How to accept that my car won't ever be "perfect"?

[Maxhouse97]

Very mature for someone still in high school 😎

[nahvkolaj]

It's hard to not fuss over things that aren't perfect, but only temporarily. My goal is to keep this car clean inside and mechanically sound. I daily my M3 and I take it with me on work trips in-state. The bumper is getting rock chips, the interior arm rests creak (this is actually something I really want to fix), and the leather is wearing. But it's 20 years old. As long as I can keep buying drive train and suspension parts, that's really all I need to keep enjoying this car.

[maw1124]

Yeah, reality is these interiors are 3series level. You should just plan on replacing all that. I did my armrest this year, and center cupholders again. I plan on redoing the seats inevitably if I just, but I’ll probably upgrade the material at that point to something more durable, matching the Imola as close as possible. Not sure. All of that is the cost of the drivetrain IMO. But as you point out, the car is fun without it being perfect.

maw

[Obioban]

You’d probably love the e39m— it’s easily the most amg pre turbo M car (albeit with a stick).

[Obioban]

Agreed. All the factory euro stuff on these cars makes sense. Following the homologation formula any further risks execution for me. I trust BMW ///M not the rest of these jokers.

maw

I think you’d be pretty astounded how much room there is for improvement, even beyond factory upgrade parts.

As in, compared to your car, mine is…
700 lbs lighter
100 hp up
somewhere between 2x and 3x the torsional rigidity
rides better
absurdly better light output
better feedback through all controls
brakes repeatedly without fading (which I had issues with stock, on the street)
sounds like a McLaren F1 under load
quieter than stock when driven sanely
more predictable/consistent limit handling
has wireless CarPlay, giving it 99% of useful modern car tech

These are not insignificant benefits.

The “problem” is that it’s easy to ruin cars through poor/inappropriate modifications, which MANY people do. But, it’s certainly not a requirement, especially with the amount of information on this forum.

[maw1124]

You’d probably love the e39m— it’s easily the most amg pre turbo M car (albeit with a stick).

I do love it. It’s one of my favorites, in Carbon Black over Caramel Heritage, but my buddy has that exact car. If I didn’t have the S55 I’d probably have one, although he prefers the S55. A supercharged E90 sedan is also on that list — monster car but I already have two of the best sedans ever produced.

As for these, the 100hp, increased light output and more direct steering are the mods that I find interesting but of those are like major surgery (except the lights). Call me lazy. If I cared about weight I wouldn’t have bought a Cabrio. When I want that stripped down, light, trackable blah blah blah, it probably won’t be a BMW. I’m thinking a Black Series CLK or some Porsche. But I’m not trying to turn this car into one of those. I’ll just buy one of those.

maw

[maw1124]

Back slightly on point with the OPs question, the car featured in this video is definitely not perfect. But it makes the point that as long as you maintain it, it will always be special and mileage won’t matter much. Most of us will drive this car tomorrow, yet I’m looking at seat wear, interior mismatches and misalignments that I’d have to just ignore if it was my car, in much the same way I have to ignore (or fix) things on all mine (which BTW people think are pretty close to perfect — I’m just kinda picky).

https://youtu.be/ONy8w7RCKOE?si=1OzkuNLiA7wVtzCj

maw

EDIT… the reality is nothing stands up to that kind of scrutiny — people, food, cars, software, none of it. I’ve just learned to let it go. Looking for perfection in an imperfect world is tough. My 500E has a couple scratches in the original paint that no one except my detailer really sees. But there’s no way I’m painting panels and destroying originality on a 30+ year old classic Benz over a scratch or 2.

[Bent_Remy]

Image with 280K miles and rusted bolts all over the place.

[maw1124]

Image with 280K miles and rusted bolts all over the place.

Exactly. My son is about to inherit an Allroad 4.2 for this very reason. I bought another rust free example with half the miles as a replacement.

maw

[JudahJD904]

We as mankind will never be perfect, we understand this fact wholly, and yet wake up every new day with the pursuit of perfection in mind. Remember, The joy is found in the pursuit of a goal, not the attaining. This principle applies to possessions as well.

[Obioban]

I do love it. It’s one of my favorites, in Carbon Black over Caramel Heritage, but my buddy has that exact car. If I didn’t have the S55 I’d probably have one, although he prefers the S55. A supercharged E90 sedan is also on that list — monster car but I already have two of the best sedans ever produced.

As for these, the 100hp, increased light output and more direct steering are the mods that I find interesting but of those are like major surgery (except the lights). Call me lazy. If I cared about weight I wouldn’t have bought a Cabrio. When I want that stripped down, light, trackable blah blah blah, it probably won’t be a BMW. I’m thinking a Black Series CLK or some Porsche. But I’m not trying to turn this car into one of those. I’ll just buy one of those.

maw

700 lbs ~= 70 hp in acceleration 😜

I value light weight every bit as much on the street as on the track. It just makes EVERYTHING about the driving experience better. Acceleration, braking, feel, handling, functional chassis stiffness (less weight = less required), component wear, ride quality, etc. No bigger possible improvement to a car imo.

… that said, I don’t want a stripped down suffering car on street or track. I’m never on track without either the AC or heated seats on, and don’t like driving the car with the back seat folded down, much less the car gutted out.

[maw1124]

700 lbs ~= 70 hp in acceleration 😜

I value light weight every bit as much on the street as on the track. It just makes EVERYTHING about the driving experience better. Acceleration, braking, feel, handling, functional chassis stiffness (less weight = less required), component wear, ride quality, etc. No bigger possible improvement to a car imo.

… that said, I don’t want a stripped down suffering car on street or track. I’m never on track without either the AC or heated seats on, and don’t like driving the car with the back seat folded down, much less the car gutted out.

Then you may have the perfect E46M.

We aren't actually shooting at the same basket with this one though.

maw

[sev]

i basically suffer from this to a huge fault. I used to regularly track my m3, carefully and did lots of canyon runs and long drives, and road trips. The last 3 consecutive track days I did, it broke. The first time the rear left wheel bearing blew, on the drive home, the timing chain tensioner backed out, luckily only a mile or two from my house. The next track day I blew the FCABS, then again, I blew the FCABs and I just gave up and put it in the garage. This was all pre pandemic

As the years went by, I got more and more worried about damaging it and eventually just stopped driving it altogether.

I tried driving my m3 more in 2022, after i splurged on the ZCP wheels and michelin p4s's. The second drive with the new wheels, I accidentally curbed the wheel, which caused me to freak out for a few hours. On that same drive, a rock came out of nowhere and dented my front fender badly. I freaked out some more. Lots of mental anguish.

I was already paranoid about my car getting damaged when I was out, and this just made it worse. Now it just sits and sits.

I have other practical factors to consider too, like having kids which makes it hard to enjoy the m3. But I do miss enjoying the car and not worrying. I'm coming up on 10 years of ownership. I bought it with 38k miles and it sits at 53k miles. Somewhere around 48k miles is when I stopped tracking it and enjoying it. So the last 4-5 years. Ive driven it maybe 3000 miles. I still LOVE it when I drive it, but so much has changed since I first got the thing. I bought it when I was 33, I'm now 43 with two kids and a busy life. I sometimes just like seeing it shining in my garage and that's good enough for me. I think its a disorder.

[AWE46M3]

Perfection is achievable, but you’re looking at a 6 figure investment and this platform is not worth it. Buy a Porsche and spare yourself the hassle.

Parts are becoming increasingly unavailable. The quality of work being performed on these cars by shops is abysmal. Mods are 3x what they were 5 years ago. The list goes on and on.

There is no hell like buying one of these cars with 20 years / 100k+ miles and trying to make it perfect. I report to you from this hell.

[bimmerfan08]

Food for thought. Perfect can be defined in many ways. Cosmetically perfect, mechanically perfect, etc. These cars weren't perfect from the factory, IMO. Rod bearing issues in early S54s, VANOS oil pump/hub tab design issues, RACP design issues, etc. A better term could be ideal. Less restrictive and accepting that perfection is a construct.