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[#] Sat Nov 14 2020 16:07:56 UTC from LoanShark

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The Jersey turnpike is absolutely one of the more "Aggressive Driver"

This was I-95 near the Bronx/Pelham line; same difference!

My ex-friend from NJ used to advise, as far as interactions with NJ cops go: "it's not how fast you drive, it's HOW you drive"

[#] Sat Nov 14 2020 16:10:25 UTC from LoanShark

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Unfortunately cameras do not show the sides of a car, having four

This may not hold true if you're talking about a newer vehicle with a driver-assistance "technology package." Some of these are starting to offer integrated, always-on videologging as an option, and it probablbably includes the other cameras (?)

[#] Sat Nov 14 2020 19:04:10 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

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Sat Nov 14 2020 11:10:25 EST from LoanShark @ Uncensored
Unfortunately cameras do not show the sides of a car, having four

This may not hold true if you're talking about a newer vehicle with a driver-assistance "technology package." Some of these are starting to offer integrated, always-on videologging as an option, and it probablbably includes the other cameras (?)

The wife would go for that. She just doesn't want wires and chargers and devices on the dash. But it isn't a *clutter* thing, as much as a "I'd rather minimize announcing to other nerds that I have a nerd on board." 

I've been recognized a couple of times at rest stops or small stores by people who read Tech Republic when I was writing for them... and she just rolls her eyes, "Great, this guy is going to want to nerd-talk with you for hours... or maybe he wants to kill you because you trashed his favorite tech. Either way, we're not doing this..." 

 

 



[#] Sat Nov 14 2020 22:29:39 UTC from zooer

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I tucked all my wires between the windshield and the headliner. The camera is hard-wired to the fuse box.

 More recent cars probably have some sort of "Black Box" data containing the past few minutes of travel.  

 

Soon enough the cars will be autonomous, and we won't have to worry.



[#] Sat Nov 14 2020 23:05:21 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

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Sat Nov 14 2020 17:29:39 EST from zooer @ Uncensored

I tucked all my wires between the windshield and the headliner. The camera is hard-wired to the fuse box.

 More recent cars probably have some sort of "Black Box" data containing the past few minutes of travel.  

 

Soon enough the cars will be autonomous, and we won't have to worry.



We pretty much leave our cars "factory". No aftermarket head units... There really isn't anything extra to put in them. 

Which is probably all the more reason we should have dashcams. But... *shrug*... 




[#] Sun Nov 15 2020 16:01:52 UTC from LoanShark

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 More recent cars probably have some sort of "Black Box" data
containing the past few minutes of travel.  

This is true of many vehicles with relatively modern ECUs. Even without cameras, there is some degree of black box data which includes vehicle speed... I checked after my accident, and right now this can only be accessed with owner consent.

BMW (4-series and up), if you have the Drive Recorder option, can capture 40 seconds of video data at any time if manually triggered from the iDrive contoller (with vehicle speed and GPS data synced to the video), and will automatically save the data if the car decides that it has crashed.

So this is a little less robust than aftermarket dashcams that are *always* logging.

When I crashed and rolled over, my 3-series automatically made an SOS call to a BMW call center. Side-curtain airbags deployed and we just came to rest on the roof. I will never buy a convertible after this experience. Most of them don't have any kind of roll bar, and the ones that do, don't look robust.

[#] Sun Nov 15 2020 16:26:21 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

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Sun Nov 15 2020 11:01:52 EST from LoanShark @ Uncensored

When I crashed and rolled over, my 3-series automatically made an SOS call to a BMW call center. Side-curtain airbags deployed and we just came to rest on the roof. I will never buy a convertible after this experience. Most of them don't have any kind of roll bar, and the ones that do, don't look robust.

What were you doing when you rolled, how did it happen? 

There is absolutely an increased degree of risk in convertible ownership. I've owned a Miata, a Mustang GT, a 325iC and currently a Z3. 

Most of them haven't HAD a rollbar. If you flip - you're probably fucked. I kind of consider that if your car is flipping, things have already got pretty hairy. 

 



[#] Sun Nov 15 2020 16:32:11 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

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I mean, will you ride a motorcycle? A bicycle? I think I'd probably rather roll IN a convertible than be a cyclist having a convertible ROLL onto me, as far as relative risk is concerned. 

People go out for a jog and end up in a body bag, every day. Not that I'm urging you to ever get a convertible. They're not for everyone - even the hard tops. They creak, they're drafty, they leak, they're more dangerous, they suffer more from flex in corners. But among the risky behaviors I've engaged in on a regular basis since I was about 14... convertibles are relatively low on my risk assessment chart. :) 




 



[#] Mon Nov 16 2020 14:51:17 UTC from LoanShark

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What were you doing when you rolled, how did it happen? 

Road rage doesn't begin to describe it. Multiple witnesses said the other driver was fucking with them, aggressively. Weaving in and out of traffic, waving for people to pass and then being like, "sike!"

Which is what he did to me. Waved for me to pass, and then deliberately rammed me into the Jersey barrier as I did so. My left front wheel surfed up the barrier (they are slightly convex, and under normal circumstances that's designed to redirect your wheel back into the lane.)

He'd been playing games with me and I let him. But this was a person who was out there looking to start trouble, looking for someone to fuck with.

If you're going to let people play games with you, make sure you're both playing the same game. This was a person with gangland mentality who might have been on drugs. He ditched his car 2-3 miles down the highway and fled the scene, so we only have the owner (a woman) and the car but not the driver.

[#] Mon Nov 16 2020 14:52:08 UTC from LoanShark

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I'm pretty sure that if you roll a convertible, you're dead. The equivalent in a motorcycle would be more survivable but yes I agree, overall greater risk on a bike.

[#] Mon Nov 16 2020 14:54:24 UTC from LoanShark

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There was a time when I wouldn't have minded owning a Z4 if I could justify a second summer vehicle (can't, really, unless my girlfriend wants to pay the insurance.)

No longer. But a Supra...

[#] Wed Nov 18 2020 13:41:38 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

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Mon Nov 16 2020 09:52:08 EST from LoanShark @ Uncensored

I'm pretty sure that if you roll a convertible, you're dead. The equivalent in a motorcycle would be more survivable but yes I agree, overall greater risk on a bike.

This makes me think about the guy in a pursuit who rolls his Vette, and as it disintegrates into fiberglass dust, you see him thrown from the car into the desert. 

He survived. 

The same principle that makes laying down a motorcycle at 80 MPH and walking away from it possible probably applies to convertibles... 

You might be safer in a convertible WITHOUT a seatbelt, as being thrown from the mass of the car in a roll over *might* be the safest place to be. 

But... I think you can roll a convertible and walk away... especially one with an aftermarket roll bar - but if you're rolling, you're *already* in a fucked place. 

I liked the later Z4s, with the hard tops. The earliest ones did not have very good lines. 

Their dashes were like SAAB... just a wall of wood. 

The Z3 is basically a Miata with a better engine and a sketchier suspension. One might argue it was the beginning of BMW making questionable decisions. 

 



[#] Wed Nov 18 2020 13:55:25 UTC from LoanShark

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The Z3 is basically a Miata with a better engine and a sketchier
suspension. One might argue it was the beginning of BMW making
questionable decisions. 

Oh believe me I have a whole rant about F30 suspensions.

I had a 2014 F30. That was the one that rolled. I replaced it with a 2017 F30. The 2017 is the facelift (LCI). They say the LCI has a revised suspension with more anchor points. And supposedly stiffer spring rates, but I don't know whether that applies to the standard suspension or the M-Sport. I have the standard; M-Sport was not available in the xDrive.

At least as far as the '14 goes (I drove it with non-runflats in the summer, and runflats in the winter, but I have only had the '17 for a few weeks now) I can sorta see how Car and Driver etc were a little less than impressed. I gave some thought to upgrading the dampers to Bilstein B6 on the '14, but never did anything about that before the wreck.

The '17 feels a bit more planted but I've still got the stock all-season runflats on it, and that makes a difference. Thinking about replacing those with something different than last time, when the time comes.

[#] Wed Nov 18 2020 19:36:50 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

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Wed Nov 18 2020 08:55:25 EST from LoanShark @ Uncensored
The Z3 is basically a Miata with a better engine and a sketchier
suspension. One might argue it was the beginning of BMW making
questionable decisions. 

Oh believe me I have a whole rant about F30 suspensions.

I had a 2014 F30. That was the one that rolled. I replaced it with a 2017 F30. The 2017 is the facelift (LCI). They say the LCI has a revised suspension with more anchor points. And supposedly stiffer spring rates, but I don't know whether that applies to the standard suspension or the M-Sport. I have the standard; M-Sport was not available in the xDrive.

At least as far as the '14 goes (I drove it with non-runflats in the summer, and runflats in the winter, but I have only had the '17 for a few weeks now) I can sorta see how Car and Driver etc were a little less than impressed. I gave some thought to upgrading the dampers to Bilstein B6 on the '14, but never did anything about that before the wreck.

The '17 feels a bit more planted but I've still got the stock all-season runflats on it, and that makes a difference. Thinking about replacing those with something different than last time, when the time comes.

The E36 had a fantastic suspension. It was well-mated to the horsepower and acceleration of the drive train, the braking, the weight and balance of the car. The M3 was better... 

But the E30 had a great suspension too. It was a little less *forgiving* and required you to pay more attention to what you were doing - But overall it was well integrated into the performance of the rest of the car. I've done 145 in a e30 325i cab with the top down eventually catching up with an e36 M3 and an S4, to the surprise of both of those drivers. 

But the Z3, mating the E30 rear end with the E36 front end, the whole thing was a cobbled together response to capitalize on the popularity of the Z3. It is one of those times where manufacturers simply totally didn't understand the market demand. But it makes the Z3 a twitchy car to drive. Not as bad as something like a Mustang GT 4.6l... 

Later BMWs - I saw subtle changes that indicated that they had lost their focus on driving. The E36 was the last line where the entire center console was subtly titled toward the driver - the introduction of iDrive was a disaster. They started getting fatter, rounder, and softer. More lux and less performance. Those high compression M3s with the 4.0L V8 were blowing their heads all the time. The brand really started to lose to Audi. 

It is probably all Apple's fault, come to think of it. That whole fascination with Apple's marketing machine caught the attention of almost every industry and they all started trying to figure out how to replicate Steve Jobs broad consumer success through "aesthetic design" vs. practical engineering. Audi and Apple both understood an appeal to a younger audience than BMW seemed to be able to capture, at around the same time. 2000-2010... 

 



[#] Wed Nov 18 2020 20:25:16 UTC from LoanShark

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I suppose so. I used to drive Subarus until 2017, but I'm on board with "blame Jobs envy."

To summarize what I undertand, the sports-car press seemed to have a reasonably high opinion of the E90, but many think the F30 is where they *really* lost the plot. I can't personally compare, I can only say that my first F30 was noticably floaty in the rear at times, and that leads to a need to be a bit more careful about load transfer in cornering than I might have expected from the Ultimate Driving Machine.

On top of that, my '14 would feel a bit underdamped when I put non-runflats on for the summer. Next time I may try a non-runflat with a reputation for a slightly tauter ride: Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 4. 50% pricier than the Generals I had on the '14, but still cheaper than run-flats, and a highly-regarded performance all season.

[#] Wed Nov 18 2020 23:43:09 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

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Wed Nov 18 2020 15:25:16 EST from LoanShark @ Uncensored

I suppose so. I used to drive Subarus until 2017, but I'm on board with "blame Jobs envy."

To summarize what I undertand, the sports-car press seemed to have a reasonably high opinion of the E90, but many think the F30 is where they *really* lost the plot. I can't personally compare, I can only say that my first F30 was noticably floaty in the rear at times, and that leads to a need to be a bit more careful about load transfer in cornering than I might have expected from the Ultimate Driving Machine.

On top of that, my '14 would feel a bit underdamped when I put non-runflats on for the summer. Next time I may try a non-runflat with a reputation for a slightly tauter ride: Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 4. 50% pricier than the Generals I had on the '14, but still cheaper than run-flats, and a highly-regarded performance all season.

Driving on the East Coast, from Chicago to New York, has a whole different set of concerns than driving on the West Coast - for sure. The entire region is a cone zone MOST of the year, trying to fix the damage that was done to the roads in winter in time for the next winter to ruin them again. There are also not a lot of wide open empty stretches of desolate road leading into awesome, empty curvy mountain grades... Population density is so much higher back there... I know you've got some great rides like Tail of the Dragon - but you can't really open it up like you can on some of the roads off 1, 101, 50 and 80 in California, 17, and 10 here in Az... 

I hate a car with a floaty suspension, and would find it very upsetting on a BMW. The Z3 rear end isn't floaty... but it *is* twitchy... it'll skip, bounce and skitter over freeway joints - and the ones here in Arizona on sweepers are made to expand and contract a LOT in the heat, and I've had a few heart pounding moments where I wasn't sure if I needed to pound the gas or let off it - because I wasn't sure if the skipping was going to induce understeer OR oversteer. :) 

 

I talked to my mechanic about it, and he said the tires were old and bad, to replace them. I thought for sure it was something in the suspension. The next time I brought it back, after replacing the tires, he said, "your rear right shock needs to be replaced," so I had him do them both. Still a little unsteady back there - but much improved. 

 



[#] Thu Nov 19 2020 16:42:14 UTC from LoanShark

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Hadn't heard of Tail of the Dragon, but I'm not from down that way.

There are some fun zones out here... the Kancamagus Highway (NH), areas around the Delaware Water Gap (NJ/NY/PA three cornerns area) or nearby upstrweam of Port Jervis; NY 44/55 in the Shawangunk Mountains all pop into mind. Surely there are others.

But, obstacles. I've got pretty fast on the Kanc, but you're risking your life because of MOOSE. Some parts of the latter two are big pedestrian zones.

I should really join BMWCCA just to see where they go.

[#] Thu Nov 19 2020 16:46:45 UTC from LoanShark

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tires, he said, "your rear right shock needs to be replaced," so I
had him do them both. Still a little unsteady back there - but much
improved. 

The '14 had ~93K on it when it wrecked. The 17-- far fewer. Haven't really gotten the '17 up to speed yet (hmm... the Taconic maybe.)

Maybe it's a little more planted. Maybe. That could just be the run-flats contributing a more direct, less bouncy feel. We'll see.

[#] Thu Nov 19 2020 16:47:31 UTC from LoanShark

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Right now, I'm on non-weight-bearing status after orthpedic surgery to fix my 5th metatarsal. Won't be driving for a few weeks.

[#] Sun Nov 22 2020 17:23:46 UTC from Ragnar Danneskjold

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Tail of the Dragon is amazing. Worth the trip.

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