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Congratulations!! (archive)

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Posted by Shawn McCurdy on July 16, 2000 at 11:35:14:

In Reply to: Finally got the car!!!!!!!! posted by paul on July 16, 2000 at 11:17:23:

Paul -

Glad to hear you DID get it yesterday. I had the same missing chrome parts but they anty-ed up and came through with them. You might try "negotiating" on the salesman/dealer rating in order to get them!

My recommendation on stereo stuff is to go to the Crutchfield site and look around. I ended up changing out the head unit and adding a 10-CD changer, both Blaupunkt. The amp and subwoofer are next, hopefully that will be a big enough improvement that we won't have to rip out all the other speakers too. The amp is tiny, one car stereo guy said the speakers are halfway decent (except for sub) and will sound a lot better with more power.

Shawn

lo and behold, the coupe is now sitting in my garage this morning (waiting for my wife to wake up so we can drive down to the beach on hiway 1)! dealer called yesterday late morning to let me know the truck arrived and that they would TRY to have it ready before they closed. the dealer and mangager miscommunicated with each other, so no one called me to let me know it was ready later that day. i called myself and was told to come on down. can you imagine my anticipation while i was walking to their garage (with my magnetic stone guards in hand of course- can't start to early to protect that paint afterall)? my blue/blue M was parked right next to a new yellow porsche 911. i only had eyes for the coupe. maybe i am bias (maybe???), but i think the coupe looked a lot more striking than that porsche, who's sticker was around 140K. and b4 you porsche owners go crazy, i'm sure the 911 is a great car.
thanks to all you kind folks here i checked out several things on the car before taking it. there was no chrome on the door locks or parking brake lever. when i mentioned this to the manager he stated the catalog also stated that BMW has a right to change standard equipment at any time, so it appears he has no intention of getting me those two chrome parts. any thoughts on that? the manager has said he wants to do something for me because of my troubles, besides throwing in the free car mats (which of course he forgot to put in and the parts department was already closed). i mentioned throwing in a keyless door lock. he just smiled, and said he would do it for cost, and mentioned $450. now if full retail is around $550, then there ain't no way in hell that cost would be anywhere close to $450! and now of course my sellsman is now saying he hopes i rank him as excellent. this guy never called me ONCE on his own during this, and in fact did not return a few of my calls.
first impressions on driving it? man, what a rock solid machine! i'm taking it easy, and keeping that rpm under 4500. after about 6 miles on the road, some pickup truck came oh-so-close side swiping me when he changed into the lane i just happened to be in. i can tell you now, the coupe has a GREAT horn !!!!!! i find myself letting all these cars out-accelerate me at stop lights knowing if i wanted to i could blow most of them away. weird, eh? some streets in the bay area have those silly cement circles in the middle of a four way intersections to keep you from going to fast. i had a blast going round and round on them pretty fast. stuck like glue and made me dizzy! one day with the crazy looking beast and i'm in love with it already!!!
i am slightly bummed about the seats. i kept thinking i was sitting on my wallet from an uncomfortable pressure on my left thigh, only to realize i never carry a wallet in my back pocket. while i ain't the world's fattest guy, i am 5'10" and 180. my thigh is a bit muscular (no flames or teasing on that please!), but not overly so. this seating discomfort occured after only about 30 minutes in the car, so i am a apprehensive about this aspect. i know some other guy actually sold the car because of this (and was flamed terribly by a few folks here). i'll just make this my incentive to drop to 170 lbs, because i would imagine trying to have wider bolstered seats matching the blue/black scheme would be tough as hell. several here have mentioned that getting a different rear view mirror is a good idea and i agree. seems like the stock one takes up like 30% of the visual field.

some questions if you are still reading this;

1) where is a good place in the bay area to have the car serviced? do you have to go to a bmw dealer, or are there bmw certified places? do any of you get a loaner car at no charge during your servicing?

2) concidering it's a bragging right standard equipment, i find the sound system to be subpar. any suggestions on a decent multi-CD player that will fit? i'll ty that 1st and then decide if the speakers need to go as well.


paul

and thanks again to everyone here for their help!!!!!





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