Nearly gave her a kick after trying to get into the car and finding out that the driver door handle broke and the other one is frozen open. Wife had to hold the door for approx. 15 km ...........

Ouch. What do you get to drive? Are you shit out of luck?

Think our whole family fared out well after this. The E46 was still drivable so we bought it back and sold it to a friend who has a body shop in Cleveland; in the end, it was still a clean title E46 (8 years old so insurance didn't need to salvage title it) but we couldn't deal with the repairs on it and made some money by selling it.

We now leased a '12 Subaru Impreza 5-speed. Finally got my wish for a manual transmission car and the lease is much cheaper than getting my father another car (probably a BMW). I like the Subaru as I can beat and rag on it and only worry about oil changes. The drivetrain has to take a beating as I just learned how to drive stick, my father needs to relearn and I let one of my friends try it out too. We also part with it after 3 years which is right when the warranty ends too. The benefits of it outweigh the fact that it isn't a BMW and I have to relearn most controls.

That is terrible. Sounds like a door carrier for you. When my first one went it was the driver's door and until I got the part to fix it, my wife had to reach over from the passenger side to open my door for me. :(

What's this.. KILO-meter you speak of? :rofl:


Kidding of course

how did you make it ?

I got both of them flapping and making me crazy...

What did I do today?
Removed the blanking place in back seats for ski / snowboard load through.
Finished bluetooth retrofit
Put winter whees/tyres on.
Great day - one my X5 even more now!

Today I drove her hard around town, filled up the screenwashreservoir, put some air in the 22" summerset (which dropped 8 psi in 2 months while stacked for winter in the shed), oiled the driverside lock and cleaned the inside a bit.

Last week i replaced the driverside doorlock-mechanism and the heater final stage resistor (that one didnt help the intermediate fan-sound i think i'm hearing when the heater is on and goes away when heater is off but fan is still turning slowly :confused:.... still investigating that one), replaced parkinglights and interior domelights with LED's.

A good day with the X!

Replaced both front upper control arm bushings
Replaced both front lower control arms
Replaced intake boot

^hopefully did the lower ball joint while you were at it.