What's up with the BMW E46 crowd?

wolds · wolds's Garage

So I recently purchased a 2005 BMW 330Ci ZHP and thought I'd search for a knowledge base like we have here on the 911 site. I found two sites the first was ZHP Mafia.com the other was E46 Fanatics. Generally speaking the threads on these sites were pretty much worthless. What's worse is the bickering between members. I see some of this on our 911 site, but nothing like what's over there. Just thought I'd throw this out there and see if it's me or have others experienced the same thing. Even though I don't post often when I do it's to answer a posters question not criticize him for something they may have posted. This is why we have such a great site here. Warren

berettafan · 12-06-2013, 12:56 PM

The cheaper the car, the cheaper the owner.

Financial segregation is what you're benefiting from here and I would suggest p-cars in particular are the 'sweet spot' of just enough cost to weed out the wiggers and not enough cost to attract the gold chains.

Nostril Cheese · 12-06-2013, 01:02 PM

What do you want to know about your car? Most of us here are pretty knowledgeable on BMW.

biosurfer1 · 12-06-2013, 01:12 PM

Spend some time around the Honda forums, it will make the BMW forums seem like Pelican

wolds · wolds's Garage

Not looking for any specific, initially just looking on these sites for general info. I've purchased the REP-ROM sevice manual already and will be picking up a Bentley manual shortly. berettafan, love your signiture.

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

E46 guys are the worst - especially the M3 guys

ckelly78z · 12-06-2013, 01:51 PM

My wife has an 03 325ci convertible and she looks up questions on Bimmerforums.com .

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Yup, bimmerforums is the place to be. It's not as good as pelican, but still better than others...

You want to see squabbling idiots, check out the VW vortex...

onewhippedpuppy · 12-06-2013, 01:57 PM

Bimmerforums is full of children, but the best of the worst in the BMW world. The cheaper the car, the cheaper the owner - lots of truth in that unfortunately.

Christien · Christien's Garage

Yep, bimmerforums is what I use when I need to fix something on the 325. But I don't spend time there for fun and/or conversation like I do here, just tech stuff.

KNS · 12-06-2013, 03:44 PM

I have an E46 and visit E46fanatics. While there is a lot of good info over there everybody is an expert and the level of maturity is pretty sad. I am SO glad that you see so little of that here on Pelican. I'm not sure what it is, perhaps the collective age and professional backgrounds of the people here but Pelican is a fantastic place.

allaircooled · allaircooled's Garage

Yeah I noticed the same on E46fanatics. I was a member for 6 years or so before I made my first post. The cars are getting cheap and more affordable to a lot of teenagers. I usually don't visit unless I am experiencing a problem. There is a lot of info to be found on the site if you have the patience to dig through all the crap.

VINMAN · 12-06-2013, 04:23 PM

Wanna see bad ? Check out the 944 forum on rennlist . Makes some ricer forums look like a Mensa meeting .

RicN · 12-06-2013, 04:53 PM

Check out bimmerfest.com

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

epbrown · 12-06-2013, 04:58 PM

Yep, I still lurk on E46fanatics but as the cars got older the owners got younger, so the discussions got less substantive. Some E30 and E36 forums are even worse. Bimmerfest and Bimmerforums seem okay, perhaps because they're more aggressively moderated.

A better option might be the relevant forum on the BMWCCA site, but I haven't visited since they did their format change and lost most of their participants.

DeckMan · DeckMan's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by porsche4life

You want to see squabbling idiots, check out the VW vortex...

It's bad, gone far down hill. The MK1 TT forum is by far the best, due to the vast majority of us knowing each other and constant attention to keep the BS out. Pelican parts has been a good role model that discussions don't always have to turn to mud slinging. Personally I have found everyone on here very civil in response manor. It's nice to see a few communities that people can at least leave their egos at home.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

The BS I saw on the Corrado forums a few years back was one reason I decided to sell my 'Rado. Decided if I was going to dump money in a car, wanted it to be one where i could find help for it that didn't piss me off.

DeckMan · DeckMan's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by porsche4life

The BS I saw on the Corrado forums a few years back was one reason I decided to sell my 'Rado. Decided if I was going to dump money in a car, wanted it to be one where i could find help for it that didn't piss me off.

I cannot blame you. After 2005, went down the tubes. There is a FB group that is really good that a few of the OG's started. But the vast majority of us communicate via email/text these days.

livi · 12-07-2013, 05:36 AM

Ergo, a bunch of old farts with a half decent education makes up for a pretty nice place to be.

kojo911 · 12-07-2013, 07:39 AM

"Widebody911" I own an e46 M3, and I resemble that comment! Anyway, yes the e46 bmw community seems to be less informed. I think the car just attracts a younger crowd that's more concerned with slamming the cars and stretching the tires. There is some useful information out there, DIY's etc. but you have to ramp up your BS filter and figure out who has experience. I think we get spoiled on this site, for the most part good to great FACTUAL information.