Recent content by beanie

Thanks, it shines up pretty well for almost 84/85k but pictures hide a thousand sins! Unfortunately it’s definitely not as mint as it looks in that picture. The upside of that is that I’m far less concerned with any little marks it picks up and I enjoy using it far more as a result. I’ll see...

Like Simon, I drove it for the first time in ages. I’d planned a longer drive but traffic was appalling so cut it short and called it a maintenance drive, just to keep things moving.

No apologies necessary Tom, the tuning industry is rife with cowboys so it’s only right that people are aware of the good and bad in the aftermarket. Interesting, I didn’t know that! 🤔

Could be a number of things. Material change, new staff, Friday afternoon builds…Whatever the reason, it’s certainly a black mark against them and if I was doing it all again today then it might very well be enough to put me off that airbox. However, if you want a full airbox with MAF...

I seem to remember there being a couple of failures around that time, not heard of any since though. For a bit of balance, I’ve had mine 11 years and so far so good (runs to touch as much wood as possible)

If you’re looking at M and non M models, be aware that the servicing and parts on an M are noticeably more expensive. This is hardly a revelation but worth knowing before you commit.

Just watched the vid. For the money, which is insanely cheap, they look to be incredible value. Even factoring in cheap labor, easy access to the supply chain and minimal development and testing costs, it’s still amazing that they cost so little. As for how they’re made, who knows?! I guess...

I think you might be surprised at how different they are. Driving them back to back you’d swear there must have been an in between model. Like you said, the Z3 has that old feel, slow steering, soft chassis, much like an 80’s car in many respects whereas the E85/6 feels way taughter, more direct...

Saw your post on the Trackday group, great to see some real world testing of these things. Let’s hope they stand the test of time. I guess the great unknowns are the metallurgy and quality aspect. China are capable of making top tier parts, but some places are more than happy to do things...

I had this issue last year, most of the ones available with the heating element seemed to be for the pre facelift but the later style has a small clip that you slide/rotate to unlock. If your membrane/backing is still in good shape I would just replace the glass with one that sticks...

Thanks, I’ll give it a look, though being a coupe it shouldn’t be getting damp in there.

. That would make sense regarding the ignition, so far nothing else seems ‘off’. As for the connector, could be, though with the nav powering on at the same time perhaps it’s on that end of things? I’ve no idea with anything electrical so I’m praying it’s the ghost of NA M cars expressing its...

That would be infinitely preferable compared to having to chase an electrical fault!

I went for a drive recently and without doing anything, the radio randomly turned itself on. I switched it off and a few minutes later it happened again. Each time this happened, and just before hearing the radio, I noticed the NAV booting up, exactly like when you switch the ignition to pos.2...

Any update on this?