On Elsa (or On The Millennium Falcon, if you ask my son ;) ) & Driving

“She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts.”

This month I’ll be passing the two-and-a-half year mark of owning my 1986 BMW E30.  She has affectionately been named Elsa, given her German heritage.  However, my son refers to her as the Millennium Falcon.  Why , you might ask?  He’s a major Star Wars fan and one day he proudly informed me that I was the Han Solo to his Luke Skywalker (his mom was called Darth Vader – which I had NOTHING to do with, BTW!  I swear! LOL) 

We’ve passed some milestones along the way:

-          250K, 300K, 325K, 350K, 375K, & 400,000 km coming soon!

I looked back at my four month review post... a lot has happened and I’ve definitely transitioned to pretty much a full enthusiast/gear head.

For me this car is not just a car – I consider it an extension of me.  Without this vehicle, I wouldn’t have a life or job.  She is a tool, an instrument and a testament to good engineering and worksmanship.  She’ll be 30 on September 6 – born in the Munich plant in roll over month for cars for the next model year, hence why she’s an ’86 model.  I have found it very rewarding to spend time under her hood and body working away.  It has helped enhance the experience, even with times of frustration.

Other than having my rear calipers replaced last year, since the initial work on the car to get it certified, Elsa has been under my loving care, with the help of her former owner, and my best friend – Alex.

Since that first post, I have performed the following services, sometimes with help.

-          Oil Changes – switched to synthetic a few months in, now doing them about every 12-15K km.

-          Valve Clearance checks every 30,000 km (Have done this five times, and no need for adjustments yet)

-          Bi-annual tire swaps

-          Replacing Spark plugs (Have done this 3 times)

-          Timing belt, water pump, crank seal at 265,000 km with help from Alex

-          Front wheel bearings

-          Brake servicing

-          All rear bushings – Subframe, trailing arm, drop links and rear strut bearings.  At the same time, replaced rear inner brake lines, and 3 differential seals (the output seals and the input seal) – again couldn’t have done all this without Alex’s help – you’re the best bro!

-          Removed rusted out resonator and had Alex weld in a replacement elbow

-          The second timing  belt under my ownership –a job I completed solo.

-          Removed steering rack to replace the lower steering linkage

In the last 2.5 years, my expenses have roughly been as follows:

10% was cost of the car
Almost 60%  of my expenses has been fuel – I drive A LOT. ;)
34% has been servicing, repairs and expenses. This figure includes regular maintenance, repairs, insurance, and licensing fees.  When I worked it out against a car payment on a new car I found that even with an almost 30 year old BMW, I’m still winning by at least $100 a month.

But what about the driving experience, you ask?  Amazing!  If you have never driven a rear wheel drive car as a daily, it’s great.  Totally different feel, and I’d argue a better one.  Even for being close to 30, this car drives like a dream.  Elsa is omfortable to sit in for a long haul, very well mannered on the highway or street, very predictable handling (even in our Canadian winters with the help of a little extra weight in the trunk).  I do believe that having this car the last three winters has really improved my driving skills – it’s very different from the FWD VWs I had been used to.

Although Elsa isn’t a major power house (her M20 engine only puts out 121 HP @ 4250 RPM), she’s got some good low end torque (170 Ft/lbs @ 3250 RPM), which makes her fun for city driving.  Pop her into third when merging on the highway and that straight six delivers power pretty quickly.  And within speed limits, she also pretty fuel efficient – my 2.5 year average is 7.7 L/100 KM, which translates to just under 37 MPG UK (about 30.5 MPG US)

It is also nice to drive a car without all kinds of bells and whistles – no ABS, traction control, etc – meaning, there is less stuff to potentially break/fail.  Even the windows and sunroof are manual, and not even A/C to worry about.  Back then, you could order up a very basic BMW.

My personal feeling is that many drivers have become dependent on the technology in their cars – here’s the fact – you may have all this technical wizardry, but don’t forget that despite this, your car’s contact with the road is the four tires.  If those or your driving skills are lacking, there is no technology that can save you. 

 Once the tires have lost their grip, all bets are off.  The take away is that you need to really know your daily vehicle and know what the limits are.  I see far too many people on a wintery day travelling far too fast for the conditions, yet people blame the weather.  We live in a country where we can have snow and ice up to 6 months a year in many areas – blaming the weather is not an excuse.  DRIVE TO THE CONDITIONS.  If you’re driving through a blizzard, doing 120 km/h may not be the wisest thing to do.

The following review really captures a lot about the E30:

Another amazing thing is conversations she starts.  I've had around two dozen people offer to buy her - I even had a police officer pull me over one day outside Beaverton - because he was scoping my car!  Even more people have started conversations, especially former/current owners and BMW/car enthusiasts. I'm often complimented that she looks to be in pretty good shape (which she is... except for a wired up muffler LOL).

What does the future hold for Elsa?  Well, I plan on keeping her on the road as long as possible.  I’m hopefully eyeing a possible engine swap, either for a younger M20 Eta or something newer – this will depend on my fortunes in the next couple of years. Stay tuned for more on Elsa!

Somalia and the Monitoring of BMI in Toronto Schools

Canadian Woman abducted and abused in Somalia freed.

I saw comments about her being a do-gooder. I didn't get a do-gooder vibe from this. She's a journalist and was hoping to try to make a name for herself. From the article, she obviously knew she was going into a dangerous situation and it was bad luck they were the ones who got abducted (the article referred to two NG people they were actually after). Somalia is a total basketcase country, and her treatment doesn't surprise me. What this also shows is that most countries don't give a damn what is happening there, because this stuff happens and it seems that backroom deals are the norm. Honestly, Canada and Australia should have gotten together and sent commandos for them. The only deals these scumbags should get is a bullet. At some point, the kidnappers would realize that doing this will not be worth getting shot for.

Toronto Schools to do study on BMI in schools 

Since when did monitoring weight become the school's job? What's next? What the kids are taking in their lunches? Could be the start of a slippery slope of prying into other aspects of student's lives.

Big Election Night!

"Ignatieff and Duceppe are a couple of mindless jerks who will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes!"

- from my FB status today

The revolution did come and those two men were casualties of that revolution.  The NDP swept across Quebec decimating the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois,  and Mr. Duceppe has stepped down has party leader.  Ignatieff's future is unclear, but it is doubtful he will be Liberal leader for long.  The Blue Tide swept into Toronto an many other parts of Canada as well, giving us our first majority in many years.  And thanks to Douglas Adams for the inspiration for that quote... ;)

Yesterday saw yet another Canadian election (we have had several in the last few years due to minority governments), but this one had a twist.  A mandate was finally delivered, and we had a major shift in political fortunes.  Stephen Harper and his Conservatives received their long sought after majority, and in a more shocking turn, the Liberal Party was decimated to third place, being overtaken by the NDP, who now hold almost three times the seats that the Liberals have, and the Bloc Quebecois are a shadow of their former selves, having lost official party status.

I am amazed this morning by the amount of sour grapes I have seen among friends on Facebook.  Many are acting like the world is ending, which is prompting me to write this blog entry.  

Lets face facts, those who voted yesterday gave a mandate to Harper and rejected the Liberals in a big way.  I've seen a lot of posts today that lament the fact that Harper has issues with democracy.  Perhaps he has played fast and loose with it, but he certainly isn't the first.  Jean Chretien prorogued parliament more than Harper, and had MAJORITIES at the same time.  Even Trudeau The-Not-So-Great played fast and loose - three words WAR MEASURES ACT!  Not to mention to scandals that still resonate with voters (especially in Quebec, which many pundits feel helped fuel the NDP's Orange Tide) today.  An in my opinion, Ignatieff did not connect with voters.  When I see him, I always get the distinct feeling he is talking down to me, that I am somehow inferior.  The fact that he has been absent from Canada and got parachuted into the Liberal leadership via backroom deals also says a lot.  And people are saying Harper has problems with democracy?  Give me a break!

And if people are so concerned about democracy, then why did they vote for the seemingly devilish Harper?  We did only get about 60% of voters turning out, so that still says something about voter apathy.  Talk to people who didn't vote and find out why they didn't.  Talk to those who voted and find out why they did.  In my case, I voted Conservative.  Ignatieff didn't do it for me, and I'm not a left of center of guy, and I've been pretty happy with Harper since he came to power.

Other concerns raised were about the public sector and possible cuts, even to the CBC.  To be honest, it might be something we have to look at.  Canada's population is rapidly aging and the costs for pensions, health care and other services related to that are only going to increase in time.  Where are we going to find the money?  Taxation is a problem as Canadians are already taxed to the hilt, paying 40% on average.  Some say "Tax the rich and corporations!!!"  That is all well and good, but you can only tax higher income earners only so much.  The fact is that those people and companies have the resources with which to relocate somewhere else, and will if pushed to it.  Lets be honest, companies exist to make money, and if they can make more somewhere else, they will go there.

I for one am happy we will have a stable government for the next 4-5 years, without the threat of another election. Since the year 2000, we have had five general elections and three in the last 5 years.  It pleases me that we won't be spending another $300 million on an election until around 2015 or 2016.  Mr. Ignattieff showed immense hubris in pushing for this election and both he and Mr. Duceppe have paid for their lack of vision.

It will be interesting to see how the new dynamic in Canadian politics will play out over the next few years...

To those who are lamenting the results, I say:

Build a bridge and get over it!

Just what we need... another election... and puritanism in Quebec and updates...

Well... here we are again.  Canada faces its fourth election in seven years.  And most voters in Canada DO NOT want it.

Ignatieff, Leyton and Duceppe are a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first ones against the wall when the revolution comes!

For those not in the know, the average election in Canada costs the taxpayer over $300 million!  Over a billion dollars has been spent on election in the last seven years.  It is ridiculous!  And the Liberals are trailing the Conservatives by 20 points in the polls... it would take a miracle of almost biblical proportions for them to get past the Conservatives.

The most likely outcome is that we will come out in the same position as before and will have spent that money for nothing!  I'm hoping that the hubris of Misters Ignatieff (especially) et al. will come back and bite them in their collective asses and reward Mr. Harper with a majority government!

Puritanism in Quebec
I heard about this on Friday on my way to work. Apparently a 14-year old student at a high school in Quebec approached a school secretary for an autograph.  He had seen her in a porn film, Serial Abusers 2, and she appeared under the screen name of Samantha Ardente. She refused and asked the student to keep it quiet.  What does he do?  Creates a fake Facebook account in her stage name and basically the whole school found out.  She is currently suspended from her job, pending investigation by her employer.

And what exactly is the problem with this?  She is making legal porn films in her off hours and it is her right to do so.  Once again, the ugly head of puritanism has reared its head.  It is a very typical North American attitude.  Violence and bad language are OK, but when it comes to sex... OH MY GOD!  EVIL!  FORBIDDEN!

Gimme a frakking break!  We don't live in the 16th Century anymore.  People should be free to do what they like sexually, as long as it isn't hurting anyone (unless of course its consensual), or uses children in any way shape or form.  Who are we to tell Ms. Ardente how she should live her life outside of her job?  If she wants to make extra money having sex on film, so be it!  If you are not interested in porn, then don't watch it.  But don't tell the rest of us what we should or should not watch or do in our spare time!  I hope she is vindicated and can thumb her nose at the do-gooders.

Earth Hour Update
Interesting note on Earth Hour in Toronto.  Power usage in Toronto only dropped by 5% on Saturday night.  It is a five percent drop from last year, when power consumption dropped 10%.  Personally, I'm not surprised.