Yup, you want both sorted when buying and want to keep it that way while owning. The N54 might need a little more love but not significantly. That said, my research does seem to point to an N55 being a more neglect tolerant while the N54 becomes a basket case in a hurry. . .

Same here, unless it’s under factory warranty. (Which means I need to start looking a Fiat bits for the Rennie.*) I’ve got a reasonably respectable third party warranty in my back pocket but I’ll save that in case something major lunches it. Everything else, maintenance/wear items, is on me. I can turn a wrench and…

Good thing that knowledge is everywhere you go, which is probably more valuable than the tools! Still, yeah, there’s a few things I’d be loathe to buy twice.

As for stuffing a V8 in a 1-series, it’s totally all about novelty. I fully realize it will be sub-optimal but it’s a build I can’t say I’ve seen a single example…

I’m gonna be a contrarian and Nice Price this car with a caveat.

This car is a solid project if you’re at least a competent and well equipped home-gamer, live near a race track and have no intention of streeting it. Sort the ECU, gut and sell the interior, rattle-can it up and go nuts. Otherwise, stay well clear.

And I think that’s the key take-away.  As I said: “Unless kept fully sorted.” You performed those maintenance items and got the revised parts as available before/in addition to going FBO/Meth/tune. A majority of N54's aren’t treated so kindly and then land in the hands of the cheap/foolhardy, then they break because…

I was just being a little tongue-in-cheek at your word choice. Don’t mind me.

I’ve got my small ragtop acquisition list. It pretty much goes gen-2 Corvair, MR2, Solstice GXP or 128i. That’s my thought as well about the E93: too hefty, too complicated. The 1-series being largely a shortened E9x so the parts…

Ah, the N54 gang showed up. I kid. Strange that I hear the N55 “bullshit” from everyone, including, you know, dealer and indie BMW mechanics as well as the usual scumbags on the internet such as ourselves. Smoke, fire.

The DME thing seems more widespread than that but I’m more than willing to concede that it might…

Honestly, it depends whether it’s an N54 or N55, and whether it has complete maintenance records. N54's are horrible unless kept fully sorted; seems a lot of idiots buy ‘em used, go FBO with a tune and send it. . . straight onto a rollback because they never bothered with all the (most likely) deferred maintenance.…

You could, you know, ask that lady-type person who lives with you.

It’s for people who live in a city who want an actual motorcycle to bop around town on and understand that the power of anything larger than a 250 is a waste because you’re gonna have to shut it down in a block or two, tops.

Let the turds with their ‘Busas or, conceptually worse, stretched liter bikes go eat a barrier…

I always felt two relatively minor changes would resolve that.

First and foremost - Master Sword should not have had any sort of durability associated with it, aka be “unbreakable.” It still would’ve preserved the point of the first DLC by retaining it as “weak” against regular enemies until you complete the trials.…

Beastwars. . . yup cool and all but my god, that Cyclonus. There’s my must-buy in this line.

Had to hit up the wiki. Interesting stuff, actually. What you lose in appearance, apparently you gain in overall strength of the material and the “chipped” nature lets you make more complex parts out of carbon fiber. I suspect it’s probably easier/faster to produce as well. So not bullshit but yeah, a bit…

Waittaminute. . . 50 large can’t buy you a Unimog, nor can any of our alleged sages suggest it? What the fuck do I come here for. . .

Minor addendums: ABS if available. I was one of those idiots who started on a racerep (K3 Gixxer 600). I went full Superman, which leads into point two: Lid, gloves, armored jacket, boots. Bare minimum for riding. On the maintenance front: get swing-arm spools immediately (if not equipped), and the appropriate rear…

Dude, no. That’s who buys STI’s.

I’d argue Lexus is just fine. Most cats I know who went that route are in the “I coulda bought German, but my time’s too valuable for anything but Toyota reliability” camp. The rest bought Teslas.

The new 2 sedan, the CLA, etc. are for “the poors.” Acura’s for people who don’t like Honda’s angry robot face and Infinity…

I know I’m in the minority (of paying customers) but the whole “no manual” thing really soured me. . . and the new M’s got absolutely beaten raw with an ugly stick. I love my E90 (2011: N55-powered manual xDrive) but BMW (or anyone, really) hasn’t anything to replace it with. Outside of a blown charge pipe and some…

Good luck!

One bit of advice: fuel injection. Makes the hobby so much easier when your bike just starts. Every carbed bike I’ve dealt with required a full ritual to the machine god at least once a month.

Tough to tell on the internet but I’m going to presume the first paragraph is played straight. I agree: look at this thing. It’d kill in the small-displacement market as a ‘Murrican answer to the ‘Pilen 401.  It’d probably do way better, on sheer account of having a large dealer network.