Mike, Yet another new BMW owner & CCA member...
Howdy!
Just bought an almost-new 2011 E90 328i from Passport - a demo with 11.5K miles in Deep Sea Blue Metallic (for some reason, it was called "light blue" for the registration - go figure?) with the Saddle interior. Gorgeous. No Nav or iDrive or smartphone integration - those would have been nice.
I've been lusting for BMWs for years, but just hadn't pulled the trigger until now. Maybe it's a mid-life crisis? (I'm nearly 50 - yikes, how'd that happen so fast?) Anyhow, in September, I changed jobs & went from a short drive to the commuter bus/metro commute to a nearly-60-mile commute from near Waldorf to near BWI. Spending that kind of time in the car, I really needed to upgrade the experience.
I'd been driving an '04 Volvo S60 2.5t, which was a nice car, but it didn't have all the amenities I wanted, though it was plenty fast with a 2.5L, 5 cyl (yes, 5 cyl) turbo, and I'd even finally gotten used to its turbo lag. But none of the nice audio goodies, like Bluetooth and an Aux input. It was time, I was ready for something else, and I wanted it to be fun to drive, too.
And right about that time, we got word from Passport that they had good deals on their 2011 demos. (My wife is on her 2nd BMW - in 2008, I got her S60 when she bought an 08 E90 328i. But within about a year or so, she decided she needed something bigger, so she'd have room for our dog, Tank, who's a Great Dane. Yes, he'd been riding in the back of a 328i, all 165 pounds of him! At least it was a sedan... So my wife traded the '08 328i in for an 07 X3, which is still pretty nice and it's got room for Tank.) Actually, my wife joined BMWCCA before I did - I was an associate member, but she let it lapse - it's just a car to her. A nice car, but just a car. Drives me nuts, which is a short drive.
So, I'm loving my new car - I've put about 3K miles on it in about 7 weeks, just commuting. It definitely makes the commute a whole better experience. When the road is clear, I love pulling the shifter into the Sport mode and getting the RPMs up into the torquey (sp?) part of the power curve, and letting it out some. And when traffic is a pain (way too often) the normal Drive is fine, and the car will still get up & go when I get the chance.
It only took me a day or two to figure out what most of you have known for years - the speedo reads low. That's annoying.
So I'm hoping to learn interesting things from you fine folks, tips & tricks, which modifications/aftermarket options I should think about or avoid. I've already done a couple - hardwired a Valentine 1 to the fusebox and installed the remote display for it, and put in a ProClip mount for my iPhone, which is a huge improvement over setting it in a console tray. And I got the headrest coat-hanger for Christmas - sure is nice not having my jacket hanging against the back window, so I can see when I turn my head.
So a little more about me: I served 20 years in the US Navy, and I've been working in IT for nearly 10 years since I took off my uniforms. I've had a Ham Radio license since 1985 (I think) and my current passion is High Power Rocketry, which is a real hoot.
That's a long enough ramble, isn't it? I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.
Mike
