Reliable Daily Driver: 4 inch stroke LS2
Originally Posted by 99 Black Bird T/A
BMW still thoughtfully include at no extra expense an electric system that starts self destruction when the warranty expires?
Those cars are lease cars. Never buy them. Weird problems emerge... for example on the E350 we had the a/c system did not drain. It was not designed to drain to the ground--it was captured.
In the super humidity of Florida it captured probably 10X the amount of moisture from the A/C was designed to capture in Germany. If you let the car sit for 2 days... it would stink and smelly musty. And the dealer couldn't fix it. But on lease, it's their problem. They own it. They can deal with it.
In the super humidity of Florida it captured probably 10X the amount of moisture from the A/C was designed to capture in Germany. If you let the car sit for 2 days... it would stink and smelly musty. And the dealer couldn't fix it. But on lease, it's their problem. They own it. They can deal with it.
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I agree about the German cars.
Lease only if you plan on having it as a daily.
Weekender car, purchase one with low km if you want to buy one.
I think from the F10 5 series and up BMW greatly improved the quality and build of the vehicle.
Very few reliability problems from what I read.
The E60 though was built very poorly.
Wouldn't touch one of those as much as I like the sound of that high revving V10 engine.
Lease only if you plan on having it as a daily.
Weekender car, purchase one with low km if you want to buy one.
I think from the F10 5 series and up BMW greatly improved the quality and build of the vehicle.
Very few reliability problems from what I read.
The E60 though was built very poorly.
Wouldn't touch one of those as much as I like the sound of that high revving V10 engine.
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,898
Likes: 467
Those cars are lease cars. Never buy them. Weird problems emerge... for example on the E350 we had the a/c system did not drain. It was not designed to drain to the ground--it was captured.
In the super humidity of Florida it captured probably 10X the amount of moisture from the A/C was designed to capture in Germany. If you let the car sit for 2 days... it would stink and smelly musty. And the dealer couldn't fix it. But on lease, it's their problem. They own it. They can deal with it.
In the super humidity of Florida it captured probably 10X the amount of moisture from the A/C was designed to capture in Germany. If you let the car sit for 2 days... it would stink and smelly musty. And the dealer couldn't fix it. But on lease, it's their problem. They own it. They can deal with it.
Not much can go wrong with these cars and even if something does break it's very cheap to fix.
LS3 s also are extremely reliable engines too.
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Joined: Sep 2010
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Miscellaneous rambling
I'm definitely take Porsche or Mercedes over a BMW forth money your talking about. An Ex girlfriend had a 911 Turbo that was surprisingly trouble free and reliable car.
Former father in law had 3 excellent Mercedes out 4, only one was a borderline lemon. His 2003 500e Sport rocked. Given what those cars cost I'm not sure how he slept. An untimely heart attack was the only reason his 500e Sport didn't end up with an aftermarket supercharger. He always made fun of my 99 TA. One day we did a joyride in 500e definitely a fun car. Later I returned the favor with a 140+ mph blast in the 99 TA. (Heads,cam intake M6 4.10's) , amazingly he never ridiculed another LS powered car. The TA seemed to make him as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs after that.
I had a used 2003 BMW 540 w/M Sport package briefly. Definitely a sweet car on first impression and fun to drive. I was surprised at how many folks reacted "instant status symbol" The car has several electric issues almost immediately. Lucky for me it was a Carmax purchase and they took it back after I get a taste of the BMW "build quality"
However, performance wise I've always found all of the BMW's I've encounter that were willing to play very easy to humiliate in acceleration, handling and braking on the back roads, interstate or city or pretty much anywhere. It's pretty hilarious putting a new uber dollar 2012 M3 Ultimate Driving machine in its place, stoplight after stoplight in a tweaked 72 Corvette
My 99 TA had a field day slaughtering uppity M3 drivers. Even my 91 RS wasted a lot of BMW's on twisty mountain road.
I see BMW as probably the most over rated luxury performance brand of all the top German cars.
Some BMW drivers are very cool car guys and deserve major respect. One time in a surprise snow storm my 99 TA got caught with ultra summer tires and I got stuck spinning. Amazingly the owner of a new BMW owner stop and help me rock the TA free. A nice reminder people should only be judged by their actions.
Porsche, I respect having beat a few and all having gotten my *** kicked by quite a Porsche's.
Mercedes is pretty cool in my book the old SL500, SL600 & SL550 etc were always fun cars to screw around with in the TA back in the day. They always gave a better account of themselves than the BMW's did.
End of ramble
no more el Jimador & LS1Tech this week
I'm definitely take Porsche or Mercedes over a BMW forth money your talking about. An Ex girlfriend had a 911 Turbo that was surprisingly trouble free and reliable car.
Former father in law had 3 excellent Mercedes out 4, only one was a borderline lemon. His 2003 500e Sport rocked. Given what those cars cost I'm not sure how he slept. An untimely heart attack was the only reason his 500e Sport didn't end up with an aftermarket supercharger. He always made fun of my 99 TA. One day we did a joyride in 500e definitely a fun car. Later I returned the favor with a 140+ mph blast in the 99 TA. (Heads,cam intake M6 4.10's) , amazingly he never ridiculed another LS powered car. The TA seemed to make him as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs after that.
I had a used 2003 BMW 540 w/M Sport package briefly. Definitely a sweet car on first impression and fun to drive. I was surprised at how many folks reacted "instant status symbol" The car has several electric issues almost immediately. Lucky for me it was a Carmax purchase and they took it back after I get a taste of the BMW "build quality"
However, performance wise I've always found all of the BMW's I've encounter that were willing to play very easy to humiliate in acceleration, handling and braking on the back roads, interstate or city or pretty much anywhere. It's pretty hilarious putting a new uber dollar 2012 M3 Ultimate Driving machine in its place, stoplight after stoplight in a tweaked 72 Corvette
My 99 TA had a field day slaughtering uppity M3 drivers. Even my 91 RS wasted a lot of BMW's on twisty mountain road.I see BMW as probably the most over rated luxury performance brand of all the top German cars.
Some BMW drivers are very cool car guys and deserve major respect. One time in a surprise snow storm my 99 TA got caught with ultra summer tires and I got stuck spinning. Amazingly the owner of a new BMW owner stop and help me rock the TA free. A nice reminder people should only be judged by their actions.
Porsche, I respect having beat a few and all having gotten my *** kicked by quite a Porsche's.
Mercedes is pretty cool in my book the old SL500, SL600 & SL550 etc were always fun cars to screw around with in the TA back in the day. They always gave a better account of themselves than the BMW's did.
End of ramble
no more el Jimador & LS1Tech this week
It's all good man.
TECH Addict
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,898
Likes: 467
Miscellaneous rambling
I'm definitely take Porsche or Mercedes over a BMW forth money your talking about. An Ex girlfriend had a 911 Turbo that was surprisingly trouble free and reliable car.
Former father in law had 3 excellent Mercedes out 4, only one was a borderline lemon. His 2003 500e Sport rocked. Given what those cars cost I'm not sure how he slept. An untimely heart attack was the only reason his 500e Sport didn't end up with an aftermarket supercharger. He always made fun of my 99 TA. One day we did a joyride in 500e definitely a fun car. Later I returned the favor with a 140+ mph blast in the 99 TA. (Heads,cam intake M6 4.10's) , amazingly he never ridiculed another LS powered car. The TA seemed to make him as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs after that.
I had a used 2003 BMW 540 w/M Sport package briefly. Definitely a sweet car on first impression and fun to drive. I was surprised at how many folks reacted "instant status symbol" The car has several electric issues almost immediately. Lucky for me it was a Carmax purchase and they took it back after I get a taste of the BMW "build quality"
However, performance wise I've always found all of the BMW's I've encounter that were willing to play very easy to humiliate in acceleration, handling and braking on the back roads, interstate or city or pretty much anywhere. It's pretty hilarious putting a new uber dollar 2012 M3 Ultimate Driving machine in its place, stoplight after stoplight in a tweaked 72 Corvette My 99 TA had a field day slaughtering uppity M3 drivers. Even my 91 RS wasted a lot of BMW's on twisty mountain road.
I see BMW as probably the most over rated luxury performance brand of all the top German cars.
Some BMW drivers are very cool car guys and deserve major respect. One time in a surprise snow storm my 99 TA got caught with ultra summer tires and I got stuck spinning. Amazingly the owner of a new BMW owner stop and help me rock the TA free. A nice reminder people should only be judged by their actions.
Porsche, I respect having beat a few and all having gotten my *** kicked by quite a Porsche's.
Mercedes is pretty cool in my book the old SL500, SL600 & SL550 etc were always fun cars to screw around with in the TA back in the day. They always gave a better account of themselves than the BMW's did.
End of ramble
no more el Jimador & LS1Tech this week
I'm definitely take Porsche or Mercedes over a BMW forth money your talking about. An Ex girlfriend had a 911 Turbo that was surprisingly trouble free and reliable car.
Former father in law had 3 excellent Mercedes out 4, only one was a borderline lemon. His 2003 500e Sport rocked. Given what those cars cost I'm not sure how he slept. An untimely heart attack was the only reason his 500e Sport didn't end up with an aftermarket supercharger. He always made fun of my 99 TA. One day we did a joyride in 500e definitely a fun car. Later I returned the favor with a 140+ mph blast in the 99 TA. (Heads,cam intake M6 4.10's) , amazingly he never ridiculed another LS powered car. The TA seemed to make him as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs after that.
I had a used 2003 BMW 540 w/M Sport package briefly. Definitely a sweet car on first impression and fun to drive. I was surprised at how many folks reacted "instant status symbol" The car has several electric issues almost immediately. Lucky for me it was a Carmax purchase and they took it back after I get a taste of the BMW "build quality"
However, performance wise I've always found all of the BMW's I've encounter that were willing to play very easy to humiliate in acceleration, handling and braking on the back roads, interstate or city or pretty much anywhere. It's pretty hilarious putting a new uber dollar 2012 M3 Ultimate Driving machine in its place, stoplight after stoplight in a tweaked 72 Corvette
My 99 TA had a field day slaughtering uppity M3 drivers. Even my 91 RS wasted a lot of BMW's on twisty mountain road.I see BMW as probably the most over rated luxury performance brand of all the top German cars.
Some BMW drivers are very cool car guys and deserve major respect. One time in a surprise snow storm my 99 TA got caught with ultra summer tires and I got stuck spinning. Amazingly the owner of a new BMW owner stop and help me rock the TA free. A nice reminder people should only be judged by their actions.
Porsche, I respect having beat a few and all having gotten my *** kicked by quite a Porsche's.
Mercedes is pretty cool in my book the old SL500, SL600 & SL550 etc were always fun cars to screw around with in the TA back in the day. They always gave a better account of themselves than the BMW's did.
End of ramble
no more el Jimador & LS1Tech this week
They don't realise the tech in the cylinder heads and how much flow there is which in turns produces crazy power and acceleration.
My brother had an ls1 and he loved it.
Then when he got his E 63 with the na V8, he completely turned on the ls1 with an intense hate even though his AMG engine sounds like a farting vacuum cleaner.
He thinks it sounds fantastic.
Although he can't explain why he thinks his engine is better.
He says the engine is smoother and runs better and sounds better which doesn't make sense.
It lacks a lot of torque compared to the LS and the top end pull is ****. Not much momentum. And engine is not as free spinning. It revs to 7000rpm but doesn't like spinning quickly.
Oh yes, the other reasons is that it's a more technologically advanced engine being a DOHC.
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Verdad Gallardo The LS has a few real short comings that stand out to me: I'm sure there are a few others that slipped my mind.
- Oil pump cavitation above 6,000 rpm
- Lifters access requires pulling the heads
- Annoying noises like piston slap occur too often
- The newer DOD, AFM engines seem slightly more prone to lifter issues than their even lower tech ancestors.
The only modern V8 I can honestly say I think is a terrible design is Ford's MOD/Trition V8 manufactured between ~1996 to 2008 Notorious for various spark plug issues and other problems. Thankfully Ford redeemed themselves with the "new" 5.0
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Lol - I definitely liked that BMW 540 it's true. It was like a fixed/sorted 1996 Impala SS but with better style, superior ride, wonderful seats and an excellent interior. I can honestly say the 540 is one of few few 4 door cars I like. Of course Bangle wrecked a least a decade of BMW's styling with the Bangle Butt and it's legacy. The part I'm not impressed with the performance part of the BMW equation.
The LS has a few real short comings that stand out to me: I'm sure there are a few others that slipped my mind.
The only modern V8 I can honestly say I think is a terrible design is Ford's MOD/Trition V8 manufactured between ~1996 to 2008 Notorious for various spark plug issues and other problems. Thankfully Ford redeemed themselves with the "new" 5.0
The LS has a few real short comings that stand out to me: I'm sure there are a few others that slipped my mind.
- Oil pump cavitation above 6,000 rpm
- Lifters access requires pulling the heads
- Annoying noises like piston slap occur too often
- The newer DOD, AFM engines seem slightly more prone to lifter issues than their even lower tech ancestors.
The only modern V8 I can honestly say I think is a terrible design is Ford's MOD/Trition V8 manufactured between ~1996 to 2008 Notorious for various spark plug issues and other problems. Thankfully Ford redeemed themselves with the "new" 5.0
When my engine was rebuilt, the engine itself runs way smoother and is so so quiet compared to the stock engine from the factory.
All you can hear is the exhaust.
I was very surprised when my engine builder started it for the first time in front of me. The quietness of the engine was eerie.
Even to this day it runs so quiet and smooth.
Ls1's had issues with piston slap though.
Oil pump issue is fixed with a better unit
The e39 was a good model for BMW.
It was built much better than the later E60.