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Mr. Luddite

On 1/15/2016 2:54 PM, Its Me wrote:
On Friday, January 15, 2016 at 2:04:40 PM UTC-5, Its Me wrote:
On Friday, January 15, 2016 at 1:35:21 PM UTC-5, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 1/15/2016 1:12 PM, wrote:
On Friday, January 15, 2016 at 12:28:15 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 11:47:10 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 1/15/2016 11:21 AM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 1/15/16 11:09 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 05:05:07 -0800 (PST), True North
wrote:

Yup..if she was driving a basic compact car she would probably have
had a better feel for what was going on.

The Mountaineer is basically the same vehicle as the "Roll Me Another
One" Explorer so it could get exciting.

About six months ago, we got my wife a new car, maybe one step up from
your basic compact. We shopped five or six dealers, looking at several
brands of four door sedans, including two "fancy lines." She ending up
liking the Toyota Camry best because "it's a simple car, well-made, nice
ride, and peppy." I was pretty surprised at how well it performs, since
she opted for the naturally aspirated four cylinder engine.

If this house deal goes through and I find myself in a position where I
don't need a big truck for plowing or towing, I'll probably look for a
small, economical car like the Camry. Haven't done a lot of looking or
researching yet but I wouldn't mind getting something smaller as long as
it is comfortable. The Mini Cooper I had a year or so ago was a lot
of fun to drive but it was like riding on a high performance roller
skate. I can't imagine taking a long distance trip in it.

Kinda like the looks of the Ford Fusion also but don't know much about
them. Only problem with the imports ... Toyota, Nissan, etc., is that
they all look the same to me. And most I see are grey for some reason.

===

The most comfortable car we've ever owned is my wife's M-B E320. It's
just super in every way - smooth, quiet, powerful and great seats.
Consumer Reports rated it as one of the best cars they've ever driven.

My wife had one for a company car for a while. She liked it, but I didn't. Too soft and no fun to drive. Her favorite was the Lexus LS460. I hated driving it, but it was nice to be a passenger, especially on a long trip.

She had an A6 Quattro, and that's what introduced me to them. I've had two since then, currently still driving the second one. Love them. Comfortable, sporty, quick, and sure-footed with the quattro system.

How's the service availability? That's one thing I learned about having
some of the nicer, performance orientated, foreign made cars.

For example, the BMW M5 called for special oil that was only available
at the BMW dealership.
Wasn't a big deal since oil changes were covered but if you were
traveling and needed a quart (the M5 *did* use some oil, especially
during break in) you would have to hunt for a BMW service place.

The other thing I disliked about the BMW M5 was the very specific and
long break in procedure. RPM was limited for the first 1,200 or 1,500
miles and then a gradual allowance to start "getting on it" until you
had about 3,000 miles on it. The computer in the car recorded any
violations of the procedure so, in the event of a problem, they could
point their finger at you. Biggest problem for me was I had to go
through this twice. They took back the first M5 I had due to many
computer software problems. They assured me that the second one (same
year but built 7 months later) had all the issues sorted out. They lied.

There's a dealership 20 minutes away so I'm good in that respect, and there's an independent shop that specializes in German cars 5 minutes from my work. The A6 uses Mobile 1 synthetic which is readily available. I took a quick look, and while it's true that BMW sells a private brand "BMW" oil, the manual for an M5 (or somewhere in the documentation) has an extensive list of oils that are approved to be used in the M5. It even says at the bottom that "BMW recommends Castrol".

http://f10.m5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=765520

I got curious and did a little more digging. While the above is true for the latest models, the one you had required 10w-60 full synthetic, and there are only a few suppliers of that. Castrol and Redline have it, and BMW, of course. The BMW oil is probably just Castrol in a different bottle.

That was it. 10-60 synthetic. At the time (2006) nobody other than BMW
carried it. I remember that using oil was another thing I couldn't
quite get used to in a brand new car. I'd start it up and it would
blow blue smoke for a sec or two. BMW said it was "normal" due to the
high performance nature of the engine. In 2006 they were rated at
500hp. Don't know what they are rated at now.