Chim Replaced With BMW!

[roadsweeper]

Well, two days after selling my Chimaera I am now the proud owner* of a 2000 BMW 323i SE. 2.5litre straight six, climate control, 49k on the clock, 1 owner from new, FBMWSH, car looks and drives as new.

I'm very pleased with it assumming I've bought what I think I have and it should be ideal for my daily commute.

I miss the Chim but am so far pleased with my new purchase, she drives beautifully. All I have to do is get over the fact that I'm driving a BMW with all the 'BMW driver' baggage that comes with it.

*Deposit paid, not picked up yet.

[nicecupoftea]

Nice one, sounds lovely!

[v8thunder]

What is it? Coupe, hatchback, saloon, estate or convertible?

[sparkythecat]

[roadsweeper]

nicecupoftea said:

Nice one, sounds lovely!

Cheers.

[roadsweeper]

v8thunder said:

What is it? Coupe, hatchback, saloon, estate or convertible?

Saloon. I was very impressed with the drive - very, very smooth and very quiet. I can see why people speak so highly of them.

[pvapour]

roadsweeper said:

Well, two days after selling my Chimaera I am now the proud owner* of a 2000 BMW 323i SE. 2.5litre straight six, climate control, 49k on the clock, 1 owner from new, FBMWSH, car looks and drives as new. I'm very pleased with it assumming I've bought what I think I have and it should be ideal for my daily commute. I miss the Chim but am so far pleased with my new purchase, she drives beautifully. All I have to do is get over the fact that I'm driving a BMW with all the 'BMW driver' baggage that comes with it. *Deposit paid, not picked up yet.

that baggage gets real tiresome eventualy, people deliberatly pulling out in front of you, not letting you out etc etc, hopefully it's not so bad with a 323i, but it is one of the reasons I got rid of the M5.

Used to have an '01' 323ci, great distance muncher and a good engine (apart from hunting whilst riding the clutch at junctions).

Enjoy!

Nick

[roadsweeper]

sparkythecat said:

What's your problem? I had to sell the Chim out of necessity. I see you have a BMW so presumably you know how good they are. I'd rather have a TVR any day, but needs must as they say.

[roadsweeper]

pvapour said:

that baggage gets real tiresome eventualy, people deliberatly pulling out in front of you, not letting you out etc etc, hopefully it's not so bad with a 323i, but it is one of the reasons I got rid of the M5. Used to have an '01' 323ci, great distance muncher and a good engine (apart from hunting whilst riding the clutch at junctions). Enjoy! Nick

Yeah, I'm a bit worried about that. I'm used to people letting me out and moving out of my way in the TVR. I've decided I'm just going to drive ultra courteously and hope for the best. The worst thing is that I'd be the first to complain about BMW drivers as about half the time someone is doing something stupid in a car it's in a BMW.

[toppstuff]

roadsweeper said:

pvapour said: that baggage gets real tiresome eventualy, people deliberatly pulling out in front of you, not letting you out etc etc, hopefully it's not so bad with a 323i, but it is one of the reasons I got rid of the M5. Used to have an '01' 323ci, great distance muncher and a good engine (apart from hunting whilst riding the clutch at junctions). Enjoy! Nick Yeah, I'm a bit worried about that. I'm used to people letting me out and moving out of my way in the TVR. I've decided I'm just going to drive ultra courteously and hope for the best. The worst thing is that I'd be the first to complain about BMW drivers as about half the time someone is doing something stupid in a car it's in a BMW.

I think this belief that BMW drivers get treated differently is complete rubbish.

I have driven BMW's for ages, and owned 6 different models over the years.

At no stage have I encountered this negative aspect that people describe. Not a bit of it.

Just get on and enjoy the car. Its a good'un with the driven wheels in the right place, a nice chassis, and decent handling.

Nice engine too.

[john_p]

Ditto, owned a 330 then an M3 since 2002 and (touches wood) never had agro. Enjoy the car and use the indicators

[Marquis_Rex]

I get treated fine driving mine, but both my Bimmers are from an era when they were more specialist enthusiast cars.

I have driven the newer stuff regularly and have taken apart alot of their engines for benchmarking purposes- they're engineering is second to none- IMO, I put them above Porsche and Honda.
Shame about ths styling on many of the newer models...

Enjoy...

[pvapour]

toppstuff said:

I think this belief that BMW drivers get treated differently is complete rubbish. I have driven BMW's for ages, and owned 6 different models over the years. At no stage have I encountered this negative aspect that people describe. Not a bit of it. Just get on and enjoy the car. Its a good'un with the driven wheels in the right place, a nice chassis, and decent handling. Nice engine too.

I guess you can't generalise that everyone will get the same response to the badge whichever side you believe, all I know is the difference in attitude of people when over the period of a year, I jumped from one car to the next,

TVR - friendly reaction from others all the time, making special efforts to move out the way

Audi TT - No problems, people move over and let you out, but don't make special effort to do so like when in the TVR.

Ford Falcon pick up - Again, no problem, people move over, let me out, out of curiosity most of the time I think

M5 - Constant lane huggers refusing to move over after leaving plenty of time for them and not sitting on their butts, even pulling out into fast lane early to overtake, when they saw me coming in the BMW, never had anyone let me out into traffic at junctions

These are my observations over the past year, with the same driving style for each, courteous and observant, I noticed it as soon as I bought the car, that is why I analysed it over the ownership.

Maybe it's a regional thing? or routes that are taken? duno, whereabouts do you reside out of interest?

agreed about the car though, well balanced and silky smooth, I'm sure you'll enjoy it

[chris watton]

It's not the BMWs so much any longer, I seem to have probs with VW owners, usually in diesel Golfs, who think they're in the starship Enterprise, there are some scary peeps out there who know very little, unlike the majority of PHeaders, who I'm sure respect any marque

[yertis]

Gazboy said:

chris watton said: It's not the BMWs so much any longer, I seem to have probs with VW owners, usually in diesel Golfs, who think they're in the starship Enterprise, You are bloody spot on there. Others include dads in 'hot' versions of mundane cars ( I had daddy cool in a Saab 95 Areo tailgate, flash lights and try to out drag me at the lights earlier)

That'll be me then (except not in a Saab, and I would have won, if it was raining)

[roadsweeper]

Gazboy said:

Nice one Mr sweeper, bet you feel quite refreshed after a journey in that compared to the Chimaera!

Haha, yeah, I think so.

There only seem to be about eight Honda Accord Type-Rs on sale in the UK at any one time judging by AutoTrader. Of these I liked two - the first one was bought by the first guy who saw it and the second one wasn't quite up to spec. Given that I desperately needed a new car I couldn't afford to wait and as it happens am quite pleased with my purchase - it might have turned out for the best in the end. The 323 does 0-60mph in 7.6s and 0-100mph in 19.8s which is only moderately swift, but acceptable given its intended purpose. Ideally I would have like a 330 but had no joy in finding one.

[yertis]

No they're a bit small for me unfortunately(long-legged kids). It's a 100S4, a pretty rare beast with a similar engine to the RS2 (smaller turbo = less bhp)

[cosmoschick]

toppstuff said:

At no stage have I encountered this negative aspect that people describe. Not a bit of it.

Neither have I.

Good choice Roadsweeper. Lovely cars BMWs. I miss mine

[yertis]

Gazboy said:

yertis said: No they're a bit small for me unfortunately(long-legged kids). It's a 100S4, a pretty rare beast with a similar engine to the RS2 (smaller turbo = less bhp) Nope, you lost me, got any pics, or stats?

Straight-out-of-the-box performance here

[chimtvr]

Must agree i get loads of attitude when im driving my 740i but i didnt get it with my previous m3s a little with my m5 but loads with the 7 series
that aside driving the chim i get smiles and courtesy all the time