Also, as I was reminded today, the air conditioning is feeble. It only goes down to 16 C and there is no wayI can get a blast of freezing air. How you guys in the States can cope with that I do not know which makes me wonder whether US spec cars have a heavier duty aircon unit? I have had mine checked and it was given the OK.

 

In the US parts and labour are a lot less expensive, as is the car itself. They can afford the mods. Also the dealers find it less easy to wriggle out of warranty claims.

You only have to clean your windscreen with non OEM stuff here to find the dealers trying to screw you.

 

LOl, much as you can run a bimmer from giving driving lessons - dives for cover...

Yep, you US guys, the dealers here charge ?128/hour = $204/ hour rounded up to the hour for their 'labour'. They also scam you using the BMW worktime figures. Say the 'book' says the job is 4 hours. They rush it in 3 by missing 'unimportant' stuff and charging you for 4 then adding stuff like screenwash which you don't need in addition to charging twice the going rate for oil. I always take my own oil now.

 

that is how the dealerships save time/make money. Technicians are actually rated on how fast they complete a job. the faster the tech, the more jobs he complete in a day and the more money the dealer makes. this in turn is reflected in the techs paycheck..

 

Have you seen the prices of cars sold over in USA? If we were so lucky with that PLUS have same fuel costs as they do, I would spend tons on modifying our cars here. Right now if we put a sticker on our car, the insurance company will want to know it. May have to pay more premiums or lose any insurance claims.

Its the system here that doesn't encourage modifying a car much... IMO

cheers

 

Not true at all, its just that the more global population that mod cars arent on this forum...go check out the m5board and see just a bit of what goes on in europe, there are many tuners and modders for performace cars and they have some great setups...... and ofcourse in the middle east, they are huge modders, you will see every type of car with anything you can imagine bolted on or stitched into.... the world is quite wealthy and they surely spend it just as we do here, do you not think that in Germany they drive 550i's? or M5s? or Ruf Porsche's or Ferrari's or Koenigsegg and so on....Europe builds them and surely enjoys them, just like us....

 

But I had to sell my wife and daughter to buy the bimmer..........................

 

I suppose the US guys need to know a bit more about UK BMW's :-

1. We don't worry about the number of wheels. Bimmers and Beamers can have four here.

2. BMW is often referred to as a 'Bad Man's Wagon' particularly when..

3. it is black all over (and er inside), has black windows and chrome wheels because...

4. it usually belongs to a drug dealer of the same hue which gives him...

5. street cred which...

6. also makes the cops reluctant to stop them because they can't see inside which means...

7. there is a danger they may stop a non-caucasian and be grounded for harassment so...

8. blacked out bimmers/beamers are avoided by respectable Brits except for those who...

9. don't want to be stopped by our 'police' who are now simply ....

10. social service representatives whose only weapon is a radar gun which ...

11. checks the racial orientation of the driver before the speed which will rarely be above 60 mph because..

12. unless it is around 3 AM there is so much traffic it is impossible to exceed this.

 

The scarey thing here is how true this post is, they even hid behind bushes with the speed guns in my area and jump out at the last minute. They were caught on camera doing it near where i live, they were bang to rights but they still denied it to the new reporters.

 

I agree, i got caught by the same tactics, except i near ran the silly git over