This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting one of our forum legends - Gizmo!
I flew up to JHB to take ownership of his latest project 330i touring. His Thread Here.
I flew out on a cold a rainy Cape Town morning:
Gizmo was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, and to my surprise he did so in his E36 328i. Man was that a joy to be driven in!
Arriving at his place the 330iT was waiting for me, clean and shiny, took a little walk around the car and we immediately went for a little test drive.
Wow! I was impressed, she felt so much better to drive than I imagined. The drivetrain is solid, shifts are a great mix of smooth and mechanical feeling and it slots into gear very nicely. The motor is revvier than I thought the 330i would be and does so without sacrificing it's torquey feeling - in all 6 gears. Gizmo sure knows how to build 'em. It's difficult to express how solid the drivetrain feels.
First stop was at a pick n pay to get supplies for the 14 hour journey home. This was my first time attempting this drive solo. After the supply run I got setup with my phone dock, cassette to 3.5mm converter and my travel companion.
I arrived back home at around 3:45AM the next morning. The last bit of the drive was fantastic through some twisties, she does surprisingly well for a stock ride height car with "regular" suspension.
Economy has been great, I did not push it to see how far I could get on a tank but car was reporting 7.8L/100km on the first tank and 8.2L/100km on the second. Right now she has just under a quarter left on the tank and I've done 620km. 70% highway, 10% relaxed, 10% hooning, 10% heavy traffic.
The motor has come even more alive at the coast. I'll write up a more thorough review once I have used her on my daily commute for a full week. More pics to come soon.
Gizmo - Thank you! It was great meeting you, and your pets
. I really appreciate that you picked me up at the airport and even left me with a full tank. I will do my best to take care of this amazing machine that you have built.
I flew up to JHB to take ownership of his latest project 330i touring. His Thread Here.
I flew out on a cold a rainy Cape Town morning:
Gizmo was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, and to my surprise he did so in his E36 328i. Man was that a joy to be driven in!
Arriving at his place the 330iT was waiting for me, clean and shiny, took a little walk around the car and we immediately went for a little test drive.
Wow! I was impressed, she felt so much better to drive than I imagined. The drivetrain is solid, shifts are a great mix of smooth and mechanical feeling and it slots into gear very nicely. The motor is revvier than I thought the 330i would be and does so without sacrificing it's torquey feeling - in all 6 gears. Gizmo sure knows how to build 'em. It's difficult to express how solid the drivetrain feels.
First stop was at a pick n pay to get supplies for the 14 hour journey home. This was my first time attempting this drive solo. After the supply run I got setup with my phone dock, cassette to 3.5mm converter and my travel companion.
I arrived back home at around 3:45AM the next morning. The last bit of the drive was fantastic through some twisties, she does surprisingly well for a stock ride height car with "regular" suspension.
Economy has been great, I did not push it to see how far I could get on a tank but car was reporting 7.8L/100km on the first tank and 8.2L/100km on the second. Right now she has just under a quarter left on the tank and I've done 620km. 70% highway, 10% relaxed, 10% hooning, 10% heavy traffic.
The motor has come even more alive at the coast. I'll write up a more thorough review once I have used her on my daily commute for a full week. More pics to come soon.
Gizmo - Thank you! It was great meeting you, and your pets
. I really appreciate that you picked me up at the airport and even left me with a full tank. I will do my best to take care of this amazing machine that you have built.
