{"id":239,"date":"2007-01-02T21:03:52","date_gmt":"2007-01-03T05:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.evanyamoto.com\/?p=239"},"modified":"2007-01-02T21:03:52","modified_gmt":"2007-01-03T05:03:52","slug":"second-and-last-bmw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/2007\/01\/02\/second-and-last-bmw\/","title":{"rendered":"Second and Last BMW"},"content":{"rendered":"

I sold my e36 to buy this e46 – a 2004 330 CI.  I didn’t like the early e46 models but they were refined over the years.  This was the last model and I still think it’s one their best designs.  It had good power but I also kind of regret not buying an M3.<\/p>\n

I tried to have some sense of financial responsibility so I shied away from the M3.  I didn’t own a home at the time, so I didn’t think I should spend even more on a car.  But now that I’m settled in a home with 2 young kids, I wish I bought the fast car back then!  Although, I drove this car so hard I probably wouldn’t be here if I had the M…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 330 had good power and it was joy to drive.  The shifting was as smooth as could be and it handled like no other.<\/p>\n

Although, there was always a part of me that missed how the e36 drove.  The e36 was more traditionally German and everything was stiff from the pedals to the steering, which I loved.  I believe this is when BMW really went from being a “driving machine” to being another luxury car.  They had to complete against the smooth and easy driving Lexus and Acuras of the world and became much more of a status icon than driver’s car.<\/p>\n

In any case, this was my favorite car I’ve owned to date.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I bought this car used and it was hard to track down the 330 with this particular dark blue color.  When I found one, it was in good shape but the paint had some blemishes.<\/p>\n

So I did what I do and read and read online forums and researched some more.  I ended up buying a Porter Cable random orbit buffer and lots of high end products.  I must’ve spend 2 days detailing this car and my hand were vibrating for a few more.<\/p>\n

This is a before shot:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And this was after an aggressive abrasive, a minor abrasive, a glaze, a sealer and a wax.\"\"<\/p>\n

When I was young and single, I was able to do this one a year.  But all of these products didn’t go to waste.  I’ve used them many times over the year with great results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sold my e36 to buy this e46 – a 2004 330 CI.  I didn’t like the early e46 models but they were refined over the years.  This was the last model and I still think it’s one their best designs.  It had good power but I also kind of regret not buying an M3. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cars","tag-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evanyamoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}