I'm a first time BMW owner (14 months now) and am still wondering why I waited so long. I absolutely love my little 3'er! I look forward to learning more about these wonderful machines, their history and how-things-work. I'm a 47 year young Maintenance Group Leader so the "how-things-work" is very interesting to me. Glad to be here and planning a LONG stay! Ron
Welcome Ron! Glad to have you on board!! This forum (and the club in general) is a great resource for 'how things work' so you should enjoy it immensly. You're going to love that 335, it's an amazing car!!
Thanks guys. It may be tough to balance drive time with learning time. My decision to get a BMW came from a conversation with my dad 30 years ago. He had been to Europe on business... "Of all those fancy cars, if I was going to buy one it would be a BMW". He never had his, but I'm sure glad I remembered that conversation. Mine isn't fancy, it's not loaded with options and I'm sure that his wouldn't have been either. The dealer was a little surprised when I ordered the sport package only. My comment was, " I'm buying this car to drive".
AMEN, BROTHA! Every time I go to the BMW website to configure a 3-series that I won't be able to afford for 20 years, I always skip every other package except the Sport Package. Basic non-metallic Alpinweiss paint, black leatherette is fine, Sport package, and we're good to go!
You described my car to a "T", well except for the Montego Blue paint. I enjoy the super smooth 6MT and am perfectly comfortable in the 'ette seats.
Have you got any pictures of the Montego Blue? It doesn't look quite right on the BMW website and wanted to see what it actually looks like...
AZ... Actually I don't have any archived prints of my car on this hard drive. I will say, Montego Blue nearly defies photography. It changes colors before your eyes! The lighting & shadows can make for very wide contrasts. The body lines of the car fool you into believing that it isn't all the same color. I think the only way to get a true feel for the color is to look at one in person, move around to a different angle and you'll see why it is so hard to get a representative picture.
I just remembered, I might have a picture of that color. Took this pic in early June... Look at the E90 on the left. is that the Montego Blue that you speak of? http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa192/az3579/Events/2008-06-06 - Concours/CIMG0304.jpg
That is it! It can appear to be a bright blue in direct sunlight and a Navy/Royal blue in the shade. Artificial lighting gets really interesting...