New member

[Cageeaich]

Hi fellow BMW drivers. As  newbie, I see the custom is to introduce oneself - so here goes.

As a Devonian, I am some way from any accessible circuits so get little opportunity to really push my car(s). If I can ever get like minded people together, perhaps I'll book Castle Combe or similar for a morning or afternoon. Done a few track days using supplied kit with the operation at Bedford Aerodrome being the best sorted - just loved the track M4s.

Been on my BMW journey since 2003 with my first E46 330dse touring, the furthest in the picture - to be sold in due course. This has done over 200,000 but is still on original engine with only starter motor and swirl flaps replaced. Fantastic machine but now a little tired so replaced by the 335X. I'm a little puzzled by some of the forum posts which talk of turbo and injector problems etc on cars with much much lower miles - perhaps this is down to how the car's been looked after..... The third car is as you will recognise, a M140 with a little attention to height etc. When the time is right, we might play a little putting the 335 and M140 head to head....

Another passion I have is trying to get young people to enjoy the performance of their car from an advanced driving perspective. Advanced driving does not have to be dull and can be made attractive to youngsters. It's just a pity insurers do not recognise passing the advanced test as well as they used to when I was a very young driver. 20% discount at 19 years old was a massive attraction then!

To all the posters on all the forums, keep up the good work and thank you for the answers and responses. Hope I can help out someone here as well.

[Bimmer Owners Club]

Hi Keith....welcome to the Club

I can sense your passion for all things BMW from here!
Track Days are a great opportunity to test out your car's capabilities and it is a shame you don't have anything on your doorstep...the only ones coming to mind are Wiscombe Park and Gurston Down where they run the occasional Hill Climbs.... always a good day out!

I too am Advanced Driver and found it astounding when looking at Insurance quotes that this did not seem to impact the cost of the premium....far too underrated and something Insurers need to embrace to encourage better driving standards in my mind.

As for your point on low mileage cars....that is the actual issue, they don't get driven hard or far enough for the big and effortless engines to effectively clear out carbon deposits which then clog the injectors and turbo vanes. 
Your Bimmers certainly seem to have good miles on them, which is also a sign that they have been driven properly (progressive driving to quote the IAM)

Good to have you onboard and look forward to reading your future posts.

Cheers,   Trevor

[Cageeaich]

Trevor - it seems we are of a kindred spirit in some ways. Yes, Wiscombe Park is very close along with Charmouth Hill Climb though as yet, I've taken the 335 up Wiscombe hill just once with my wife trying to find the brake peddle on her side much of the time................. She loves the BMWs but not too keen on pushing too much and wants to be in MY seat!!!!

Having passed my IAM test in '79 (yes, last century for the younger readers), I'm now working to take the RoSpa version. I'm trying to explore ways in which insurance companies can be persuaded to look at advanced drivers again with a view to encouraging younger drivers to benefit from advanced driving passes in terms of reduced insurance. The IAM as an institution is not interested in this position; it has other fish to fry. Unfortunately, when organisations get into bed with a service provider, the intrinsic benefits frequently become more important to the organisation than the wider extrinsic benefits.  The motor industry desperately needs to get many many more advanced drivers out there...................

I'm thinking of starting a post/forum/discussion on advanced driving in the context of younger drivers. Any words of advice? Do you think the membership might be interested?

Best wishes.

Keith

[Bimmer Owners Club]

Hi Keith...kindred spirit indeed!

I think that anything that can be done to educate drivers to drive better is definitely the way forward....it seems to be that once the test has been passed then that's it regarding learning to drive better.

I wonder how RoSPA differs from IAM...you'll have to let me know the nuts and bolts and I may look to go over to them at some point.

Please feel free to contribute your wisdom and any interesting information regarding driving and associated techniques.
I actually run my own site relating to Driving and Motoring in general and it is also aimed at first time drivers, anyone going abroad and just about anything to do with cars...check it out if you like .  https://www.autoevoke.com

Cheers,   Trevor