Bye BMW

**110reef** · 03-26-2019, 11:30 AM

Well, I bought a 2017 Subaru Forester for my daughter, and used my 328i convertible as a trade-in. After 225,000 miles, my 21-yr-old car was very tired, and unreliable. I could not get it to pass inspection for the past year due to a check engine light. Never affected performance, but something was wrong - probably a vacuum leak that I could never find. At any rate, a sad day for me as I have had many hours of both driving and wrenching on that vehicle. I had stopped using it as my every-day vehicle 2 years ago when I purchased a 2008 Jaguar XK convertible with only 23,000 miles, which I absolutely love. (and after driving it for 35,000 miles, I have had to do almost nothing to it yet - oil change, repair of glovebox damper and replacement of brake pads). But now the BMW is gone for good, so I won't be frequenting the forum any more

I wanted to thank this forum for all the useful advice on keeping my car running without having to go to the mechanic. (I never took it to a BMW dealership for repairs, though I did sometimes get parts through the dealership) I definitely had a love/hate relationship with this car - when it ran and worked as it should, it brought a huge smile to my face, but on the other hand, I always had things to fix or replace on this car from the day I bought it. This forum has saved me many thousands of dollars, and some people I even got to know in real life. Participation has greatly fallen off lately, I assume because the cars are now getting pretty old, and people no longer have them so have moved on. But I have enjoyed being a part of this forum. I hope I have helped people as well.

For those of you still here, happy motoring!

**M3rocket** · 03-26-2019, 07:33 PM

Hey Ken, Sorry to see you go, but enjoy your Jag! My 21-year-old M3 is still doing fine, since I only put on 3,500 a year -- it's still under 130K miles. You're right, participation in this forum has dropped off dramatically -- perhaps because so many questions get rehashed about soft top problems that folks get bored. Plus, I'd like to think many of us have gotten more knowledgeable through the years as a result of our collective wisdom!! (ha-ha)

**66 6** · 03-27-2019, 08:32 AM

You'll be back.............................................. ....................

**110reef** · 03-28-2019, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by M3rocket

Hey Ken, Sorry to see you go, but enjoy your Jag! My 21-year-old M3 is still doing fine, since I only put on 3,500 a year -- it's still under 130K miles. You're right, participation in this forum has dropped off dramatically -- perhaps because so many questions get rehashed about soft top problems that folks get bored. Plus, I'd like to think many of us have gotten more knowledgeable through the years as a result of our collective wisdom!! (ha-ha)

Thanks M3. Glad your car is still doing well. I got mine with 111,000 miles on it, and it always had one problem or another. Probably mistreated by the previous owners. But things like the brittle plastic I have to believe are just how it was made. The motor itself seemed to be bullet-proof. But I changed transmissions twice in 120,000 miles. (The transmission is a GM product by the way) There were very few things on the car that I didn't have to replace at some point or another. As I said, though, when it worked, it was a fantastically fun car. I will miss it. I agree about the same questions being asked over and over. Most things have been discussed and re-discussed. At least this forum doesn't seem to have the heated "which oil is better" discussions like other forums do...

Originally Posted by 66 6

You'll be back.............................................. ....................

Doubtful.... after the BMW and 2 Mercedes, I have now sworn off German Cars. One Mercedes (E430) was a good car, but the other (C220) was nothing but problems. So two of the three German Cars I have owned were problem cars. My Jaguar has been great so far. And the American and Japanese cars I have owned over the years were likewise trouble-free.

But you, in particular, have been very helpful to me over the years, especially with parts. Thanks for that! (I still have parts from you in my garage that I never installed, like door panel attachments! Need to clear them out...)

**Jrob7** · 03-29-2019, 02:33 PM

Well, I’m new here. I’m a 17 year old kid with a 1996 328i convertible in this weird green blue color which I’ve read that there are only four of. I’ve found that this forum is unlike any other when it comes to these cars... and I’m thankful. I hope some people still stay around because I just got here and well... I’ve got a lot to learn.

It’s only got 80k miles on it but it’s got a load of problems that my dad and I have been trying to fix. He’s worked on cars his whole life and was on a pit crew for a SEMA (or something like that) racing team back in the 80’s. After redoing all the brakes (which were rusted in horribly), fixing a trunk lock, and many other things so far, we’ve now come to the point of replacing rear shocks. Because access to the tops of the shocks is limited to when the roof works, we are now having to figure out roof problems. In short, I enjoy this and it’s fun. This type of community needs to stay around.

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