introducing myself :)

[dnd]

hello, everyone.

i'm diamond/dnd from moscow/russia.
i'm driving the "e24 635csi '85, manual" since 2003 year.

nice to meet.

ps. some of you could see me on the roadfly forum.

[bfons]

Welcome DND!

[val_c]

welcome!

[dnd]

welcome!

zdorovo! :)

[UKDaveJ]

Nice to see Moscow on the board!

Do you have any tips on rust prevention on 6'ers, you surely must suffer with all the wintry conditons in your country, assuming that your authorities use as much salt as our Uk authorities do?!

Dave

[dnd]

Nice to see Moscow on the board!
Do you have any tips on rust prevention on 6'ers, you surely must suffer with all the wintry conditons in your country, assuming that your authorities use as much salt as our Uk authorities do?!

yo, dave!

yes, the problem with salt and other chemical reactives is still actual in moscow. but however i dont know any special tips for the rust prevention. except usual winter preparation of any cars in our region. e.g. special teflon polish for the body exterior, silicon lubrication for all rubber parts and a well-timed body washing to remove all reagents and snow.

unfortunately, you cant avoid the rust if you using the car in a winter season. but i know one thing - if there's no chance to store the car in a climatic garage, you better DRIVE your car. in this case, it stays feeling 'alive' and fresh. i've driven my sixer all last winter and can say that my car doesnt fill worse for sure :).

ps. and how do you store your car, dave? is it your personal garage or some kind of a municipal place?

[UKDaveJ]

Nice to see Moscow on the board!
Do you have any tips on rust prevention on 6'ers, you surely must suffer with all the wintry conditons in your country, assuming that your authorities use as much salt as our Uk authorities do?!

yo, dave!

yes, the problem with salt and other chemical reactives is still actual in moscow. but however i dont know any special tips for the rust prevention. except usual winter preparation of any cars in our region. e.g. special teflon polish for the body exterior, silicon lubrication for all rubber parts and a well-timed body washing to remove all reagents and snow.

unfortunately, you cant avoid the rust if you using the car in a winter season. but i know one thing - if there's no chance to store the car in a climatic garage, you better DRIVE your car. in this case, it stays feeling 'alive' and fresh. i've driven my sixer all last winter and can say that my car doesnt fill worse for sure :).

ps. and how do you store your car, dave? is it your personal garage or some kind of a municipal place?

Interesting info there.
My garage is part of my house, but I can only put one of my 6'ers in it, so they take it in turns depending on what work I'm doing to them!
Both my cars are 'off' road at the moment as I need to complete work to get them to pass an official MOT, basically a test to ensure the car is safe & complies to UK road traffic acts.
I have used both of my 6'ers over the winter, but have regularly washed them down underneath, under the wheel-arches etc.
Dave

[dnd]

Both my cars are 'off' road at the moment as I need to complete work to get them to pass an official MOT, basically a test to ensure the car is safe & complies to UK road traffic acts.
I have used both of my 6'ers over the winter, but have regularly washed them down underneath, under the wheel-arches etc.

mine is off also - waiting for a breaking system upgrade. my stock dicks have been overheated and need to be replaced. so, i decide to upgrade them to a 4-pistons 750 e32 ones.

yes, we have to pass this MOT every year too. but here in moscow we can get them unofficially.

by the way, how much money you spend on an official car documents, taxes, insurences every year?

i've spent for mine about 800 usd this year.

ps. you wash your cars in your personal garage or in some other place? i think it's very complicated system with filters and other stuff to set it up in your own house. to wash a car body in moscow you have to pay about 7-8 usd. but often you must stand in line for a long time...

[Kaotiq635]

Welcome aboard DND !!

Reading all your winter woes makes me happy to be from Australia

However it does get hot in summer, lucky the aircon works

Just been through the aunnual registration process here, costs stack up like this (all in Australian Dollars, current exchange rate is 1 AUS$ = 0.75 US$)

Inspection Fee : $28.70
Compulsory 3rd Party Person Insurance : $328.90
Regsitration Fee : $47.00
Motor Vehicle Tax : $305.00

Total $709.60

Fortunately I didn't have to have any repairs this year (I did have repairs for my e30 though)

Cheers,
Iain.

[Brucey]

Welcome DND! Wow, in the sort of cold conditions you get in Moscow, I expect it takes about a gallon of fuel just to get the engine warmed up. Do you partially block the radiator airflow to help the engine warm up? In the US and Canada, engine preheaters are quite common, but here in the UK it does not get as cold.

Running costs for a 6er in the UK;

I pay;
~300GBP for fully comprehensive insurance.
~160GBP for 'road tax'
~40GBP for the annual 'MOT' roadworthiness test (assuming it passes)

It is presently about 1 GBP = 1.9USD.

I generally do my own servicing as garage labour rates are very high, and I have had so many jobs done badly in the past. Annually, servicing at an official BMW dealer will come to about 300-500GBP, plus any additional parts.

But the biggest expense (assuming you actually drive your car) is fuel. It costs about 0.80GBP/litre. So in a 6 it is about 18USD/100km(60miles) just for fuel, and more than this on short runs.

Ironically when it leaves the refinery, our fuel is amongst the cheapest in the world. About 75-80% of the price we pay is tax.

My insurance costs are probably a bit less than some. Also, I have a fairly good policy that has 'protected NCD' and roadside recovery included. Younger drivers, or those with bad accident records, convictions for speeding etc may have to pay three times as much for basic 3rd party insurance or may simply be refused insurance altogether on a car like a '6'.

I think running a car in the UK is quite expensive; I think there are only a few places where it is definitely a lot more than this.

cheers

[dnd]

Reading all your winter woes makes me happy to be from Australia
However it does get hot in summer, lucky the aircon works 8)

hi, Iain!
:) i always wanted to travel in australia to run on a stewart highway and to see the famous road trains you have there...
but living in australia you lose something interesting anyway - to drive the sixer in a snow ;). i cant describe you all emotions that fullfills you while the rear-drive car sliding in a 90 degrees turn.. kick down an accelerator, steering wheel to the end... and your car starts to draw the audi logotype on a road ;))

Inspection Fee : $28.70
Compulsory 3rd Party Person Insurance : $328.90
Regsitration Fee : $47.00
Motor Vehicle Tax : $305.00

hmm... very interesting! and what is this strange "3rd party" thing? what does it mean?

the insurance for me was cheeper bacause: more than 2 years of driving experience, more than 25 years old, no accidents.
but it's rather expensive because the engine has more than 180 hp.
so it costs for me ~250usd. otherwise i have to pay about 30-40% more.
the vehicle inspection costs about 100usd oficially.
and all taxes and fees about 150usd. so, every year i have to pay 500usd for my e24.

i said 800 usd. but this was because i've registered my vehicle and have got a new numbers for it. so, it was about 250-300usd more. but of course i dont have to do it every year :)

see you!

[dnd]

Welcome DND! Wow, in the sort of cold conditions you get in Moscow, I expect it takes about a gallon of fuel just to get the engine warmed up. Do you partially block the radiator airflow to help the engine warm up? In the US and Canada, engine preheaters are quite common, but here in the UK it does not get as cold.

nice to meet, Brucey!

no preheaters or a radiator blocks at all. in moscow there're no such a hardcore winters as, say, in finland or norway... this winter we had about 3 weeks of -15 temperature centigrade. but mostly it never falls under the -10 degrees. so, there's not need to do anything special to start an engine. in st.petersburg the air always colder for about 3-5 degrees. plus the gulf of finland.. but anyway i didnt hear that somebody had any problems with bmw there. with diesel engines - may be.

but the battery needs to be a real brand name for sure. i've bought an american 'medalist' with 80Ah.
plus an engine oil must be good. mine is synthetic castrol rs 10w60.

and of course i definitely miss the seats heater (dont know how to say correct :) in my 6-er. may be i'll install something like webasto till next winter.

~40GBP for the annual 'MOT' roadworthiness test (assuming it passes)

hmm.. is there any problems with the new ecological standards in uk?
our old bavarians dont satisfy the euro-4 requirements. is there any special taxes for that?

I generally do my own servicing as garage labour rates are very high, and I have had so many jobs done badly in the past. Annually, servicing at an official BMW dealer will come to about 300-500GBP, plus any additional parts.

oficial bmw dealer in moscow is very expensive too. but we have a lot of garage-services that can do all the jobs cheeper.

But the biggest expense (assuming you actually drive your car) is fuel. It costs about 0.80GBP/litre. So in a 6 it is about 18USD/100km(60miles) just for fuel, and more than this on short runs.

Ironically when it leaves the refinery, our fuel is amongst the cheapest in the world. About 75-80% of the price we pay is tax.

oh, yes. the fuel :).
it costs about 15rur/litre (95 octane). 1usd = 29rur. so, it's about 0,5usd/litre. hehe. same as in canarian islands ;)

it's very funny also, but we're the one country in the world that produces the fuel and that raises the price for it.

My insurance costs are probably a bit less than some. Also, I have a fairly good policy that has 'protected NCD' and roadside recovery included. Younger drivers, or those with bad accident records, convictions for speeding etc may have to pay three times as much for basic 3rd party insurance or may simply be refused insurance altogether on a car like a '6'.

yes, our insurance system is flexible too.
but i told about 'liability insurance', not 'damage insurance'. our companies dont pay any atteition to a cars older than 5 years.

I think running a car in the UK is quite expensive; I think there are only a few places where it is definitely a lot more than this.

yes, all horses heeds an attention and feed. we can ask horsetan ;)

the primary thing for me is not the money for taxes, fees and even for a fuel. but is for roads we drive on. i'm very disappointed about this. i'm dreaming about something like german nordschleife in russia.. but looks like all i have to do is to kill my 17" alpinas this spring... ;)

[Brucey]

yes, older cars like BMW's are not Euro 4 compliant. But this isn't a problem; the emissions test is different in the UK depending on the year of manufacture.

I'm not sure how you would stand importing an older car into the UK though.

The roads are never good enough wherever you are.....

But we have a lot of race tracks where people who want can go and drive. Nothing like the Nordschlief, unless you count 'mad sunday' on the Isle of Man- one way public access to the mountain section of the IOM TT course, with no speed limits. If you crash you may be prosecuted for dangerous driving......

cheers

[Kaotiq635]

Inspection Fee : $28.70
Compulsory 3rd Party Person Insurance : $328.90
Regsitration Fee : $47.00
Motor Vehicle Tax : $305.00

hmm... very interesting! and what is this strange "3rd party" thing? what does it mean?

The 3rd party insurance is for the other person injured in an accident, it only covers people other than the driver and it doesn't cover any property.

It is compulsory, you can't get registration without your "green slip".

It used to be part of the registration fee, but the Govt run scheme was going broke, they handed it over to insurance companies and promised the costs would drop (sound familiar?) of couse they didn't.

Hope that makes some kind of sense.

The prices for that kind of insurance for an E24 vary quite a lot, a few companies were around $330 and a couple were about $560.

I have comprehensive insurance also, it was about AUS $1100, and thats
with a 60% no claims bonus. Those prices vary a lot too, there was one company that was lower but had quite a few requirements before they would cover the car, so I went with the second best, the highest quote was nearly $2000.

Cheers,
Iain.