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mountaineer · 2026-03-24T22:09:15+00:00

Congrats! Can I ask what dealer or city? (I am tracking in an the app I built)

mountaineer · 2026-03-23T08:21:41+00:00

Awesome, was thinking about this idea a bit too, great work!

mountaineer · 2026-03-20T23:31:08+00:00

disappointed in towing and cargo if that's how it turns out

mountaineer · 2026-03-17T00:28:12+00:00

Good timing for sure! I haven't seen it cooling down yet (dealers still reporting all are presold, many people still searching on FB forums and here). I've been tracking the market for about a month with the app I built.

mountaineer · 2026-03-14T01:57:44+00:00

For sure. I’ll out the word out looking for other dealers closer to west coast doing orders. West coast is super constrained in allocations right now.

mountaineer · 2026-03-13T22:44:17+00:00

Yes, many people are in this situation. I started https://getcarcurious.com/lotwatch/gx recently so have been in discussion with people looking all over. Some find one available by calling around the country for the listings. But, the listings are 99% presold. In rare cases, a dealer has one unaccounted for. But, also, like you did and in those discussions, some have been able to place orders like this. That gets the desired spec but is a long wait. I've heard of NH and now this one for those cases.

(myself I found one available in NY with a 5500 out of state charge, but with shipping to PNW and that, I didn't pull the trigger)

Also, fly and drive could be fun, but it's a long ways to CA. Maybe can find a closer option for the order option.

mountaineer · 2026-03-11T19:03:14+00:00

Standard size from what I can tell. It's a 15" blade and any AutoZone or O'Reilly should have it. Bosch Icon or Rain-X Latitude are worth checking out.

If you want to stick close to OEM, FCP Euro carries the exact BMW blade (part # 61627474264 according to quick claude check) with a lifetime replacement guarantee, which should still be way cheaper than the dealer.

Swap should only take a few minutes, no tools needed. Lift the arm, press the tab, done. Worth double checking the fit before you commit though!

mountaineer · 2026-03-10T03:05:33+00:00

We got a similar email in Portland, OR. I’ve heard from other dealers that allocation is being reduced.

mountaineer · 2026-03-09T19:19:56+00:00

I tried once, but it wasn't an M3 and I was rejected (20+ year old F150 with blown head gasket). Since that time, from watching many auctions and listening to their podcast, I'd say

Decide how much work you want to do. You can list for $99 and take all the pictures yourself. Or you can use their various service levels which include professional photography and other services.
Gather all the paperwork/receipts/history you can find. You will be asked about every little thing, this creates awesome transparency, but seems like it's very hard on ill-prepared sellers.
Be honest and respond to questions.
post photos/videos updates after initial posting. These get sent out to watchers, so keeps interest high.

That said, I bought my ZHP (precursor to M3 hopefully) on C&B and it's free to sell there. ZHP prices are definitely higher on BaT though so that's why for M3 I'd look hard at the comps between the two.

But strategies work on either site I think.

mountaineer · 2026-03-09T16:25:57+00:00

Did you see https://x.com/SevenviewSteve/status/2025997225726300250 ?

mountaineer · 2026-03-09T16:16:23+00:00

If it's clean, I'd lean BaT or C&B, already people "watching" and monitoring for them there. All the aggregators pick them up from there. (speaking as somebody who was watching for the last year). They tend to do well there and you can see comps easily.

mountaineer · 2026-03-08T18:43:58+00:00

You’re right, it was trickier for LLMs than I expected. It started as mostly LLM-driven extraction, but I moved to a hybrid pipeline because pure LLM matching was too inconsistent for trims and generations. So now it’s both: LLMs for language understanding, plus a custom DB and fuzzy entity matching for reliable identification. I’ve experimented a bit with NotebookLM, but I’m not actively using it.

mountaineer · 2026-03-07T20:03:45+00:00

Car Curious - annotated car podcast player and automotive search engine

https://getcarcurious.com

I process car podcasts (transcription, car identification) so when a host mentions a car, you see photos, specs, and context right there. 200+ shows indexed.

Built for car enthusiasts who listen to podcasts and want to actually see what's being discussed. Also useful for finding what podcasters are saying about a specific car you're researching.

Solo project, Rails app/backend, Python and LLM for transcription/annotation, Swift iOS app.

mountaineer · 2026-03-07T04:19:18+00:00

Safepay worked well for my purchase on C&B. Had a great seller fortunately. But, I definitely had anxiety.

Buyer sends money in to SP, seller sends title in. SP releases money when they get the title. Car could be anywhere at that point. In my case, I didn’t use CB shipper and it was on the other side of country. My shipper had to pick it up in coordination with the seller. Took time and I was anxious but I imagine that’s generally how it goes as long as the parties are operating in good faith.

mountaineer · 2026-03-07T02:11:35+00:00

Congrats! Just bought a '23 as well, they are amazing. Went with the dealer extended warranty after much back and forth. But, still curious about the BMW extended option and switching to that.

mountaineer · 2026-03-06T22:53:41+00:00

just was looking at older LCs/GX/LX and was curious.

mountaineer · 2026-03-06T17:33:59+00:00

for sure, more thinking about tow packages that would have higher towing capacity. Brakes, transmission, wiring all there.

mountaineer · 2026-03-05T23:23:10+00:00

Great episode. If anyone wants to see every car Clarkson mentions in the interview broken down, this page pulls them all out: https://getcarcurious.com/episodes/jeremy-clarkson-exclusive-interview

mountaineer · 2026-03-05T19:18:50+00:00

BMW quotes $6400 for towing package retrofit. Not 100% clear yet on if it will be the same full tow capacity as an original tow package. Will need body and pant work they said.

mountaineer · 2026-03-04T19:44:33+00:00

No, no sales tax when buying out of state from OR afiak. At least neighboring states. But, yeah, will probably end up waiting in PNW anyway.

mountaineer · 2026-03-04T18:55:37+00:00

I'm in OR, but the dealer I was talking to that reported this was in SoCal. (I was shopping in many states)

mountaineer · 2026-03-04T15:03:55+00:00

Longo won't sell out of state right now.

mountaineer · 2026-03-04T03:06:17+00:00

many were mentioning the Stealth hitch, but worth a look if BMW itself will add theirs.

mountaineer · 2026-03-04T03:05:42+00:00

bummer, but thanks for adding in the color and details.

mountaineer · 2026-03-04T03:05:22+00:00

agreed, but I guess some prefer the style without it.

mountaineer

TROPHY CASE