Bought an old BMW M3, filled with regret...

Lol. I saw that video the other day and had to launch myself from the chair and freeze frame onto the reg to make sure it wasn't mine. Not that I do anything like that of course :p
 
Currently half way through the NC500 with some friends, amazing 3 days so far. Sublime scenery, and wicked roads. Certainly something any cad enthusiast should experience once. Completely puts your focus on point.

Haven't seen a single E46 M3 the whole trip. Plenty of STs, Clios, Porsches, Audis, and even a 458 Italia. An S4 Avant was toying with my today which was really fun out in the middle of nowhere. Amazing views and just the sounds of machinery.

I got 32MPG on the way up from the south coast, but am now sitting on 24MPG total average, and have done nearly 1100 miles. Not a single hitch woth the car.

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I'll upload other head camera pics and the bridge run induction noise video at the weekend, the Eventuri can be heard from distances your eyes can't see :cool:

A GTR cruised by as I was setting the dslr up on the mountain, gave him a wave but he didn't seem interested in giving any noise samples. Shame.
 
So that circular dent/scuff I posted about in another thread has escalated. Initially it appeared to just be a dent in the paint, but the impact area has actually peeled some paint off :(

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I showed it to a local bodyshop and it's an easy repair, but will cost an estimated £175 all inc. They reckon it looks like someone has reversed into it and the circular outline is from an exhaust pipe. So likely a 4x4 of some description.

It is what it is I guess.
 
I might just have the most resprayed car on the forums now :p

Nature and incompetent drivers have it in for me.
 
£175 to get it sorted sounds OK to me, and I'm sure that'll include removing any stone chips picked up on the NC500?

I posted in the whydtyct thread about my seats, but my OCD whilst not at your level is slowly reminding me of Triggers Broom in only fools and horses..

The front seats + armrest have been refurbed, mainly to repair the drivers seat bolster area:
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And looks a little better now:
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Yeah it would include filling in those stone chips on the lower portions too.

That's excellent, what did you use to get those results?

Also, I thought you had black leather not grey!
 
That explains that :p

:) I took the seats to Bespoke Leathering (of Car SOS fame), they 'only' replaced the drivers side bolster panels (2), the rest of the seats where just reconditioned (recoloured, foam repaired if required, stitching fixed if needed) with a matt top coat.

The car was always grey, I wanted black originally but didn't get much of a choice to be honest, but I don't personally find grey offensive, just the dirtyness of the front seats put me off, now they are clean I'd say I actually like the light/airy feel it gives... Of course, after test driving an Estoril 235i Vert with Red leather, that is now my new favourite combo.. I could possibly live with cinnamon/estoril, but cinnamon tends to look dirty quite easily..
 
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Ah I see. Cinnamon is really nice, I quite like it.

Red leather is the winner though. It simply has to be that on whatever I get next now too.
 
Long term update on the Android head unit, initial stability bugs with the 3G dongle and music playback (tracks skipping) have completely gone. Three's latest app update has caused the app to force close though :rolleyes: So I cannot see how much free data I have left for the month. Hopefully they fix that in the next update.

Other than that, Waze works so well, as does music. I find the ability to scrobble the music being played (which later allows me to find new music based on the stuff I play most) to be very useful. The convenience of having a cross device synchronised clipboard, and being able to push files, links and data between car, phone and PC via Pushbullet is pretty cool.

A few times I've noticed the FM radio stations I have saved as presets will reset, bit weird.

Some reviews said the mic is rubbish for phone calls, but I have yet to have someone on the other end complain about not being able to hear me, roof up or down. I think they might have updated the mic since those reviews.

For £285, it's a bit of a bargain. Ideal for anyone looking for a modern double din stereo that runs the latest multimedia and navigation apps.

Outside of infotainment, all the bushes have now been refreshed. My rear lower control arm bushes were looking a bit tired, and the fronts were a bit worse. Car feels a bit more precise now.

PDC module appears to have failed, so I'll look at replacing that with a used one at some point.

Subframes have also been checked while the arms and bits were all off. No cracks, shocks in good shape, springs not cracked... Indy said "she's in very clean condition for a 10yr old car".

Next year, a day at Thruxton, and another at Gurston Down for a hill climb session. Both with a workmate who goes year round. Should be good fun.
 
I bought the same headunit a few weeks ago after seeing your posts on it, so thanks for that. Always wanted to get a Dynavin N6 to be honest, but I have never been able to justify the price.

I've had the unit in the car a couple of weeks and I've been really happy with it. I don't have it hooked up for 3G, but radio, navigation, Bluetooth and music from SD all work well. Have had a couple of glitches when changing tracks on the SD card whereby the headunit seems to get a bit confused and skips several tracks and chooses a random one, but I've managed to eliminate that by going through tracks slower. My dad likes the headunit so much he's trying to find a similar one for his car (not a BMW), he also wants to take my car to work to show to one of his colleagues what the headunit is like because they're apparently really interested in getting one for their E46 after my dad told them about mine :)

Only problem is I have the wrong engine in my car :p
 
The tracks skipping thing was completely bizarre. It's fixed itself now though, so all is well.

I think the only way these OEM styled units could be better were if they ran Android Auto. Would make the whole keeping it up to date process so much simpler, since everything would be as up to date as the apps on your phone.
 
It seemed to randomly eject itself, plugging it back in worked. Cheap Chinese dongle, so to be expected I guess.

In other news, I think the E46 has aged really well (hi loltim).

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Looks great from all angles :cool:
 
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