What vehicle do you drive?

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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I personally don't like the feel of Alcantara - I'd rather have a nice leather wheel. If you are planning to keep the car, I think it's a decent upgrade assuming you enjoy it. One caution, not sure how BMW does things, but for some OEMs it's next to impossible to remove the switches from the wheel without breaking something, so, factor a complete set of new switches as well - it's probably better to keep your old wheel completely intact anyway, you could probably either sell it or hang onto it in case the next owner wanted to go back to the oem version.
Yea I reviewed the install process and all the switch gear is removable easily since it's attached with torx bolts into the steering wheel chassis. I would keep the OEM anyway. I agree I'm not 100% sure about the alcantera, but there's options available for finish. I do kind of like the flat bottom design though. Normal wheel is pretty good and fairly compact, so it's not bad. Just if I have to take it apart to replace pieces might as well look at options?
 

Burren

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Burren Burren

OK so a piece of trim on my steering wheel is flaking a bit. Rabbit holes happened and now my question is should I replace my normal M-Sport steering wheel with a complete LCI M style carbon fiber/Alcantara flat bottom steering wheel with extended paddle shifters? Or should I just replace the trim piece and save money. I feel like it's the only piece of the car that I actually interact with my hands while driving so maybe it's worth it.

Something like this


Thoughts?
That's pretty subjective. If you like it and it would make you happy, while at the same time not being an over-spend, then go for it. I generally prefer simple and subtle interiors, but its just a preference.

As for the material, all of my cars have alcantara wheels. It feels better to me.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
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That's pretty subjective. If you like it and it would make you happy, while at the same time not being an over-spend, then go for it. I generally prefer simple and subtle interiors, but its just a preference.

As for the material, all of my cars have alcantara wheels. It feels better to me.
Yea I haven't had a flat bottom wheel in anything yet. It seems like it would have a nice feel, was hoping maybe you had driven something with a similar shape and had some opinions. Basically its just adding the top stripe and swapping the side from leather to alcantara otherwise same materials as the stock wheel.
 

Burren

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Yea I haven't had a flat bottom wheel in anything yet. It seems like it would have a nice feel, was hoping maybe you had driven something with a similar shape and had some opinions. Basically its just adding the top stripe and swapping the side from leather to alcantara otherwise same materials as the stock wheel.
My 2025 RS6 Avant has a flat bottom wheel in alcantara. Its comfortable for cruising on the highway and holding it lightly.
 
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Achaeus

Trakanon Raider
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Siliconemelons

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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Sorry not sorry- I actually like the BMW EV SUV better than their traditional ones.

What I do not like in Mercedes BMW and others is the nasty LED light ropes/strips accenting piano black and wood... just looks... bad...

Car manufacturers, please bring back real cow and real wood.
 

Punko

Macho Ma'am
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View attachment 580054

Splendid looking car and will never lack performance for anything you do in daily driving.

In 20 years of BMW ownership, I've never been let down by the mechanics and I'm not shy to use them as the sports car they are.

Anyone that drives the autobahn for fun knows there are hardly any EV's that can do 250 km / hour. Which is where you'll noticably feel the limiter kick in in the 40i model.

Fuck EV's, petrol is where its at.
 

Punko

Macho Ma'am
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Sorry not sorry- I actually like the BMW EV SUV better than their traditional ones.

What I do not like in Mercedes BMW and others is the nasty LED light ropes/strips accenting piano black and wood... just looks... bad...

Car manufacturers, please bring back real cow and real wood.

Somehow they made car buyers believe that digital displays are an upgrade over analog ones, and should be priced at a premium.
 

Punko

Macho Ma'am
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Thinking about switching to a 2022ish mercedes S580.

They are very nice to drive and have depreciated very hard.
 

Cad

scientia potentia est
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Anyone that drives the autobahn for fun knows there are hardly any EV's that can do 250 km / hour. Which is where you'll noticably feel the limiter kick in in the 40i model.
Except, you know, every single Tesla performance/plaid model will go 250 or greater. But yea there's hardly any of those.
 

Punko

Macho Ma'am
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Except, you know, every single Tesla performance/plaid model will go 250 or greater. But yea there's hardly any of those.

People don't want to drive them at that speed. Don't know why.

Its Germany so a lot of Mercedes and BMW, and their electrical models pretty much don't reach 250, unless its the AMG/M edition, and even then.

An EQS580 has over 500 hp and is capped at 210ish for example. And they lose tons of power when approaching that speed.

My car is under 400hp and is limited to 250 because of the gentlemen's agreement, not because it can't handle higher speeds. Major difference.

I'm sure tesla puts down great numbers, but they don't have the same quality and don't offer the same driving experience. Sensation wise I'll take going 1 second slower to 60 with an engine roaring, over zero engine and emotion.

But again, I like to drive for fun which is atypical.

Petrol cars offer explosions. EV's offer efficiency. Its fine to be a fag, don't worry.
 

Haus

I am Big Balls!
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So possibly interesting story of the internet whispering to me like an automotive angel...

Around 6-8 months ago my wife's car was having an odd problem. In the morning, or first time you drove it on a day, it would start fine, do whatever. Then if you turned it off (like to go into the grocery store and get stuff) and came back 10-30 minutes later you could start it, but it would sputter and stall every 60 seconds or so until you started it and got the RPM over a certain level for a minute, then it would run fine again. Let it sit over night and no problems. It pulled a code I wasn't familiar with saying something was wrong on the fuel rail for it (it's a Ford fuel injected "ecoboost" engine). I didn't know enough about it to fix it, so took it to a shop I use. Their prognosis was fuel pump, so we replaced it. Seemed to fix, but then a few weeks later it started doing it again. I have been stumped on this for a while, to the point of even debating if it was worth it to keep worrying, or just get her a new car (it's a 2013 Escape).

Then I'm poking around on YouTube and apparently some lingering bit of my old searches left information floating in the machine and it recommends a video about Escapes stalling. Guy in the video points at the low pressure side fuel pressure sensor, shows how to replace it. So then for $30 in parts (thanks Amazon who was 1/3rd the price of the local parts place for the same part) and 45 minutes (most of which was removing and replacing a cowl over the back half of the engine) and POOF solved. Would have been a 15 minute fix if the thing hadn't been on the damn back side of the engine.