BMW DIY advice, and the occasional critique of the company
This weekend I changed the oil and filter in my 2002 M5. It’s a very basic procedure that requires little to no mechanical skill, but delivers a satisfying DIY feeling. All I had to do was follow this how-to complete with pictures from M5Board. The oil change itself was simple, but this being an E39 […]
Edmund’s Inside Line recently wrote a story on the upcoming BMW M3, based on the new F30 3 Series platform. Nothing is official and no sources are named, but the story contains some interesting nuggets. What’s certain is that this will be the first M3 in history with a turbocharged engine. There’s no way to […]
I see a lot of questions coming from BMW owners — here on this blog and in online forums. When you buy a BMW to keep long-term, there is a checklist of items you need to acquire to make that ownership experience a good one. If you prefer to lease and trade-in every two or […]
I got together with a friend and fellow enthusiast this weekend. He recently purchased a beautiful 2001 Royal Red M5, and he’s a great example of enthusiast BMW ownership. This enthusiast is a USAF retiree who has been honing his auto repair skills gradually for almost 30 years. He doesn’t want his name used, but […]
Here’s a rare Wheels post that doesn’t talk about either of my BMWs. My mother-in-law isn’t comfortable driving any more and asked me to help her sell her car, a 2004 Chevy Malibu. I wrote last year about suggestions for selling a car private party. Many of us are busy, time is money and trading […]
I own two BMW M cars, a 1999 M3 and a 2002 M5. I’m a fan of the manufacturer and the M line. But BMW has muddied the M identity by producing so many models in the past couple of years. This point was brought home yesterday via a discussion on the Facebook page of […]
According to the login page for WordPress.com, there are almost 385,000 bloggers using WordPress.com (and hundreds of thousands more using WP software). Considering those numbers, the end of year report from WordPress is impressive. It’s got to be an investment to send this report to every WordPress.com blogger. Here’s a link to the presentation of […]
2011 is almost in the books, and it delivered plenty of good material for Work, Wine and Wheels. I’ve a lot to be thankful for, including an increased number of readers. Here’s a look back at some content that proved popular with them. For Work posts, I tried to discuss important trends in technology communications. […]
Here’s a post for anyone out there considering the new BMW 3-Series, due to arrive on these shores in February. I’m happy to report some uneventful driving in my cars, so I’ve no DIY story to share. I’ve got a lot planned for the M3 come spring. Even though the miles are still very low […]
One of the great things about owning a BMW is that it is virtually impossible to know everything about the car. The amount of esoteric knowledge seems infinite, and its possible to turn the ownership experience into a full-scale hobby rather than just transportation. A case in point is the ability to access lots of […]
I read a very sad and ironic story on the M5Board this week. A guy named Tom Ranck had owned his 2000 M5 since new, and had driven it for 276,000. Roundel, the magazine of the BMW Car Club of America, ran a profile piece on Tom and his car in this month’s November issue. […]
Sunday I got to meet a lot of fellow M5 owners I knew only via M5Board.com. The meeting place was the parking lot of the Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, and 13 enthusiasts showed up on a beautiful fall day. It was a blast to meet the members behind the board handles I’ve gotten to […]