Hello all, I'm a new BMWCCA member and a relatively new BMW owner. My name is Ronnie Lea and I live in Columbia, MO. I'm rolling in a 1999 528i w/ 60,000 miles that we purchased from my wife's grandparents. They had purchased it new in Daytona, FL and were looking to unload it at the same time we were looking into new vehicles. We purchased it in August of 08' w/ 43,000 miles on it. I never really saw myself owning a BMW, in fact we bought the car for my wife to drive. However, I flew to Atlanta, GA to drive the car back to Mid-Missouri, and that is when I fell in love with the car! Not only did it make me feel "fancy", but it was the most comfortable, best handling, and most responsive car that I had ever driven. I gushed to my wife over the phone on the way home how she would absolutely love it and I was genuinely excited for her to drive it and for it to be her daily driver. Fortunately for me, there were so many things, ergonomically that she hated/s about the car that I gladly accepted the hardship of using it as my daily driver. She is happy driving the Honda Odyssey and I'm happy driving the Bimmer! My previous car was a 1996 Jeep Cherokee . . . talk about a whole other planet!!!! Unfortunately we had some maitenance issues to take care of due to the little usage it had seen over it's life. We immediately had to replace the water pump for it to pass inspection, which was a hefty unexpected cost (my first experience w/ BMW repair costs). The car ran great w/o any issues until a couple of months ago when my engine fan blew to pieces and shredded the radiator and dented the hood. We got out of that $1000 lighter in pocket using an independent import shop, the dealer was going to charge more than twice the amount. In hindsight, probably should have done it myself, but I didn't know what else could have potentially have been damaged. I hope to keep this baby running in tip-top shape so that I can hand it off to my son in 15 years or so. I don't know if it'll make it that long, but that's my intention. Anyway, I look forward to participating in the forum and leaning on the knowledge and experience of the other members. Best, Ronnie P.S. Look for my next post in the maitenance section regarding the Inspection 2 service.
Welcome to the "fold". I've had my car since March and couldn't be happier with her. Enjoy the car and you have already learned the first lesson, they are not cheap to fix.
