The 2005 BMW 325Ci that was Almost Mine

At an auction north of the city I found one of my dream cars. Remember when I almost bought that Dodge Magnum?  Same place. That 279 is my bidder number, that’s how close I came.

This 3-series BMW is one of my all-time favourite cars, specifically the E46 body in production from 1999 – 2006.

So beautiful.  Even the colour I want, windows already tinted good and dark.

And manual obviously, I would only.

230 hp
221 ft·lb
6-speed manual
0-100 km/h in 6.5 s

It’s ridiculous how good I am with this car.

No touch controls, no dash screen, so minimal inside, so me.

When I climbed inside though, it had an overwhelming feeling of having had the crap driven out of it. So those 220,000 km were likely very hard ones.

Plus there were several buts…

Clockwise from top left: 

– oil looks okay
– but those rust spots found all around do not
– winter tires okay fine
– but the car’s history report says thousands of work done, likely from an accident, and that’s the front bumper’s pressure release not sitting flush.

After leaving the auction floor Friday afternoon I stopped to take photos of my Land Rover outside an abandoned log cabin, when a stranger with a huge moustache pulled up and warned me against the car. It was weird.

Auction was Saturday morning, and still late into Friday night I didn’t know what to do, until I realized I was breaking my own rule – when there’s doubt, there is no doubt.

So I let it go.  And declared I am done with car auctions.

The end.

 

 

Had a Good Dead Drop Idea

What’s a “dead drop” – to secretly pass an item to someone, without having to meet with them directly.

How it works – I deposit the item in a pre-determined location, then in another pre-determined location, leave a signal that I have done so. Maybe this signal is a chalk mark on a wall, a pot of red flowers on my balcony, or I blog something specific.

So!

What if the dead drop was a supply closet, inside a bathroom, inside a retail space?

Both genders could enter without arising suspicion, and there cannot be cameras inside a bathroom.

Would an employee ever find a USB key in here? Nope.

Tada!

 

 

How a Car is Conceived

Honda’s all-new HR-V goes on sale soon. During its launch in Miami a few weeks back, I interviewed Hayato Mori, Senior Manager of Product Planning, about how Honda dreamed it up.

I thought the process started with design, throw in a couple features and done – here is a new car that’s never before existed. I was very wrong. Research research research.

Read it online at Autonet.

Favourite line:

By now my eyes are rolling out of my head, “Hayato this is unreasonable! How can something be luxury inside, but for the lowest possible price?!” He just smiles, “that’s the game, Keri.”

Hayato and I.

You’ve met him before, when we talked about the differences between the original Civic and today’s: 1973 – When side mirrors were optional

Above is the presentation slide I’m talking about in the article. I’d have quit after this step, this is a dichotomy!  See last line of column.

Below is the all-new 2016 Honda HR-V.

Blog tag = Honda HR-V

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Back to ‘Keri on Driving’ – Index

 

 

Using a Freezer Faraday Cage to Protect from Theft

New York Times journalist Nick Bilton’s Prius was almost stolen electronically three times, so he goes looking for an answer. He finds a clue from a Toronto Police warning, which leads him to a guy in Switzerland, who explains what likely happened.

The attack – boost the car’s keyless entry signal range to trick it into unlocking.

The defence – store keys in a makeshift Faraday cage (like a freezer) where signals cannot get in or out.

This was my Friday news story for the paper.

Read it online at Autonet.

Blog tag = Auto Security