Vehicular E36 M3 Magnet

My mother, swear to god, knows how to pick 'em

She bought a 2001 BMW 528i used a while back, and had to dump many thousands of dollars into it when it ate the auto trans, among other major problems. Finally gave up on it and what does she go buy?

A MINI Cooper S, used with some 60k miles. You see where that's going. Thousands of dollars in vague things she tells me over the phone, including mystery large oil leaks, coolant vanishing, etc. Guess what her short list of cars included when it came time to switch to a new used car?

1. Audi TT
2. Porsche Boxster
3. Land Rover Freelander

She asks me for advice on cars and promptly ignores it. Thank God she somehow went with a current-gen Wrangler.

Anyone else have experiences like this?

Anybody else have

I have a brother who doesn't work on his cars, so what did he buy his wife for a DD.

A 1988 VW GTI.

He keeps asking me when I'm going to come up and work on it becuase it doesn't run right.

I'm just tired of people asking my opinion on cars they are looking at and then buy the vehicle that I advised them against because it was "cuter" or "$200 less" or some other ridiculous bullE36 M3.

Yeah my friend had a Mercedse E320 when I first met him. That was killed when he went over a big bump and cracked the oil pan but after getting under that thing I was amazed it was surprised it survived that long. He then got an Nissan Xterra from a shady has hell dealership which somehow covered up the fact it had been in an accident and a flood and had all kinds of electrical problems. Then he bought a PT Cruiser from a friend and the stupid thing despite being reliable for the 5 years I knew about that car decides right away to pop a head gasket...

bastomatic wrote: My mother, swear to god, knows how to pick 'em She bought a 2001 BMW 528i used a while back, and had to dump many thousands of dollars into it when it ate the auto trans, among other major problems. Finally gave up on it and what does she go buy? A MINI Cooper S, used with some 60k miles. You see where that's going. Thousands of dollars in vague things she tells me over the phone, including mystery large oil leaks, coolant vanishing, etc. Guess what her short list of cars included when it came time to switch to a new used car? 1. Audi TT 2. Porsche Boxster 3. Land Rover Freelander She asks me for advice on cars and promptly ignores it. Thank God she somehow went with a current-gen Wrangler. Anyone else have experiences like this?

A 528, Cooper S and Boxster? Sounds like good taste in cars to me.

what was said above...

quit asking my advice about what car, or what to do with the car you have, if you're going to do exactly the opposite

I have a brother who asked my advice on budget car shopping.

He then proceeded to buy a beat up 90's saturn for... $3000

There is a reason I refuse to touch his cars...

I advised my sister to get an AWD Mazda CX-5 when they came out.

She jumped the gun and got a POS CX-7, which she hated, then blamed me for telling her to get a CX-7. In her mind, the CX-7 and CX-5 are the same thing, the CX-7 was just a little bigger.

I will not give any car advice to friends or family. If I do, I am then responsible for every problem from then on.

This leads me to a question of sorts:

a friend of mine has a 2000 taurus. (among his other 4 cars... all kinda beat.) and he blew a head gasket... or 2 (I guess it is a minor leak, because he was still driving it.) but then at inspection time, he finds the frame is rusted out. (well unibody, you get my drift). so he has a 2000 taurus, what has a blown headgasket, and wont pass inspection due to rust, and 4 other cars he can drive... what does he do? buys a wrecked 2000 taurus (hood, fender, headlights, bumper, bettery, and fuse box were destroyed when it rearended a lifted pickup) for 700 dollars, 350 miles away. he goes, gets it and tows it home, so he can use his body panels from his taurus to put it back together (I told him not to).

he has been swapping parts for 4 days, and hopes to be done in 3 more. and he will then a have a multi colored 2000 taurus, that might have a bent front end (I bet it does looking at pics) that cost him about 1100, plus his old taurus in parts... saying it runs right and such..

was I wrong in telling him that was silly to do all that for a 2000 taurus?

I had an ex G/F like this.

When I met her, she drove a 1993 5-speed Geo Prizm in the rare '93 only color Crystal Rose Micha pearl, which was pretty much pink. Awesome car, I thought... When she graduated high school she wanted something "nicer" and "newer" with things like the A/C and power windows that her Geo lacked. I pointed her in the direction of some very good choices, but she fell hard for a 2001 Grand Am SE V6 based on it's "cuteness". I tried with all my might to show her how awful those cars were using forums and consumer reviews, to no avail.

Turns out her mom loved it too, and they went and made a deposit. She actually didn't even tell me. On the first day she had it she came and picked me up in it. After a short local trip it was pissing coolant everywhere. The intake manifold gaskets were shot. It took 2 different trips to the used car dealer she bought it from to get them fixed. It also went through front end parts like crazy, that she had some mechanic guy friend fix. She was probably banging him too.

I ended up buying her Geo for a grand and laughed all the way to the bank.

After about 7 months, she slammed it into a bunch of cars at a red light while playing with her radio. I visited it at the tow yard to help her get her crap out of it and seeing it all mangled up brought great pleasure.

After that, her Dad bought her a beautiful, high mileage, mint fully loaded 3800 Intrigue. I loved it, and it seemed like it was going to be a great vehicle. She did not share my joy, apparently it was not fuel efficient enough for her to go back and forth from school. She sold it, so that she could buy a POS oil burning automatic SC2 that ran like garbage. :facepalm:

The Saturn got so bad, that her parents gave it to a mechanic family member that needed a car for his daughter, and they gifted her her brothers old car, a 2 door 4x4 Blazer. Which barely got 2/3rd's the gas mileage of the Intrigue.

Nowadays, I'm pretty glad she ended up cheating on me...

Go through this exact scenario constantly. I work as a German car tech, so I know all the bad and expensive things that can happen.

When people ask me about a BMW, VW, Audi, or MBZ, I just tell them I work on those for a living but drive Japanese. I have a Nissan, Lexus, and an Acura. Can you take a hint?

In reply to SCARRMRCC: No.

In reply to Matt B:

thanks. I needed someone to tell me I wasn't the crazy one.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: A 528, Cooper S and Boxster? Sounds like good taste in cars to me.

Not when they're bought at a used car dealership, out of warrantee, by someone who knows nothing about the mechanical workings of cars.

If your mom could wrench she'd be one of us.

In reply to SCARRMRCC: Hehe - definitely not crazy. I can see repairing a car when it's not necessarily financially beneficial. In those cases it better be sentimental, rare metal, or ideally both. I can't imagine a 00' Taurus being any of those things.

My sister is starting a family. They have 2 dogs that go everywhere with them.

They plan on 3 kids in teh next few years. She wanted my opinion on what to get.

I told her to get a Honda Odyssey. She thought I was joking and asked what she should really get. I told her a Honda Odyssey.

She asked about a BMW X3. I said it is small, expensive, thirsty, small, and expensive.

Guess what she bought..... An X3.

She thinks it is small and hard to get up into and out of with the dogs and child. No E36 M3.

That is why they invented minivans. For EXACTLY this situation.

WTF.

Rob R.

wvumtnbkr wrote: My sister is starting a family. They have 2 dogs that go everywhere with them. They plan on 3 kids in teh next few years. She wanted my opinion on what to get. I told her to get a Honda Odyssey. She thought I was joking and asked what she should really get. I told her a Honda Odyssey. She asked about a BMW X3. I said it is small, expensive, thirsty, small, and expensive. Guess what she bought..... An X3. She thinks it is small and hard to get up into and out of with the dogs and child. No E36 M3. That is why they invented minivans. For EXACTLY this situation. WTF. Rob R.

I feel like the majority of people are like this. They make a decision themselves, ask an "expert" friend for their opinion (whether it be cars, computers, houses, or whatever), then do whatever they decided on in the first place.

People want to be implied in the decision making. Whenever people ask me what car to buy, I always tell them about 2-3 different cars with their individual advantages and disadvantages.

People will always go in the direction you point them as long as they think they have a choice.

My mom and sister are BOTH JUST LIKE THAT but I do my best to steer them away from the future E36 M3boxes. Right now my sister's driving an NB and my mom's driving a bugeye Impreza.

Mind you my sister never puts air in her tires and then acts surprised when they disintegrate, would run the engine out of oil if left on her own, and so on...

cwh wrote: I will not give any car advice to friends or family. If I do, I am then responsible for every problem from then on.

But then it's your fault for not steering them away from the bad ones.

SCARRMRCC wrote: In reply to Matt B: thanks. I needed someone to tell me I wasn't the crazy one.

If it had been an 89-99 sho that he was doing all this to, then yes, you would have been wrong.

bastomatic wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: A 528, Cooper S and Boxster? Sounds like good taste in cars to me.

Not when they're bought at a used car dealership, out of warrantee, by someone who knows nothing about the mechanical workings of cars.

Holy understatement. Good LORD.

She's a masochist and she doesn't even know it. lol