gangzoom

I was amazed at how easily a Cayenne pulled away from my 335i when I came across one a while back. It's alot of car for not very much money

Love NZ, cannot wait to vist again, just a shame is so far from the UK...one of the few places in the world me and the wife wouldn't mind moving to longterm

I got nearly £8K trade in for my 05 GT with 60K on the clock last summer from a BMW dealer, which I thought was quite good. But I was buying a 335i which the dealer was very very keen to shift .

VW offered me some stupid figure (£5K or something) against a new Golf R (he told me they had no incentives to really sell Golf Rs so couldn't really move on the price of the car or the PX value). So I think dealers have quite a lot of flexibility in PX figures, I suspect TT are pretty easy to sell, they know if you don't buy it someone else probably will hence the low valuation

You can easily make an advanced directive to state that if situation X happened you do  not want medical treatment even it means you will die. This is legal and practiced every day.

What is been suggested is assisted suicide. Essentially meaning you can give a drug to some one that will stop their heart and not be prosecuted for MURDER on the basis the person receiving the drug has given consent to do so...

Now imagine a 90 year old with mild dementia, living in a nursing home. They on occasionally shout out they want to die but is actually  in good health. They  have a large inheritance to leave behind. The beneficial of the inheritance is in financial difficulty and appears one day and offers to carry out 'assisted suicide' since the patient has requested it! I would hope every one here would realise how dangerous and very real this situation is, if we did a law on 'assisted suicide'.

Before people start arguing about quality of life, remember its all subjective, I've seen people with severe quardapelgia  live quite happily. I am sure some people would argue Steven Hawkin has no quality of life. Indeed Chrisopher Reeve survived and aided medical research for nearly 10 years despite all his medical problems (if you read his book he initially considered suicide but than changed his mind).

Remember guys we are not taking about trivial things like parking fines and emission tests. Really think hard about what you saying, I see people die in front of me on a regular basis can assure you any death no matter the age/illness is a very sad and tragic event. 

The effect on family and friends can also devastating and have a great effect on their lives, as I have personally seen.  No one likes to see a loved one struggling as pills etc keep them alive - often for many years with both the sufferer and the relatives' quality of life all but evaporated.

This is my other fear about assisted suicide, elderly patient who have fought world wars sudden feel like they are a bureden on the family and get pressurised to 'end it all'. Not even worth thinking about. The law as it stands protects the vulnerable, and works on the basis life is precious and should be preserved. Political  correctives has nothing to do with this issue. Any law on assisted suicide WILL be abused, and lead us down a slippery slope.

You can choose to refuse medical therapy, even if means you will die (provided your of sound mind), and patients regularly leave hospital with palliative care (drugs to control pain) so that they can die at home with their family and not in hospital.

Assisted suicide however is a completely different matter, and as some one who works in the health care sector it’s something I will never have anything to do with (be it legal or not). Since the first thing all student doctors/nurses are taught is "do no harm". You will be amazed at how families/relatives will start squabbling over money/property when some one is dying (most of the time even before their relatives have passed away), I cannot imagine for one second you could legislate a law for "assisted suicide" where you could be sure 100% the other party involved absolutely had nothing to gain.

It's very easy for people to say they will do X or Y when they are in a certain condition, but until your actually faced with your own death it’s all meaningless. Even though in my job I have to face death on a regular basis I still have absolutely no idea how I would deal with death if I was faced with it my self.

As some one has already said these are very sensitive issues, and people (rightly so) get very emotional....Though just the thought of BUPA opening up a private "assisted suicide" clinic is enough to make me cringe ...However having a better palliative care network is definatly needed, even the best cancer hospices are run via charity funding.

Cheers for the comments about the car!! Still if it wasn't for me wanting 4 seats I think I would be in a 370Z now

I also don't get why people modify a 3 series? Most people buy one as it has four seats, four doors, a big boot and is great car to cart the family around in. But why they spend thousands of pounds trying to make it a car it's not? Gangzoom has already spent £22k which could have bought:

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3688883.htm

M3/Impreza/Evo were all none starters, the wife hated the bonnet vents and refused to even sit in it. My wife drives the 335i quite often (she refused to drive the Z because it was too flash), and I don't think she would like the kind of attention a M3 would attract....the next closest thing I could find that she was happy to drive was a £35K+ Golf R, which is basically a very very expensive Golf GTI but with 4 wheel drive

As much as I hate the way most people buy BMW for the brand image, I have to say BMW do seem to know how to make good drivers cars....just a shame most owners simply don't appreciate how good they are as driving machines

Z has been gone for 8 months now and have done all the mechanical upgrades/mods I wanted to the 335i and have got use to the car now over B roads/M ways had some free time so thought I do a little write up…

Performance:

The N54 engine stock is not short on power; I’ve added an uprated intercooler and a tuning chip (JB+) which gives me more than enough power. Some people have said the tune/remap on the engine “completely changes the carâ€, I wouldn’t go that far, but certainly pulls much harder from 3Krpm to the redline. In its current form I can reach license-losing speeds a bit too quickly for my liking so not really after any more power. Delivery of the power is super smooth, and not very turbo like, there is a small hint of turbo lag but above 2.5Krpm it just pulls all the way to the red line. The sound produced by the straight six isn’t too bad either, even with the stock exhaust.

My 335i comes with a 6 speed auto with paddles. Never had an auto before and have no complaints. For town driving it's a breeze, and in “sports†mode the paddles do a good job at letting you hold on the gear till the red line.

Forge intercooler before been fitted

Handling:

The most obvious problem with the car stock is a lack of a LSD. When I first bought the car even with the engine in stock form if the road surface had the slightest hint of moisture and wasn’t silkily smooth the dashboard would light up like a xmas tree every time I floored the loud pedal. The LSD has really transformed the way the car can put its power down, and I would say is a “must buy†upgraded before anything else.

The rest of the suspension set up is fine, can be crashy at times (I have M sport suspension with 18in run flats) but not really any worse than my previous 350Z, and a lot better than the Integra Type R. Though not as communicative as the Integra when its comes to steering feedback the car is amazingly fun to drive, quite often I forget I’m in a luxury 4 door saloon, in fact the car feels lighter on its feet compared to the 350Z and has slightly better turn in. The rear end is a little less communicative than the Z, have had a few occasion where it has stepped out a bit sooner than I had anticipated but its all good fun.

LSD been fitted

Comfort/Particularity:

The main reason for me getting rid of the 350Z was the fact I wanted to be able to carry more than 1 passenger at the same time. To this end the 335i is simply amazing, 4 doors and large boot meant I could take the wife and in-laws on a 200 mile road trip over xmas without breaking a sweat. At motorway speeds the engine is running minimal boost, and easily gets 35-40mpg (when driven harder on B roads this falls to 20-25mpg). The road/wind noise at motorway speeds is minimal, and compared to the 350Z seems like a limo. Add to this heated seat, voice control, Built in sat Nav, Parking assist, 2 zone air con, excellent media system (after I upgraded the speakers) the car is an amazingly good motorway workhorse as well as been good fun on B roads.

I was amazed by this mpg reading, need to stop driving like a grandad

Looks/Reliability:

Never been a fan of how the E90 3 series looks, nothing wrong with it but there’s one around every street corner which looks identical. In way it’s quite the Q car (debadge mine), and my wife is more than happy to drive it despite it actually been more powerful than the Z. Unlike a M3 I get hardly any unwanted attention, but can go almost as quick when in the mood.

If you read around the forums your think the N54 engine in the 335i is going to fall apart the moment you leave the show room. Mine has had no problems so far, and just flew through the MOT with no warnings. I bought mine from a BMW dealer mainly for the 1 year warranty for extra piece of mind but haven’t needed to use it once.

BMW servicing is however a complete joke, the servicing department looks like the departure lounge at Heathrow and their main job appears to be trying to squeeze you for every penny rather than look after the car. When I made some enquires about “official BMW performance parts†was told by the clueless “servicing assistant†they don’t recommend upgrade because of reliability issues, even though these are official BMW approved parts along with the rip off BMW pricing (£1-1.5K for a 20bhp “powerpackâ€). When I than asked about a slightly stiff bonnet catch and squeaky drivers seat (all both needed was bit of oil in the right places) another “assistant†appeared had a discussion amongst themselves and than told me they would need the car for the day to fully investigate. Even if my car needed major work doing I’m not sure I would trust the local dealer to go near the car since the only thing BMW main dealers care about is profits. Needless to say once my warranty expires I will not be going back for main dealer servicing.

Overall:

Given the my car is now probably putting out 300-310whp, looks sensible, can carry 4 adults all day long, able achieve 40mpg on Motorway runs, and is the same insurance group as my old 350Z I couldn't be happier. In total I’ve spend £22K on the car (£19.5K for the car than LSD + Intercooler (both fitted by Birds in London) + Tuning chip + small exterior mods + speaker upgraded), given you can now pick up early E92 335i Coupes for £12-13K these things are shockingly good value!!! May end up spending another £1-2K on ICE but than that's it, any spare money is been put into the M5 kitty

Amazingly the “new†F30 335i still has the same engine as the E90/E92 so the only 3 series faster than a 335i will still has to be wearing a M badge.

How I bought her...

The back end now with some extra spoilers, and badge removed

More recently avoiding going out in the snow

Spent 1.5 hours dropping my wife off at work last night (usually takes 15 minutes, about 5 miles so not really walking distance). Some of more junior colleges didn't make it in over night which is just about understandable if they lived out in the sticks, but apparently 2 people called in at 9am to say they couldn't get to work for the AM shift....considering this morning the buses were running its a pretty lame excuse for been a lazy ...but given its the NHS they'll still get paid

Thinking about going to the F1 Singapore night race later on this year.

 

Just wondering has anyone been?

Was it worth while event going too?

Where did you book?

How much do I expect to pay?

 

Thank you in advance

My wife got me some tickets for my 30'th, so don't know how much the tickets cost, apparently the same price as Silverstone GP tickets (she bought me those too for a previous birthday )

I've been to Singapore once before, the city is clean and safe. Theres plenty of shopping to be done, and Maylasia is just over the border (the last I went I drove from Kula Lumpar to Singapore). The atmosphere for the night race looks just amazing really cannot wait

I've booked some accommodation already, £70 a night small 3* hotel from Thursday to Monday. Flights into Singapore for that week seems be a £200 more expensive that normal, so I'm planning to stop by some where a week before, either HongKong or Kula Lumpar.

The cost in total isn't going to be cheap, I reckon £2.5-3K in total for me and the wife (Flights, Tickets, Accommodation, Food, Spending money). Probably add another £500-800 to that if stopping over somewhere on the way.

Plenty of the white stuff in Leicester. Had to drop the wife off at work for a night shift...plenty of lorries/BMWs/Mercs stuck by the side of the road.

Had no problems in the Civic with 17inch summer tyres, the ESP did kick in when the back end started to drift whilst going down a hill

 

Have you driven a diesel for any prolong period of time though bud?

 

When I got my Lancer I had all the same ideas........until I realised what a bloody chore it is - giant blob of power for 2000rpm of the rev range then change gear.

 

The stats look good but you really need to drive it to make sure your not going to want to set fire to your own hair in frustration.

 

Remember when Clarkson drove that diesel Jag - stats were good - delivery awful.

I get the same feeling driving the wife's Civic. All very nice looking at the MPG reading but just cannot put up with the engine rattle, and 4K rev limit. Luckily i've convinced her to get a petrol car when the Civic goes

Happy Belated Birthday, Gang...

Cheers Mitz, hope your looking after my old Z well

Sorry,not doing Singapore this year. Im doing Monco,Spain,Austin and Brazil.

That's a lot of air-miles!! I've already told my wife I'm more than happy to buy her some F1 tickets to reciprocate the gift...She's been wanting to go to NewYork for ages, 2013 New Jersey sounds perfect

Bored already What have you got lined up

Stayed at a posh hotel for my birthday last night, had a row of expensive cars parked out front including a R8, a Bently, and countless German 4x4 monsters (with my wife's civic squeezed in between them ), but the Aston just stood out. Elegant and classy without even trying...must own one day

Back on planet earth, did get tickets to see the Singapore GP

I know a few of the finance companies already declined me, but the guy at the dealership said it wont be a problem and hopefully they'll find one tomorow (i'm only in around £1000 neg equity).

Congrats on a potential purchase....Not to sound to boring but may be the finance companies are trying to tell you something about getting into more debt on something which is guaranteed to depreciate

The Z is a fab car but defiantly costs more to run than a FN2 Type R, why not get a slightly older car (say 05), which will be cheaper to Tax and depreciate less, plus the loan you'll be taking out will be smaller and easier to pay off.....that way your wouldn't run into the problem off been in neg equality like you are with the Civic

Yeah mate, i know about the new 3 series. Seen one in the flesh today and theres very little difference apart from the front lights and lower front bumper.

I got 6k off list price and it was 8.5k cheaper than new face lift model!

The new 3 Series is much more than a face lift, the current E90 has been on sale since 2005, and the F30 is a complete redesign. It's suppose to be lighter, stiffer but roomier on the inside. There is a new engine line up (apart from in the 335i for some reason) and have whole load of new gadgets (like a HUD which includes sat nav info).

Having said that I can find no fault with the way my 335i drives cannot really see how BMW can improve on it, and a saving of 8.5K compared to the new model is a great deal. Totally agree its a bit disappointing BMW weren't more adventurous with the styling of the new F30, it looks basically the same as the E90 from some angles

Enjoy ur new car

Nice pic of the moon, my next question is how do you take a good shot of the moon? I have tried this on many occasions but it just shows up as a bright dot! I'm definitely using the wrong settings, so which one should I use?

You have to use M mode since the auto metering system always overexposes the moon. The exact setting depends on your lens, the light, and how still you can hold the camera. I used f 6.7, expo 1/100 sec, ISO 200 using a 300mm lens.

Good luck

Some of the photos on here are amazing!!! How on earth do you get them so crisp! I have a Canon 550D my shots don't ever look as good as the ones in this thread

The 550D has a better sensor than my 450D so you should be able to get some fab shots...but remember for every "amazing" looking photo someone posts theres probably 10 rubbish versions of the same shot that no one else will ever see apart from the photographer...I know this is true for me, to get the shot below I took about 20 shots all with various settings and only 3 came out as any good!!

There is no secrets to taking photos, just lots of practice/expermenting with the settings and sometimes you just get lucky

The shot below was a random snap taken by a friend who just borrowed my camera to have a play, never held a DSLR and knew nothing about the theory of composition etc, everything was set to auto, he came back with alot of bland shots, some out of focus ones, but also some fab ones...moral of the story if you take enough photos some are bound to turn out well

Saw this on another forum...been tempted by Cat C/D repaired cars in the past, but never again!!

All these are write offs, the Mustang is a C the other 2 Ds

Don't think I could live with buying something so damaged and feel happy, no matter now cheap

You only need HDMI 1.4 cables if your device makes use of the "Ethernet Channel". Which at present is ZERO device. All other features will work with your bod standard HDMI 1.3 cable £5 cable from Tesco. HDMI cables are the biggest rip off ever invented, how salespeople are still getting away with pushing £70 cables for non existent benefits is amazing

http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/hdmi_1_4/hdmi_1_4_faq.aspx#5

Go and get your self a 335i or M3, quicker than a Z but with back seats

I've got one with my Z in..feel free to do what you like with it

I've got some M&S Dipole speakers (5kg each) as my rear surrounds mounted on some pretty solid speaker stands, and lots of effort to hide speaker wire etc...even so when we had some friends over within 5 mintues the 5 year old had some how managed to dig out the calibration mic for my Denon AVR, unpluged my network drive and started to play with the ethernet cable Luckly she didn't go near any speakers but I had visions of a very squashed 5 year old along side some broken speakers.....

When ever me and wife decide to have kids the cinema room is going to be well and truely out of bounds