Of Happenings

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion) 06/25/2018 at 22:05 • Filed to: None

2

8

Someone is finally coming to look at my wife’s 208 k mile X3 tomorrow. “It’s rare, though, it’s a manual!” Yeah, no one cares. It’s not enough of an enthusiast vehicle - not quite - to have the manual transmission help me out very much. I think it will sell for under $3k in the end. Which is a little sad on our end, and probably a pretty good deal on the other end if someone is willing to put in some work. AND if they continue to have the good luck we’ve had with the transfer case. I guess that’s hit or miss, and so far we’ve been hitting it out of the park in terms of t-case longevity.

This car is more fun to drive than it looks. I just could never find an angle that I really like. Once in a while I catch it from a certain way... but mostly I’ve just never really felt great about its looks. I’m not quite in the Clarkson camp;  he  said something like, it was the most hideous thing he’d ever seen, but you know, he also *might* be a bit hyperbolic at times. Maybe.

I’m a little nervous about the actual process of selling it, but the guy says he came from a 150k 525i that just got rear-ended; his logic being he’s familiar with high-mileage BMWs so long as they’re well maintained, which ours is.

Coincidentally, I may end up with a 5-speed 2006 WRX wagon in my possession this weekend. I certainly don’t have room in my life for another car that isn’t a nice, efficient commuter for my wife. A 12 year old beat-up turbo Subaru isn’t any of those things. But I need to figure out what’s wrong with it and how much it’s worth, then help my sister sell it. So we’ll see if that thing makes an appearance - and by that, I mean, I might be driving it 120 miles on the highway with my AAA card in my left hand and a fully charged phone in the cupholder.

We’ll see.

Here’s what I WISH the Subaru looked like:

It is black with tinted windows, but um... it’s going to be a little more rough around the edges.

M.T. Blake > functionoverfashion 06/25/2018 at 22:53

1

That is a good looking Subaru. A good example for inspiration! I typically HATE the WRX wagon, they just don’t look right... they remind me of a WRX crossed with a CUV. But that one is nice, CTRL+C CTRL+P Do it!

jasmits > functionoverfashion 06/25/2018 at 23:59

2

I do kinda like those(the BMW I mean)  in theory but the problem is most enthusiasts probably fall in the same camp. See it on CL, look at the pictures to make sure it’s actually a manual and not mislabled, think ‘hm cool’ and then continue to look for a proper wagon or a proper 4x4

functionoverfashion > M.T. Blake 06/26/2018 at 09:04

1

I think this particular year / generation looks good. It’s funny, I was looking at them when my sister bought basically the exact configuration I would have wanted. So to be different, I bought a 325xi wagon instead. Very different character for two cars that are both 5-speed awd wagons around the same size.

I won’t be keeping this car around, I’m just helping her sell it.

functionoverfashion > jasmits 06/26/2018 at 09:08

0

Right. In fact, I put it on Autotrader hoping to reach a wider net of people who were perhaps really looking for a proper manual, but the problem is 90% of the cars categorized as “manual” (for X3 listings anyway) are shiftable automatics. I wrote them a nice (read: strongly worded) email about this problem, but got no response. I figured it wasn’t worth my time to pursue it any further.

I don’t hate the car, but I just prefer my wagon in every way. It also can hold about the same amount of stuff, because you can’t stack things up to the ceiling in the trunk area. Even if you were literally hauling pillows, the window doesn’t open separately from the door so it’s hard to get stuff to stay stacked up. I found that I could get more trash/recycling into my car because I could close the rear door and open the window to really cram things in up to the ceiling, and out to the glass. 

jasmits > functionoverfashion 06/26/2018 at 10:17

0

Unfortunately I don’t think that’s up to Autotrader(do correct me if you know I’m wrong) I’m pretty sure the seller can set all that however they like. I’ve noticed it’s a massive problem with pre-owned BMWs being sold at dealers in particular, it’s like every BMW dealership marketing assistant or digital media person or whoever puts ads up reads the occasional enough Road and Track or Jalopnik article to realize people who buy used BMWs want manuals but are not enough of an enthusiast themselves to realize it DOESN’T MEAN WE WANT TO PICK THE GEAR, IT MEANS WE WANT A CLUTCH DAMMIT.

What kind of wagon do you have?? That’s very true though, the only wagon or SUV I’ve owned personally is a 2nd gen 4Runner that had a very old school downward-opening tailgate where you had to roll down the rear window and then open it with a latch on the inside . So much easier to load up with a lot of stuff than my dad’s 04 MDX even though the MDX has a slightly bigger cargo area. Gotta love the ‘push items in, snatch your arm out and close it as quick as you can’ dance.

functionoverfashion > jasmits 06/26/2018 at 11:24

0

Autotrader lets you check whatever box you want. However, one night I was feeling particularly spiteful/frustrated and flagged all of them as bait-and-switch, because that’s what it is!! But I’m sure nothing happened, because all the ads stayed up. You could even specify why, which I did!

I have a 2003 325 xi wagon, 5 speed. It’s a great balance of practicality and reasonably satisfying to drive. It’s also lots of fun in the snow, because most of the power goes to the rear by default. Turn of the TC and away you go...

jasmits > functionoverfashion 06/26/2018 at 11:29

0

It’s more of a plain old w aste of everyone’s t ime than bait-and-switch. People who don’t want a stick will be filtering out cars they want to be seeing and people who do have to waste their time looking at endless interior pics .

Nice, those are just the perfect size. For the life of me I can’t understand why the X3 s0ld and those didn’t.

functionoverfashion > jasmits 06/26/2018 at 12:00

0

I know, people just clearly want the chunky, higher up, plastic-cladded things instead of cars that are better at everything but ground clearance.

And yeah, but the thing is with the autos listed as manuals, those sellers are missing potential buyers who filter out just the autos. I’m sure it’s not a Top Priority at Autotrader.