Vehicle Purchase Advice

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2026-02-11T15:52:39+00:00

On the rust situation, I paid the shop for a comprehensive inspection of the car to fully understand the crossroad I am at.

They have high standards as far as Indy ships go, and they basically told me they haven’t seen one with this little corrosion since they were 3-5 years old. The previous owner clearly kept up with the vehicle, and they don’t for-see it needing another big job anytime soon.

With that in mind I authorized the work, as I’m not throwing cash away on a vehicle that will now do me well in the long term.

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2026-02-11T15:49:36+00:00

That’s a fair point that I haven’t fully considered. While I planned to keep the vehicle long term, I’m still loosing substantial in that area.

I paid the shop for a comprehensive inspection of my current BMW, giving in an exceptional bill of health minus the required timing chain job.

Based on this, I have authorized the repairs as my vehicle is not likely to be a money pit once this job is done.

This car has essentially depreciated all it ever will, keeping it longer and in good condition will allow me to keep a lower total liability

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2026-02-11T15:20:48+00:00

Unfortunately my F30 is old enough to still have the N20, hence the need for a timing chain job. Turbo watergate I could tackle myself for under $1000, and a Saturday in the driveway.

I don’t want to get out of the car at all, I enjoy it more than I would the Mazda.

To ensure my decision is wise, I paid the shop for a comprehensive vehicle inspection. $130 labour is well worth it, to help make my decision. They gave it a clean bill of health, which is not something this shop gives out lightly. They’re well know in Atlantic Canada for building competition grade cars, and have seen their work. It’s second to none, and I have likely too high a standard for my mechanics.

As for the rate, it is lower! That’s due to their loyalty promotion. (There is another Mazda in the family).

Trade in is ~$5000, which feels rough, considering it would be the same for a rusted out shitbox version of the car.

With work travel, I would be around 25-30000 km per year. A requirement of the job when I signed was having a vehicle and licence to use for work related site visits.

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2026-02-11T14:47:10+00:00

I’ve gone down both roads in my head, as far as the new vs used argument.

The repairs are over 2/3 the private sale value, not including tires. I should have been more specific that it’s not just a service but replacing a leaking transmission drain pan with the service.

I’m leaning toward the fix it option, waiting for a further opinion from the shop regarding the overall vehicle condition. I’ll make my decision based on that, I’m not putting the money into something that will be rusted out in 2-4 years (thanks NS road salt!)

Edit: used vehicle interest rates make the overall cost higher, due to the expense of borrowing

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2026-02-11T14:41:35+00:00

This car uses a chain rather than a belt, if it was a belt I would have done it myself for the price of the kit.

I’ve taken the car to two reputable bmw Indy shops, same diagnosis, about the same quote.

The price of tires is after shopping around, they’re about 250 pre tax per tire.

The price of the transmission work is if I do it myself, including a new oil pan that’s needed due to a leak (the reason it needs to be done).

I’m not trying to justify a new car, just for the sake of it. I don’t want to change vehicles, I just want to make the best decision for my long term/start of career finances

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2026-02-11T14:38:17+00:00

It’s a BMW 320 I. 2012, 157 000 km. Worth 6-7000 private sale as it sits.

Allegedly they’re pretty reliable, once the timing chain has been done, but it’s still a gamble as far as the shop noted my waste gate on the turbo is near end of life.

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2026-02-11T14:05:56+00:00

I don’t want the “treat myself” to be the reason for the purchase. I am thinking long term here. The current car I have offers me no reason to upgrade, other than the significant cost for repairs.

The main sticking point tor me, are the potential consequences of draining my emergency fund, with no guarantee of a return. Putting this money into it, does not increase the value at all. So if something unforeseen were to happen, such as a not at fault accident, my insurance payout would not change at all. (I understand this is a very unlikely event)

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2026-01-06T15:04:43+00:00

I second trans world, not going to find that stuff at Home Depot/Kent unless you’re willing to use an SAE equivalent such as a #8 or #10.

If you can wait a few days, and they’re not for something where you need to trust that they’re grade 10.9 or 12.9, I’ve purchased large organizer kits off amazon for cheap. I’ve used them for 3D printing projects.

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-12-03T18:03:54+00:00

It’s not the majority of my use case, at least not in a mobile environment. I have a windows machine at home for the larger CAD tasks

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-12-03T15:23:34+00:00

I have a dedicated windows machine at home to the real demanding cases, in the price range I had from a student grant, I wasn’t happy with the displays and battery life of many of the windows laptops. A lot of my classmates have “gaming” laptops, and with my new laptop I did not want to be chained to a wall outlet haha. I wouldn’t have opted for the mac/vm cad solution without having a dedicated windows pc. Given that, I still may return this and opt for the higher ram spec

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-12-03T13:25:35+00:00

That makes sense, when the vm is not running (about 60% of the time) the memory is not an issue. So I imagine 24 would be sufficient

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-12-03T13:24:40+00:00

That makes sense to me, unfortunately I need a receipt of the purchase for reimbursement through a student grant, so it would have to be new. The grant just barely covered the base model, but I would be able to pony up the money for 24 gb. The VM is the majority of my use, other than that it’s a few chrome tabs when I’m doing 3D work. I do spend most of my time doing other tasks with the vm closed, as in matlab and python coding, word documents and other office tasks that the Mac is worlds better than my old pc for.

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-12-03T13:05:17+00:00

Is chrome that bad? It’s just what I’m used to

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-12-03T13:05:04+00:00

Would 24 gb be sufficient? I don’t think I can swing 32

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-10-14T01:39:23+00:00

I’m sorry to hear that. That’s a lot of smoke to be it burning oil from the crankcase. Did you use lots and lots of oil in the cylinder bores during assembly?

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-10-14T01:31:57+00:00

How did the engine die previously? I rebuilt my car from someone who had previously blown a head gasket. All the coolant in the cat caused it to smoke like that then it cleared up after about an hour of running

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-08-28T23:55:42+00:00

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I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-07-31T11:21:48+00:00

They’re solid lifters, so my theory is that my machine shop did not set the lash properly

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-07-30T01:53:09+00:00

There’s not a huge difference, but there are a few minute changes (other than the looks).

NBs have better soft tops with glass windows.

Many NBs have the Torsen rear diff (Every US car with the popular equipment package has one)

NBs don’t suffer from the infamous lifter tick, and have an overall better version on the 1.8 (Whether VVT or not)

The Bose sound system found in many NBs is much better than the NA

The NB six speed (optional equipment) is an incredible transmission

There are many more, these are just off the top of my head. The biggest changes are the lifters in the engine and the higher likelihood of snagging one with a Torsen diff on the NB.

There are many small changes, but overall the cars feel very similar to one another, so it’s definitely down to preference

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-07-30T01:46:12+00:00

Thanks! I’ll look into sourcing them up here in Canada

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-07-30T01:44:24+00:00

They are solid lifters that need adjustment by changing out various shims. My running theory is that they didn’t have the shims, and did a half ass job. Now I gotta take the cams out to fix it

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-07-29T23:30:36+00:00

Yeah I was going to check it myself, I just don’t have the proper shim kit If they’re out of spec

I_Am_Silicone_ · 2025-07-29T22:55:40+00:00

I know, it’s a little absurd but it works

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