New member in Texas

[Vas]

Glad to hear it made it to you. Now enjoy.

[fredo]

Congrats ! The ZHP looks great.

[slater]

I'll post more pictures and reviews later. For now, some first impressions. This car is astounding for 11 years old and 97k miles! My previous cars include a first gen integra, a 240sx, Civic, '13 Accord, and NA miata. This is certainly the best of the lot. But I am also surprised at how similar it is in driving dynamics to an e46 M3 and e90 M3 I tested. The e90 M3 was just too expensive to track, so I passed on it. And the e46 M3 was a 2 door, and I've got to take kids to school everyday, so that was a non-starter. So I had accepted that I wouldn't be able to find comparable dynamics in whatever car I chose. I was wrong. While the engine/acceleration/sound are all less in this car, the overall impression of grip, stability, and readiness to rotate are so impressive. I feel like the suspension tuning is perfect right out of the box. The transmission is excellent and the engine is plenty willing. Brakes are also stout. I can't wait to get a few laps at my local track and see what it's capable of.

awesome - glad you found The Car! i feel the same way. it's proven to be an excellent family hauler for the four of us, we even did a 2500km road trip in it last year. and yes, the stock balance is quite good!

car looks great - what is that blemish on the lower edge of the driver's door?

peter

[AggieBlake]

slater - it's a small bend and scrape in the bottom of the door. It looks like PO opened the door next to a curb or tall object and caught that bit on it. I will be researching how to address it. I don't mind the blemish - it's an 11 year old car. But I want to ensure that the sheetmetal is protected so no rust can creep in. Ideally, I'd also like to straighten it out a bit if I can. If anybody has advice on how to fix it, I'd appreciate it!

I see your family is sporting the ZHP / Honda Odyssey combo, too! We love our '09 Odyssey. No fun to drive, but so useful when you've got young kids.

[slater]

slater - it's a small bend and scrape in the bottom of the door. It looks like PO opened the door next to a curb or tall object and caught that bit on it. I will be researching how to address it. I don't mind the blemish - it's an 11 year old car. But I want to ensure that the sheetmetal is protected so no rust can creep in. Ideally, I'd also like to straighten it out a bit if I can. If anybody has advice on how to fix it, I'd appreciate it!

I see your family is sporting the ZHP / Honda Odyssey combo, too! We love our '09 Odyssey. No fun to drive, but so useful when you've got young kids.

yeah, definitely protect it from rust. to me that is more important than the cosmetic aspect.

the odyssey has been pretty invaluable... especially when my car was just down for 5 weeks. and, today, i folded down the rear seat, removed one of the middle ones, put both kids in, and put in the entire ZHP exhaust and drove it down to the shop that is repairing it for me. talk about convenient!

the kids love it. i hate driving it... the lights suck, the seats suck (for me, i have neck and back issues), the torque steer sucks, the driver's door doesn't seal right, the electronic rear door buzzer goes off randomly... but when i can do the above, or put 6-7 people in it, then its' redeeming quality comes through.

[danewilson77]

Yay! Congrats! I'm glad she made it to her new home safe and sound.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

+1

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

[johnrando]

+2

[AggieBlake]

That moment of relief when you pop the valve cover off your just-purchased 100k mile BMW to find it pristine inside...

[AggieBlake]

VCG and plugs done. Now for OFHG, cooling system, belts, pulleys. I went with the TMS OEM kit with Stewart water pump and aluminum pulley. Added pulleys, belts, etc.

So far I'm loving this car. My only complaint is that I can't hear the engine as well as I'd like while driving. The throttle response is also slower than I'd like when heel-toe shifting. I'm thinking an AFE Magnum will fix that. Maybe a Corsa exhaust as well. Maybe a Shark injector to fix throttle response... or something to that effect. Suggestions always appreciated.

[BMWCurves]

Nice work!

I have the Shark Injector and while it had some improvement in various areas, it was not particularly significant. I don't regret installing it though.

For throttle response, a lot of people here will probably suggest PedalBox or Sprint Booster that increase the signal of the throttle pedal for a given amount of input. I don't have it but am interested in trying it out eventually.