Re: Bimmer (Nomex!)

[spowers@spdg.COM (Steve Powers)]

Eliot sed:
> 
> former world rally champion hannu mikkola was invited to test drive a
> whole bunch of 4wd cars once (on a frozen lake in finland) and he gave the
> 325iX a big thumbs down for poor behavior while the 80Q was given a big
> thumbs up...   he may be biased, because guess which car he won the
> WRC in?  :)

I ain't no Hannu Mikkola, but I did test drive one here in the Pacific
Northwet. Other than being more cramped than my (former) 4kq, it was
pretty non-descript. The transfer of power was fixed at something like
70/30. It was also quite a bit more than the 4kq, which I already owned.
 
> magazines at the time were also pretty negative about the 325iX.. bmw just
> didn't have the expertise to build a 4wd car and the basic layout of the
> rwd 325i stacked things against them even more.  plus, this car has no
> competition background and breeding.  no real suprise that they abandoned
> 4wd with the next generation.

Like the Subaru, BMW weren't exactly breaking new technological ground.
The transfer case in the bimmer utilized a dual shaft w/ chain coupling,
ala Dog Powerwaggin's. Guess what will break first??
 
> i think potential buyers of 4wd cars should stick with those marques that
> stand behind the technology, like audi and subaru.  f*** trucks are also
> slowly starting to get better...

maybe...
 
> who's going to get upset now?  :)

not me... I own a dorf ranger and an S6...

-steve powers   '95.5 S6 ... '95 620RX/C ... '91 K100RS-16V ... '88 R100S
spowers@spdg.com

"I must tell you that these are strong Bavarian beer-carrying horses,
not the smaller ones of Italy" (Ferdinand Piech)