ooo ..

i of course knew the whole story from talking on the phone that afternoon, and i do agree you were in the right.. but not so sure this should be out in public.. it might cause problems.   I wonder if our host might want to delete this ( and the other.) just to be safe? 

Doesn't everyone?

Sat Aug 02 2025 17:22:01 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

My favorite part is that you referred to a firearm as "PPE". 

Ran to the grocery and ACE before the traffic hits ( interstate, closed this weekend so our main road = the bypass route )

On the way out passed a car parts store.  and what to my unbelieving eyes.. and Fiero notch-back pulled in.   Other than my ( fastback ) i have not seen another on the road in at least 10 years, if not longer. 

id have stopped but was sort of stuck in traffic at the light.. 

Auto parts store.  Saturday, order a part. "it will be here Friday, no you don't pay until you pick it up". No notice of arrival but went in the next Saturday morning while i was out and about: "we cant find it, we have no idea, we think it was sent back since it was here since Monday and you only get 3 days unless you pay first. What? Huh? Ok, order another, ill pay this time. "ETA of Wednesday" .  

Weds, get an email this time. Go in today ( the next day ), "we cant find it anywhere", "oh, we found the first one on the store manager's desk but it got sent back"....  20 mins later " we found it, it was  sealed up in the returns box to be sent out in the morning"

Wtf.

And why the hell does a oil sensor have to be 100 bucks now. Damned inflation. 

Fri Nov 14 2025 01:15:13 UTC from Nurb432

 

 

And why the hell does a oil sensor have to be 100 bucks now. Damned inflation. 

I spent $2400 on a battery for my M4. They're "programmed," so I can get a black market version that has a chip that has been coded - but... a firmware upgrade and that will be detected and deleted and then I'm screwed. 

And I'm probably smart enough to continue to outsmart Bavaria and get an aftermarket battery that is otherwise exactly the same to work - but they also know that people who can afford their cars that have $2400 batteries don't want to dick around with trying to get a $500 battery to work with their car -unless they're so far aftermarket that BMW doesn't care anyhow. 

So I just pay the factory/dealer prices. 

Still, I get it that getting raped by your dealer/service sucks. 

Its one reason i refuse to buy a 'new' car.  My jeep, 2006, was the end of the line for new. 2007 introduced the damned digital dashboard panel crap. Even 2006 was pushing it and i did get bit due to the computer/transmission ( its a known thing, you just expect it up-front that you will have to get it reprogrammed ), but at least it wasn't a proprietary parts trap like they are today.  And im still thinking of getting rid of the minimal computer in the little car. it does not need it. But at the same time, it doesn't hurt since its soo minimalist.. so i donno.

Part of why this sensor was so much its on a niche car, 40 years old.  Now, that engine was also in a few other models so no 'real' excuse, but they can still gouge you since they are not 'everywhere' these days. Doesn't make it right, and still frustrating.

Next time it goes out ( it will. they do ) i may look into building my own. Going to tear apart the broken one to see how it works. 

Posts like this make me wish Ig would add a Like button. I don't want to respond, I just want to acknowledge that I read your post, understand, and acknowledge, even if I don't agree. 
I do agree... but... you get the point. :D 

So, yesterday my wife's ex-COO was in town at the Biltmore in Phoenix - so, we ran errands all day long from6 AM on, then got ready and went out there, 50 minutes away - until 10:30, drove home, got to bed, woke up at 6 AM, and drove an hour or so out to Podium Club Atessa, in Casa Grande - where I spent all day doing 20 minute sessions in my M4, M235i and a buddy's C8 Z06. 
The M4 is really the sweet spot for me. The M235i is skittish and high strung and a handful even though being significantly slower than the other two. I mean, it isn't a slow car - it is faster than an E36 M3, but by today's standards - my mostly stock one was one of the slowest cars on the track. It doesn't have as much rubber... It would probably be AWESOME at autocross - but for a road track - it was a little scary - and also not really made for that kind of punishment. 

The C8 Z06 has catless pipes, and a tune - and was terrifying. It actually is also kind of a high strung car - and I just never found my trust in it in the twisty parts of the track. I suppose it was partially that it was a friend's car - and I wasn't eager to put it off the track. 

The M4 was the sweet spot, once I found my limits with it. I started feeling very confident with it and knew I was near its limits on most parts of the track. I managed a 2:04 best time - the guy with the C8 managed 1:55 in it - but I was best able to hold my own against the rest of the field in the M4. I enjoy the M235i more around city driving, city highway driving - and that is most of where I end up driving... enthusiastically. Not necessarily irresponsibly - but "spirited" driving. The M4 isn't as nimble feeling in those scenarios - a little bigger, the bigger tires all around making it feel less responsive, more likely to tramline or fight on turn in. Not understeer (both the M235i and the M4 have a reputation - that isn't undeserved, for understeer, though)... 

But on the track, where you're going to go flat out, push hard into corners, brake late and hard, and punch hard coming out - the M4 was the perfect middle ground of the two - far more civilized and balanced and confident than either the sketchy, nervous M235i or the raw, torquey screaming rage of the C8. 

It was a fun day... but I think I did 5 20 minute sessions throughout the day, and I'm frickin' BEAT. 

Was out getting gas today.  Recently they tore out some farm land to put in a car wash near one of the Krogers i go to, that has a gas station too ( because, well, cant have nature here in this county ), and while i waiting for it to fill, noticed a sign on the pump trying to sell car washes, which seemed odd since its not even the same company.. but whatever, some back-room deal..   and  the prices are like 25 bucks a wash.  Man, that seems high.

So... 

2025 Z06 1LZ (very base interior for a C8, honestly) with Z07 sport package.