I got stuck in the M5 last weekend. Pulling the interior door handle didn’t open the door, the action was a bit sloppy, and the handle didn’t return when released – something certainly wasn’t right. So I popped the screw cover off, and then paused to take the photo above. Once that screw was removed […] Read more »
Having suffered some criticism last weekend for daring to permit my topic to stray from cars, here’s a long overdue update on the M5. It has had relatively little use over winter – a notable exception being a trip to Wales for the Wyedean rally. I actually forgot to blog about that. Fortunately, Brenden did […] Read more »
As this decade draws to a close I thought I’d reflect back on the motoring changes I’ve experienced. As we celebrated the new millennium I was the almost proud owner of a 1992 Ford Escort estate. With a lusty 1.4 litre engine it could barely pull the skin from a rice pudding, but it was […] Read more »
I need to take some photos of the cars for my BMW Car Magazine “longtermer” report which is due in today. I haven’t run the M5 for about 20 days now, and I’ve got a lot of decorating to be cracking on with, so I took the photos on the rather unglamourous surroundings of my […] Read more »
Both Diane and I have kerbed our cars. Needless to say, Diane managed this in a rather mundane way, where I suffered a racing incident at full left lock. In both cases, remedial action was necessary. Tractor’s front left: And the SS’s rear left – properly kerbed! I started with the tractor wheel – gave […] Read more »
The M5 passed its MOT first time without advisories today. Woohoo! Etc. :P
The M5’s native navigation system is incredibly slow and ugly. All the graphics for the computer and radio functions look rather 90s. I had acquired a widescreen unit for the front of the car, but this didn’t really improve the on-screen graphics, and the navigation was still so very slow. The navigation computer is a […] Read more »
Diane kindly collected the widescreen surround from BMW today for me, so the M5 widescreen installation is now complete. Here’s how it used to look: And now! Much better! So this just leaves the small matter of flogging off my old monitor and trying to recover some money from the needless purchase of another TV […] Read more »
As mentioned, the rather ancient looking radio/monitor in the M5 was bugging me, so I’ve sourced a widescreen. It is from an X5, which means that the contrast isn’t quite right when viewed from an E39 angle, but it is completely usable and when I get time, I plan on following these crazy instructions to […] Read more »
Since my last post I decided that the M5’s “GALA” system left quite a bit to be desired. The Graduated Audio Level Adjustment is supposed to maintain a consistent audio experience within the car, irrespective of road noise. Sadly, while it is a good idea in theory, it makes quite obvious ham-fisted adjustments to not […] Read more »