Anything else then BMW ???

[Booster]

hey a nissan head like me, lol, i had a RB26DETT also in a nissan cefiro, it pulled like a beast

Nice ! This one ( RB26DETT) has HKS 600-700hp cams and gears ,and the uprated cross-mission gearset for the awd tranny along with a ton of other power adders.Awesome power and more to come.
Regarding "other" cars ....the German cars do have a certain "FEEL" to them that I've always liked, but I find about all manufacturers have begun sampling the same level or bar to their flagship cars.......some bringing it to fruition better than others.
Loving one brand is great but there are so many other goods out there to be tested and enjoyed. I'll leave my DEVOTION and LOYALTY to my human relationships.Cars in my book are meant to extrapolate fun,fury and the pursuit of thrashing performance to the tune of your mood.Period.

..............Vinny

[Zeuk in Oz]

Would you consider another make

What has to be realised is that we sometimes need cars that BMW (in this case) don't offer a version of.

For example my daily driver is an F250 7.3 litre V8 turbo diesel crew cab 4X4 ute. Brilliant at what it does but BMW doesn't offer a vehicle similar. Nor does anyone else in Oz, Chev Silverados don't exist here.

My first car was a 1974 Saab 99 LE combi coupe (3 door) with a 2 litre fuel injected engine and front wheel drive. It gave me a real insight into who a car could be engineered, having only been exposed to Fords and Holdens up till then.

I have owned 2 Saabs (the '86 900 16 valve turbo was brilliant to drive), 4 Volvos ('83 240 GL wagon, '84 360 GLT (horrible), '91 940 Turbo wagon, '96 850 AWD wagon), 2 Range Rovers ('89 3.5 litre V8, '92 4.0 litre V8), 1 Land Rover Discovery TDi auto ('97 model - brilliant) and a '01 Toyota Landcruiser 4.5 litre six cylinder petrol 4x4 ( worst car I have ever owned).
I currently own the '03 F250, an '02 Mercedes ML 270 CDI 7 seater and the '88 525i.

At the time of purchasing all of these cars, the only time there was an equivalent BMW available was the horrible 360 GLT Volvo - I wanted to purchase an (?e30) 318i but she who must be obeyed wanted the Volvo and after all - she was driving it. That was the last time I let her choose.

We have the Merc instead of an X5 because the Merc was a 7 seater - necessary with 4 kids. Similarly the Volvo 940 turbo wagon and the 850 AWD wagons were 7 seaters that BMW did not offer.

The point to all this is that it is not always possible to choose a particular marque ( in this case BMW ) because they don't meet all needs. Part of the fun is trying to find a suitable vehicle that meets your needs, regardless of marque.

[SC David]

At the SF auto show I fell in love with the Volvo S60R and the Audi A3 3.2 Quattro. If S60R prices fall a great deal within the next 3 years, then I might just have one for my next car.

But, somehow I have the feeling I'll end up in an E39 540 or E46 330 when the time comes...

[Dan in NZ]

What has to be realised is that we sometimes need cars that BMW (in this case) don't offer a version of.

For example my daily driver is an F250 7.3 litre V8 turbo diesel crew cab 4X4 ute. Brilliant at what it does but BMW doesn't offer a vehicle similar. Nor does anyone else in Oz, Chev Silverados don't exist here.

My first car was a 1974 Saab 99 LE combi coupe (3 door) with a 2 litre fuel injected engine and front wheel drive. It gave me a real insight into who a car could be engineered, having only been exposed to Fords and Holdens up till then.

I have owned 2 Saabs (the '86 900 16 valve turbo was brilliant to drive), 4 Volvos ('83 240 GL wagon, '84 360 GLT (horrible), '91 940 Turbo wagon, '96 850 AWD wagon), 2 Range Rovers ('89 3.5 litre V8, '92 4.0 litre V8), 1 Land Rover Discovery TDi auto ('97 model - brilliant) and a '01 Toyota Landcruiser 4.5 litre six cylinder petrol 4x4 ( worst car I have ever owned).
I currently own the '03 F250, an '02 Mercedes ML 270 CDI 7 seater and the '88 525i.

At the time of purchasing all of these cars, the only time there was an equivalent BMW available was the horrible 360 GLT Volvo - I wanted to purchase an (?e30) 318i but she who must be obeyed wanted the Volvo and after all - she was driving it. That was the last time I let her choose.

We have the Merc instead of an X5 because the Merc was a 7 seater - necessary with 4 kids. Similarly the Volvo 940 turbo wagon and the 850 AWD wagons were 7 seaters that BMW did not offer.

The point to all this is that it is not always possible to choose a particular marque ( in this case BMW ) because they don't meet all needs. Part of the fun is trying to find a suitable vehicle that meets your needs, regardless of marque.

Just wondering why you thought so highly of the Disco I compared to the Landcruiser? My family has owned a selection of Landcruisers, Discoverys and Range Rovers. I thought very highly of the 1992 Landcruiser we had before the 1996 Discovery, 1996 Range Rover, and 2000 Discovery. I do have to say the Discovery II is pretty damn good (with ACE package).


I started my driving life in a 1984 corolla. Drove that for three years, and have been driving my E34 for the last two years. Next car will be an E39, or a SII Range Rover.

[Zeuk in Oz]

Just wondering why you thought so highly of the Disco I compared to the Landcruiser?

Dan, I basically drove the same chasis for 12 - 13 years in the 2 Range Rovers and the series 1 Discovery. All handled like sports cars after the initial body roll which you quickly became used to. They also had unbelievable wheel travel off road.

The Landcruiser 100 series is, in my opinion, a typical Toyota with terrible handling compared to the Land Rovers. The Toyota suffers what I call bump steer when it feels like the steering happens from the rear. Prados do the same thing. The other problem with Toyotas, IMHO, is that they don't understand anything about fuel efficiency. My Landcruiser used 24 litres per 100 km in mixed driving, while my F250 only uses 16.

My Series 1 Discovery was the auto diesel version - 4 cylinder 2.5 litre. It was a fabulously honest work horse - not very quick from standstill but really tough and economical (9 litres per 100 km). You got the impression that the engine was going to last forever. It was a total revelation to me that I would prefer the Discovery with its little, underpowered diesel to the Range Rovers with their petrol V8s.

I agree with you about the Series II with ACE, however I never liked the idle of the 5 cylinder diesel in the TD5. My Volvo 850 was a 5 cylinder, as is my Merc ML 270 CDI, but they manage to idle much more smoothly than the TD5.

I feel that Land Rover should have brought out a more advanced diesel engine when they released the TD5, so compared with the Merc 2.7 litre or BMW 3.0 litre which are both common rail direct injection.

Interestingly I drove a Discovery 3 when they were released a year ago or so, and was really unimpressed with the ride on bitumen - the air suspension seemed to make the car wobble around incessantly.

[HDhandyman]

I like my car for the weight and the engine. I also like the way it feels. That said, I do not prefer the "luxuries" that my car employes. I would much prefer my car with really nicely stiched cloth seats, manual everything, and no sun roof. Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but I do not like being referred to as a Bimmer driver. Nor do I find comfort in the fact any one of my luxuries may break at any time. I haven't had particular difficulty with this car, but I'd like a blend between this bimmer and a basic VW. Just good German engineering built like a rock. Does anyone know if my dream car exists?

BTW--to the best of my knowledge, new VWs are ****, and old ones need a ton of mods to stack up with the likes of BMW. Would one of the wise care to prove me wrong?

[Dan in NZ]

I like my car for the weight and the engine. I also like the way it feels. That said, I do not prefer the "luxuries" that my car employes. I would much prefer my car with really nicely stiched cloth seats, manual everything, and no sun roof. Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but I do not like being referred to as a Bimmer driver. Nor do I find comfort in the fact any one of my luxuries may break at any time. I haven't had particular difficulty with this car, but I'd like a blend between this bimmer and a basic VW. Just good German engineering built like a rock. Does anyone know if my dream car exists?

BTW--to the best of my knowledge, new VWs are ****, and old ones need a ton of mods to stack up with the likes of BMW. Would one of the wise care to prove me wrong?

I have cloth seats, and no sunroof. Halfway there!

[HDhandyman]

I have cloth seats, and no sunroof. Halfway there!

really? !!

[Dan in NZ]

Dan, I basically drove the same chasis for 12 - 13 years in the 2 Range Rovers and the series 1 Discovery. All handled like sports cars after the initial body roll which you quickly became used to. They also had unbelievable wheel travel off road.

We've only had the 80-series landcruiser, but yeah, I see what you're saying. The 4.2 Diesel Manual was a good combo, at least while I was leaning to drive on it...

I'm a big fan of Land Rovers, once you get used to maintaining them. The series II range rover will probably be my next car, you can pick up a 1996-97 4.6 HSE with less than 100,000km for under 20K here. Fuel cost is astronomical in the V8's, so would only get one if I was doing low miles at the time. Petrol was a big reason my parents switched to the diesel auto Disco II, as I was ski racing at the time and putting $100 in the rangie every weekend gets tiring.

[Interceptor]

BTW--to the best of my knowledge, new VWs are ****, and old ones need a ton of mods to stack up with the likes of BMW. Would one of the wise care to prove me wrong?

I've seen euro E34s here with manual window lifters, cloth seats, no sunroof and no A/C. Maybe you'd like one of those. They're dirt cheap here.