This is the first and only BMW I've ever owned, I bought it 6 years old for a third of its original new sticker price. Depreciation is a great thing, especially for those of us that do our own maintenence. With a body design that dates back nearly 20 years, I consider it to be the last of the classic body styles. By 1990, aerodynamics had beat out the "shark nose" design that had been on just about every BMW since the sixties. I think aerodynamics have advanced enough today that they could bring back that classic styling cue and make it work, witness the new Z8.
When I bought my car it needed nothing, really. In the first few years it basically needed only normal maintenence: battery, rear muffler, water pump, etc. Most places will tell you that it needs a special battery to fit this car at a cost of over $120. So I measured the battery box and found that a $70 Diehard Gold fits just fine and it exceeds all the requirements set forth by BMW. It's performed flawlessly for the past 5 years. Not so, the first muffler I put on, an Ansa unit, it rusted out in about three and a half years. This happened to coincide with the catalytic converter rusting out, so I replaced the entire exhaust with stainless; B+B Triflow from the cat back. The new exhaust is much louder than stock, very boomy at idle and low rpm's, but actually seems to quiet down under full throttle, higher rev situations. Overall, I like the sound of it, I just wish it filtered out a little more of the low frequencies. |
