MDifficult’s E82 1M Coupe & Ariel Atom 3

[MDifficult]

outnumbered said:

The CSL needed an Insp 1 service this month. The decision process whether to take it to Inchcape or a "well known local indie" was not as long one!

It's the downside of maintaining the 'death grip' of the BMW warranty. So.. I'm on the look out for a new local BMW dealership for next time.

Anything else... we're using the same indie

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JakeT said:

It’s been some time, but for a while everyone that lived on our close, and owned a BMW hated that certain BMW dealer in reading. DL in Hungerford was always the go-to choice when the cars were relatively new and under warranty.

Cheers. Going to have to do my research for the next time.

RB Will said:

Pretty sure it doesn’t need to go to a BMW dealership to keep the warranty intact, just has to use genuine BMW parts for servicing etc.

My mate runs a BMW indi and maintains loads of new / approved used Ms, can do all the online service history etc

Thanks, I’ll look into it. I think the BMW warranty is explicit that I have to use a main dealer, but I’ll check. To be honest though, even though it’s mental, when I sell it the fact it’s got a book full of main dealer and a BMW warranty should be a selling point. Madness.

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RB Will said:

Just checked with my mate and he assures me that as long as you use genuine BMW parts, the warranty will remain intact if an indy does the work.

And that isn’t just him saying that as an indy, he spent over a decade at Dick Lovett too.

That’s really interesting, thank you for the the info. I’ve checked the warranty policy info and it states:

“All repairs must be carried out by an authorised BMW Retailer or BMW Service Workshop.”

I guess what’s unclear is the definition of the second thing. Does that mean any BMW Service Workshop? Or does that specifically mean one authorised by BMW. More digging required!

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swistak said:

IIRC it just means any workshop/specialist that has some relationship with BMW (i.e. can update online service records etc)

Thanks - you may well be right!

Craikeybaby said:

Is it one of those cases though, where in theory you can get the work done at "any approved garage", but BMW will make things difficult if you need any warranty work and servicing hasn't been done at one of their dealerships?

Yeah, agreed. Considering how smooth the warranty part of the most recent transaction was, that’s a worry.

[MDifficult]

Long time, no update (well a long time for me anyway!).

Reason being... nothing to update really and, if I'm honest, kind of temporarily lost heart with the whole 'petrolhead' thing. The weather has been absolute dogsh*t so the Atom has just languished in the garage. Good weather always seemed to coincide with being busy and vice versa.

As for the 1M, I've hardly used it but had to do a few really long drudge drives over the last few weeks and the experience has been utterly dispiriting. The state of the roads, and the state of the driving, meant that time spent on the road seems to have gone from from one of life's pleasures to pain at best and outright fear at worse.

God help me, but I nearly (nearly) chopped both cars and bought a Golf. I think because I no longer commute every day, I just haven't realised how awful driving has got recently. Atrocious lane discipline, not just 50% of cars failing to keep left, but people wandering out of their lane into oncoming traffic. Pulling out without looking. Bump-parking FFS! Inappropriate use of speed (either unnecessarily dawdling or panic braking for no good reason, or driving like a c*nt in built up areas). It's getting to the point where I'm struggling to see the point of owning something 'nice' because either the road surface or some hopeless idiot is going to ruin it for you one way or another.

I even started looking seriously at classics instead - maybe a dose of nostalgia would reignite my interest.. E39 M5s and E30 325i Tourings have been piquing my interest even more than usual.. but not sure they're going to be any more enjoyable on today's roads, but at least they have the 'tinker' factor.

Thankfully, I didn't do something stupid and instead booked myself onto the upcoming Sunday Service at Thruxton and a spot on the skid pan. Nothing like time with other likeminded souls to hopefully lift me out of the seasonal gloom. Who knows.. if it's dry and they've not salted yet, I may even try the Atom on the skid pan

Roll on the spring - and long days so I can go back to driving while all the inattentive f*ckwits are in bed.

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RB Will said:

If the weather holds out I should see you at the PH SS, will be in the Nomad. Won’t be on the skid pan as it goes sideways enough as is

Looking at old BMs, you been watching Auto Alex? Much as I loved my E30 325is I think you would be disappointed stepping into one from your 1M, a nice E39 M5 should be ok though

I’m seeing the attraction of the Nomad more and more - if this bloody weather carries on for 6 months I may have to swap!

I’ve absolutely been watching Auto Alex sometimes it puts me off E30 Tourings and other times it makes the WANT even worse!

I went to see a lovely E39 M5 at the weekend.. top of the market and beautiful but it had the double glazing and all of the panes had blows. But, everything else was fantastic. It could well be the route I go if I change.

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JakeT said:

Agreed. Get yourself a classic, and tinker with it while the weather is bad. My 30 year old E36 goes away when the weather is bad, I do the little jobs that mount up when driving it, and then enjoy it during the nicer months.

Many YouTubers will buy a crap example, as their livelihood relies on it. There will still be nice ones out there, and will be great for bumbling about on a nice day.

I also WFH, and still somehow cover 18,000 miles per year in my daily, and 2,000 in the weekend car. No clue how.

The funny thing with the YouTubers is that they’re great for exposing what to look for to spot a snotter. I’m really coming around to the idea of a bit of a project - but would need to be a running, driving project or the Atom would have to go to make garage space.

How on earth you’ve done 18k miles I’ll never know..

Kaveney said:

Glad you came back from the brink of packing up and taking up gardening

Agree with you on the p*ss poor state of driving on the road and that is why i stick to track days for my fun .

Get out in the Atom at Thruxton and im sure you will come back to the fold of all things motorsport .

Cheers mate - I was honestly shocked. It’s not just that people are driving badly but they don’t even seem to know. Standards have fallen so far that even the average driver is total sthouse. Maybe I had two unlucky trips but I couldn’t believe it. I have so much sympathy for people who drive for a living - it must be exhausting these days.

Mr Tidy said:

I'm glad you had a change of heart. Maybe the weather doesn't help with the short days making things a bit gloomy?

Anyway I might see you on the skid pan a I've booked on for that too.

Excellent! Last year on the snow was one of the most hysterical things I’ve ever done behind the wheel (and from the passenger seat) so hopefully it’ll do the job this time round

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RB Will said:

The skid pan is a good laugh, especially in something silly.
Got a slightly tricky layout going clockwise as there is a grippier patch of surface that you need to boot it through to stay sideways then goes mega slick so if you have gone 1% too much throttle round you go or you are going too fast sideways to make it round the corner and understeer off. Nothing to crash into though.

I almost managed one full lap (slalom down the hill, round the bottom and back up) when it was snow-covered last year, so I've high hopes if it's just wet! Love the idea of doing it in a Ram though

d_a_n1979 said:

Can fully understand where you're coming from; it's gloomy out there currently and driving standards are horrific at best...

My pal finishes his UK Government contract work in Germany come Feb 2024; his E39 M5 is still in bits (over there and here at his home); but the bodywork has been completed; the chassis & shell are as new now. Engine nearly rebuilt etc

He's selling all his cars from Jan 2024 and will be using the E39 M5 solely (he's not selling his E91 320D due to it being really high miles and dead; but he'll fix that and use it for a workhorse again etc)

But like you he's had enough (only slightly); he doesn't want the hassle, more so with his more powerful cars (classic Subaru & Evo, Skyline R33, Porsche 997) and he's already got a colleague that wants his KTM xBow etc

And re AutoAlex; his 325i touring is amazing; but feck it needs so much work its scary...

Wanted one ever since Edd China worked on the blue one in an early'ish ED episode

I whittled down the entire world of classics to those two cars (E39 M5 and E30 Touring) I watched some of Alex's E30 being welded up on the Yorkshire Car Restoration channel.. it's bad, but not as bad as Matt Armstrong's 6 series! Again though, weirdly it's making my desire for the E30 stronger, not weaker.

RB Will said:

For the E30 fans.

If it had been a tourer I may well still have it. I swapped it out for a Legacy Spec B tourer when my dog got a bit big for the back seat of the E30

One of the Nomad guys has got his E30 M3 for sale at the mo if that is of interest

I just love the shape of the E30 Touring vs coupe, saloons and convertibles.. even the M3. Blue, Green or Red for me I think. But.. I think it's best to wait for the spring and see how I'm feeling about it all then. Plus.. I don't have to crawl under any old BMWs in the freezing cold and wet!

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JakeT said:

I’d recommend escaping this island to fall back in love with the drive, honestly. This time of year is the best time to make plans. We’re skiing next year, and taking the car. The extended family are flying, so double win. Then, we’re either heading to Portugal and Spain, or maybe Croatia and back. I can guarantee you’ll not only appreciate the act of driving, but also your cars much more. Taking a 1M on a good trip would be amazing, and would re-ignite the fire.

You're absolutely right.. and I'd forgotten that I'm booked on a four day Atom adventure in Wales next year, with two days on track at Anglesey so I've got that to look forward to already. Now need to think of something for the 1M...

bencollins4 said:

I sympathise with this, as I think we all go through these thoughts from time to time. I had my Elise SORN’d for October as we were away for a bit, work was busy, and I couldn’t foresee it coming out of the garage, so I promised myself it would come out in November…..well, every occasion I wanted to use it, it has pissed down so I have given up until the Spring!

Driving generally has been pretty uninspiring since our Indian summer came to an abrupt end 6 weeks ago and it does provoke thoughts of boring diesels to carry out long motorway trips for work, but I’m holding off for the time being!

Point of the post is, don’t sell either car, certainly not right now. I’m sure everything will come good soon, and you’ll be pleased you hung on to them. Here’s to Spring (and a good day for PHSS at Thruxton)!

Also absolutely right. I think I was spoilt by last year where there just seemed to be endless mornings, evenings and weekends of lovely weather right up until the end of the year. Don't worry, I'm not selling anything (well... unless something awesome comes up - but that's every day of every year)

d_a_n1979 said:

Yeah; I think real world the E39 M5 would work best; the E30 touring would be more of a nice to have (too small for me personally); but both superb cars with their own issues too unless already sorted...

I can't really explain the E30 thing. I think it's because I'd happily own one that was 'a bit rough around the edges' whereas if I went for the E39 it would have to be perfect and everything that wasn't would drive me nuts!

MTW said:

I Always get the blues this time of year with the Caterham and get the itchy “it’s a lot of money to be sat in the garage doing nothing” feeling, every year so far like clockwork it’s starts coming on!

Fully agree’d with the state of the roads and driving these days, but what has been a real revelation to me has been buying the Alfa Romeo, honestly it’s 90% as fun as the Caterham and it’s only 85bhp. It’s fantastic actually being able to scream through multiple gears all the way to 6000+ rpm, feel like you are going 10/10th and you are barely bothering 60mph. Whereas in the Caterham you really can only enjoy the car in split second bursts on the road, probably similar to the Atom. I highly recommend trying a classic, I honestly never thought you could have fun in a really slow car until now. I’m fully converted!

Nice to know it's not just me - my post generated a lot more thoughts and feedback than I expected. Your last point is more accurate than you know.. I've looked at both Ford Puma 1.7s and Panda 100hps. Those are classics too right?

Court_S said:

I can certainly see where you’re coming from; the weather has been poo this year which certainly puts a brake on doing car related stuff. I think I’ve only done C&M once or twice this year whereas I’m usually there quite a lot.

I’ve found my patience tested somewhat running two older BMW’s this year; the 330i has swallowed up quite a lot of cash in a short space of time and has been unusable for three weeks or so. fking thing.

The amount of copper slip used by BMW was a pisstake. If you stray away from servicing at dealers, they’ll be a total pain in the arse with future warranty claims as I found out the hard way in January.

Hopefully we’ll get some dry, cold days soon with will make car stuff feel a bit more appealing.

I've been reading both your threads from behind the sofa .. your persistence in the face of 'one thing after another' is absolutely to be admired and you'll be rewarded in the end (either because they'll be fantastic or... you can start your own YouTube channel!). I have an emerging plan for how to solve the dealer issue.. more on that soon hopefully.

Nothing for it.. need to lift myself out of the doldrums and get out and have some fun!

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...and I should add... a massive thank you to everyone who's posted with words of encouragement! I won't be ditching everything for a Golf just yet

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d_a_n1979 said:

^^^ As Sam said

Think we'd all have to point out the error of your ways if you ended up with a Golf

To be fair, it was a 7.5 GTI Performance, I’m not a complete pussy

RB Will said:

Do you have more details on that Wales trip?

Sure - it’s a privately organised event, just Atoms and BAC Monos. There’s a group drive across Wales to get there too which should be fun. I think it’s happened for the last few years but this is the first time I got my name down to be invited. Drop me a PM if you’d like to know any specifics?

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After the disappointing news that the skidpad sessions were cancelled (some organisational cock-up), the Sunday Service itself was still great and the journey there and back was a chance to stretch the 1M 'legs' with a couple of other M cars - just what the doctor ordered for an otherwise miserable winter

MrTouring and I were joined by my mate with his absurd 500+ Bhp M2 Competition Manual on Cup 2s. Watching him in the mirror pull out of every t-junction fully sideways was quite the spectacle

The Sunday Service itself was great, despite the weather, only let down by the Mobile DJ who insisted on playing his awful music throughout the first hour. As we wandered over to the find out where it was coming from I was convinced it would be the Ford Performance lot (they've form for this sort of thing) only to be horrified to find it was a BMW Touring. Have a word with yourself mate - you're letting the side down!

Anyway, massive thanks to Ben and the team for organising, and a warm 'well done' to RB Will and his disgustingly-filthy Nomad.

As always, I was far too busy chatting and ogling to take any pictures (and everyone else will do it better), but thankfully we stopped to take one on the way..

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Well, you don't need me to tell you that the weather has continued to be absolute crap. On the plus side, it's been warm so no need for much salt through December, but it's been wetter than an otter's pockets.

That said though.. just when I thought things couldn't get more miserable the world conspired to give me a perfect day and who would have thought it would be the day before Christmas Eve!?

I woke up to a glorious, dry, cool day so jumped at the chance. Heated gear on, into the Atom, and managed to do 200 miles before the blue was replaced by grey. Even remembered to stop and take a photo!



Roads were empty and it was just the perfect way to spend a morning. Fingers crossed we get some more in January!

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Kaveney said:

Hope that good drive and the good weather has rekindled your love for driving again .

Cheers - it certainly didn't do any harm!

[MDifficult]

The weather has been on my side once again, and the Atom got a good long run out this Sunday - absolutely stunning blue skies and although there was a little salt on the roads it was dry as a bone and stayed on the road rather than on the car. Result! I'm booked on the Pistonheads Hill Climb event again too and I'm hoping to avoid the gravel trap this time

The 1M has been into BMW for a little preventative maintenance (I successfully restored my relationship with the local dealer and the technicians - no details on that but suffice to say I'm very much happier putting the car in than I was before). New lower camber arm bushes, replacement rear brake lines and new rear springs - all of which were okay but if you're having that bit of the car apart again, made sense to do because they were starting to look pretty crusty - classic 13yo car stuff really. Thankfully, the warranty paid out for good chunk of it too, and the car was returned to me in pristine condition and well taken care of. Can't argue with that.

It's due to go back in March for a 'major' service, with gearbox and (I think) diff oil all being done, but since the preventative stuff has been taken care of I'm hoping it's a quick in-and-out (although it'll be a pretty expensive in-and-out no doubt). That should see it 'good' for the next few years at least.

I even detailed the bloody thing last week and it sure does look better after two months of suffering the worst of the winter weather without so much as a damp cloth being run over it. I would have taken a picture but it was pitch dark by the time I'd finished!

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Court_S said:

Good stuff; I missed Prescott annoyingly and it’s a long way to go as a spectator.

Good news re the dealer too.

Cheers - really looking forward to Prescott. Despite the little wobble it was one of the most exciting car adventures last year. Hopefully I’ll be older and wiser this time! Shame you won’t be there for a passenger ride

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keo said:

I should be going PHSS so I will definitely have a look at the Atom!

Great! If you fancy a passenger ride let me know... there's a 75% chance of getting to the top!

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RB Will said:

Yeah just an RS clubman licence. It is free and no test to take, basically just registration but you need the licence number to complete the driver or passenger forms for pottering up the hill and it is checked. Don't know why it is set up this way

Yup! What he said.

Literally about 30 seconds online and they email you a digital licence.

Interestingly, I don’t remember anyone checking the wristbands of my passengers but that may just be my terrible memory

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keo said:

That’s very kind of you. I’d love that. Never been in an Atom. Thanks!

If we get to the top, we get to the top. If we don’t, no stress! Haha

Excellent attitude! You’ll do great

[MDifficult]

Been an interesting evening! My old MINI GP2 popped up for sale on Collecting Cars and I couldn’t resist a cheeky few bids.

Looks like it had had a slightly tough couple of years but I was hopeful for a bargain and then I could rescue it, but it reached the point where it wasn’t a bargain (vs what I sold it for) but still didn’t get to reserve and didn’t sell.

Looking at GP2s for sale, I think owners seem to have crazy valuations on them which is a shame, they’re no longer a performance bargain - but it was really interesting how much I fancied it back!