BMW DIY advice, and the occasional critique of the company
The final 2020 BMW sales numbers are in and BMW retained its luxury make crown in the U.S. market. Total sales were down 17.5 percent with 278,732 vehicles sold, and for much of the year it looked as if BMW could fall to third behind Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. But a big Q4 for BMW saw […]
Recently my wife and I returned from a week away and the battery in my E39 M5 was totally dead. This was disappointing because the battery was less than two years old and I had charged it prior to us leaving. The dead battery was an Interstate MTP-95R. I’ve had good experiences in the past […]
Last week I did an old school oil change in my driveway. I use that term because I’ve become very used to handling DIY work at the events organized by the local National Capitol chapter of the BMW Car Club of America. But of course COVID-19 changed all that and there hasn’t been an event […]
In 2018 I wrote about the fast growing online auction site Bring a Trailer. Since then the site continued to grow, was acquired and just got some competition. According to an April feature story in the New York Times, Bring a Trailer had over 100,000 registered bidders in 2019 and revenue totaled $230 million. In […]
2020 BMW sales in the U.S. have been badly hurt by the corona pandemic. Sales in Q2 were down an amazing 39.3 percent, totaling 50,957. Year to date BMW is down 28.4 percent in this market, with 110,412 vehicles sold. Globally BMW is doing a bit better, with BMW brand sales down 21.7 percent. While […]
Things have been slow on the BMW maintenance front due to the corona virus and sheltering in place. Club DIY events were canceled in March and there is no update on when they will restart. Fortunately neither of my cars require any scheduled maintenance at the moment and I’m putting fewer miles on them than […]
In January I replaced my E39 M5 spark plugs. Over the past few months I’ve given the car a complete tune up, minus an oil change it doesn’t need yet. In BMW lingo this equates to an Inspection II, which would have cost $1,200 or more at a dealer or independent shop. Last summer I […]
Happy 2020 to all. 2019 BMW sales were up 4.4 percent in the U.S., totaling 324,826 vehicles. That was good for the top spot in this market, beating Mercedes-Benz by about 8,700 and reclaiming the sales crown after four years. Lexus was third with 298,114 sold, and Audi fourth with 224,111. However, those numbers may […]
Over the Thanksgiving holiday I installed a stock air intake in my 2006 BMW E46 M3. When I bought the car in 2014 it came with an aftermarket cold air intake (CAI). Replacing the CAI had been on my project list for a while. The CAI name is a misnomer – most of them become […]
Last month we bought a 2016 BMW X5. Our three year lease on a 2016 Ford Edge Sport was ending, which we had purchased after our accident that fall. Rather than leasing again we purchased the BMW X5 as a certified pre-owned (CPO) vehicle, which inspects and reconditions the vehicle while extending the warranty coverage. […]
This weekend my E46 M3 got some important preventative maintenance. Working with a guy from M3Forum who specializes in this work, we locked down the Vanos system on my car. Vanos is an abbreviation of the German word for the variable camshaft timing system. The system on my S54 engine adjusts the timing of both […]
This weekend I performed some basic maintenance on my 2002 E39 M5. This was at another productive DIY event put on by the National Capital Chapter of the BMWCCA. It was held at Proctor’s Foreign Auto Services in New Carrollton, MD. Owner Tim Proctor has hosted the DIY crew before and was very gracious, helping […]