[Emily172013]

Originally Posted by louielouie

I'm not sure I've seen which manufacturers are making their cars lighter. I feel models are getting heavier and heavier YoY. Which ones are reducing in weight?

Per EPA:
Attachment 3951278

Cars are heavier today because they are larger. Manufactures try and make up for some of it by light glass and thinner steel and aluminum panels, so they don't seem as robust as earlier, smaller cars.

[Emily172013]

It wasn't that many years ago when poor body panel fit, poor paint, exposed screws in the interior, and plastic dashboards were the norm. You bought a car and the dealer told you to bring it back in a few weeks to correct the bugs. Change oil every couple thousand miles, grease every thousand, starters and generators and major tune up every 20k along with cheap tires.
Cars are much better today.

[silvermanor]

I have owned a babied mint E46 M3 for the last 15 years and currently have a G80 M3 and if you think the E46 was better built you are completely insane.

[silvermanor]

Originally Posted by Emily172013

It wasn't that many years ago when poor body panel fit, poor paint, exposed screws in the interior, and plastic dashboards were the norm. You bought a car and the dealer told you to bring it back in a few weeks to correct the bugs. Change oil every couple thousand miles, grease every thousand, starters and generators and major tune up every 20k along with cheap tires.
Cars are much better today.

Yeah engines also needed way more maintenance and if they went 80k miles you'd be lucky even though they only made like 120hp and got 15mpg. People drive way more miles per year than they ever did, speeds are higher, engines make crazy power and get incredible milage and cars on the side of the road are not nearly as common as they were 20-30 years ago. Cars are so much better now and it's not even close.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Janjohn

Yikes! that’s pretty insulting for the Spartanburg crew. I guess I’m lucky.

I've owned five (5) BMWs. Three were built in Germany, the 1989 E30, 2005 E46, and the 2006 E90. Two were built in Spartanburg, the 1997 Z3 and the 2008 E86. I still have the Z3 and Z4.

The build quality of the three German 3-series were pretty much at the same level given the nearly 30-year time span. The Z4 is an order of magnitude better than the Z3, being built nearly 12 years apart from each other. The Z3 was the second vehicle model made in Spartanburg, the 1994 E36 318i being the first in 1994. The build quality of the early models coming out of Spartanburg was very poor compared to the German counterparts. The drivetrains are rock solid as you'd expect from BMW of that era (all drivetrain parts were German sourced) but the interior quality (mostly US sourced) was very poor.

I will state however, my 2008 Z4 build quality is the best of the five Bimmers I have owned.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by silvermanor

Yeah engines also needed way more maintenance and if they went 80k miles you'd be lucky even though they only made like 120hp and got 15mpg. People drive way more miles per year than they ever did, speeds are higher, engines make crazy power and get incredible milage and cars on the side of the road are not nearly as common as they were 20-30 years ago. Cars are so much better now and it's not even close.

100% agree. Us old-timers who were original-owners of cars we bought in the 1970's, regardless of brand, all know modern cars are far better engineered and manufactured. If you can't get 300,000 miles out of a modern BMW, you are doing something wrong (or wrecked it).