r/e91

I dropped the cassette out of the car and replaced all moving parts in the front and rear glass. I’m in Oregon. AMA

This is my mint condition 318d manual, which I got for my 18th birthday. In the second picture I played around with an old BMW configurator to build my dream spec. What do you think about the green? And which wheels should I get? 18” or 19”, preferably BMW wheels, not too expensive since I am still in school and a OEM+ sporty/classy look would be nice. I currently have 19” style 230s on them, but I am not a big fan of those…

2006 E91 325i - I know it's not tech-related, but I couldn't be happier these last two weeks, and the car played a huge role. It had to work hard at certain moments, never a single glitch.

I've owned this car for over a year now and have done almost all the preventative maintenance, except for the water pump. (Had one with me though... ;-))

Why so happy?

12 of the most iconic mountain passes in Austria in 12 days - that was the goal.

Why? We thought the Grimsel Pass was so cool last year that we decided to turn it into a full-blown 'pass trip' this time. And... we more than managed those 12 passes!

We drove from east to west through the Alps. It was a bit of a puzzle to create a loop through the mountains every day from two campsites in Austria with at least two 'real' mountain passes per day. In the car by 07:30 to be one of the first ones on the road / pass (no tourists or cyclists = +10 fun factor) and sometimes more than 400 km and 10 hours on the road in a day. So incredibly awesome!

The car handled great. Even though it's almost 20 years old, we could still annoy some youngtimers... ;-) Outrun hipsters or just cruise.

I was only nervous once. Climbing the Hahntennjoch with all our camping gear - and we were heavy - with inclines up to 18% for several kilometers. I got worried because we smelled something burning, hooked up the OBD, and temps were fine, 85 to 95C. Maybe some residual oil or something, not sure.

It was a blast. We also went up the Ötztal Glacier Road: the highest point you can reach in Europe with a normal car.

Photos don't really do justice to how impressive the views are in real life. With 16 amazing mountain passes on the counter and more than 3,000 km in Austria alone, the E91 was more fun than anticipated.

The score:

• Ötztaler Glacier Road - 2,830 m • Kaunertal Glacier - 2,750 m • Großglockner - 2,504 m • Timmelsjoch - 2,474 m • Jaufenpass - 2,094 m • Nockalm Road - 2,042 m • Kühtai Saddle - 2,017 m • Hahntennjoch - 1,894 m • Villach Alpine Road - 1,732 m • Katschberg Pass - 1,641 m • Piller Höhe - 1,558 m • Nassfeld Pass - 1,552 m • Reschen Pass - 1,504 m • Norbertshöhe - 1,405 m • Flattnitz Pass - 1,400 m • Wurzen Pass - 1,071 m

Bonus on the way there: Felbertauern Pass - 1,650 m

2nd car at 17. Very grateful and quite the upgrade from my old e46.

I’ve always loved the storage capacity of our cars. That being said as today I transported a storage cabinet and it fit like a glove!! With only a couple millimetres (1/25’) to spare

Today I think I found the storage limit for our wagons…181cm x 91cm x 45cm (6ft x 2.95ft x 1.5ft) if you don’t mind tasting the steering wheel whilst you drive!😅

I’ve also previously transported many sets of wheels, an entire transmission swap and weeks worth of camping cargo😊

What’s the max load you’ve fit into your E91?? (Let’s see some pics!!)

I sold my dream car, a 996 C4S, in early May after the dream faded and I accepted I don’t have the kind of $$$ to keep an M96 car on the road long term. Not as a daily, anyhow. I DIY everything, but Porsche parts cost stupid money. And I play in bands. Hauling gear in a 911 sucked. For the year leading up to the sale, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the ideal replacement for the Porsche. Something fun to drive that suited my lifestyle better, was cheaper to maintain, and was a little newer, but still had hydraulic steering. RWD and three pedals: non-negotiable. I finally landed on the E91. It may be the perfect do it all, fun daily driver.

This car is a 2012 E91 RWD 6MT in Deep Sea Blue Metallic over Chestnut Brown Dakota leather. My ideal color combo—and according to bimmerstats, a 1 of 1 car in this combo in the US. Sport package. Sport seats. Single hump. *chef’s kiss*

It took two months of obsessive searching to find this car. I bought it from the second owner with 156,xxx on the clock. The PO DM’d me on Facebook messenger after I posted a wanted ad for a blue, red, or black RWD 6MT car on an E91 enthusiast facebook group. The car was never publicly listed for sale. No records to speak of before the PO’s tenure with the car began last year. But his PPI and mine confirmed that the car had been well taken care of and needed nothing. No oil leaks anywhere. Once he got the car from Texas to his home in South Florida, he put on G-series brakes, 640M wheels with 12mm spacers, 3SIM and tune, airbox charcoal filter delete, silicone air intake hose, whiteline rear subframe bushings, swapped in a 3.73 diff from an automatic, and had some interior leather issues fixed. He was ironically selling to potentially fund a Porsche Cayman after a recent Boxster rescue gave him the bug.

After lots of text conversations, a few phone calls, and a very encouraging PPI, I wired the owner the money and booked a one-way flight to West Palm Beach. While waiting for that day to arrive, I spent hours obsessively routing a road trip from South Florida to Savannah, GA, over to the Blue Ridge and all those magnificent roads, and up to my Eastern Iowa home, nestled among the wooded ravines of the upper Mississippi River Valley. I only had three days for this 1,500-mile journey, and I packed in as much cool shit as possible. The car performed flawlessly outside of an unexpected replacement of all four Firestone Indy 500s when I found a growing bulge on the inside sidewall of the passenger rear south of Lexington, Kentucky. A morning of phone calls finally sourced some suitable replacements in the correct size. The Michelin Pilot Sport AS4s are a compromise, but they were the best option in stock anywhere near Lexington, and I couldn’t afford to lose another day of work to wait for some better rubber. Now that they’re breaking in they’re starting to be more responsive and less squishy. And as a daily, the AS4s work great for 99 percent of my use case.

I love this car. But coming from a 996 and an E30 before that, it needs some sharpening up to improve tactile feel for it to truly be mine. The plan: M3 control arms fore and aft, Koni Sports and Eibachs, limited slip, delrin shifter bushings, Turner intake for the sound, and a Rogue Ikon muffler. Oh, and eventually M Sport bumpers as the originals need some paintwork anyhow. This’ll be a piece at a time project over the next year or two. In the meantime, I’m having a great time driving this thing every day.

Stopped by the new stadium with my '08 328xi.