The BaT thread for the cars we won't buy, but kinda wish we would

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by John V

Every 4 door e36 I've driven had felt creaky. But small sample size.

The E36 M3 convertible I test drove (used) was a floppy rattle trap. That’s how I ended up with the e46 M3 convertible. Night and day.

[JST]

Yes the E36 convertible is not stiff.

[SCA]

Originally Posted by John V

the sedan looks frumpy.

Originally Posted by John V

Every 4 door e36 I've driven had felt creaky.

Agreed


Any flavor of the E36 had a garbage interior. A large bit of mine was replaced under factory warranty as well as the sunroof cassette. The dealership in Greenville, South Carolina hated to see me coming with that car as some thing was always in need of replacement.

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by SCA

Agreed


Any flavor of the E36 had a garbage interior. A large bit of mine was replaced under factory warranty as well as the sunroof cassette. The dealership in Greenville, South Carolina hated to see me coming with that car as some thing was always in need of replacement.

Good thing I didn’t work in the interior assembly

Any problems with the dipstick? That was what I installed on the E36

[Alan]

Originally Posted by ZBB

Good thing I didn’t work in the interior assembly

Any problems with the dipstick? That was what I installed on the E36

You worked at the BMW factory ?

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by Alan

You worked at the BMW factory ?

Yep. Had a summer internship in Munich back in ‘92 when I was in college. Worked on the M50 engine line - the inline 6 produced back then. The first couple weeks, I was building a subassembly that was basically a valve and some hoses that went on cars with air conditioning. The rest of the summer, I worked on the line - was actually the last assembly station. I inserted the dipstick and mounted either the valve subassembly or an elbow for cars that didn’t have A/C (which was still optional in most of the works back then, but stick on US cars). The 3er and 5er also had different dipsticks (I think the 5er’s was shorter) and the dip tube was in a different location.

Was a fascinating summer. That’s where I met MotoMan - he was on the same internship program. His job was worse — mating the transmission to the engine (was dirtier…). There was a group of 5 of us on the same program. One guy worked in engine testing - he connected temporary houses before engines went into test bays. Another guy worked the same line I did, but bolted the valve cover on the engine. Another guy worked to bolt the drivetrain to the Unibody assembly (which already was painted, but the doors/trunk/hood had been removed after painting and were on a parallel line getting things like interior cats and windows installed)

[robg]

Originally Posted by ZBB

Yep. Had a summer internship in Munich back in ‘92 when I was in college. Worked on the M50 engine line - the inline 6 produced back then. The first couple weeks, I was building a subassembly that was basically a valve and some hoses that went on cars with air conditioning. The rest of the summer, I worked on the line - was actually the last assembly station. I inserted the dipstick and mounted either the valve subassembly or an elbow for cars that didn’t have A/C (which was still optional in most of the works back then, but stick on US cars). The 3er and 5er also had different dipsticks (I think the 5er’s was shorter) and the dip tube was in a different location.

Was a fascinating summer. That’s where I met MotoMan - he was on the same internship program. His job was worse — mating the transmission to the engine (was dirtier…). There was a group of 5 of us on the same program. One guy worked in engine testing - he connected temporary houses before engines went into test bays. Another guy worked the same line I did, but bolted the valve cover on the engine. Another guy worked to bolt the drivetrain to the Unibody assembly (which already was painted, but the doors/trunk/hood had been removed after painting and were on a parallel line getting things like interior cats and windows installed)

Sounds like a dream summer job for a car guy. How did you get it out of curiosity?

[Alan]

Originally Posted by ZBB

Yep. Had a summer internship in Munich back in ‘92 when I was in college. Worked on the M50 engine line - the inline 6 produced back then. The first couple weeks, I was building a subassembly that was basically a valve and some hoses that went on cars with air conditioning. The rest of the summer, I worked on the line - was actually the last assembly station. I inserted the dipstick and mounted either the valve subassembly or an elbow for cars that didn’t have A/C (which was still optional in most of the works back then, but stick on US cars). The 3er and 5er also had different dipsticks (I think the 5er’s was shorter) and the dip tube was in a different location.

Was a fascinating summer. That’s where I met MotoMan - he was on the same internship program. His job was worse — mating the transmission to the engine (was dirtier…). There was a group of 5 of us on the same program. One guy worked in engine testing - he connected temporary houses before engines went into test bays. Another guy worked the same line I did, but bolted the valve cover on the engine. Another guy worked to bolt the drivetrain to the Unibody assembly (which already was painted, but the doors/trunk/hood had been removed after painting and were on a parallel line getting things like interior cats and windows installed)

That is really cool !!!

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by robg

Sounds like a dream summer job for a car guy. How did you get it out of curiosity?

I was in German class one day and they passed out a flyer about summer jobs in Europe to get language immersion experience. The session was at 5pm on a Friday and only a few people showed up. Most of the jobs were working retail, but they promoted some jobs at BMW and Porsche. The Porsche one was for engineering majors only, but the BMW roles were open to anyone. During the interviews, I really pushed for BMW instead of retail since it met my career objectives better.

Learning how cars are made and production processes was fascinating. Learning to work in another country made my future global roles easier (I’ve since worked or went to school in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, another part of Germany and Japan for 2-4 months each). The language Immersion was only ok, but I was fairly conversant in German after. I never became fluent, but I can get by in daily life, although I’m pretty rusty now…. I once was told by a taxi driver that he thought I was from the UK — I guess I speak German with a British accent…

Plus, I made about $20/hour after taxes and housing costs (BMW provided apartments but deducted rent from the paychecks…). Not bad for a summer job… way better than retail too!

[John V]

What a cool experience that must have been!