Post a picture of your vehicle here Part 5 (don't quote pictures, 24h ban!)

fancy pigeon

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

Classic tax next year!

2 of them classic tax next year!

joujoujou

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

It's a skill in itself, I have 18s, won't be too quick to get them again. Can never stop scanning the road!

Nah, not for me at all. Some stretches between Temple House and Carracastle contain only potholes. Additionally, wearing off one set of tyres per year leads me to conclusion I'd rather keep her on 15s. And I don't follow widespread trend to go bigger and bigger wheels. :cool:

wonski

Same here. 17" wheels, previous ones were common size 16" and Pirelli were under 300 for the whole set. Now looking at much more than that soon They look nice, but offer no benefits at all when it comes to paying for new tires.

Quazzie

wonski wrote: »

Same here. 17" wheels, previous ones were common size 16" and Pirelli were under 300 for the whole set. Now looking at much more than that soon They look nice, but offer no benefits at all when it comes to paying for new tires.

Currently have 255/35/19s on my car, and I replaced the front two about 3 weeks ago. Hit a pothole and destroyed one last week. Replace a fortnight old tyre again. I can't complain tho because I drive on some attrocious roads and it's the first time it's happened to me

MidMan25

vectra wrote: »

MidMan25 wrote: »

Heated seats, heated windscreen, and the Canton sound system. The standard spec is really good so there's not much it's missing.

Heated screen is vital in Octavias as far as I would be concerned, Good call there.
Heated seats are very useful as well.
Canton is something I would spec in one as well. Is it as good as they say?

Canton is really good, I have only tested it with Spotify so far so must give it a go with a high quality audio source. Skoda options are very reasonably priced compared to most brands!

vectra

MidMan25 wrote: »

Canton is really good, I have only tested it with Spotify so far so must give it a go with a high quality audio source. Skoda options are very reasonably priced compared to most brands!

Not sure if I said already
But well wear, Beautiful car.

Foxhole Norman

Some of my favorite photos of the past year.







So I've owned and have been dailying my E39 540i for a year now to the day. Overall it's been fairly plain sailing and it's been fairly reliable(ish) in that it has never let me stranded and anything that did go wrong was small enough like a slightly cracked radiator, two of them though to be fair.

Maintenance wise it has been up there in expense but with the main cost coming from replacing all the Timing Chain Guides/Chains/Guides and cooling system while we were in there and it's due to get the VANOS reconditioned this week. I had somewhat planned for it though as I knew it was the engines main failure point and kept money aside for it. Next up though I plan to replace the discs and pads all around and refresh most if not all of the suspension.

The engine itself pulls like a train, even if it's not the most powerful unit out there but it makes a fantastic noise and will still surprise a lot of modern higher performance cars, even with the autobox, which I've been on the lookout to replace with a 6 Speed Manual in the next year or so

Overall as a daily I've found it perfect, yes it does 12mpg on my commute but will still do 30 on the motorway or longer journeys which is plenty for me, all the while being in excellent comfort with the heated electric seats, which were great in the winter when my FSU blew :pac:

I'd absolutely recommend everyone to at least own a V8 once in your life, maybe myself doing it at 23 was a bit early with our insurance system but I couldn't see myself in anything diesel and was only going to go one way from the 525i!

It's come on a bit since this day last year!

rex-x

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Overall it's been fairly plain sailing and it's been fairly reliable

replacing all the Timing Chain Guides/Chains/Guides and cooling system while we were in there and it's due to get the VANOS reconditioned this week

Nothing like those rose tinted glasses :pac:

Foxhole Norman

rex-x wrote: »

Nothing like those rose tinted glasses :pac:

Keeps me happy :cool: They were largely preventative work as I didn't really want to be in France with a potentially knackered engine at the time

Voodoomelon

Do you really get 12mpg on your commute? Even in stop-go traffic, that's very poor!

Foxhole Norman

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Do you really get 12mpg on your commute? Even in stop-go traffic, that's very poor!

Yeah that's roughly what I get, according to the OBC and my own calculations aren't far off. My commute is 5 miles each way through Cork City at peak times, it barely gets warm!

Big Nasty

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Yeah that's roughly what I get, according to the OBC and my own calculations aren't far off. My commute is 5 miles each way through Cork City at peak times, it barely gets warm!

Sure if you had a diesel it'd be fooked by now!

As you might remember a few years back I was running an E38 735 as a daily and a '79 Trans Am for the weekend. V8 city! At the time I'd a 10k commute to work and it was costing me €10 a day. Petrol peaked at I think €1.70 / ltr around that time and I've a pic somewhere of filling the tank in the 7er and it coming to €140! :eek:

Fuel consumption in the Trans Am was just ridiculous. Maybe 12mpg at motorway speeds, half that if tooling around town. I wouldn't mind but it wasn't all that quick for a 6.6 V8.

Good times though!

Voodoomelon

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Yeah that's roughly what I get, according to the OBC and my own calculations aren't far off. My commute is 5 miles each way through Cork City at peak times, it barely gets warm!

Just still seems a little low, interesting to compare the M62 to the N62. Mine gets about 15-16mpg around town and about 28mpg at 120kph, 32ish at 100kph.

I have a similar commute to you, about 7km each way and speed limits are all 50-60kph.

vintagevrs

Voodoo you waft around like a gentleman in your 7, while FN drives like he stole his 5er I'd say.

Foxhole Norman

vintagevrs wrote: »

Voodoo you waft around like a gentleman in your 7, while FN drives like he stole his 5er I'd say.

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Just still seems a little low, interesting to compare the M62 to the N62. Mine gets about 15-16mpg around town and about 28mpg at 120kph, 32ish at 100kph.

I have a similar commute to you, about 7km each way and speed limits are all 50-60kph.

Largely on the head there Vintage while I don't wreck on with it I do tend to drive it in, but obviously not on my commute, doesn't warrant it nor is it even possible, but even so, my 525i used to only get 16/17 on the same commute so I think the V8 at 12 ish isn't the worst!

Voodoomelon

vintagevrs wrote: »

Voodoo you waft around like a gentleman in your 7, while FN drives like he stole his 5er I'd say.

Only when i'm in the locality...

Sammy_Jankis

New (old) type s

hi_im_fil

The integra thread here a few weeks back made we want one. Got this at the weekend

Ryano87

Picked up some new wheels for my B.

Some boards nostalgia in the windscreen too!!

frozenfrozen

Up at the connemara house

m17

Nice day for a wax and polish

ION08

m17 wrote: »

Nice day for a wax and polish

Nice, those sidewalls could do with some tyre shine though! Would finish it off nicely.

Leonard Hofstadter

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Just still seems a little low, interesting to compare the M62 to the N62. Mine gets about 15-16mpg around town and about 28mpg at 120kph, 32ish at 100kph.

I have a similar commute to you, about 7km each way and speed limits are all 50-60kph.

Is this calculating it yourself and not relying on the trip computer? Hopefully the E66's trip computer is more accurate than the E46's one because mine tells me it's doing 11% more mpg than is really the case!

If those are your actual figures, that's really good - I'm only getting 2-3 mpg more than you do in my six cylinder manual E46 in any of those scenarios (this is me calculating it myself not relying on the OBC), and most of the time I don't really push the car (not much point in driving on around town anyway).

Voodoomelon

Honestly speaking, its going from the OBC. But about 2 years ago I did several brim to brim tanks, and unlike my E38 OBC which was off by about 5%, the E66 was BANG on. Couldn't believe it, off by 0.1mpg or something silly.

I presume its still doing similar now, but i'd need to brim her again to be sure.

Oral Surgeon

I added this nice 850 to the driveway this week. It's in pretty good condition considering its 26 years old. It needs a few little jobs but is running well...
Job list;
New wheels
A few bodywork issues, especially the small bit of rust on the sunroof panel
A refresh of the interior leather
Swap an OEM stereo back in

I've always loved the look of the 8 series and for me I plan on it being my classic car.....
Even though it's smaller and lighter than the M5, it feels like a bit of a barge!! Also god only knows how they couldn't get more power from a 5L V12!!

Anyway, it's a cool car IMO and a nice one to have in the garage....

MarkN

Nice work!! They have appreciated hugely in the last 8/9 years.

Oral Surgeon

MarkN wrote: »

Nice work!! They have appreciated hugely in the last 8/9 years.

Yes. I wish I had bought a csi back then!!

bazz26

That's a very nice 850i. They must be getting very scarce these days.

Leonard Hofstadter

Always loved the 8 series, and a V12 to boot!

Oral Surgeon

I have my mind made up on this already but what are your thoughts on the following wheel options??
The 7 series wheels on it...
The original BBS type wheels...
The throwing star staggered wheels.....

Top Dog

Throwing star for me.

Possibly re-furbed in a nice gunmetal grey so its not a silver overdose.

q85dw7osi4lebg

The daily and the weekender. Great day for the S today

James Bond Junior

Oral surgeon, was it you whom bought the e30 318is or your buddy? I get the two of you confused..

Big Nasty

Throwing Star and wrap it in Estoril Blue!

Oral Surgeon

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Oral surgeon, was it you whom bought the e30 318is or your buddy? I get the two of you confused..

Yeah that’s fitzgeme and he’s no friend of mine!!

high horse

The throwing stars suit the 8 series best. It looks like a great car, I'd love to have one but I've nowhere to keep it.

hooch-85

Went for a spin out west with a few friends yesterday

James Bond Junior

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Yeah that’s fitzgeme and he’s no friend of mine!!

Your "partner" then!!

Go for the throwing stars, beautiful wheel and worth a small fortune. Keep the OE wheels in storage and mix and match them to keep the car looking fresh every so often. Join BMW classics on FB too.

colm_mcm

I’d prefer the first set of wheels shown on the 8 series. Don’t think the BBS wheels suit it at all, and not a huge fan of the throwing stars, value/rarity/period correctness/whatever aside.

bear1

The wheels on it make it look much fresher.

Leonard Hofstadter

I think either the BBS (style 8s) or the throwing stars (style 21s) will look a lot better than the current set of wheels, both were optional wheels for them back in the day.

The original wheels for an 850i would be the style 9s as far as I know, but I don't like them at all - they look like wheelbarrow wheels as they're only 16s and have a very high tyre profile by modern standards!

I love E31s, and I love style 21s, but to be honest I think they're better suited to an E32 or an E34 than the E31. I think the style 8s suit the car better, also the style 8s were exclusive to the E31, so if it was my car that's what I would put on it.

Ultimately it's your car and you should do what suits you best - either will look great on it!

James Bond Junior

captainspeed wrote: »

I think either the BBS (style 8s) or the throwing stars (style 21s) will look a lot better than the current set of wheels, both were optional wheels for them back in the day.

The original wheels for an 850i would be the style 9s as far as I know, but I don't like them at all - they look like wheelbarrow wheels as they're only 16s and have a very high tyre profile by modern standards!

I love E31s, and I love style 21s, but to be honest I think they're better suited to an E32 or an E34 than the E31. I think the style 8s suit the car better, also the style 8s were exclusive to the E31, so if it was my car that's what I would put on it.

Ultimately it's your car and you should do what suits you best - either will look great on it!

Style 9's dated terribly. Throwing stars all the way OS, if not I'll give you a tenner and take them off your hands for you, wheels are awfully bulky to store you see.. I'd be sound like that!

Leonard Hofstadter

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Style 9's dated terribly.

Completely agree, never seen a wheel age so badly. Strictly speaking they are the wheel to put on an early E31 850i but they don't suit them at all.

Some old wheels still look the part even today, like throwing stars (they just wouldn't be my first choice for an 8 series). I know I'm biased but I adore the style 135s on my E46, with those wheels and the LCI front I still think it looks like a modern car.

Other original BMW wheels look awful today, but they looked rubbish even when new - such as style 34, 36, 38 and 56.

Finally, there are wheels that look terribly dated today but on the right car they still look well - bottletops on an E30 being the prime example.

Oral Surgeon

bear1 wrote: »

The wheels on it make it look much fresher.

True but that might be because they are refurbed and clean.... the others are not....

Oral Surgeon

Good info... I think that the 8s and 9s look a bit weedy and I know that’s kind of appropriate for it’s time..: the throwing stars are 17s but look more substantial because of the dish....
I’m planning on refurbing the throwing stars to use them.....

captainspeed wrote: »

I think either the BBS (style 8s) or the throwing stars (style 21s) will look a lot better than the current set of wheels, both were optional wheels for them back in the day.

The original wheels for an 850i would be the style 9s as far as I know, but I don't like them at all - they look like wheelbarrow wheels as they're only 16s and have a very high tyre profile by modern standards!

I love E31s, and I love style 21s, but to be honest I think they're better suited to an E32 or an E34 than the E31. I think the style 8s suit the car better, also the style 8s were exclusive to the E31, so if it was my car that's what I would put on it.

Ultimately it's your car and you should do what suits you best - either will look great on it!

Oral Surgeon

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Style 9's dated terribly. Throwing stars all the way OS, if not I'll give you a tenner and take them off your hands for you, wheels are awfully bulky to store you see.. I'd be sound like that!

How nice of you!! I’ve plenty of storage space so you’re out of luck!!

Oral Surgeon

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Style 9's dated terribly. Throwing stars all the way OS, if not I'll give you a tenner and take them off your hands for you, wheels are awfully bulky to store you see.. I'd be sound like that!

How nice of you!! I’ve plenty of storage space so you’re out of luck!!

tossy

I love the 8er - it would be the BBS all the way for me.

hooch-85 wrote: »

Went for a spin out west with a few friends yesterday

It was a great day out up in the air for an oil change pre run..

job seeker

I really like the BBS's as well OS! I think they give a kind of old school look..

Dr Turk Turkelton

Got the Crx out for a spin this evening.