alfaboy
Part of things
stopping smoking
Posts: 126
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If you want the old school reliability in a BMW you need to buy one with the last of the line N/A 6 pots, thats the N52 3ltr. Anything built after that will have high pressure fuel pumps, injector failure and after that turbo trouble. The E90/91 cars are some of the best BMW have made, bar the electric water pumps that die every 60k or so.
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I have an idea for a unique alfa. . . . and i think it might just work.
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,195
Club RR Member Number: 170
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I think the more electronic Gizmos you have in a car the more that can go wrong with them Trust me, it doesn't make much difference. As an example, my Merc is one the trickier cars I have worked on, and alot of the faults haven't been electrical . My BL stuff would have made the electrical maladies in all of my moderns seem like nothing. Bear in mind the Mondeo is now on 177k and rising pretty quicky; it's my daily that's subjected to 20k a year come rain or shine, or even snow! If you want the old school reliability in a BMW you need to buy one with the last of the line N/A 6 pots, thats the N52 3ltr. Anything built after that will have high pressure fuel pumps, injector failure and after that turbo trouble. The E90/91 cars are some of the best BMW have made, bar the electric water pumps that die every 60k or so. Agreed! They're a fantastic engine! The pumps can go on alot longer than 60k, but it's a safe limit to do it. I suspect a 100k pump will have seen less action than a 50k one, purely down to the type of driving ; motorway driving won't have the demand on the pump as much as pure town driving with the AC on in the middle of the summer. The annoying thing is they removed the temp gauge. If someone could make the light work as a warning or somehow make it display somewhere that would the answer . the N53s and N55s aren't so bad and HPFP prices have come down alot and are simple (ish) to fit; Injectors can be an issue, but -they can't be run dry at all. -I know a friend of mine runs all of his diesels on V-Power and that makes a difference. It seems even on petrols it can I dread to think what the E10 introduction will do to them though, especially the older stuff.
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Last Edit: Dec 9, 2019 17:43:53 GMT by ChasR
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okp
Part of things
Posts: 183
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Everything modern seems to be a peugeot/citroen, Vauxhall... a British brand since 1908 they bang on about in their adverts... the only thing British is where they're assembled! Most mercs are just Renault's
Thats the problem... it's all wibblepoo French tech
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sonus
Europe
Posts: 1,386
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My old e91 facelift felt better built than my current f31 facelift, but that might be due to the lower weight of the f31. Ideally I’d have an Alpine B3s Allrad touring e91 with retrofitted gizmos from a f31 😁
I drove my e91 325d almost 55.000 miles and only needed to change the glow plugs and one broken front spring besides servicing. Fingers crossed my new f31 340i will be just as reliable 😉👍
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Last Edit: Dec 9, 2019 19:33:02 GMT by sonus
Current 1968 TVR VIXEN S1 V8 Prototype 2004 TVR T350C 2017 BMW 340i
Previous BMW 325d E91LCI - sold Alfa Romeo GTV - sold Citroen AX GT - at the breakers Ford Puma 1.7 - sold Volvo V50 2.0d - sold MGB GT - wrecked by fire MG ZT 1.8T - sold VW E-golf Electric - sold Mini Countryman 1.6D -sold Land Rover Discovery TD5 - sold
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Everything modern seems to be a peugeot/citroen, Vauxhall... a British brand since 1908 they bang on about in their adverts... the only thing British is where they're assembled! Most mercs are just Renault's Thats the problem... it's all wibblepoo French tech arent vauxhalls made in germany?
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2001 vauxhall corsa 1972 VW Beetle 1986 Ford Capri Laser1999 BMW E36 323i Touring 1991 Volvo 940 estate 2002 Mazda 323f 2.0 sport 2016 Mercedes Sprinter 1999 nissan almera 1.4 1995 lexus gs300 1995 lexus ls400 1975 bmw 1602 fiat punto 2003 ford fiesta something else...
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Most mercs are just Renault's Thats the problem... it's all wibblepoo French tech Well, there was something like ten projects co-developed between Merc and Renault over the last ten years. From what I understand, two cars, a van, a pick up and some small capacity engines. So, it's far from most Merc's. But the news on the block gets better or worse, depending on you're view point! ''Incoming Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius, who will succeed Zetsche on May 22, will not renew common projects with Renault and Nissan, Germany's Manager Magazine reported. Kallenius wants to focus of Daimler's growing partnership with premium rival BMW...'' It could end up being all wibblepoo German tech...
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Still learning...still spending...still breaking things!
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okp
Part of things
Posts: 183
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Everything modern seems to be a peugeot/citroen, Vauxhall... a British brand since 1908 they bang on about in their adverts... the only thing British is where they're assembled! Most mercs are just Renault's Thats the problem... it's all wibblepoo French tech arent vauxhalls made in germany? Opel.... that was always my thinking too But they advertise as british brand. I never know with Vauxhall.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,842
Club RR Member Number: 174
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arent vauxhalls made in germany? Opel.... that was always my thinking too But they advertise as british brand. I never know with Vauxhall. Astra's are made in Ellesmere Port and iirc the Luton plant makes Vivaro's.
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Most of the technology in modern cars comes from a handfull of suppliers, virtually all manufacturers target somewhere around 12 years corrosion and around 10 years/ 200,000 km life without major failure, so aside from the apperance,finish and the oh so overated brand image nursing the buyers ego there isn't mucn to choose between any of them.
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Ive owned roughly 30 BMW's in the past 12 years. Mainly pre 2000 i must admit very rarely had major issues. I have owned an E90 M3 since Feb which is a 2009 and this era of BMW M cars have tolerances on the bottom end bearing that are too tight. The M3 and M5 suffer from this and grenade themselves when the bearing wear. Ive had mine done to prevent this happening but honestly apart from that its been spot on having done a few thousand road and track miles. I did 200miles on track in one day at Spa! Certainly all the new stuff looks very samey and i hate the fact that its all autos. wo wants a performance car with an auto...yuck! They only made 430 pre facelift 4 door M3 in RHD so that was part of the reason i bought one. Also 414bhp out the box and a car that only with spring and brake pad upgrades it could keep up with most things on track in essentially stock form.
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Dec 10, 2019 10:40:05 GMT
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Everything modern seems to be a peugeot/citroen, Vauxhall... a British brand since 1908 they bang on about in their adverts... the only thing British is where they're assembled! Most mercs are just Renault's Thats the problem... it's all wibblepoo French tech Vauxhall, American owned since 1925!
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Dec 10, 2019 11:51:02 GMT
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Vauxhaul was bought by peugeot with the rest of GM europe about 18 months ago.
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Dec 10, 2019 12:34:22 GMT
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I think the more electronic Gizmos you have in a car the more that can go wrong with them Do you own a Range Rover P38? Your comment may be true, but also black boxes to sort out most electrical problems are readily available now. Well, for the notorious P38 anyway. Ask me how I know! I always wondered why most old school engines, except some exotica, had chain driven cams, yet were mainly non-damaging if the worst came to the worst. Then someone decided, no doubt in the name of production cost and immediate fuel efficiency, it was a good idea to tighten up piston/valve tolerances and then keep them separated by an elastic band. Hmmm.
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Dec 10, 2019 12:36:58 GMT
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That's an interesting ironic observatio n id luv to know how long people have actually gone inbetween changing cambelts on non-interference and interference engines?
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bazzateer
Posted a lot
Imping along sans Vogue
Posts: 3,653
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Dec 10, 2019 15:32:56 GMT
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Vauxhall (French owned) is a British brand, Jaguar and Land Rover (Indian owned) are both British brands, MG (Chinese owned) is a British brand, Rolls Royce and Bentley (both German owned) are British brands etc etc. Brand is one thing, ownership is something completely different.
Aside from a lottery win I'm unlikely to own a BMW newer than my current 2007 E61 (brilliant car but not without it's issues). Previously had an E36 318is (bought off here) and an E36 320i Touring - both great cars and dirt cheap to buy and run. Looking to buy a classic BMW (late 60s/early 70s in the New Year).
Most modern cars seem to be built for the lowest common denominator and are getting further away from the sheer joy of driving. Too many driver aids - honestly, if you don't know when to turn the lights/wipers on I'd argue that you should not be in charge of a car at all!
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1968 Singer Chamois Sport 1972 Sunbeam Imp Sport 1976 Datsun 260Z 2+2 1998 Peugeot Boxer Pilote motorhome 2003 Rover 75 1.8 Club SE (daily) 2006 MG ZT 190+ (another daily) 2007 BMW 530d Touring M Sport (tow car)
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Dec 10, 2019 16:09:11 GMT
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Most mercs are just Renault's Thats the problem... it's all wibblepoo French tech Smart 4/4 is basically a twingo the new A class uses one renualt engine and its poo and the citan van is basically a renault the X class is based on a navara and the rest of the mers are RWD/4WD which precludes them from being renaults which IIRC are predominatley wrong wheel drive. ps blame the accountants, its usually their fault, remember all the dodgy mercs of yesteryear? all at the behest of the bean counters, a senior merc offical actually said a while back that car design was being handed back the the engineers and it was a mistke to let the accountants get involved.
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Dec 10, 2019 16:51:10 GMT
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Most modern cars seem to be built for the lowest common denominator and are getting further away from the sheer joy of driving. Too many driver aids - honestly, if you don't know when to turn the lights/wipers on I'd argue that you should not be in charge of a car at all! Wasn't that always the case though? The Imp in your profile pic, for instance was a basic economy car built for people who were just happy to own a car at all. Maybe we're guilty of looking at everything with the proverbial rose tinted glasses, or perhaps many of you are too young to remember how really un-reliable cars used to be. Winter mornings used to be full of the sounds of people struggling to start their cars. Cars would rust in just a couple of years. Despite all the stereotypes over french cars, I never had any problems with my old MK1 Clio that couldn't be put down to user error or natural wear and tear. Now drive a Fiat which has the unfortunate combination of electric power steering and the worlds smallest battery, but I'd call that a design flaw rather than unreliability. If you drive a car like that on lots of short trips in cold weather then the battery will drain and the power steering fails (not fun when your half way round a roundabout!) but if you're sensible and drive long enough to charge the battery then it works fine. I agree totally on the automatic wipers and lights though!
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Dec 10, 2019 17:12:54 GMT
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Today, I was reversing a customer's Jaguar F-Type in pitch black, wind and rain, backing it into a spot a few inches away from some other cars, concentrating in the mirror so as not to hit anything, when all of a sudden, the front and rear windscreen wipers suddenly kicked in with a start, scaring the bejeesus out of me!
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Dec 10, 2019 17:36:21 GMT
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Do you own a Range Rover P38? Your comment may be true, but also black boxes to sort out most electrical problems are readily available now. Well, for the notorious P38 anyway. Ask me how I know! I always wondered why most old school engines, except some exotica, had chain driven cams, yet were mainly non-damaging if the worst came to the worst. Then someone decided, no doubt in the name of production cost and immediate fuel efficiency, it was a good idea to tighten up piston/valve tolerances and then keep them separated by an elastic band. Hmmm. Wish i could find a black box to sort the seized engine in mine!😀
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,842
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Dec 10, 2019 18:05:00 GMT
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I had a weird "new tech" thing the other day. Was taking a 6 month old Merc out for a test drive after I'd done the engine (water damage) and I was sat at some traffic lights with the radio on when the volume went down. 5 seconds later I heard the sirens of a ambulance. Once it passed the volume returned to normal. Didnt think much of it the first time but it did it 3 times on that journey. It's a great idea.
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