As of January 14th, it's been one year since I've taken ownership of the car. In that time I have fallen desperately in love with BMWs. I still miss my Saab and will always be a fan of the brand, but Echo has been an all-around better vehicle in just about every regard.

My year was nearly maintenance-free but that's due to a lot of scheduled maintenance having been performed just before I bought the car. This coming year I'm going to need:

(a) brakes
(b) rear tires
(c) a major service including transmission and diff fluid changes, and installing a new water pump as a preventative measure.

A few things I've had to get used to with this gal:

I cannot rotate my tires. This car came from the factory with a staggered setup - my wheels are 18" all the way around, but the rears are 255's while my fronts are 225's. Furthermore, they're directional tires, so I can't even swap left-to-right. This year will be the first time that I myself get new tires on the car, so I have no idea yet how this will affect longevity.

I don't have to change my oil that often at all... though I do have to top it off frequently. This past year I've driven almost exactly 15,000 miles, and in that time I've changed my oil twice - the second of which I performed on Echo's anniversary. The recommended oil change interval for this car is actually 15,000 miles but all the enthusiast forums suggest that people perform intermediate 7,500mi changes to avoid issues. Despite the infrequency of the changes, they're still expensive, as this car has a 7qt sump and a $25 filter that can't be generically replaced. Changing the oil costs $95, and that's when I do it myself. These engines, even when perfectly healthy, consume quite a bit of oil; I think I've put a full quart and a half in during each of my 7,500mi intervals. Weird.

All in all, I'm so happy I was able to get into this vehicle, and I plan to keep her around for a long time. I still have a handful of preventative measures to get taken care of before I start thinking about performance enhancements, but this coming year it's looking like I'm going to be able to save a bunch of money, which means I'll be able to tackle all these issues more quickly than I would have otherwise. Anyway, Happy anniversary, cutie! You've been a blast.

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standardshifting FAQs:
http://standardshift.com/faq/
http://tinyurl.com/o27epg

Oh really now...

Also, 1.5 quarts per 7500 is nothing. The M103 engine in the Benz takes about a quart off every 3k oil change. The engine's been modded with longer valve guides, though. The factory-specified oil consumption was 1qt/600mi.

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1974 Alfa GTV 5MT
1990 Mercedes 300SE 4AT
2002 BMW R1150RT-P 6MT

Reportedly, BMW specifies 1 quart per 1500 miles as the acceptable rate of oil consumption. Mercedes spec 1 quart per 600 factory spec is ridiculous. That's 5 quarts in 3000 miles, enough to avoid changing the oil even if you're a fan of the 3000 mile OCI.

Tires: Are they wearing evenly? If so, then rotation is really unnecessary; you'll get the same life from 4 evenly worn non-rotated tires as you'll get from 4 tires that were rotated to even out their wear.

Have you looked into the brake job? Will it be abnormally expensive or difficult?

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1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT

Put your car in your sig!

Learn to launch/FAQs/lugging/misused terms: meta-sig

Ha! My car takes a quart every 600-700 miles

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1994 Corolla - 1990 Miata

I couldn't find the official specification for it, but the weak point in those engines is the valve guides. They get worn out in about 130,000 miles and the engine starts burning ludicrous amounts of oil. Having it modded with longer guides reduces it to nearly nothing and have expected lives of double the original.

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1974 Alfa GTV 5MT
1990 Mercedes 300SE 4AT
2002 BMW R1150RT-P 6MT

^ Valve Guide Dog



Q:Why do you call your dog "Mechanic"

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'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"

I don't feel so bad about my car needing a quart every 3000 miles or so. (Actually it's about a litre every 5-6000km but I did the conversion for you non-metric folk.)

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Two pedals, two feet, too easy.

Car: 2007 Impreza 2.5i Special Edition
http://www.standardshift.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=13230

That is comforting to hear that the consumption is within the acceptable range.

As best I can tell the tires are wearing pretty evenly, though I have noticed that my front-left tire doesn't hold air as well as the others. Every month, I check tire pressure - my rears and the right-front fall 2psi like clockwork, but the left-front is always down 4-6psi. Weird. Anyway, the rears will be going on by summertime and then I'll start paying better attention to the life I get out of them.

Brakes will actually be cheaper than they were for the Viggen. They're designed to have brakes and rotors changed at once; I have a source to get OEM-spec (but 3rd-party) front and rear pads and rotors and brake wear sensors all for $380. Under a hundred bucks per tire sounds good to me. The actual change shouldn't take any special tools I don't already own

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standardshifting FAQs:
http://standardshift.com/faq/
http://tinyurl.com/o27epg

Nice bro, looks great!

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Nermin - BMW E46 M3 2004 - 6MT