BMW Owners

[Rick Moyer]

I need to share this handy bit of information.

I have a 2002 330I which my step-daughter had been needing to use lately. Anyway, the other day I moved it in our driveway and couldn't get the key back out of the ignition. A quick Google search indicated probably the shifter (automatic) not fully going forward into park, possibly caused by a coin in the linkage under the boot. I somewhat dismissed this as being too easy, but, I was wrong!

I put the emergency brake on, shifted to neutral (for clearance), yanked up hard on the shifter (it will pull right off), pried up the boot, and sure enough there was what appeared to be the edges of a quarter lodged in front of the assembly. A simple pick up tool with four fingers facilitated removing the quarter and everything reassembled and shifter/ignition working just fine!

There is an opening beneath the ashtray where something could fall into that area, so I suspect she removed the ashtray to dump it (even though I asked her not to smoke in my car!), and dropped a quarter in there. This apparently has happen to quite a few E46 model owners as there were instances of others having this issue. I don't know if it applies to other models. Hopefully this might help someone else.

[Patrick Walsh]

Poop that used to happen to me all the time. I would sit there and pull and pull and pull cursing bloody hell until it came loose with no apparent rime or reason.

I dont have a kid but if i did and then smoked in my car i think id remove one of their fingers each and everytime i caught them..

[Van Huskey]

You realize it is the car gods punishing you for buying a 3 series with a slushbox... the manual has a nice leather boot to prevent such mishaps.

[Jeff Monson]

You realize it is the car gods punishing you for buying a 3 series with a slushbox... the manual has a nice leather boot to prevent such mishaps.

LOL, I will say I love my 535xi, been trying to convince my wife we need a newer M3......its not going so well.

[Van Huskey]

newer M3......

Which one do you want? I have had every version since the E30 and loved them all for different reasons.

[Jeff Monson]

Which one do you want? I have had every version since the E30 and loved them all for different reasons.

Hey Van, I'd love a 2008 or newer convertible. The V8 they have now has so much power and they sound so nice. Just fell in love the car. This would be a summer car and the market is 25k + for them so I will have to wait a bit. You have any input on the V8 ?

[Chris Padilla]

I started my foray into BMWs with a 2001 530i/5-speed. Next was a 2005 545i/SMG. Now we have a 2014 335i/Auto. On order, to be picked up in Munich on June 12, is a 2017 340i/Auto, where we will spend 4 weeks sojourning around Europe in a brand new BMW!!

After a while and driving in general traffic, the manual gets pretty old. Once upon a time, manuals got better gas mileage. These days, it doesn't matter and the automatics have all kinds of cool tech associated with them and frankly, it is just nicer to put 'er in D and let my left foot fall asleep. Now I'm never going back to a manual...just don't see the need.

As to the V8s, I could never quite justify the extra 6-10k premium (or whatever it is these days) for worser gas mileage. The I6s kick butt nicely enough for me and so I've stuck with those. The 545i I had was a steal of a lease back then but I got rid of it 8 months later as I really didn't need the car and probably shouldn't have gotten it in the first place but it was fun.

Heck, as you noticed in my progression of BMW purchases, I dropped from the 5-series to the 3-series. The price I paid for my 2001 5er is about the same as the price for the newer 3ers. 50-60k is about my threshold for these sport/luxury cars. I can't really stomach paying 80k for a fully-loaded 5-series. This 335i I have right now is a lease take-over as my wife and I wanted to try it out to see if we wanted actually buy one. Yep!

[Shawn Pixley]

I never owned an automatic until my latest car '11 BMW 335d (no manual available in the US). LA traffic makes a manual undesireable at times. But both LOML and I loved the S2000 on PCH.

I'd really like the 235i but am having a hard time giving up my good gas mileage and paid off car. In Europe, you could get a 135d hatchback (great little car). But it isn't imported into the US.