Beiträge von Peter West

Mine does both!

I had a standing start burn up with a M3 a few months back on the Penzance bypass. His M3 was a year newer than my 850i. On the first section, about half a mile he pulled ahead, but the torque in higher revs seemed to give me the edge. Skin of the teeth braking at the end roundabout though. I must get those disks replaced.
On the second stretch I think he had a better idea what he was up against. he pulled further ahead at the start, I was beginning to catch up when we tangled with other traffic and both pulled back.
A friendly respectful mutual wave and we each went our way.

theo

I have from a number of sources that ecologically cats are not good news. Sure they reduce the amount of NOX per litre of fuel burned, but they burn less fuel without cats, but not enough to make the difference I admit. The real ecological nightmare of cats is the pollution caused in their maufacture. Extracting the rare metals and then manufacturing the converter surfaces casues more pollution than they save in the life of the car.

Get cat free exhaust and save the planet!!

I've just had a loud whining noise in the powersteering. A tiny hole in the rubber hose just below the fluid reservoir. This hydraulic hose is a complex piece of kit, and a new one costs a fortune. My mechanic, looking at the price and the extent of the problem came up with a novel solution. He removed the whole hose, took it to a hydaulics specialists (who usually fixes JCBs and the like). he has removed the offending rubber hose, braised in a new pair of joints so that I now have a removable rubber section. If the hose blows again, the rubber section can be removed with a spanner and a new piece made to fit.

Total cost, less that £100 including fitting and VAT

The Hose from BMW: £110 +VAT

I've worked out what is happening. We don't pay the top whack Group F or G, the new scaled charges apply only to cars first registered after 2000. We older cars still have the old system, one price up to 1.499 liters and one price above. Still, it's less than last year. Don't see that often!

I just got my road tax renewal. Has anyone else had theirs since the new system? Its only £175 for the year. I expected to be in the top sector over £200.

You could take out the back seats and move the drivers seats back a bit, or stick it in the boot, that way you could have a 1000Watt hifi with it's own engine driven cooling system!

Hi Steve, it sounds great. As for roads down here, that's a tough one. The first ones that come to mind:
A30 from Longrock to Penzance (past the heliport up to the newish Penzance bypass
Then to try short accel, brakes, cornering, the road from the Penzance bypass to St Just (By the way, St Just has just about the best fish and chip shop in Cornwall)

The Penzance to Helston coast road used to be good, but I've not been there in a while and I can imagine all sorts of speed limits and cameras these days. What is the world coming to?

Then there's all that new road that feeds the new University colleges around Penryn (going from Redruth to Falmouth, in Penryn turn right just after Ocean BMW)

There's some good road, depending on traffic of course, off the A30 at Chiverton towards Newquay

Have fun

Hi Steve. What engine revs did the torque max out at? High torque at high revs is ideal so you stay in gear longer and change later so you have higher revs in the new gear.
Sounds good, glad you're happy with it. Mine has to go though. Change of career and life-style means I need to save money for a year or two and no 8 ever did that. I'll probably get another one though if everything works out to plan.

Anybody know anyone who wants one. I'm looking for £6,000 for quick sale. (see my ad in classifieds)

I bought my 850i for £7500 2 years ago. not including Road tax and Insurance, mine has cost nearly £5,000 in that time. When I bought it I knew it needed new tyres, but the car is so complex it's almost impossible to see what you're getting. Mine blew a head gasket after I'd had it just over a year. As we stripped it down we found the engine was in pristine condition, but so many minor things needed replacing: water pump, thermostat, fan drive clutch, distributors, fan belts, a coil, all 12 spark plugs. I suppose if the head gasket hadn't blown i would have had the inconvenience of finding each of these things one at a time. As it was the bill was £3,000. Goes like a dream now though.

For an 850i I'd say buget £15,000 and either pay fiteen on the car or buy cheaper and expect to pay the rest in time.

7-8 mpg must mean a problem somewhere. When I push mine hard around country lanes in sports mode (1991 850i auto) I still get an average of 15mpg and 27 on motorways.

The car you see here, with pictures in the Gallery. (I've had the BMW spoiler retro fitted since then).

The good points: for the last 2 years maintained and serviced, though not at BMW dealer. Have receipts for head gasket replacement, and many bits and pieces at the time. Total £3,000. Also front shock replaced, suspension bushes, viscous clutch fan drive replaced, altenator rebuilt. Inspection service done at same time as head gasket. Drives like a dream

The bad points: small rust bubble in paint over one wheel arch (about 1 cm square), small crack in front bumper at centre (about 1 cm long) drivers seat leather cracking on surface down the side nearest the door (previous owners neglect, I've kept it moisturised to prevent further deterioration). Windscreen washer system needs overhaul (sensors I expect which cost about £20 each) Power wash and headlamp wash works fine. Exhaust will need replacing in the next year or so.

Other stuff:
5 litre V12 auto (4 speed)
120,000 miles.( I've driven it 17,000 in 2 years)
Original 16 inch wheels
Colour: Brocade, light grey leather interior.

Reason for sale: complete reorganisation of life, changing business, selling house, moving in with girl-friend who is also changing career (and has no off road parking). Need to minimise all outgoings for a couple of years. Then I'll probably buy another one.

Price to a loving home (considering it's not the most pristine example, but my work in progress is getting it there) £6,000

for further info e mail me at p.west@mac.com

BHP does not tell you how a car performs, it is a meaningless figure. The only way to detrmine the performance of a car is to look at the torque curve, the gear ratios and the car weight.
Of course, if like Steve you increase the BHP of the same car, and change nothing else you will get better performance, but you will if you reduce the weight, or change the gear ratios. But comparing the BHP only of 2 cars will not tell you anything about how they compare when driving.

For more semi-technical details have a look at

http://www.e31.net/navmisc_e.html

The car you see here, with pictures in the Gallery. (I've had the BMW spoiler retro fitted since then).

The good points: for the last 2 years maintained and serviced, though not at BMW dealer. Have receipts for head gasket replacement, and many bits and pieces at the time. Total £3,000. Also front shock replaced, suspension bushes, viscous clutch fan drive replaced, altenator rebuilt. Inspection service done at same time as head gasket. Drives like a dream

The bad points: small rust bubble in paint over one wheel arch (about 1 cm square), small crack in front bumper at centre (about 1 cm long) drivers seat leather cracking on surface down the side nearest the door (previous owners neglect, I've kept it moisturised to prevent further deterioration). Windscreen washer system needs overhaul (sensors I expect which cost about £20 each) Power wash and headlamp wash works fine. Exhaust will need replacing in the next year or so.

Other stuff:
5 litre V12 auto (4 speed)
120,000 miles.( I've driven it 17,000 in 2 years)
Original 16 inch wheels
Colour: Brocade, light grey leather interior.

Reason for sale: complete reorganisation of life, changing business, selling house, moving in with girl-friend who is also changing career (and has no off road parking). Need to minimise all outgoings for a couple of years. Then I'll probably buy another one.

Price to a loving home (considering it's not the most pristine example, but my work in progress is getting it there) £6,000

for further info e mail me at p.west@mac.com

My 850 has 120K miles on the clock. recently I had head gaskets replaced. The mechanic was certain that I didn't hev the original engine. It was too new he insisted. he took the heads to be skimmed at the local dealer who confirmed that it is the original.
Perhaps I'm just lucky, perhaps there has been a continuous use of good quality engine oil. Whatever it is, the engine doesn't seem to have worn at all.

Until recently I've been using Shell optimax petrol, it gives much smoother engine running than standard unleaded. I recently changed to Esso (whatever their equivalent is, I can't remember the name). By the second tank, ie once I wasn't burning a mixture, the engine was delivering more power and I am now getting consistenly 2mpg more on motorway and about 1.5mpg more around town.

This shutting down computers thing is getting to sound a bit like 2001 Space Oddesy. Better to let the computer know you're the boss and turn it off once in a while.

"...at resale time"? The whole point of this is to customise the car to give you the car you want. Resale then doesn't come into it.

The point is, I think, you either own one of these cos you love them (even if that means a bit of personalisation and customisation), or you buy it as an investment.

With the 8, the latter aint going to happen for a long time, if ever. These are to be driven and enjoyed.

Consider what you would have got now for the 8, what you would pay for the new machine, then if there would be a net expenditure, what you could do to the 8 for that money.

Sometimes you need to get these things customised, and there is huge talent out there customising cars. I'm sure it would be possible to get a smaller chunkier steering wheel to fit with airbags, it just might not be a BMW wheel. Does that really matter? Same with the gear shift.

There have been times when I've seriously considered whether I did the right thing buying this 850 when I see the bills, but whatever other car I drive, they never have that something that the 8 has got. Once you've had one, you're hooked.

Don't do anything you'll regret later.

Good luck with the decision.

I parked mine up in a Halfords car park once last year. There was a bright red ferrari something-or-other in the same car park. Guess which got the most admiring glances. The Ferrari owner was none too pleased.

My insurance is now £323 per year (I'm 49). I asked about my 20 year old son coming on with me. The few companies that didn't laugh wanted more than £4,000.

£4,000! And I have an 850Si, not anything like as rare, powerful or expensive as the Csi.

I have no trouble with the head liner. But then I live less than 10 miles from Steve. It definitely could be the weather. Try not to get any sun on the roof of the car. Ever. That should do it.