit.edu> Subject: Ground wires.. My bad. I forgot I was talking to car guys. When I said I ran a separate power wire for the head unit, I meant both the +12V and the GND. I guess it was too much working on cars where the electrical system isn't grounded to the chassis (solar-electric's). When you have a 140V DC system capable of 100+ Amps you don't want to drop a wrench and accidentally ground a power line so you let the whole chassis float and run an equal amount of power and ground lines. Thanks for all your advice and several offers to take a look. I'm going to try a new activation for the amp/crossover, as well as a different ground point to try to tie everything together. I'm pretty sure that its not the speaker wires b/c why would it start now, it didn't do this with the stock system, and everything else is my own wires. Thanks, Eric '95 M3/2
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#9. E36M3: Help with Speed Adjustable Volume Control - from Hunter Johnson
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 18:01:55 +0100 From: "Hunter Johnson" <HJOHNSON@dbmail.debis.de> Subject: E36M3: Help with Speed Adjustable Volume Control Gang, About 6 months ago someone posted the trick to adjusting the Speed Adjustable Volume Control on the stock/HK head unit. Something to do with the mode button and 1 thru 6? Doing so would make the radio either ignore road speed or could make it turn up the volume a lot at various speeds. Could someone in the know forward the instructions? Thanks Hunter
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#10. What do you think about headers and resonators for 96+ M3s... - from Chester Wong
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Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 09:40:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> Subject: What do you think about headers and resonators for 96+ M3s... I'm interested in the above items. Just wondering if people have some numbers, impressions, advice, etc. Thanks for any input, Chester ===== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/