[cheapfi]

I'll rephrase my position a bit...
 
Removing a modern, relatively low restriction, and functioning catalytic converter will have minimal gains and cause a lot of extra pollution.   A non-functional and clogged one however will throttle the breathing of your car and make it run poorly and pollute more heavily than no catalytic converter at all.
 
The catalytic converter's now are a much better design than those in the 1990's.  We build them at work so I know.  The Buick one was about 40 pounds of outdated, stamped metal design, before it became clogged.  After it became clogged it was more like 60 lbs, and resulted both in the much loved rotten egg smell as well as the car running so rich you could smell the gas coming from the back.  The Buick catalytic converter was also followed by a u bend to protect the rear O2 sensor.  The u-bend is a crimped piece of pipe that reduces exhaust diameter to about 2", this was the choke point of the exhaust for those cars.  A bolt on cat-less down pipe eliminates this, is less restrictive, less prone to failure, as well as significantly cheaper than one with a converter.  Replacing the entire unit with one mandrel bent piece gained quite a bit of power and lost a lot of weight. It also returned about 3 mpg that had been lost. That was why I made my decision.
 
The Eclipse's front catalytic converter mounts had rusted through... so It wasn't doing anything anyway due to the exhaust leak.  The test pipe was a package deal with the headers and made the install and repair faster.  It is also 304 stainless vs the original mild steel design and of much higher quality.
 
I am definitely not a hippie, I do care about the environment. My part in it is by not buying new cars. Some other guy takes the depreciation hit, the car stays running longer, and the pollution from manufacturing is reduced.     Perhaps I care more about money than the environment. My buick has 260,00 miles on it.  The eclipse just gets 10 more mpg, so its the daily driver.
 
I'll stop.... 

 

[planx]

If you put it that way, I suppose I understand a bit more now. That makes me wonder... Since you mentioned the Buick is S/C, how many MPG do you REALLY get from that thing? Seeing how the Eclipse get a whopping 10 more MPG than the buick, I'm guessing it's going to be a massive guzzler.

 

[cheapfi]

Depends on where I am...   about 20-22 overall..  almost 30 mpg on the highway if I drive easy, only about 12-15 in town.  The instant mpg display says I get about 3 mpg while accelerating and 99 mpg while deccelerating. I have a heavy foot sometimes.  
 
The eclipse gets upwards of 32 mpg with the same driving style.  All numbers are on premium 93 octane.

 

[planx]

Quote:

Depends on where I am...   about 20-22 overall..  almost 30 mpg on the highway if I drive easy, only about 12-15 in town.  The instant mpg display says I get about 3 mpg while accelerating and 99 mpg while deccelerating. I have a heavy foot sometimes.  
 
The eclipse gets upwards of 32 mpg with the same driving style.  All numbers are on premium 93 octane.

 
12-15 daaaang. At least you got a S/C 

 

[Ponefish]

I used to drive around with a 3" straight pipe turbo-back. No cat and no muffler... it was ungodly loud so I eventually put a high flow cat and muffler on. You could definitely tell it lost some power but it was a fair trade for less headaches.
 
 
Quote:

Here,s my babies:
 
A 2003 Alfa Romeo 166

I've always wanted to own an Alfa, your's looks good. When I looked at the pic above I thought, "Is Alfa really putting slotted rotors on their cars straight from the factory?" Had to do a double take to see it was the ground.

 

[gikigill]

It doesn't have slotted discs but they do go to town accessorizing them.
 
The car has Momo electronic seats and the steering wheel is Momo too. A full leather interior including upholstery.
 
Brakes are Brembo but Alfa branded. Suspension is using double wishbones, which is what it should be. Struts are a shortcut and don't work well.
 
Even has a semi tuned exhaust for a fruity but not too loud note. Sounds great when pulling through gears.
 
All the above are factory as Alfa doesn't have the BMW/Merc/Audi style "options" rip-off where you pay for every little bit.
 
Every Alfa in Australia will be the same as mine and I respect Alfa for that.
 
The car is coming close to 10 years and 150000 km's since I had it but doesn't show its age.
 
When you buy your Alfa, ignore the naysayers about them falling apart and being high maintenance.
 
Just follow up the service schedules and don't cheapen out on proper servicing and parts replacement and you will never have any issues.
 
I am yet to be let down by mine.
 
Here.s what Jeremy Clarkson thinks of the 166.
 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT7dpPQ43ac

 

[Kirosia]

E36 M3, yay or nay? I've been reading up, the maintenance costs are still a bit high, but overall much lower than other BMWs. A/C issues worry me. I would like to use it to fight aliens.

 

[alv4426]

YAY(Big yay)

 

[Ponefish]

My overall favorite BMW ever. I tried trading my old heavily modified GTI for one but all the deals fell through. The owners were all snotty and hoity-toity saying that my car wasn't worth the trade and they wanted extra money. Just don't become like most BMW owners and you will be fine

Okay now pictures I took at a show in Sept:
 

 

 

 

 
Okay so one of them isnt an e36 but same generation

 

[alv4426]

BMWs>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>VWs

 ... says the BMW owner 

 

[Ponefish]

I agree in some cases. Thing was I only responded to ads posted that specifically said looking for a faster car. :/ I ended up getting another Vw anyways so it was still a win

 

[cheapfi]

I don't know...  I would love a modified Golf or Rabbit TDI. Saw one in a magazine with 300 hp, 500 ft lb of torque, and 45 mpg.   I love BMW's but the little turbo diesel VW's have a lot going for them.  Imagine a mark 1 golf with a modern TDI swap and some upgrades.  The power to weight would be absurd, and the torque would make it hard to stop smiling.

 

[Ponefish]

I have seen mk1 rabbits with the mk4 TDI swaps but my favorite which I haven't seen yet is the mk1 awd twin turbo r32 engine. The build is on vwvortex if you wanted to read it. I'm trying to start a restore project next year, just have to wait for my lease to be up so I can find a place with a barn or garage ha.

 

[loxxrider]

E36 M3 is a really, really great car for someone who appreciates a "driver's car". I don't think you will regret buying one. If you are remotely good with a wrench, you should be able to do all the work on it yourself which will make the maintenance cost almost nothing assuming you don't buy one in bad shape. To give you an example of 90's BMW reliability:
 
My E34 530i has 353,000 miles on it and is rock solid reliable with regular maintenance and replacement of wear items.
My E36 328 with M3 suspension and soon to be turbo with 150,xxx miles on it hasn't needed any work ever except regular maintenance, an AC compressor, and a water pump.
My friend's E30 325 with ~450 hp on completely stock engine hasn't let him down once after purchasing the car and fixing a few things a few years ago.
 
What I'm trying to say is that if you keep up with the maintenance and treat them nicely with quality parts, they wont let you down. The parts aren't any more expensive than anything else foreign.
 
VWs are fun, but FWD is the killer. Still, they make for a great economical "fun" car.

 

[basketball]

E36 M3 is a really, really great car for someone who appreciates a "driver's car". I don't think you will regret buying one. If you are remotely good with a wrench, you should be able to do all the work on it yourself which will make the maintenance cost almost nothing assuming you don't buy one in bad shape. To give you an example of 90's BMW reliability:

My E34 530i has 353,000 miles on it and is rock solid reliable with regular maintenance and replacement of wear items.
My E36 328 with M3 suspension and soon to be turbo with 150,xxx miles on it hasn't needed any work ever except regular maintenance, an AC compressor, and a water pump.
My friend's E30 325 with ~450 hp on completely stock engine hasn't let him down once after purchasing the car and fixing a few things a few years ago.

What I'm trying to say is that if you keep up with the maintenance and treat them nicely with quality parts, they wont let you down. The parts aren't any more expensive than anything else foreign.

VWs are fun, but FWD is the killer. Still, they make for a great economical "fun" car.

Parts for German cars cost more than parts for Japanese Cars in general. Same with labour prices. Insurance is higher. Everything is more expensive, they require premium fuel. You have to do oil changes at the dealership. Everything is more expensive on German cars! Where did you find German cars are the same maintenance cost as japenese?