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Best riding cars?


carlo

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Well I just retaxed and got the CX back on the road at the week end and after 4 months rest I took it for a rag up the M9 and I'm sorry dudes but OMG!!I don't know how, but I'd forgotten just how well this thing rides!! It's like piloting a big heavy cruise missile that just happens to have immensely direct steering so it feels mega responsive. But god does it float on air! There were just some road bumps that I watched the other cars ahead take then when I hit them there was just nothing! I don't know how I'd forgotten the sensation in 4 months but I had.Surprisingly grippy on the twisty B roads too (maybe compated to the skittish 165 tyred BX?) and ludicrously powerful brakes with anti dive seems a weird sensation on such soft springs - you expect it to nose down and tail up with the brakes but it's solid.Sorry , you don't need to buy one! - was just sharing my glee 8)

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I'm getting pretty excited about BMW 5 series from 1996 - keep reading road tests eulogising about the 528 and it's fabulous performance, economy and ride quality! Plus seems you can get a decent one for £2k.

 

Anyone know anything to look out for on these beemers? It would be a petrol, and the 528 auto seems a particularly good compromise between power and economy. Presume parts are very dear but there must be cheaper sources? cheers!

Buy on condition NOT price. A (alledgedlly) gutless 520 thats had one old giffer own it from 4 years old but cherished it outweighs any specification increase. These were sophisticated cars new, and cannot be run on a budget to a point, aluminium suspension arms etc. In my experience BMW forums are a little K series head gasket - I.E. these faults WILL HAPPEN!!!! Radiator failure, sealed autobox failing, you need poly bushed suspension (you don't) heater reistor (hedgehog) failing etc. I have suffered none of these, just like thousands on non exploding K series cars.

 

I've put a metal impellored water pump and vee belt on (precautionary), and brake pads and oil. I have been walloping in NGK's in every oil change since I went lpg too. But thats it in the last 50k, and I'm at 132k now. Bushes are on the horizon though. These e39 are tyre critical, cheap tyres do not flatter the ride or handling, I'm running conti's all round 2/3rds worn afer 22k/19k (front/rear). All E39's need a 80mph run too see if they have the shimmy, a combination of worn bushes / pony tyres / arb links / dirty hub faces / alignment issues. I wouldn't worry about NIKASIL cylinder coatings as everything that suffered has been gone and fixed now. Maybe.

 

But they are very relaxing to drive and suprisingly supple, yes people give you the Nescafe hand shake cos its a BMW but they do drive divine without rock hard sport suspension either.

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How does the BX compare?

Pretty well actually, it still has the essential 'float on air' thing going on but it's more restrained in its craziness. It doesn't roll as much and i has shorter overall suspension travel but still pretty soft - I think the spring rates on the BX ramp up sharper than the CX. Mind you my BX is a 'Mk 1' with the roller bearings for the front lower wishbones so it's softer than the later rubber bushing BX types.Trouble with the BX is that it has skinny tyres and tends to wash out alarmingly at enthusiastic cornering in the damp - I don't like that. I'd fit bigger tyres to it but it would ruin the look!
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I agree with you re the lowering of anything with wheels. Slam it, paint it satin black and let the bonnet go rusty, rat look blah blah blah ad nauseum!Sheep, the lot of 'em! :)

Baaaaa-aaThanks :roll: Oh come to think about it, the bonnet isn't rusty...
So what's the fascination with dropping everything onto its sills? I've seen some really decent motors on RR suffer this fate. Lowering looks okay on a sporty number but on an everyday estate? Sorry but I don't get it. The banded wheel/stretched tyre combo is beyond me too.
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So what's the fascination with dropping everything onto its sills? I've seen some really decent motors on RR suffer this fate. Lowering looks okay on a sporty number but on an everyday estate? Sorry but I don't get it. The banded wheel/stretched tyre combo is beyond me too.

Then perhaps RR really isn't the place for you. I don't understand the attraction of sticking plastic to the bottom of cars, so I don't bother going to the Max type forums. Hey, it's cosy all nestled here in the AS front room anyway ;o)

 

To me (and presumably thousands of others), there is simply something aesthetically pleasing with seeing a large lump of a car with it's wheels tucked in the arches. It is of course subjective. People have been lowering everyday cars since the 50's - and banding wheels come to think of it. If you don't see the attraction, then I guess your coils will be spared the indignity.

OK, so I take lowering to the extreme, but then my hydraulics are useful for getting over those blasted speed humps. On saying that, I had quite a pop at someone on RR the other night who had lowered their car way below the scrubline which is obviously just downright bloody dangerous.

 

In defence of your estate car comment, I give you the touring car Volvo 850 estates of the mid nineties and all the road going T5's thereafter...

Posted Image

...Now how can you say this doesn't look good? :wink:

 

Not out for an argument here btw, I do respect your opinions.

I just like old cars, I like them low and sometimes paint them matt.

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I don't mind lowering where it is warranted, I'd quite like to sort out the reverse-rake situation on the Galant for example and probably will - just a little bit down on the front only, so it "sits right". But I get wound up when some people consider lowering to pretty much be a requirement, rather than a personal decision. A lot of cars look perfectly fine stock, I quite like the way my 323 Wagon is all jacked-up looking with little 155 tyres, looks cute somehow.Thing is, I did ponder lowering the Galant to a fairly low level for quite some time - I was parking it on the road then so my crazy sloping driveway wouldn't have come into it. For a few weeks I was driving around imagining what it'd be like to have it lowered quite a bit - thinking it'll scrape there, I'll have to slow RIGHT down for that, I probably won't be able to get it around there without doing the sump in, I'll have to take a crazy route down this bumpy dirt road, it'll probably be really uncomfortable here. To be fair I think I was exaggerating in my head how bad it'd be, but the lowering thing didn't bother me enough - I'm sure it'd have made it look just that bit more nice, but I like it as-is anyway, so it just seemed like I was going to lose ride quality, time and money to please other people. In the end I got fed up and didn't bother.

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Nissan QX or Maxima before it.My mate has a J reg Maxima and the ride's pillowy.Tuned for the USA!

Interesting, I had an L plate Maima a few years back and I found it a bit harsh. However, it went like a steamtrain, was good looking and had a wonderful ICE system as standard. Still look out for these things.
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Why would you need a general estate to be sitting like that?

Because it looks ace! OK, a race car is a bad example to make my point, but pretty much any car sat lower than stock looks better. Looks sporty. Looks purposeful. Again, I'm being subjective, and nothing more. If an estate is a workhorse, fine leave it alone; if it's a weekend toy, or even just a daily cruiser, why not play?Think we'll just have to agree just to disagree, sir. 8)

And if RR is now about bastardising otherwise decent cars, then yes, you are right, it's not for me!

RR was always about modifying old cars. It still is now. If that's interpreted by some as bastardising, then I think that is a pity. There are many old/rare/obscure cars on the road now as a direct result of RR that would have otherwise been squashed or left to rot in damp garages.Surely AS is simply about keeping rusty old shite on the road? As much as I love all the beige and brownness, am I missing the point of this forum? :oops:
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Personal taste: I don't like the "slammed to the deck" look; I just don't think that I could cope with a car that low, principally that I can't see the point of a car that you couldn't get a jack under when you've got a puncture.

However, I don't object to reasonable lowering, but not too much - just enough to make ME think "that looks good"!

On the other hand, I like big wheels and tyres on a standard ride height - it's that "Irish Tarmac Rally" look, where you really do need the height!

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I work on the principle that if you buy it its yours to do with as you please. I've allready upset an old mini owner on another forum, because he claimed BMW minis are (add your own remark of terror). Both are CARS so if your an enthusiast you will appreciate that....

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