Turning 28

The trouble with owning a great cruiser like the fiver is that you want to take it on every long drive that presents itself. I had a long work trip and decided to take for a 400+ mile roundtrip. The trouble with a car this smooth is that you end up going faster than you think. The trouble with going fast is that you attract the attention of the constabulary. The other trouble with going fast in the fiver is that you burn vast amounts of premium gasoline. The difference in mileage between travelling at legal speeds and travelling at warp speed is CRAZY in this car. Like 100 miles less on a tankful crazy. I actually thought I had a gas leak. But the car sounds so good in the upper rev range, and it is dead stable at triple digits. What we need is some Autobahn around here. The trouble with that is I want to be the only one on it....

Oh, by the way, happy 28K !!

First Miles

Finally, the weather and work, and a host of other things were aligned and I could take the Fiver out for some miles. I ended up driving it to work, which is a 150 mile roundtrip of almost all highway driving. A typical workday this time of year starts in the dark and ends in the dark, so you get to exercise the lighting system. It is also rather chilly, so you get to exercise the heating system. It was the dawn of a beautiful if cold day, so to begin the test, I fully opened the sunroof, and turned up the heat. The last sunroof car that I had was another BMW, a 320i (see moonbathing). It was a nice sensation to have the roof open in the dark. The heat more than compensated for the cool air.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the car was new-car flawless. The only dissapointment was that it seems rather thirsty. According to the onboard computer, it averaged 23.8 MPG for the trip. Pretty low for highway mileage, so I checked the specs and the forums. The EPA highway number was 25mpg, so it is not far off the mark given my heavy right foot. In the forums, real world mileage is frequently cited as in the teens, so I guess I should be pleased !! The mileage however, does not tell you anything about the experience. The car is smooth and quiet, and you have to pay attention to the speedo or you will get into license-confiscation territory very quickly.  

The Sunliner Crisis

When there is almost nothing wrong with a car, you have to make the most out of minor issues. In this case I thought of the National Enquirer style title for this post to describe the smallest os issues on the 525i. The headliner material around the edge of the sunroof was wrinkled !! (cue the dramatic cliffhanger music). It was wrinkled because some of the adhesive around the front edge had dried up over time, and allowed some material to pull loose. Holy glue gun Batman, what are we going to do !!

It turns out the quite a bit more was about to come loose. It was all easily solved with some 3M spray adhesive, a little clamping, and some patience. 20 minutes tops. Boy, that was a disaster waiting to happen. Is there no end to the work needed on this jalopy? ;-)

The Impulse Purchase

Car guys and gals are often the recipient of leads. You know, the "You have to check this thing out" kind of leads that come from friends, co-workers, family, and casual acquaintances. I got one of those leads while looking for a car for a co-worker. The full convoluted process to how it became my car is documented in the main blog (see how to catch a mermaid). Suffice it to say that I was very pleased to be the new owner of a car that I did not go looking for.

The 1991 BMW 525i is a like-new example of the critically acclaimed E34. Journalists and buyers at the time heaped praise upon the styling, interior, and performance. Lawrence Meredith, writer of many definitive motor books admits to his own bias in describing the car since he is an owner himself. High praise indeed. The E34 is also the last chassis designation that I really liked in the styling department. It still had 4 uncovered headlights up front, a slightly wedged shape, and limited electronics. The most advanced acronym in my car is ATSC (automatic tape slack control) which relates to the operation of the cassette tape deck.

Besides the cassette tape deck, it has a trunk-mounted 6 disk CD changer. Remember those ? More importantly, it has sunroof, leather, heated seats, and....wait for it....a limited slip differential. Now that is a useful option. The car is ridiculously smooth, so much so that I had a hard time remembering that it was a five speed on the drive home. Every car I have with a stick shift is old enough to have an engine noise and vibration to match. This car is smoother than any automatic, and is barely working at highway speeds.

This car will also be a test. It needs nothing. I mean nothing. As we enter winter here, it is too nice to slosh around on salted roads, and not really old enough to be vintage. It is also a great platform for all manner of go-fast goodies. It is going to get some daily driver usage, and may become the full-time daily driver going forward, but it will take discipline to keep my grubby hands off it....