Category: Cars
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How my BMW 335i’s collision warning system avoided a nasty accident and redistributed the hummus
Today, on the way home from grocery shopping, my BMW 335i’s forward collision warning system prevented an accident — and may have saved Tricia’s and my life. We were traveling east on Route 9 in Westborough. We were in the right lane and had stopped for the light at Lyman St. Once the light changed…
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Why Toyota is losing its reputation for quality and reliability
Here’s a post from the “I wish I’d noticed this before I bought the car” file. Under the hood on the driver’s side of my new 2013 Toyota RAV4 is one of the car’s computers, or engine control modules (ECM). It’s mounted on a bracket at an odd angle next to one of the relay…
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A day at the races
Who knew (or cared) that this weekend is the swan song for Grand-Am racing? They’ve merged with ALMS and next year will run a combined series. The BMW Car Club had an event this weekend for members today at Lime Rock Park and I figured, “Tricia’s at work…the weather is perfect…I’ve never seen Grand-Am races…and…
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How to buy a BMW via European Delivery
Tips for negotiating BMW European Delivery price, ordering your BMW and delivery in Munich
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Beating back the BMW European Delivery re-delivery blues
Anyone who has ever ordered a BMW for European Delivery and eventual shipping home knows this part of the drill. You’ve gone to BMW Welt in Munich, picked up an amazing car, had a blast and dropped it off. You knew that waiting for it was going to be hard — everyone says so and…
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BMW M5 car porn
Apologies in advance. But I want to share with you my lastest fantasy: a lovely blue BMW M5. I had about 30 minutes of seat time in the previous generation M5 (the engine was a V10!) and ever since, to steal a phrase from Jimmy Carter, I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times with…
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Bye, bye solenoid — hello digital mobility machine
Today, I picked up Tricia’s Volvo XC60, which arrived at the local dealer this week after an “intensive examination” by Customs and Border Patrol delayed its entry into the USA. I used the navigation system for the first time today because it was inoperable when we picked up the car in Sweden. (It comes pre-loaded…
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Old school and why it can be so cool
If you follow my blog — and you know you should — you also know that I’ve been writing about cars a lot lately. It’s because I have mastered stretching the car buying process for as long as a year. Between research, taking delivery overseas and waiting for the car to be shipped home, that’s…
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Oh, how my BMW mortal coil fails to fire
Well, it’s come to this: cheap, tawdry misappropriations of poetic metaphors. Yesterday, something happened in my car that made it run rough and have no power. Come to find out today (thanks to an emergency visit to my pals at Village European) that the #4 ignition coil is dead. Prudence dictates that if one coil…
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We pick up Tricia’s new car in Sweden
Greetings from Gothenburg, Sweden. I’m writing this as Tricia catches a nap – she’s a little jet lagged. How jet-lagged? Well, she fell asleep in a tram while touring a car factory today. A very LOUD car factory. That, my friends, is jet-lag. But I am getting ahead of myself. It took us longer than…
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Turn left…Brake NOW!…SLOW DOWN!!
I realize that recent posts on this blog have veered wildly from maudlin to manic. But, hey that’s life, ain’t it? Today’s news is that Massachusetts has minted another new driver, who models her newly printed learner’s permit here. Having thought through this process in detail in my mind, I realized she’d want to try…
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It’s OK to suck a tailpipe or yet another moment of Jungian synchronicity
In today’s Boston Globe Magazine, Clifford Atiyeh’s “The Crusade Against Cars” tackles car lovers’ central dilemma today: “Social responsibility” is the media topic du jour, the latest feel-good narcissism of those leading government, corporations, and other big-mouth organizations. Part of the idea is to give an appearance of top-down restraint – that it’s not OK…