Chicago Auto Show: 2008 Pontiac G8

[iGav]

BMW makes fantastic cars

A friend of mine (ex Lotus, and MIRA) absolutely lambastes BMW for not setting their cars up correctly at the factory, even the M models.

Give him half a day, a monkey wrench and a steady supply of tea and he'll weave his magic.

Had I actually owned my last BMW and not leased it, I'd have had him sort it... because it was f'in' sketchy as, and BMW said it was "normal".

 

[quagmire]

A friend of mine (ex Lotus, and MIRA) absolutely lambastes BMW for not setting their cars up correctly at the factory, even the M models.

Give him half a day, a monkey wrench and a steady supply of tea and he'll weave his magic.

Had I actually owned my last BMW and not leased it, I'd have had him sort it... because it was f'in' sketchy as, and BMW said it was "normal".

What would he mean by not setting up the cars correctly?

 

[blitzkrieg79]

I think the problem with most of these companies is that they have executives who instead of thinking how to improve and expand a company by being bold/imaginative and not withholding cash from skilled workers, they concentrate on cutting the costs down, stuffing their own pockets, and keep on forgetting that in order to sell a product that a public wants, it needs to be designed to public needs. GM/Ford/Chrysler have been out of touch with reality for a while now, but I guess thats what corporations are all about, as long as shareholders are happy, the people who actually design and manufacture those cars don't matter. Just keep on cutting down the costs till the day there won't be anything left to cut. All of them would want to sell you cars with American prices but with Chinese labor. I am not a fan of UAW but in my opinion if it wasn't for them, car manufacturing would be gone from USA 10 years ago just like most of every type of manufacturing business.

 

[iGav]

What would he mean by not setting up the cars correctly?

He used to (help) develop and set up Lotus protoypes, until they were production ready.

He doesn't think they fullfill their handling potential.

When you drive a BMW that he's fixed, the difference is noticeable.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I imagine his standards are higher than the average punter, being a Lotus employee...the only BMWs I've ever driven were a mid 90s 7-Series and a 2000 540i. Both were nice, I particularly liked the steering feel.

If I ever move to the UK and buy a BMW we'll have to get in touch.

 

[iGav]

If I ever move to the UK and buy a BMW we'll have to get in touch.

Oh, he doesn't just fix BMW's, he'll fix any car. He just lambastes BMW's because he takes offence at their 'Ultimate Driving Machine' mumblings.

He does... (I can't remember the exact name) but it's something like auto trialling now (where you have to drive around a tight course, without knocking down the cones, as quickly as possibly, that type of thing), it's precision driving usually in homemade or kits cars, and he runs this odd quasi-self-made-caterham type car, but it actually handles. Really, really well as it turns out.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Oh, he doesn't just fix BMW's, he'll fix any car. He just lambastes BMW's because he takes offence at their 'Ultimate Driving Machine' mumblings.

I wonder if he could fix a Nissan Altima...it needs a lot of fixing. The steering is actually pretty good, but it's heavy, a bit wobbly and needs more power.

When it came time to buy a car, it came down to the Altima or a significantly older Porsche 944. Sometimes I wish I bought the Porsche, but I needed a daily driver and the 944 would not do for that.

 

[iGav]

When it came time to buy a car, it came down to the Altima or a significantly older Porsche 944. Sometimes I wish I bought the Porsche, but I needed a daily driver and the 944 would not do for that.

Couldn't you pick up a 968? they're pretty cheap now... and perfectly fine for a daily driver.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Couldn't you pick up a 968? they're pretty cheap now... and perfectly fine for a daily driver.

I only found one, at a Porsche dealer, and they wanted over $20k for it, which was double my budget at the time. There were a lot of 944s and 928s around though, but most of the 944s were scary condition-wise and the 928s were far too expensive.

In a year or so I'll finish graduate school and be ready for an Evo, or whatever strikes my fancy.