Anandtech BMW owners club

[Arkaign]

I have to drop out of the BMW owners club for now. Uninsured, unregistered vehicle did a hit and run on my E39 in a diesel pickup on Saturday. The license plate of the guy fell off at the scene, and they matched it to his truck parked busted up and broken down a couple of blocks away. My wife was parked waiting for a light to change when he came barreling down the off ramp and hit her from the rear at about 40-50mph. It was hard enough to knock her forward and spinning across the intersection into the curb on the opposite side of the intersection! The trunk is smashed to the level of the rear left wheel, which snapped from the axle. Incredibly, the passenger section of the car remained completely intact. Had a friend who does insurance adjustments and estimates look at it, he says the frame is probably damaged beyond the point of reasonable repair.

RIP '02 E39 M5.

I'll be back, guys! Probably with another 5 series, though I might go with a 540 or 530 this time around. I never much used the insane power of the M, and could use cheaper insurance/fuel investment.

FWIW, I picked up a 2008 Ford Focus 5 speed to give me some cheap transportation until I get the scoop on what's going to happen with insurance/etc on the M5. It's actually a pretty nice little car, and 35mpg never hurt anyone

 

[DivideBYZero]

Sorry to hear about the M5, mang.

 

[fstime]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I have to drop out of the BMW owners club for now. Uninsured, unregistered vehicle did a hit and run on my E39 in a diesel pickup on Saturday. The license plate of the guy fell off at the scene, and they matched it to his truck parked busted up and broken down a couple of blocks away. My wife was parked waiting for a light to change when he came barreling down the off ramp and hit her from the rear at about 40-50mph. It was hard enough to knock her forward and spinning across the intersection into the curb on the opposite side of the intersection! The trunk is smashed to the level of the rear left wheel, which snapped from the axle. Incredibly, the passenger section of the car remained completely intact. Had a friend who does insurance adjustments and estimates look at it, he says the frame is probably damaged beyond the point of reasonable repair.

RIP '02 E39 M5.

I'll be back, guys! Probably with another 5 series, though I might go with a 540 or 530 this time around. I never much used the insane power of the M, and could use cheaper insurance/fuel investment.

FWIW, I picked up a 2008 Ford Focus 5 speed to give me some cheap transportation until I get the scoop on what's going to happen with insurance/etc on the M5. It's actually a pretty nice little car, and 35mpg never hurt anyone

Ow, thats got to suck.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: BouZouki

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I have to drop out of the BMW owners club for now. Uninsured, unregistered vehicle did a hit and run on my E39 in a diesel pickup on Saturday. The license plate of the guy fell off at the scene, and they matched it to his truck parked busted up and broken down a couple of blocks away. My wife was parked waiting for a light to change when he came barreling down the off ramp and hit her from the rear at about 40-50mph. It was hard enough to knock her forward and spinning across the intersection into the curb on the opposite side of the intersection! The trunk is smashed to the level of the rear left wheel, which snapped from the axle. Incredibly, the passenger section of the car remained completely intact. Had a friend who does insurance adjustments and estimates look at it, he says the frame is probably damaged beyond the point of reasonable repair.

RIP '02 E39 M5.

I'll be back, guys! Probably with another 5 series, though I might go with a 540 or 530 this time around. I never much used the insane power of the M, and could use cheaper insurance/fuel investment.

FWIW, I picked up a 2008 Ford Focus 5 speed to give me some cheap transportation until I get the scoop on what's going to happen with insurance/etc on the M5. It's actually a pretty nice little car, and 35mpg never hurt anyone

Ow, thats got to suck.

Ugh, that bites man. Sucks.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: BouZouki

Originally posted by: Arkaign
I have to drop out of the BMW owners club for now. Uninsured, unregistered vehicle did a hit and run on my E39 in a diesel pickup on Saturday. The license plate of the guy fell off at the scene, and they matched it to his truck parked busted up and broken down a couple of blocks away. My wife was parked waiting for a light to change when he came barreling down the off ramp and hit her from the rear at about 40-50mph. It was hard enough to knock her forward and spinning across the intersection into the curb on the opposite side of the intersection! The trunk is smashed to the level of the rear left wheel, which snapped from the axle. Incredibly, the passenger section of the car remained completely intact. Had a friend who does insurance adjustments and estimates look at it, he says the frame is probably damaged beyond the point of reasonable repair.

RIP '02 E39 M5.

I'll be back, guys! Probably with another 5 series, though I might go with a 540 or 530 this time around. I never much used the insane power of the M, and could use cheaper insurance/fuel investment.

FWIW, I picked up a 2008 Ford Focus 5 speed to give me some cheap transportation until I get the scoop on what's going to happen with insurance/etc on the M5. It's actually a pretty nice little car, and 35mpg never hurt anyone

Ow, thats got to suck.

Ugh, that bites man. Sucks.

Yeah it's a crap situation, but I'm just relieved and grateful that my wife is 100% okay. BMW truly makes a tough vehicle. I see good things about the Focus in crash tests, but I hopefully will never have to know firsthand how they withstand a serious impact.

Drive safely guys

 

[melijak]

Picked my 07'335i sedan in May. Euro delivery in Munich. Lemon interior, sport, winter and leather. What a car. Thank you BMW for great lease deals!

 

[BillyBatson]

Arkaign, I am sorry to hear that. I totalled my car a month ago, fell asleep, went up a curb, into a powerline wood poll, broke the poll in half, and flipped my car over. 07 civic coupe. That car and my seat belt saved my life. I was rushed to the hospital in so much pain I thought I was going to die and gave my nurse a message to give to my mom and sis. 9 hours later I was released with no major injuries and just sat at home for 3 weeks. I am glad your wife is ok.

 

[Beau]

'00 540i Sport, 162,000 miles

 

[Beau]

Originally posted by: Naustica
You guys are screwed now that you've been spoiled by the BMW. :evil:

Agreed

Been looking at selling and getting a different car, but I can't find anything that's as fun/comfy/fun to drive as the bimmer.

 

[Dunbar]

I put a deposit on a 2004 330i performance pack with a 6-speed. Has 75k miles but there is 2 years left on the CPO warranty and the pre-paid maintenance plan. Should pick the car up this weekend, price is $18,700.

I drove another 6 speed 335i coupe today for giggles. Man, talk about nearly the perfect car, it has so much more torque than the 330. Too bad it costs nearly $50k out the door. Maybe I can afford a used one in a few years.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Don Vito Corleone
I think I will be buying my first BMW next weekend. '06 330i with Sport, Premium, and Cold packages and OEM lip spoiler (NO active steering or i-Drive, thank you very much). 6-speed manual, sparkling graphite with black leather and burl walnut. 34K miles with warranty until December 2009 or 50K, whichever comes first. Brand new snow tires and the seller will be buying me a new set of all-seasons for installation once the weather warms up. $26K.

Here are pics of my (likely) new ride.

I failed. The seller flaked out. What a jackass.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
Thinking about picking up an 03.5->05 M3. Can anyone tell me how functional the navi is? Coming from an TL which, imho, has one of the best factory nav's out there (I like it better than the Garmin I have in the Jeep and a lot of people like Garmin) I want to get factory nav but not if it sucks.

BMW navigation is pretty poor, IMHO.

I have the Mk3, not the Mk4 and even that is very good IMHO. I cannot add POI's though, I have to rely on those provided by BMW.

Do you know when the M3's switched navi models?

I know a guy who had an 01 M3 and the navi in that was like a game of asteroids. Looked horrible.

I have an 01 m5 blue ext/black int. The nav isn't great, but my main gripe is that I don't get free update cd's every year or so. It doesn't even show a lot of newer roads... I have an 08 enclave with a nice touch-screen unit that would be a LOT better if I could use it while the car is moving


what kind of tires do you guys with the m3/m5 use? Mine came standard with pilot sports, I got ps2's a couple of years ago, but I cheaped out and got goodyears last year. The goodyears suck compared to the ps2's imho.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
Thinking about picking up an 03.5->05 M3. Can anyone tell me how functional the navi is? Coming from an TL which, imho, has one of the best factory nav's out there (I like it better than the Garmin I have in the Jeep and a lot of people like Garmin) I want to get factory nav but not if it sucks.

BMW navigation is pretty poor, IMHO.

I have the Mk3, not the Mk4 and even that is very good IMHO. I cannot add POI's though, I have to rely on those provided by BMW.

Do you know when the M3's switched navi models?

I know a guy who had an 01 M3 and the navi in that was like a game of asteroids. Looked horrible.

I have an 01 m5 blue ext/black int. The nav isn't great, but my main gripe is that I don't get free update cd's every year or so. It doesn't even show a lot of newer roads... I have an 08 enclave with a nice touch-screen unit that would be a LOT better if I could use it while the car is moving


what kind of tires do you guys with the m3/m5 use? Mine came standard with pilot sports, I got ps2's a couple of years ago, but I cheaped out and got goodyears last year. The goodyears suck compared to the ps2's imho.

I upgraded my nav using the update CD's you can find on popular auctions sites. The GFX are a bit better and you get a much improved UI with new GFX.

I'm running the Continental Sport Contact M3 edition tyres all round on the factory 19"s. They are long lasting, but by that very virtue are a little on the hard side for my taste. Not sticky enough for me.

 

[bryanW1995]

thanks for the input on the nav. I usually take the wife's car when I go out of town now, but a few years ago it was pretty annoying. My car now is relegated to being a "cruise to work at 115+" car. Not bad for a 7 yr old...

I almost bought the continentals. They sound a lot like my goodyears. Even though these are lasting a lot longer and are significantly cheaper, I'll still go back to the ps2's. Those tires are unbelievable!

 

[Dunbar]

Originally posted by: Don Vito Corleone

I failed. The seller flaked out. What a jackass.

What happened, you think someone offered him more? Keep looking, I've seen some pretty good deals on '06 330i's lately.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
Thinking about picking up an 03.5->05 M3. Can anyone tell me how functional the navi is? Coming from an TL which, imho, has one of the best factory nav's out there (I like it better than the Garmin I have in the Jeep and a lot of people like Garmin) I want to get factory nav but not if it sucks.

BMW navigation is pretty poor, IMHO.

I have the Mk3, not the Mk4 and even that is very good IMHO. I cannot add POI's though, I have to rely on those provided by BMW.

Do you know when the M3's switched navi models?

I know a guy who had an 01 M3 and the navi in that was like a game of asteroids. Looked horrible.

I have an 01 m5 blue ext/black int. The nav isn't great, but my main gripe is that I don't get free update cd's every year or so. It doesn't even show a lot of newer roads... I have an 08 enclave with a nice touch-screen unit that would be a LOT better if I could use it while the car is moving


what kind of tires do you guys with the m3/m5 use? Mine came standard with pilot sports, I got ps2's a couple of years ago, but I cheaped out and got goodyears last year. The goodyears suck compared to the ps2's imho.

Heh, I cheaped out and went with BFG G-Force, partially because it sounded like a video card lol. Pretty decent tires too. Miss that M5

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Dunbar

Originally posted by: Don Vito Corleone

I failed. The seller flaked out. What a jackass.

What happened, you think someone offered him more? Keep looking, I've seen some pretty good deals on '06 330i's lately.

Dunno. He just generally seemed flaky and says he has decided not to sell the car. I guess I'll never know.

 

[Blackjack200]

wow, that's really a crappy thing to do. Keep looking, hopefully you can find a better one.