List Something You Discovered About your Car After You Bought it...

Tell us your story. Sometimes you discover Good or Bad surprises after you buy a car.

I discovered how easy it is to do most maintenance and repair. I hadn't been doing my own for a while, just didn't feel like it anymore. When I bought my touring, I knew that if I didn't keep up on maintenance and do all repairs I was capable of, it could financially crush me. Thanks to this forum and a good service manual, so far, other than fixing damage caused by hitting a deer, it's been all diy. I always thought modern cars would be hard to work on. Turns out, not so.

Happy New Year Everyone.

I had a broken window regulator.
Should have know better to check before haggling a price.

Originally Posted by mr_bean

I had a broken window regulator.
Should have know better to check before haggling a price.

The bad: Ditto here. Actually I knew it was broken when I bought it, and got an extra $200 out of the previous owner. I didn't know, however, that the sunroof shade clips were broken.

The good: I discovered how much fun it was to drive, and still is! After driving a '99 Acura TL 5-speed for several years, which is a very good car in it's own right, I realized it doesn't hold a candle to my 330i.

I learned that other drivers must have strong feelings of contempt (or jealousy) for our bimmers because no matter where I park, somebody will pull in beside me and ding my doors. This seldom happended with my prior non-bimmer cars. The good news is I've lost weight from all the extra walking I do now.

Troll

I discovered the battery isn't under the hood.

I discovered that the engine ran fine and the interior was in great shape! I made some lowball offer after hours at an auction to show my interest (I was sure they would laugh and say no) and they accepted it

Originally Posted by smolck

I discovered the battery isn't under the hood.

Yeah that confused the crap out of me for a few minutes

Originally Posted by Gino215

Tell us your story. Sometimes you discover Good or Bad surprises after you buy a car.

All you need to know about "us" can be found in the pages of these forums. All the good and bad surprises are contained right here. All you need to do is search. Folks on these forums have already discussed these things, long before either you or I ever got here.

So Gino215, why don't you tell all of us about you? That's what I did when I first got here. Tell us all about your background. That's what we want to know.

I thought it was an M3!

I discovered that my car was CPO'd for another year and a half when digging thru the manuals... also discovered that it had Bluetooth built in

i noticed that i had the upgraded harmon/kardon speaker system and the dealer hadnt even noticed (which im sure would have added a few bucks) so score!!!!

I found out that my car's first owner already had a passenger side first aid box. I just bought one for the driver's side. They are just so damn handy!!!!

That the vin decoder was wrong:

http://www.bmw-z1.com/VIN/VINdecode-e.cgi

and that i still ended up with a ZF no reverse.

Various oil leaks.

There exists subframe problems in this generation

I discovered that my 330ci had two 8.5" wide wheels and three 7.5" wide wheels, as is an option with some sport packages. Many come with (5) 8.5 wide wheels, I believe. Previous owner had 4 225 45 17's all the way around...not even recommended for a 8.5" wide wheel! One of the 8.5" wide wheels was in the trunk,,,the other on the front left. Had to buy two 245 40 17's tires, for the 8.5" wide wheels, and put them on the back of the car, as designed. Moved one of the 7.5" to the front, with the 225 45 17's, and now have two spare 225 tires for the next time the fronts wear out. No money lost, but it was an eye opener.

Size / width of wheel is stamped on one of the spokes..It was to my surprise, after reading WIKI tire info for sport pacakages, that I immediately went out to my car, cleaned off the brake dust, and while using inspection mirror and flashlight I learned of this mix-up on my car...many months after purchase.

I test drove the car and had to buy it.

Got home, logged on to some of the internet boards and started learning about this very interesting 330i I just purchased. What? Seriously? A ZHP? What's that.

Oh. How cool. Nice surprise!!!!

That it beeps @ 36-37 degrees.

This forum
The detailer's forum
Tires don't last real long
Mods, Mods and Mo Mods

Water pump issues
What real maintenance is going to be like

Ive learned that my 330xi requires a lot of maintenance compared to my Acura TL. but I love it anyway. even after both CV axles going bad and misfire issues (lower intake boot I think).

Without this forum though, I'd up a financial creek with this car.

Much as I had expected, heavy applications of throttle and brake gave me serious wood.... :-)

My ZHP is my first BMW so there was a lot to learn about it but the ipod connector and adaptive headlights were nice surprises.

With the M3 I just bought I discovered:
The car has HID fogs already installed ()
The front bumper has a clear bra installed ()
The gas mileage is almost the same as my old ZHP ()
The LSD can be quite fun ()
The sunroof shade clips are starting to crap out ()

With my old ZHP, I discovered that there was an iPod hookup in the glove box

Originally Posted by Fast Bob

Much as I had expected, heavy applications of throttle and brake gave me serious wood.... :-)

Go drive an M3 - after that the ZHP won't even give you a chode

With the ignition off, if you pull the headlight stalk towards you, the HIDs light up for about 20 seconds....

Good: the previous owner had installed bluetooth and still had prepaid maintenance left on it!

Bad: it does not have heated seats. I thought I saw the buttons in the pictures, but I should have examined more carefully. I am getting used to doing without them.

Originally Posted by Fast Bob

Much as I had expected, heavy applications of throttle and brake gave me serious wood.... :-)

Egress from these cars is a bit difficult, considering that you sit pretty low to the ground. Add to that a tent in your pants, and you might as well just sit back and smoke a cigarette before trying to get out.

Originally Posted by TerraPhantm

The LSD can be quite fun ()

Just don't do it while driving.

Originally Posted by TerraPhantm

Go drive an M3 - after that the ZHP won't even give you a chode

Need to check that out...