[uucdigest] Tuesday, July 8 2003 Volume 03 : Number 6550
_________________________________________________________________ | | Search the ARCHIVES: | http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] | | Visit Richard Nott's Ultimate BMW Database: | http://www.bmwdatabase.com | | For all available Digest commands including unsubscribe/subscribe, | visit the BMW UUC Digest page: http://www.uucdigest.com | | Send SUBMISSIONS to [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Complaints? Send 'em to [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you must. | Technical Problems? Send 'em to [EMAIL PROTECTED] |__________________________________________________________________ In this BMW UUC Digest: Subject: [uuc] What are the best lease rates on a 2003 X5? Experi ence [uuc] International Octane ratings [uuc] re: '96 318ti surging and pulsing RE: [uuc] What are the best lease rates on a 2003 X5? Experience with ML350's? [uuc] leather cover on glove compartment Re: Subject: [uuc] What are the best lease rates on a 2003 X5? Experi ence RE: [uuc] Shiftlock/interlock, BMW automatic transmissions Re: [uuc] International Octane ratings [uuc] Shop bill [uuc] Traction tests ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 09:16:19 -0700 From: Donn Vickrey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Subject: [uuc] What are the best lease rates on a 2003 X5? Experi ence Hi Larry - I just got finished shopping leases when I acquired my 2002 996TT. By far the best rates were from Chase and US Bank. However, even if your dealer offers leases through these banks, they may charge you a higher rate than the bank itself charges. There are several independent leasing agents that will get you a far better deal. To get a feel for the rate that you can get, and payment, go to the following link. http://www.leasecompare.com Lease compare is probably the easiest to deal with - unless you are self employed as I am (which then required much more paperwork). Because I am self employed, I went with another agent (Bankers Auto Leasing) which offers a little higher level of personal service (which is not necessarily good, as it required more time, long story, but they got the rate I wanted). Bottom line, the monthly payment was about 15% lower through lease compare than what the dealer offered, with the downpayment ($0), lease term and residual the same. Donn Vickrey Scottsdale, AZ 98 IS/T2 M3 race car 02 996TT daily driver 03 Navigator tow vehicle and tot hauler ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 19:24:13 +0300 From: Robert Phelan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] International Octane ratings Heya group, I've gotten all settled in here in Finland, and I noticed something at the local gas station that made me wonder. The octane ratings at the pump were 95 and 98. Are they really that high compared to the states or do they have a different rating system? End of real question, for a fun little story, keep reading. Robert - ---- I'm here as a student worker here in Finland with no tools, no car, no nothing and all of my friends thought I'd go mad for lack of something to wrench on or drive. Lucky for me, my Finnish co-worker just bought a '90 Mazda 323 that has all kinds of little problems. Just yesterday the left-rear strut tower mount self-destructed after years of rusting and I promised to help out. I got them all swapped out in a couple of hours, much to the amazement of the owner. I gave him a first-hand lesson in why it's good to buy the expensive tools as I went through 2 combo wrenches and a socket trying to break-loose old rusted bolts. On our test-drive he told me how much the strut mounts cost and I almost choked! They were 110$ a piece! I checked with him and apparently almost no one made them in the aftermarket arena and he had to grab them from the dealer. It seems he had one of those "special" 323's The owner was very impressed and thankful, so now I have my wrenching fix for the month, a car to borrow whenever I like, and the promise of a sport bike to run around with as soon as the registration papers get finished up :) I always say that a good deed is its own reward, but sometimes you get a little something extra :) Hope all of you are doing well. Thanks to those who gave me advice and contacts in Helsinki before I arrived, it's been great! Robert ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 09:52:28 -0700 From: jkerouac <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] re: '96 318ti surging and pulsing re: '96 318ti surging and pulsing: The general behavior you describe is an engine not sure of what to do when switching between on throttle to the idle control circuit. Too lean is what causes the idle to hang higher before settling down to regular idle speed. Too rich is what can cause idle speed to oscillate lower before coming back up. With the AC on that is adding load to the engine so the drop will be more pronounced. Simplest cause of that could be an intake leak. Possibly a loose clamp or intake boot or loose/leaky hose on the idle control valve plumbing. Second could be a slowly failing Idle Control Valve. If those items check out ok, then the coolant temperature sensor can be a root cause of this, since if the CTS signal is wrong then the ECU is trying to adapt the idle speed to a temperature different than what the engine is running at. See if the throttle position switch is working correctly. A failing O2 sensor can contribute to erratic idle also. There were known problems with the crankshaft position sensors on some models from your year, check to see if the recall applies to your car. The recall included a desirable ECU remap so its worth checking into. Has a check engine light appeared during any of these problems? Check to see if there are fault codes in the ECU. If no codes, then its likely you have either a leak or slowly failing ICV. If there are codes, proceed accordingly. The O2 sensors are covered under the 100k emission warranty so if a place wants to charge to replace them, go elsewhere. Check the warranty literature for your model year to see what other emissions related components are covered. Good Luck, 'jk ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 13:05:20 -0400 From: "Robinson, Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [uuc] What are the best lease rates on a 2003 X5? Experience with ML350's? > If your wife doesn't care which wheels are providing the > forward motion, > check out the RX330 and the FX35 as well. Both will provide > the high seating > position and reasonable cargo space you're most likely > looking for above all > else, and if you're leasing, who cares if the car is going to > start coming > apart sooner than the germans, you'll be out of the vehicle > looooong before > that happens anyhow. The Infiniti FX's are based on the G35/Z/Skyline chassis, so they should be primarily motivated by the same wheels as the duetsche twins. Initial indications are that they are pretty fun to drive too. You're a BMW owner who thinks the Japanese will fall apart first????? > > good luck. > > -felix > miami,fl > 97 540/6 > 98 740 > 95 525 Lee->much less nice list of rides...... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 10:15:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Jay Guillermo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] leather cover on glove compartment Hi all, The leather cover on the glove compartment's door fell off last week. I'm not sure why but probably due to the glue's age combined with the heat. What kind of glue should I use to glue it back? Thanks, Jay '93 325i __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 12:18:26 -0500 From: Dennis Wynne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Subject: [uuc] What are the best lease rates on a 2003 X5? Experi ence I STRONGLY recommend Lease Compare as well. Tarry and the gang do a great job, and the web page is super - you can check rates and compare right on the web. But - they will probably not be able to touch these captive lease rates on a new ML or X5. You can always check and see - put the MSRP of the vehicle and the purchase price and the $2000 down, pick the term and it will tell you the payment (sans taxes). If nothing else, you can use it as a yardstick to see if the dealer's deal is honest or not. The captive leases usually have an inflated residual - the case of the ML it looks like 50% (Lease Compare) VS 57% from MB. This is the "edge" to get the payments down that the banks have trouble matching. They have to try to sell/auction your lease return, the MB and BMW dealers can CPO them and stick them on the lot (plus they don't really lose if the car is not worth the residual). For a used car, or a car/brand that does not an aggressive captive lease deal - then Lease Compare will likely be hard to top VS a dealer deal. One other thing - in order to get the reward from the BMWCCA the vehicle has to be sold to a member. The way Lease Compare works is as an agent - they buy the vehicle then lease it to you - this will likely preclude you from getting the reward. Since the X5 reward is $1000, that will surely make the BMW financial deal better. Dennis 330i silver/black/manual/sp/pp/xenon/cd At 09:16 AM 07/08/2003 -0700, Donn Vickrey wrote: >Hi Larry - > >I just got finished shopping leases when I acquired my 2002 996TT. By far >the best rates were from Chase and US Bank. However, even if your dealer >offers leases through these banks, they may charge you a higher rate than >the bank itself charges. There are several independent leasing agents that >will get you a far better deal. To get a feel for the rate that you can >get, and payment, go to the following link. > >http://www.leasecompare.com > >Lease compare is probably the easiest to deal with - unless you are self >employed as I am (which then required much more paperwork). Because I am >self employed, I went with another agent (Bankers Auto Leasing) which offers >a little higher level of personal service (which is not necessarily good, as >it required more time, long story, but they got the rate I wanted). > >Bottom line, the monthly payment was about 15% lower through lease compare >than what the dealer offered, with the downpayment ($0), lease term and >residual the same. > >Donn Vickrey >Scottsdale, AZ >98 IS/T2 M3 race car >02 996TT daily driver >03 Navigator tow vehicle and tot hauler ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 13:19:12 -0400 From: "Robinson, Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [uuc] Shiftlock/interlock, BMW automatic transmissions > My car has this irritating habit of preventing selection of a > drive gear > unless one's foot is firmly on the brake. While I understand > the need to > provide a safety mechanism for some (specifically people who think you > should be pressing the *accelerator* when selecting a gear > whilst stationary > in traffic), I dislike it. My last car didn't have it, there's no law > requiring it here, and personally I quite like being able to > select D with > the handbrake still applied, as and when. The Toyota rental cars we had in Asia were like this. Of course, I was conditioned to shift with my foot on the brake. The whole thing is a result of the Audi unintended acceleration thing in the 80's & our litigous society. It's prolly cheaper for BMW to just make all cars the same. > Andy T > '03 318i 2.0 Lee ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 13:37:20 -0400 From: "Bill Matthews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [uuc] International Octane ratings - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Phelan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Heya group, > I've gotten all settled in here in Finland, and I noticed something > at the local gas station that made me wonder. > > The octane ratings at the pump were 95 and 98. Are they really that > high compared to the states or do they have a different rating system? Yuurrup = Research Octane Method North America= Average(Research Octane Method+Motor Octane Method)=(R+M)/2 Because of the variations in the way some stocks blend and actually rate you can't make a direct comparison but Motor Method is usually 8 to 10 points lower for the same sample as Research Method and 93 (R+M)/2 usually comes out close to a 98 RON. Go to http://www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/gasoline-faq/part1/ and read the four part FAQ to learn everything a motor head should know about gasoline, octane, lead, and other mysteries of gasoline. Bill Matthews Hockessin DE USA 00 M Geeze some Volvos other cars ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 15:17:15 -0400 From: Kevin Clifford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Shop bill I just got my 540 back from the shop, almost $1600, ouch. Just wanted to run the price by people, it's my local independent shop. Thrust arms $400, even though I attached where to get them for $160, 2 hours labor, waterpump $117 and 4.7 hours to r&r water pump, thermostat, acc belts, flush and bleed system. Does that sound about right? Does your local let you give them parts to put on? His work is always excellent, and he sold me the car for a very good price. Thanks, Kevin 95 540i/6 w/ UUC short shift kit, 18" M Parallels w/ Kumho MX's(235fr, 265r), Bilstein Sports and now 750 thrust arm bushings. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 20:18:59 +0100 From: "Andrew Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [uuc] Traction tests An interesting road test today in Autocar (UK), pitting the new Audi S4 against the M3. Convential widsom has it that the S4 is quicker in the wet, on account of its superior traction. Now, Autocar's testers are not averse to the occasional toke of the pipe, and are sometimes prone to making daft judgements in order to shift copy. However their test seemed reasonably unbiased, conducted on a 2 km stretch of winding road at the Chobham Proving Track, with a full set of diagnostic equipment on board each car, and several runs taken (same driver). The result? The BMW M3 was even quicker in the wet; but the Audi closed the gap in the dry. Why? Mainly, the Audi powered out of bends better but couldn't carry enough speed in. If you went into a corner a bit hot, it just understeered. The understeer was mainly to do with weight and inappropriate suspension tuning; with nearly 60% of the mass at the front, stiff springs and not much anti-roll, it ended up on its bumpstops. In the dry, the understeer was lessened and a trad slow-in, fast-out technique speeded things up. This I can believe. Contrary to the rave reviews the S4 gets over the pond, the evidence points to a poor choice of suspension set-up for the UK (and I suspect European) markets. A car with this potential shouldn't end up on its bumpstops on a piece of smooth, honed tarmac. Stiff springs are chosen to give punters that sporty feel they desire, and soft anti-roll bars to retain some vestigial ride comfort over uneven roads. But with 1670 kg and fat tyres, something is going to give. This probably explains the S4's negligible sales in many of its key markets. *ahem* You guys get all the best S4s. I wish we had your S4s over here. Our S4s suck, etc. On another Piech-related note, the same magazine tested the VW Touareg V10 5-litre diesel, with hundreds of horsepower and thousands of torques. 6000 lb and 6.7 sec to 60, all with two people and a full tank (100 kg!) of fuel. Pointless, but wild. Andy T ------------------------------ End of [uucdigest] V3 #6550 *************************** | | In memory of Michel Potheau - friend, enthusiast, founder of the BMW CCA. |________________________________________ | Please visit these UUC-approved BMW parts vendors/service providers: | (listed alphabetically) | | Autoscope-Motorsports - http://www.autoscope-motorsports.com | |==================================================== | | Koala MotorSport . 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