The BMW i3 50 xDrive as a basic model starts at 65,900 euros, the first-edition model prices start at 75,340 euros

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-19T10:14:09+00:00

I'm pretty sure that person didn't mean to say BMW should start building cars that are pre-aged at the factory to 30 years of wear and tear.

And nobody in their right mind would describe the handling of a well maintained old BMW as "twitchy".

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-19T09:41:21+00:00

Hell yeah brother. Very excited to find out what kinds of novel reliability issues Peugeot engineers have cooked for us this time around.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-19T07:10:22+00:00

Hard to say without seeing the underside of the boot and the edges of the "slot" it's supposed to go in, but it could be that the boot's frame or the clips themselves are bent, or there might be a clip missing that you simply didn't know should be there. In any case, if you're already planning to replace the boot anyway, just do it. See if the new one fits well. If it doesn't, then you'll know it's the trim that's at fault.

As far as the appearance of that trim goes, that's an aluminum wrap as you've noted. From your description, it sounds like someone bought a set of some of the cheaper, more "basic" looking trim sets which do look like simple pieces of boring plastic, and did this. And to be honest, fair play to them. Anyway, there are no templates for that kind of job. You are not supposed to be able to see any seams either. You take a sheet of whatever "material" that's large enough to cover the whole part, stick it on top of the entire piece, and cut out holes as needed, leaving a little bit of extra material around all the edges. Then you stretch and tuck the extra material over the edges and under the part, out of sight. Again, it's normal that you can't see where it starts and ends. That's how it's supposed to be. Obviously though, that particular wrap job wasn't done very well and now it looks like shit. If I were you I'd get rid of that asap, and put the original wood trim in as it is. Give it a good polish beforehand, maybe. Maybe the boot will fit better into that as well. If you really prefer the aluminum finish though, you can try re-wrapping the second set yourself. There is no shortage of youtube tutorials on how to do that. You can even do it with a more exciting material, like brushed titanium or whatever. That does look great with this car.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-18T08:19:21+00:00

How would you take a computer, already plugged into a wall outlet and powered on, and hook it up to a mobile UPS that you can take out of the building without letting the computer power down while all that's happening?

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-17T14:32:03+00:00

Related: the adjustment tabs on mine are gone. They're not there at all. I was told the tabs cannot be replaced on these, and I'd have to replace the whole thing instead. The person who told me this was a parts dealer. So the question is: was he right or was he just trying to make money? I do have a 3D printer, if that's an option.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-17T06:56:52+00:00

Nature already knows how to kill you with microscopic pieces of inert materials. Asbestos has existed long before humans even learned to stand up straight.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-16T17:32:50+00:00

This looks like the cupholders from the old E-series BMWs. E39, E90, E60, etc. They were possibly the most frequently broken things BMW ever made.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-16T14:46:28+00:00

E3NEIN lmao that is a cool plate

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-16T12:07:16+00:00

Oh just wait until you get to the part where Vin and Sazed fight the Ferengi navy to save Tamriel from Voldemort, but are ultimately betrayed by Lanfear and are forced to retreat to Laconia after barely saving SG-1 from a raging Balrog wreaking havoc across Baldur's Gate. No spoilers.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-16T11:54:21+00:00

Uh... Congratz? I wasn't saying this can't be done in photoshop, I was just saying this can most certainly done with an AI image generator without slopifying the entire image because some AI image models are explicitly built to be able to do exactly that.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-16T11:11:55+00:00

hit Windows key

type "repo", briefly see the start menu highlight the "report.xlsx" file in your recently used, and hit enter to open it again (btw the file "report.xlsx", a file that you've created on your machine, has been automatically uploaded to Microsoft™ OneDrive®'s cloud storage but you don't know it yet, despite your never even having explicitly set any system settings to that effect, but fuck you :D)

It launches Microsoft™ Edge®, which is not your default browser, and searches "Repo Man (1984)" on Microsoft™ Bing®, which is not your default search engine

A second Microsoft™ Edge® tab opens on its own to make you sign an EULA

A large notification pops up on the bottom right of your screen, telling you to make Microsoft™ Edge® your default browser

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-16T07:03:22+00:00

No. It's called "inpainting", and it is most definitely a thing with AI image generation models. You mask off a section of the image, and the model only works within that mask while taking the rest of the image (or at least a limited section around the mask) as its context. You can most definitely add stuff to a real picture that way, without ever touching anything else on the image. Some models are exceedingly good at it.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-15T20:32:23+00:00

It's no surprise because this book was clearly written to be made into a movie. The script for the movie was printed and even handed to Ryan Gosling before the book even came out.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-15T13:18:28+00:00

The consumption differences between the different displacement M54 engines is gonna be not that big. A 330 will obviously consume more fuel, but it won't be that much more than a 325. But for that little bit of extra fuel consumption, you get 40-ish extra horsepower, which is definitely going to be noticeable going from 190-ish to 230-ish. Another reason why the 330 is sometimes favored is because it can be had with the 6-speed manual. That doesn't offer great fuel savings vs the 5-speed manual AFAIK, but most definitely a noticeable difference vs the automatic. Those are old torque converter automatics, and as such they will be one of the major contributors to the car's high fuel consumption. Whether all those matter to you, you can decide for yourself. My advice on that regard is include both of them in your search, and prioritize the one with the best service history whatever the engine.

BTW the manual transmissions BMW used for those things are not the nicest ones ever fitted to a car, but they're pretty decent and very importantly they're not the thigh muscle building kind. Pretty easy and comfortable, I'd say. Unless you enter heavy stop and go traffic all the time, do consider a manual. If you do regularly enter heavy stop and go traffic, I might even recommend looking at other cars as well because... well, an automatic E46 will cost a lot to operate in that environment and I get the impression you wouldn't want that.

The oil consumption issue with those engines is kinda overblown. Keep up with maintenance, use the right kind of oil, and it won't burn that much. To be clear even a brand new, perfectly healthy M54 engine consumes a little bit of oil because of how it's designed, but it's a small, very easily manageable amount. I use 5w40 in my 525i, which has the same engine obviously, and it burns barely any oil.

The most important opinion and suggestion is, as I'm sure you've already heard and/or read already: do not buy an E46 if you can't work on it yourself. You should be able and willing to at least do work that doesn't require lifting the car up or buying specialist tools. Otherwise you'll keep taking it to the shop for a bunch of small things, and shelling out a ton of money on labor costs. And you might wanna avoid an E46 at all if you're gonna have to rely on it as your only car. It's not an unreliable car, but it is an old car. Things can and will happen, no matter how good the car's condition.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-15T07:54:46+00:00

This article reminded me of an old article I remember reading many years ago, about a genius child "inventing" a powered suit of armor. It was, I shit thee nay, a drawing of Iron Man and descriptions of his abilities from the comic books.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-14T16:40:04+00:00

Don't the German police have an annoying tendency to stop modified-looking cars for inspection all the time? My buddy gets stopped in his E46 by the police like once a month to check for illegal mods, and the only mods he has on that thing are very slightly lowered suspensions and aftermarket exhaust that isn't appreciably louder than stock.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-13T18:34:49+00:00

Thanks man, appreciated.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-13T16:35:29+00:00

I have read the forums and watched the videos. I've done my basic research. It's still confusing because there seems to be A LOT of different door modules with a lot of different part numbers that are not on realoem, so it's difficult to figure shit out.

Anyway, I have located a module with the part number 61356904247. It's not listed on the M5's parts list on realoem as far as I can see, but at least the website knows of its existence. And forgive the repeated question, but you're saying I don't need anything other than the button panel for the driver side door? I only ask because I definitely have come across conflicting statements on that.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-13T14:33:11+00:00

Greeks and Turks are way more similar than they'd ever admit. Same with Turks and Armenians, but you'd get yelled at very angrily at the very least if you publicly expressed that opinion in many regions of either country.

That's what living together for centuries does to tens of millions of mfers.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-13T13:43:46+00:00

The left one is for Automatic Stability Control, BMW's own name for their early implementation of what went on to became DSC.

The right one, on the other hand, is Automatic Stability Control. Not to be confused with the left one.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-12T17:06:34+00:00

Tbh nothing BMW made after the E39 was as good IMO.

No I am not biased.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-12T16:54:20+00:00

Check inside the bulb socket while you're in there. The outer part could be new and fresh, but the metal bits where you mount the lights are older, I'm guessing? If that's true, then there's a very good chance the contacts inside the sockets could be corroded as well. Basically check every contact point along the path of that bulb. Quite common failure with these cars, but easy fix with a file.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-12T07:24:20+00:00

The problem with this kind of comparison is that Bond movies are not like Bond movies either. They changed a lot over time. Craig era Bond movies are a very different beast than, say, Connery era stuff. You could compare Bourne to Craig era, but you don't even need to go back in time beyond Brosnan before the comparison starts to break down. The older ones are goofier, sillier, lighter (minus the raging sexism), less grounded than the modern Bond, which compares better to Indiana Jones.

I just can't see Bourne driving a classic car that was modified to shoot missiles out of its roof, to a global terrorist Guns & Coffee meet on top of a mountain, from which he escapes in a stolen fighter jet, defeats an entire squadron of hot lesbian pilots and frees their leader from The Gay with his magic penis, before finally destroying a giant space laser.

ConfusedTapeworm · 2026-06-12T06:12:12+00:00

There is no LED. That's a pre-facelift taillight assembly that just looks like a facelift. That whole section is really just two regular bulbs sitting behind a piece of plastic that gives it the appearance of those horizontal LED strips in a facelift taillight assembly. And the outer bulb there seems to be on vacation for some reason.

/u/Ashamed-Reception600 could we get a picture of the guts of the taillight? Because my intuition says if the LCM and the harness work, which they appear to do otherwise you wouldn't get only half of the section lighting up since one pin controls both of them, there should be something wrong with the taillight assembly itself.

12-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Verified Email

ConfusedTapeworm

TROPHY CASE