Re: E46 - Nervious

[John Firestone <john.firestone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Don <DTAHT@domain.elided> writes:

> If I were considering an E46, I would wait for a car built after 9/1/98 - as
> that is when running changes will occur. Remember the rest of the world is
> getting 1998 models, so "their" 1999s start production in September.

This is not entirely true if one includes Germany in the rest of the
world.  German-market BMW's are continually refined, built and sold
except for a brief pause during the summer factory holiday. Because of
the great demand for the E46, this year there was no summer shutdown.
A German car has no model year, only has a production month and year.
New changes are applied month to month and one thinks of and speaks
about the new and old models.

Things may be different for other European markets.  I have some BMW
Sweden brochures in front of me, half of which are calendar-less.  The
other half have such titles as:

   BMW 3-serie coupe 1998
   BMW 3-serie touring 1998
   Nya BMW 320i Edition 1998!

(Does the exclamation point mean that someone got *pretty* excited
about the 320i?)

> I would also wait for the sport suspension.

At the moment, the German E46 is being offered with an optional
"sporty suspension calibration" [#226 - sportliche
Fahrwerksabstimmung] but no sports suspension.  The BMW NA website
includes a "sports suspension" in the U.S. 323i/328i sports packages.
I should like to see its option number.

- -John
'96 318is
john.firestone@domain.elided

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