My "new" 95 325i

["Ed Mathews" <Ed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

     I bought the car.  Many thanks to Ron Buchalski, Dan Hermann,
ToMoyer@domain.elided (Tom), Mel Silva, Ryan Braithwaite, and Mike Sterry for
all the help and advice.  The car has 129,000 miles on it and runs great
and feels tight.  I flew from MD to FL to evaluate and drive the car,
and then drove it back 1100 miles home.  I averaged about 80mph most of
the drive home up 95 North, and the car has no shakes or shimmies at all
(up to about 95mph, which is the fastest I got up to).  I'm having my
mechanic go over it on Tuesday at 8:00, and then it has an appointment
with Dr. Detail at 1:00.
     It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn nice.  I do have a few minor
problems or areas of concern that I'd like opinions on.  Here they are
in no particular order:
1.  The glove box.  You just press the button and the thing flies open.
On another 3-series I looked at, I thought it came down nice and slow,
like the ash trays.  Is it supposed to on the '95?  If so, is it worth
trying to fix?
2.  The trip computer.  The right side of the display is not
illuminated.  I can see the clock works in very bright light, but it
does not light up.  And the right side of the main display on the left
starts to get dimmer the further right you go.  Is this just a bulb or
something behind the display?  It looks like it should be a bunch of an
LEDs to me, but I can't imagine them all burning out on just the right
side.
3.  The fan in the dash for the heater and AC is noisy sometimes, not
always, but sometimes.  It sounds like there is something loose or
vibrating with it occasionally.  Is this something that lives deep
inside the car like on some vehicles, and a real $$$$ to fix?
4.  The key is finicky.  If I insert it with the one section on top,
there's never a problem.  But if it's turned over 180 degrees with the
other part on the top it just spins in the ignition.  The manual says
nothing about this.  Is this normal?
5.  Is adding a CD changer to the existing AM/FM cassette something that
I can do easily and cheaply?  Do I have to buy it from BMW?  Or, would I
be better off just going to Circuit City and having them install a new
in-dash unit?
6.  Oil changes and easy maintenance.  I like to do my own oil changes
and filters, plugs, etc., just the easy stuff.  The manual indicates to
me that the computer needs to be set after all these things, or the
service lights come on and then yell at you.  For the limited amount of
things I can do to the car, would I be better off just having mechanic
looking after this vehicle entirely so that he can set the and reset the
computer and stuff?
7.  BTW, oil consumption was about 1/3 quart in the 1100 high speed
miles home.  I feel that's pretty good, any opinions?

Thanks,
Ed
http://lightandsilver.com 

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