I dig it because I’m getting a bit of an Akira vibe. . . but Tetsuo’s bike, so fuckin’ A, man.

And that’s your first mistake.

They want you to lease.

I find the whole thing fascinating, as IIRC, the only significant difference in the forward structures of the Charger and Challenger is that new floorpan. I’m surprised they couldn’t have found some weasel loophole to make a manual Charger happen. I mean, the shit GM pulled to get the Holden Monaro over here is…

Economy of scale (given the volume of automatic transmissions built) and increasing cost of emissions (and occasionally crashworthiness*) certification.

*This is why there’s no manual transmission Charger, despite the Challenger being structurally similar. To fit the manual in the Challenger, it required a modified…

Every gets Ho-ka right. It’s the next part that trips them up. Apparently the full brand name is “Ho-ka Oh-nay Oh-nay” as it derives from Maori phrase. I’ve mainly heard “One-One” (which is what I honestly thought), and the odd “Eleven.”

Used to rock Lunarglides until the tread changed; the newer version has siping…

Probably because you see writers that used to be commonplace at Jalopnik 5-10 years ago.

You’re not officially a runner until you’ve corrected someone about the pronunciation of Hoka’s full name. Finally picked up a pair at the local running store’s tent sale; like running on pillows. Not quite a full convert, but close: haven’t gone longer than five miles at a time on them yet but I’m impressed from the r…

Has anyone checked in with the elevators?  I mean, see how they’re doing?

I believe the phrase you’re looking for is “thoughts and prayers.”

Hell, by motorcycle standards 10K is a joke.

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…