We do the same thing in Portland, ME too. Front-end loaders with those giant snowblowers on them blowing the snow into dumptrucks. No other way to do it on narrow, winding, 18th century streets, there is no where to put it. Often the truck has to be ahead of the snowblower, as the streets are too narrow for them to be…

I owned a Trabant the summer ('91) I spent in Budapest. Bought it, drove it around all summer, sold it for what I paid for it. It's the best terrible car ever made. It was very reliable, though I am pretty confident I could have punched a hole in the body. An utter deathtrap in a crash. You must know the old Hungarian…

Having lived in Maine most of my life, and having had a pair of Icelandic roommates in college at U. Maine (they could DRINK), I can assure you that winters in Iceland are generally milder than winters in Maine. It is DARK there though.

One of my BMW club buddies has three Miatas, one for each kid plus a spare. All picked up on the cheap and fixed up. So rational parents do exist. He is also the chair of our local BMWCCA chapters Street Survival School for teens, and an ace autocrosser. His kids know how to drive - having had my butt handed to me at…

My Grandmother drove for more than 60 years and has never been pulled over for anything. She was in one not at fault accident, when my Mom was a kid, and she slid her car off the road in a snowstorm once, when I was in high school. Pretty good for 60-odd years, and for a long time she had a 40+ mile a day commute.

I agree with this 100%. My '11 328i has been maintained by the pre-free "old school" maintenance schedule since new. So in 3.5yrs 33K miles it has actually had 5 oil changes, 2 gearbox and diff oil changes, 2 brake fluid flushes and a power steering fluid change. As opposed to the 2, 0, 0, 1, and 0 it would have had…

I think ultimately you have to keep in mind what a car like this is - $100K of absolutely bleeding edge technology. Even if you pay $10K for it, it's still a $100K of absolutely bleeding edge technology, that is now a decade or so old. If you look at it as getting a $100K car for an $85K discount, and know that you…

Want a mint condition 2013 with 11K miles on it? Mine is for sale. Stored winters. Black, cloth seats, no stripes, heated seats\Auto HVAC\Sirius pkg.. Love it, but I don't have room for it with an M235i on the way.

MSRP on these cars is a fantasy. You get $5K off by walking through the door. And don't forget, $4K of that price is the folding cloth roof. A comparable hardtop is little over $21K or so in the real world.

It is necessary for resale only if you enjoy a less than 50% return on your "investment". Buy a $150 TomTom if you need a GPS, or use your phone. Either is better than 95% of factory NAV systems for a tiny fraction of the cost.

Mercedes-Benz

You can't have a minivan that is great to drive? I fail to see why not. If Porsche can make the Porsche of SUVS, I don't see why BMW can't make the BMW of minivans. And I have news for you, not every BMW has been "The Ultimate Driving Machine". It's just a BS marketing slogan. My Mother's '83 528e with 120hp and 3spd…

Tavarish, take a bow for this one, your best article ever!

ROFL!

The problem is there is no transmission that fits the turbo motor AND has the right tailshaft arrangement for the torque tube drive for the wagon. The sedans could be had with 5spds, but not the wagons. The 2.2i has a completely different transmission bell housing than the turbo. I suppose in theory you could have…

The SW8 is not anything like as softly suspended as an early 5-seat wagon. Quite firm, and they corner very well for a big car. I much prefer the earlier seats though.

My understanding is that there is no manual that fits both the turbo motor and the wagon. I did have a super rare manual non-turbo '92 SW8, but the motors are completely different. Lovely car, wish I still had it.

None were sold in the US with a stick, all the turbo wagons, both gas and diesel, were automatique.

I spent the summer of '91 in Budapest, rode on those so many times! Are the Ikarus busses still chugging around, or have they scrapped those too?

The title is the least of the problems. My state doesn't even title anything older than 1995.