[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by Donatello.

How tall is she? I am guessing tall or long legs.

5'6" with neither long or short legs.

It's just the transmission hump in the passenger footwell that is a killer. I think she was more disappointed about the car not working than me (since it was going to be my 60th birthday present).

[MJBO]

Either G22 will be far less throw away than the Mazda.

The current crop of BMWs are well built and reliable, it’s easily worth stumping up for at least the 230i.

M240i xDrive has to be one of the best performance bargains out there, and I say this as someone that has put their money where their mouth is (I have one on order for delivery for my wife next month).

[Donatello.]

Originally Posted by bucketfoot

5'6" with neither long or short legs.

It's just the transmission hump in the passenger footwell that is a killer. I think she was more disappointed about the car not working than me (since it was going to be my 60th birthday present).

My wife is taller and doesn't have a problem riding in the car. She didn;t have a problem in my smaller NC or my NB with footwell sub in there either.

Maybe do an extended text drive & keep the car for half day & see what happens with adjusting

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by MJBO

M240i xDrive has to be one of the best performance bargains out there.

No disagreement on this

But then I'm hoping this is all for naught and they don't total the 86!

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by Donatello.

My wife is taller and doesn't have a problem riding in the car. She didn;t have a problem in my smaller NC or my NB with footwell sub in there either.

Maybe do an extended text drive & keep the car for half day & see what happens with adjusting

She has hip problems, so having to adjust is a non-starter for her. Bottom line is that it was a top priority to me that she was able to be comfortable.

On the other hand, with how rarely she rides in the 86 I've joked with her that we could have gone ahead and gotten the MX5.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

I wouldn't say BMWs are more throwaway than Mazdas. Mazdas always just feel cheap.

You gotta decide if you want an economy FWD based hatchback or a RWD coupe. They're like, totally different, and if you're craving sports cars, Mazda isn't gonna scratch the itch.

If you don't care then the Mazda is probably perfectly fine as a daily commuter appliance, and you trade it on the next thing whenever it gets to be out of warranty and needing work.

Have you even driven the newer Mazda cars? My son has a 2020 Mazda 3 hatch Premium and it's very clear that Mazda plucked BMW engineers. The car has nearly the same quality and feel as my 2016 M235. The interfaces, the way the buttons depress, soft materials, the ergonomics, the moderness, etc. are unlike anything from other Japanese automakers and especially anything domestic. I love driving it and it could be one hell of a car if they did a manual turbo.

[Mavus]

my 2c would be Mazda turbo or b58. If you are buying bmw now might as well enjoy I6.

Also consider pre owned.

[Alfisti]

Look around for the best quality, low mile X1 M you can find, the proper X1, as in the first one. Get some proper suspension under it, do preventative maintenance, chip the engine and you have a good looking, 400HP hatch for $20K or so and shit tonnes of money in your pocket vs a new whatever.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by bucketfoot

No disagreement on this

But then I'm hoping this is all for naught and they don't total the 86!

Even if they do, if it's just hail damage, it should be cosmetic right? I'd buy that bad boy back and beat it up more. Then buy the 240 as well. Get it with a manual and it can be grandpas cool car.pass it down even.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Have you even driven the newer Mazda cars? My son has a 2020 Mazda 3 hatch Premium and it's very clear that Mazda plucked BMW engineers. The car has nearly the same quality and feel as my 2016 M235. The interfaces, the way the buttons depress, soft materials, the ergonomics, the moderness, etc. are unlike anything from other Japanese automakers and especially anything domestic. I love driving it and it could be one hell of a car if they did a manual turbo.

I have, they feel cheap.to me. Was very unimpressed.

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Look around for the best quality, low mile X1 M you can find, the proper X1, as in the first one. Get some proper suspension under it, do preventative maintenance, chip the engine and you have a good looking, 400HP hatch for $20K or so and shit tonnes of money in your pocket vs a new whatever.

Look at my profile photo. That's what I had before the 86

[ShocknAwe]

Any opposition to older BMWs?

E82
E46
E36
E37

Take your pick of lighter vs heavier inline six or twin turbo... You seem older and prefer driving dynamics to new heavy throwaway garbage if you're looking at ND/86/ETC.

Lots of fun shopping for well cared for older cars, and a lot more options out there than whatever's happening right now with the car market while we wait for new engine tech to settle down.

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Any opposition to older BMWs?

Can't say that I have any interest in an older car. Maybe a lease return, but probably not even that.

We tend to keep our cars (our other cars are 13 & 22 years old) so spending on new gets evened out. And in this case it's not like I'm looking at anything overly expensive and would be bought with cash.

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by RM7

Whatever to get out of driving a pilot!

It's actually a great car for many purposes. But driving fun is not one of them.

[Donatello.]

Originally Posted by bucketfoot

She has hip problems, so having to adjust is a non-starter for her. Bottom line is that it was a top priority to me that she was able to be comfortable.

On the other hand, with how rarely she rides in the 86 I've joked with her that we could have gone ahead and gotten the MX5.

Hip problems explains it. I'm sorry she has to deal with that.

[Donatello.]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Any opposition to older BMWs?

E82
E46
E36
E37

Take your pick of lighter vs heavier inline six or twin turbo... You seem older and prefer driving dynamics to new heavy throwaway garbage if you're looking at ND/86/ETC.

Lots of fun shopping for well cared for older cars, and a lot more options out there than whatever's happening right now with the car market while we wait for new engine tech to settle down.

E46 M3 still holds up looks wise.

[bucketfoot]

I test drove the Mazda today and something I would seriously have to adjust to is the torque band. Where in the 86 I live in 4-7K RPM band, the Mazda starts to drop off big time if you go much beyond 4K.

That said, my X1 had the N20, which the B48 seems to have a similar torque curve to and looks like it starts to drop off in the 5-5.5K range. So less so, but still an adjustment going back to the BMW.

I'm definitely going to have to get out for a test drive in the 230i.

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

I wouldn't say BMWs are more throwaway than Mazdas. Mazdas always just feel cheap.

You gotta decide if you want an economy FWD based hatchback or a RWD coupe. They're like, totally different, and if you're craving sports cars, Mazda isn't gonna scratch the itch.

If you don't care then the Mazda is probably perfectly fine as a daily commuter appliance, and you trade it on the next thing whenever it gets to be out of warranty and needing work.

Beg to differ. New BMWs feel cheap. My F22 is cheaper put together than the E92 LCI I had.
The new Mazda 3 has a better interior (actual BUTTONS - which actually cost more than a screen)

BMW powertrains aren't even that impressive. The S52/M54 used to harmonically vibrate their oilpumps off - the N54 was a nightmare, the N55 has poor oil baffling, and bad bearings, and the S6X cars had all sorts of issues.

I would check out the newer FT86, they appear bigger and more powerful. Or the Mazda 3. The New BMWs look like *** and outside of a big motor leave a lot to be desired.

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Have you even driven the newer Mazda cars? My son has a 2020 Mazda 3 hatch Premium and it's very clear that Mazda plucked BMW engineers. The car has nearly the same quality and feel as my 2016 M235. The interfaces, the way the buttons depress, soft materials, the ergonomics, the moderness, etc. are unlike anything from other Japanese automakers and especially anything domestic. I love driving it and it could be one hell of a car if they did a manual turbo.

It's better.

[Tano22]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

Beg to differ. New BMWs feel cheap. My F22 is cheaper put together than the E92 LCI I had.
The new Mazda 3 has a better interior (actual BUTTONS - which actually cost more than a screen)

BMW powertrains aren't even that impressive. The S52/M54 used to harmonically vibrate their oilpumps off - the N54 was a nightmare, the N55 has poor oil baffling, and bad bearings, and the S6X cars had all sorts of issues.

I would check out the newer FT86, they appear bigger and more powerful. Or the Mazda 3. The New BMWs look like *** and outside of a big motor leave a lot to be desired.

To be fair, you're comparing a 2 series to a 3 series. The 2 series is meant to feel cheaper than the 3 series (even if from prior gen) because it IS cheaper than a 3 series.

[jkoral]

I own a 2021 Mazda 3 Turbo AWD sedan. I've owned a bunch of Mazdas concurrently with BMWs. The 320 ft-lb (on premium) is handy commuting, but I would never classify it as fun to drive.

I bought it for my kids to drive -- I was the only one that wanted the 2.5 Turbo but I also wanted the AWD (with dedicated snow tires) so it was confident in the snow for my kids (who were new drivers at the time).

[bucketfoot]

Guess I never followed up on the end result.

Ended up with a 230i that became available pretty much at the same time as I was informed by the insurance company that the 86 would be totaled.

It came down to the 230i or a certified Mazda 3 sedan (preferred a hatchback) at a great price. However it had some hail damage that needed to be repaired and that spooked my wife enough to push her to the BMW.