Edmontonians

[Puckmaster]

Saw it already. But, will I will probably go and drool all over it again. Man, I hate when that happens.......

[sparkyg]

Where did you see it at? Here in YEG?

[Puckmaster]

At the LA Car show in November.

[sparkyg]

Bugger, that would be great.

I am trying to get a private viewing without all the punters but BMW Canada is clueless.

Brutal but not surprised, look at the local dealers.

BMW Calgary still tops in my books....

[HS_Edmonton]

Hi folks. I am a born and raised Edmontonian and I wanted to run a question by BMW M3 owners. I have a fully loaded 2011 BMW M3 E93 with DCT that I bought in 2010. I want to get an ESS VT2-600 Supercharger installed in my car and want to know how cold weather would affect this unit. Cold meaning -25 degrees Celsius and colder. I am going to ship my car to a certified ESS tuner in Calgary and get the work done. I drive my car year-round and I know doing this type of work would diminish my ability to use the default BMW warranty if an issue with the car did come up.

In addition, after reading some of the posts in this thread I share the frustration some members have with buying BMWs in Edmonton. I have owned BMWs in the past and I now only deal with Bavaria BMW in Edmonton. I bought my 2011 M3 from Edmonton BMW and I highly suggest people NOT to buy OR service any year of BMW from them. They are incompetent and not professional. I will not go into details here.

Thanks for the replies.

[SiRR]

Originally Posted by HS_Edmonton

Hi folks. I am a born and raised Edmontonian and I wanted to run a question by BMW M3 owners. I have a fully loaded 2011 BMW M3 E93 with DCT that I bought in 2010. I want to get an ESS VT2-600 Supercharger installed in my car and want to know how cold weather would affect this unit. Cold meaning -25 degrees Celsius and colder. I am going to ship my car to a certified ESS tuner in Calgary and get the work done. I drive my car year-round and I know doing this type of work would diminish my ability to use the default BMW warranty if an issue with the car did come up.

Nice add-on - VT2-600 S/C! I sure you will be fine, especially if you are getting it tuned as well. With it being colder you may increase the hp, not that the VT2-600 isn't a healthy increase HP already...I would check with the tuner in Calgary to see. Overall, I think as a DD it will be ok, plenty of power on tap, but warranty issue wise, hard to say with the dealership, unless you have good relation with your SA. Once mechanical mods are added everything changes...

If i recall, I think there is a forum member in Calgary that is S/C, you can check with them...if only I can remember who though...

On a side note, I am debating of either a Akra slip on or full exhaust...but again warranty and dealership, will i have any hassle in future...

In addition, after reading some of the posts in this thread I share the frustration some members have with buying BMWs in Edmonton. I have owned BMWs in the past and I now only deal with Bavaria BMW in Edmonton. I bought my 2011 M3 from Edmonton BMW and I highly suggest people NOT to buy OR service any year of BMW from them. They are incompetent and not professional. I will not go into details here.

Thanks for the replies.

I think it is hit an miss with both dealers in Edmonton; my parents bought their 2006 330i from Bavaria BMW, so I thought I would do the same when looking into the M3 with ED - I got the same sales advisor my parents dealt with, and he tried to differ me away from ED, becasue it is a lot of "paperwork" and said I have to ship the car my self back to Canada...WTH...anyhow, I was referred to Edmonton BMW by a forum member here, and got great service and help when ordering the 2011 M3 with ED...

[HS_Edmonton]

Thanks for the information. I guess it will always be a hit and miss regardless of where someone buys their vehicle. As for myself, Edmonton BMW is bottom of the barrel when compared to any car dealership I have done business with in the past. I actually submitted official complaints to BMW Canada, BBB and AMVIC over their operations and practices.

I bought the M3 E93 over the Nissan GTR, Porsches and Mercedes vehicle convertibles because I wanted a car that was a true four-seater drop top, could be driven in the winter because in this city that is all we seem to have and have options for service. The M3 is a good car; in reality for our Edmonton roads, weather, servicing, and of course performance, it is the absolute best. Nothing else compares if you look at the whole package for a convertible for what I have just listed because I know folks that either own a Ferrari, Maserati, BMW M6 or other high-end vehicle and they have had many problems around servicing, getting parts, pothole damage, etc. simply because Edmonton is not setup for “super-cars”. Of course people own $150,000 plus vehicles but they only get to drive them out of the select few weeks of the year and/or if they baby them.

As far as the super charger is concerned, I actually phoned Vortech and ESS directly today. The Vortech representative mentioned that I should not in any way be using any of their superchargers in close to freezing temperatures; forget about below freezing. The ESS representative I phoned mentioned that they do have their supercharger kits on many cars in Scandinavia where it does get really cold like here in Edmonton. He told me as long as I let the car warm up I should be fine even on the coldest of days here. I also ran a question by him if there could be a chance of the ESS kit damaging the engine in any way during a cold start and he said the likelihood of that happening was very small since any piece that may break off the blower would have to go through various components to even reach the engine. It would also have to be extremely small to the point where the oil would grab it anyways. In addition, the new Vortech V3s are self-lubricated so there is no mixing of engine and blower oils. I would not mind replacing a blower but not an engine! I even called G-Power in California, but this setup is very paper-heavy for Canadians but it could be done. Getting parts for this type of kit in Edmonton would be very tough and getting quality work done on it after the fact would be next near to impossible.

I am also considering the full Akrapovic exhaust system: http://www.akrapovic.com/car-exhaust...-e92-e93-2009/ but I do not want the car to make too much noise since I like to be conservative. There are already too many 328is, 335is and Asian imports zipping around with exhausts that would wake a sleeping baby in its crib.

[frenchM3dreamer]

pretty sure Edmonton BMW is owned by the same group (Yachimek) as West Side Mitsubishi... and i dont expect one to have better service than the other...
in other words, i got fu**ed around big time by West Side Mitsu, and did just like you...
BBB = useless because they're not registered
AMVIC = couldnt do much either...
Mitsubishi NA = forget it, "it's a dealer issue"...

having said that, i always enjoy seeing an M being driven year-round in Edmonton, especially a vert' ! i drive my soft-top 12 months of the year with no issues !!

[HS_Edmonton]

You are right Edmonton BMW is part of the Yachimec group. I talked to Bart Yachimec about the issues I had with Edmonton BMW and he told me to service at Bavaria instead. It seems to me this group does not value the client. I bought my old BMW Z3 3.0i from Bavaria many years ago and I service my M3 with them now. I will probably buy my next car from Bavaria if it happens to be a BMW; I can assure everyone in this forum Edmonton BMW has lost many potential clients because of what has happened with me.
If I see these car salesmen at the car show in March I will make gently mention to them how useless they are.

I actually had the top-down on Boxing Day because we had great weather! Always take advantage of every day given to us because they are few-and-far between in this town.

[frenchM3dreamer]

Boxing Day??
i had the top down 10 times at least since then including last Firday !
i've read bad stories about Edmonton BMW here before, so it doesnt really surprise me... it seems that no matter how much you pay for your car these days, good service is hit or miss...

[sparkyg]

Yeah, common thread Edm BMW sux. I know, I've had their sales and service skills. They are brutal.

Buying a new car, go to Calgary BMW. I have sent many there and saved them a ton of $$$ and pain. Class dealership front to back there.

I get my M3 service at Bavaria too.

If I roll an M5 it'll be purchased in YYC or I'll import from the US.

I did some research on the ESS and talked to them directly and they have lots of winter use in Europe so it has been used in cold temps.

I'd still be a little shy since our winters (escept this year) truly suck. Not sure when it gets to -40 if it'll be happy.

That said this is the 4th winter for my M3. No problems at all. Its a fantastic car to drive all year round. Its Too nice a car to garage when it gets cold.

[HS_Edmonton]

Be careful with that new M5 because it may not perform the way many people think it will. I am already reading reviews of people observing turbo-lag on the streets with this new M5 engine. These new turbos in the Ms is heartbreaking... This is why I am considering supercharging the NA engine.

[sparkyg]

Originally Posted by HS_Edmonton

Be careful with that new M5 because it may not perform the way many people think it will. I am already reading reviews of people observing turbo-lag on the streets with this new M5 engine. These new turbos in the Ms is heartbreaking... This is why I am considering supercharging the NA engine.

Yeah but it seems every owner says its rubbish.

We'll see. I am on the 2014 plan so lots can change.

[sparkyg]

Originally Posted by HS_Edmonton

Be careful with that new M5 because it may not perform the way many people think it will. I am already reading reviews of people observing turbo-lag on the streets with this new M5 engine. These new turbos in the Ms is heartbreaking... This is why I am considering supercharging the NA engine.

Don't believe anyone on M5Board. That place is a disaster.

[redline9001]

Originally Posted by HS_Edmonton

Hi folks. I am a born and raised Edmontonian and I wanted to run a question by BMW M3 owners. I have a fully loaded 2011 BMW M3 E93 with DCT that I bought in 2010. I want to get an ESS VT2-600 Supercharger installed in my car and want to know how cold weather would affect this unit. Cold meaning -25 degrees Celsius and colder. I am going to ship my car to a certified ESS tuner in Calgary and get the work done. I drive my car year-round and I know doing this type of work would diminish my ability to use the default BMW warranty if an issue with the car did come up.

Thanks for the replies.

I know a number of people here is Calgary winter driving ESS SC cars with no issues. I am running a ESS tune without issues with winter driving.

Tunerworks in Calgary has done between 10-15 ESS SC installs they are very good shop, straight shooters and the owner had a ESS M3 till he sold it so they know the car and the kit.

Major engine warranty will be gone but there is one forum member that has had a number of warranty issue covered with his ESS SC car by Calgary BMW

[redline9001]

Originally Posted by SiRR

On a side note, I am debating of either a Akra slip on or full exhaust...but again warranty and dealership, will i have any hassle in future...

.

I think that it is dealer dependent cause when ever my lightly moded M3s go in to Calgary BMW they just say cool car and do the work with no questions asked.

I was in Calgary BMW on the weekend checking out the new f30 335 and my SA told me that a full Dinan M3 is coming in on trade and when it does he is going to call so we can compare the cars...

[redline9001]

Originally Posted by sparkyg

Buying a new car, go to Calgary BMW. I have sent many there and saved them a ton of $$$ and pain. Class dealership front to back there.

I get my M3 service at Bavaria too.

you would not believe what people Calgary think about our BMW dealerships...

I bought my E46 M3 from Bavaria...

[HS_Edmonton]

I bet you folks have far better reviews than Edmonton BMW will ever get.

[HS_Edmonton]

Originally Posted by redline9001

I know a number of people here is Calgary winter driving ESS SC cars with no issues. I am running a ESS tune without issues with winter driving.

Tunerworks in Calgary has done between 10-15 ESS SC installs they are very good shop, straight shooters and the owner had a ESS M3 till he sold it so they know the car and the kit.

Major engine warranty will be gone but there is one forum member that has had a number of warranty issue covered with his ESS SC car by Calgary BMW

I am looking into this and I also called RDSport to find out how long the converted stock to RS46 bored and stroked engine would take. Going this route is more expensive but if it will allow me to save warm-up time, failed blowers and "my-car-in-the-garage" headaches I might just do it. The Dinan bored and stroked engine, from what I have read is not as good as the one done by RDSport: http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246653

Anyone here in Edmonton drive one these bored and stroked engines?

[sparkyg]

Best to post in YYC and see if you get a response there. Calgary BMW has done a couple engine swaps.

The RD Sport kit is a more complete kit so the gains might make more sense in that regard. Dinan kit is just the engine and then you still need to add more parts to get the same bang as the RD Sport.

My .02, leave the car alone and drive it hard and enjoy it. If the engine blows then there will be no fun and you will be out alot of $$$.

Or do some simple adds and then live with it. Supercharging or a stroker kit, mehh, is it really needed?

You will have more fun with lighter wheels, better and lighter brakes, better tires, do a full Akra exhaust and do a flash and call it a day.

Reduce unsprung weight and the car will be better at everything.

Again, just my thoughts.

[HS_Edmonton]

What is YYC?

[SiRR]

Originally Posted by HS_Edmonton

What is YYC?

YYC = Calgary or more specific airport code - Calgary Airport

YEG = Edmonton
YVR = Vancouver