Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Wells, Nevada

Took my CXS to dealer this morning and the loaner is a CXL, newer than mine by a couple of months & only 3800 miles. Also rather stripped compared to mine as it only has two of the comfort packages and sunroof for options. So first thing I notice is missing the seat automatically moving, no HUD, or rearview. The list of missing items is a bit long if you add in the items standard to CXS. A couple of items I notice immediately is it also has the gap at the seal on the front edge of front doors and the boots falling down on the rear suspension. Now for the road, a drive I've made quite often with mine. Road noise has almost completely disappeared. OK, there is a different suspension, but part of the reason for the hyper-strut was supposedly quiet along with improved handling. It might also be quieter from the rear since I noticed the armrest was down in the back and I seem to recall more noise from the rear when mine was down and trunck was empty. I'll check the trunk on this one closely to see if I can spot any differences. As of now I'm strongly suspecting that most of the road noise is because of the GY (badyear) tires compared to the Michelins & not the size. Handling: It definitley handles differently on the front end and I'll credit that difference to the hyper-strut which is intended to give better camber & caster angles as well. I'd bet the tires have some effect as well, but mostly the hyper-strut I'd bet. I did not drive it far enough to get a good feel for the rear alone so as to compare the touring package against the standard rear suspension. Nor fast enough, such as highway, to find out if there was any sway on rear. But the overall ride seems to be more bouncey or what some might think more cushioned. I can do without the bounce since I've owned vehicles that had zero bounce except under the harshest conditions. I am having them rotate, balance, & check alignment because I have been getting what seems like a bit of tire squirm on some surfaces lately along with passenger seat vibrating. I am not at all happy with GY tires since they seem to change handling characteristics frequently compared to other tires I've owned. Mileage, temperature, and road surface all seem to change handling over time. It will be interesting to see what happens after first rotation. Now having covered those points, engine performance. I would have bet it had 3.0L instead of the 3.6L. Even the shifting seemed to be a bit different as to when it shifted up. A bridge on the intercoastal waterway I frequently cross is arched enough that it never has to open and going up it, with what already seemed decreased acceleration, it shifted up, maybe into third or fourth and lost all acceleration until I crested the bridge. I'm sure more foot would have changed response, but I was trying to compare the two vehicles by the habits I use. Overall, it just did not seem as peppy, but then I did not employ WOT, wide open throttle. Also I reset the MPG when I left their lot and for a run I'd been getting about 20 MPG, this one was just a tad under 23MPG. The type of mileage I was seeing before it suddenly decreased on mine. I am certainly going to watch this more closely. Also the less power might be that someone put regular in it and I only use premium, 90% of the time it is shell V-power. Just checked the radio and the basic radio is not as good as the 11-speaker, but as I've said before the 11-speaker is a good distance from perfection. And I checked the trunk to see if it had the big holes in the rear-deck or if there were covers over the holes. The liner might be of the same quality as the CXS, but no holes in the rear-deck, but then there are no speakers in it either. If you've seen earlier posts of mine concerning this, you know I've been against having those holes present because they let noise from the trunk into the vehicle interior. Also it is an indication of cheap when you use the trunk space as a resonator to get more bass out of speakers. It does work, but then you get all the noise as well. I can tell you Bose did not do that on systems I had. Those rear deck speakers were in sound insulated enclosures so they produced true sound. The trunk could be considered a tuned cavity and will resonate more at certain frequencies which will definitely give a flutter/buzz like a bad speaker cone. Has anyone experimented in this area to improve quality of this HK 11-speaker? My thoughts are that maybe covers are missing from those holes in rear-deck, trunk side. I'm considering covering them, but will check to make sure there is a port back to the interior of vehicle for venting the pressure generated by the back side of the speaker cone. If it is not there, then I'll see if it is possible to add one. It would probably be best to add speaker enclosures because I'm not impressed with the material covering the lower side of the deck, that is as to how it will isolate or handle sound. And if they had to use the trunk space to get more bass out of the speakers, then they might be poor quality as well. The other possibility is to do a total sound-proofing of the trunk. The easy part would be throwing a quality carpet on the deck, but then that leaves a lot of other space to deal with including the trunk lid. Foam is the only thing that comes to mind, especially for all the space behind the panels, over the wheel wells, etc. All for now.

FLORIDA TO NORTH CAROLINA BY WAY OF INTERSTATE 95 65- 72 MPH NOT ONCE IN 550 MILES OF DRIVING DID I HIT THE SUPPOSLY 40 MPG GOT AVERAGE 36 MPG. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG. 4TH TANK OF FUEL . SALES PERSON TOLD ME SHOULD SEE 29 AND 40 BY 3RD TANK. DAMN STICKERS ON CARS FOR MPG ARE NOT ANY THING TO LIVE BY. O WELL GUESS I CAN LIVE WITH 36 MPG. O BY THE WAY THIS MPG IS WITH ME FIGURING IT OUT NOT BY THE ON BOARD COMPUTER. LEAVING NORTH CAROLINA HEADING BACK TO FLORIDA ON WED SEE WHAT HAPPENS THIS TIME. WILL LET U ALL KNOW. OTHER WISE CAR IS GREAT ALL AROUND.

Well the failure rate on cracked heads for the 530i was only 10% (which is a LOT for a factory defect but still you have a 9 in 10 chance of dodging it). Also these cars suffer from horrible gas mileage (as low as 12 mpg) and pernicious rust issues in the wheel wells.

You're right! It takes a little research to find US products, and usually a little more money is spent, but I'd say WELL spent!

"...then get it running doofus..." Yeah, that's what I thought. The friend says it will start with a shot of fluid but I guess he doesn't want to take the trouble to drain the fuel tank and everything else to make it run. A mistake in my opinion. There's nothing that would make me want to dive into a project car more than hearing it run. As to values, Shifty mentioned that a 304/auto was not as sexy as a 360 AMX but that AMX had rust to the extent that the seller was providing sheet metal panels. That kind of rust would scare me. The green 304 is in very good shape rust-wise. Just a tiny bit on the edges of the wheel wells. When I think how early 70s cars rusted on me after 10 years or so, to have a 38 yo car in that shape is amazing.