and now i have a production number for my car!

[pwnagesarus]

well it wasn't exactly the most fiscally prudent move ever, but i dont have kids or a mortgage or any debt so i think i just figured screw it why not. the audi is actually burning through oil faster than when i first bought it (maybe every 2k / quart now) which is terrible.

so i put in my order to have a 2013 BMW 328i m-sport built and shipped to me in 10-12 weeks.

got it for $200 over invoice, built to order, base car, m-sport package, xenon package, sport automatic transmission and estoriil blue and aluminum interior with estoril blue paint outside. no other options other than sirius radio.

will look exactly like this

http://www.bimmerpost.com/storyimages/45d71ac1-4df2-ee3c.jpg

the wait begins starting this week when my order gets put in. christmas is gonna be fun.

Estoril Blue is always the right choice. :thumbsup:

 

[hans007]

nice, I would have ponied the extra fora 335, but that's me

yeah i considered it momentarily.

but it effectively cost nearly $5000, because 335i allocations are pretty low right now.

for $5000 i'd get a moonroof and the engine, and i've had a moonroof in my last 3 cars and barely ever used them so i figured i'd pass. plus the i-6 is 150 pounds heavier so it really wasnt that much faster.

will slightly regret it since the 335i's exhaust would have sounded great, but i figured i'd rather keep the money wasnt trying to go crazy on this. kind of wanted the heads up display too, but $3000 for it and nav seemed a bit much when i already had an android phone that is a better nav.

 

[hans007]

And with an aftermarket tune on that turbo-4, should be able to get more out of it.

based on the edmunds dyno the 2.0t in the bmw, has about as much power if not more than the new ATS which is rated at 272hp.

i think itll be a pretty good upgrade over the maybe 220 "real" hp in the a4 which was a heavier car.

 

[satyajitmenon]

based on the edmunds dyno the 2.0t in the bmw, has about as much power if not more than the new ATS which is rated at 272hp.

i think itll be a pretty good upgrade over the maybe 220 "real" hp in the a4 which was a heavier car.

If you like that, you'll love this :biggrin:

 

[hans007]

got production number! tracking it on bmws, site i guess it went in today and have the build sheet etc.

I have to say the ordering process has been really really smooth. Hasn't been any car dealership tactics. The german makes in my experience are very good about this.

also as a side note, in the 3 weeks since i started this thread, i've driven the audi about 700 miles. according to the digital oil gauge in there, it burned 3/4 of a quart of oil in that time.

apparently peopel are getting replacement engines, replacement cylinders, rings, new blocks to remedy this issue,t hough apparently it just makes it less bad again.

Uh VW group i'm good. i'm really never buying a VW product again unless im filthy rich and said product is a 911 or aventador

 

[iamwiz82]

You should be able to track the ship your car is on once you get that far, assuming it's on WW.

http://www.bmwblog.com/2009/07/14/how-to-follow-a-new-bmw-from-order-to-shipping-and-to-delivery/

 

[Zivic]

Like it except the auto trans......booooo

 

[Ferzerp]

The wait is excruciating isn't it? I just started my wait tonight (not a custom order, but still one that's not build yet).

 

[LTC8K6]

328 8A is considerably quicker than the ATS 6M.

The ATS handled a little better, but it was really no contest when comparing manuals.

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/2013-bmw-328i-vs-2013-cadillac-ats-comparison-test

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2012-bmw-328i-sedan-automatic-test-review

 

[ND40oz]

You get a Munich or South Africa build?

 

[hans007]

You get a Munich or South Africa build?

they said it might be here around xmas, so thats probably munich since i read SA is a bit slower.

i think SA is 335 production for north america right now.

but yes the wait will be tough. i've got work to keep me busy, not like a drive a terrible car now, just an unreliable one.

 

[hans007]

Like it except the auto trans......booooo

i am never getting a manual daily driver. in the end its harder to sell, and i live in really dense urban areas with horrible traffic.

i did buy a pretty stripped down BMW though, so im slowly talking myself into buying a miata 6 speed once i move to a place with street parking with the money i saved

 

[Zivic]

i am never getting a manual daily driver. in the end its harder to sell, and i live in really dense urban areas with horrible traffic.

i did buy a pretty stripped down BMW though, so im slowly talking myself into buying a miata 6 speed once i move to a place with street parking with the money i saved

if it were me, I would have bought the bmw as a fun car, that I occasionally drove to work. I personally can't see spending a good chunk of dough on a car that I am going to subject to everyday driving abuse.... at least you don't have salty winter roads to deal with

 

[hans007]

if it were me, I would have bought the bmw as a fun car, that I occasionally drove to work. I personally can't see spending a good chunk of dough on a car that I am going to subject to everyday driving abuse.... at least you don't have salty winter roads to deal with

i guess for me i figure ill get to drive it everyday. i figure if im gonna spend a lot of money on something i might as well use it i guess and then if it gets used up get another one. no garage queens for me i guess.

plus i don't have the option of 2 cars right now as it is. wish there was more parking in LA.

 

[NutBucket]

i am never getting a manual daily driver. in the end its harder to sell, and i live in really dense urban areas with horrible traffic.

Meh, people complain too damned much. I drive through your city daily!

FWIW, I've never had trouble selling cars with an MT.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

got production number! tracking it on bmws, site i guess it went in today and have the build sheet etc.

I have to say the ordering process has been really really smooth. Hasn't been any car dealership tactics. The german makes in my experience are very good about this.

also as a side note, in the 3 weeks since i started this thread, i've driven the audi about 700 miles. according to the digital oil gauge in there, it burned 3/4 of a quart of oil in that time.

apparently peopel are getting replacement engines, replacement cylinders, rings, new blocks to remedy this issue,t hough apparently it just makes it less bad again.

Uh VW group i'm good. i'm really never buying a VW product again unless im filthy rich and said product is a 911 or aventador

What exactly is a production number? My z4m is 10th from the last z4m ever made.. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

if it were me, I would have bought the bmw as a fun car, that I occasionally drove to work. I personally can't see spending a good chunk of dough on a car that I am going to subject to everyday driving abuse.... at least you don't have salty winter roads to deal with

That's basically what I've done.. I have a semi beater daily driver, and a "nice" bmw that was supposed to be only a couple times a week. It wasn't that expensive so I'm not too worried about it but I'm putting 15k/year on it easily, and that's only driving it in good weather.. IE nothing above 90F, no rain, etc.

 

[iamwiz82]

What exactly is a production number? My z4m is 10th from the last z4m ever made.. I thought that was pretty cool.

When you order a BMW you get a production number that is assigned to each vehicle before they have a VIN. You can use it to track the order all the way through the build/shipping process.

 

[hans007]

Meh, people complain too damned much. I drive through your city daily!

FWIW, I've never had trouble selling cars with an MT.

i just thought it'd be harder to sell this type of car. i mean lets say i sell it in 4 years. theres countless real estate agents and such who just need a nice car to look "respectable" in LA or whatever it is. they dont drive manual.

had a friend lease a hyundai sonata manual just becuase he didnt want to deal with the lower resale.

that said, i like driving manual but im not great at it. its really really great when you dont have to deal with traffic, but i am not sure its worth doing through "normal stuff" to get that fun part to get a primary car in. just my personal opinion, i know the manual guys are pretty vocal online.

 

[NutBucket]

Admittedly "we" are fairly vocal.

I think just as there is a loyal group of MT fans, you can find the same group of people looking to buy used ones since there are SO many fewer cars to choose from. Sure, if you want MT Miata its easy. Try to find an MT 5-series or even an MT Accord. Good luck! Hell, in a few years it'll probably be difficult to find an MT 911!

Good thing your friend leased that Sonata manual. My parents have one and the shifter/clutch is horrible. Certainly worse than the MT Camry it replaced.

 

[hans007]

Admittedly "we" are fairly vocal.

I think just as there is a loyal group of MT fans, you can find the same group of people looking to buy used ones since there are SO many fewer cars to choose from. Sure, if you want MT Miata its easy. Try to find an MT 5-series or even an MT Accord. Good luck! Hell, in a few years it'll probably be difficult to find an MT 911!

Good thing your friend leased that Sonata manual. My parents have one and the shifter/clutch is horrible. Certainly worse than the MT Camry it replaced.

yeah when he got it (and he's in the bay area, so the traffic issue isnt quite as big) he said it was the first one in california sold according the hyundai dealer he went to. I remember he said the reason was, he didnt know what he wanted at the time and for some reason had to buy another car (he had a mazdaspeed 6 which had some carbon buildup problems, and i guess he wanted bluetooth i dont know it seemed like a dumb idea at the time) so he went with the sonata since it was new. i guess his lease is almost up so he's going to just buy outright a focus ST .

gotta hand it to people who buy manual midsized cars new, its getting to be a really rare car type. the manual cars come on the cheap optioned trim levels too, probably doesnt help.

i have a friend who used to autocross his MT camry, but toyota got rid of manual camrys. the friend with the sonata actually test drove a MT C300 , but mercedes got rid of that too when the C250 came out last year. and im sure lexus isn't building another manual IS250 all 14 of them that they sold must still be running. dying breed for sure for "normal" cars. i guess someone can buy my friends MT sonata when it comes off lease.

 

[NutBucket]

At least you can still get an Accord EX with a 6MT. I'd almost buy one just to show that there's demand. I guarantee I wouldn't have a CR-Z if it didn't have a 6MT. I dislike driving cars with automatics. Just doesn't seem right to me. The only exception is when the manual is poorly executed (see: Sonata, Camry).

My favorite family car is still a BMW 535xi Wagon w/ 6MT. Too bad those are only be had on the used market these days.

 

[hans007]

I guess that's what you have to do . Though manufacturers are making it hard since nicer cars only the higher end models come with manual. For example only g37 with sport can get manual . Or the 528i isn't available in manual.

Friend wants a 328xi and you can't order in manual only on 335xi.

Then conversely on non premium cars its only on the base models for some reasons. Guess you mt guys need to buy some non ideal configs before they'd even consider putting other ones back. Same with wagons I guess

 

[NutBucket]

I really missed the boat when I bought my Legacy back in '05. It was the one year they offered a 5MT with a turbo. Instead I bought a sedan.

The trouble is, when we're talking cheap cars manufacturers assume you want one to save a few bucks. When they're premium cars they know that people that want the MT are willing to pay for it. Go figure....

But oddly enough, for the Cadillac ATS the AT is standard but opting for the MT drops the price $1500 or something. Its all marketing I guess.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Well I for one love MT. I get super bored driving autos. Plus I feel more removed from driving. It feels like a video game, set it on auto pilot and forget it. While autos are slowly becoming better in many regards (fuel economy for one) than MT's, I dread the day I can't get a MT. Or at least a proper dual clutch DSG paddle shifter. None of this electro/pseudo DSG bs where they just have a computer assign specific gearing selections as the "gear" in an automatic.

Something about the clutch and powering through the shifts just gets me going. Feels like the car is more an extension of myself than I'm in a box that only requires me to steer left or right and control the throttle sometimes.