Other brands forum attitudes

Been away from here for a while, life getting in the way as always. In the meantime, I've been messing around with a 2012 BMW (sorry for swearing) 330d. Really nice car actually, but obviously the most important thing for me is what can I retrofit, which lead to quite a bit of forum reading

I know I'm a bit biased comparing anything to how good/helpful ClubGTi, but some of the BMW forums are catastrophically bad. Probably about 1 in 10 threads has some kind of insult/lack of social intelligence that causes the entire thing to devolve into "who can insult who's mum the post". And then even the useful thread's, it seems everyone does the minimum and applies no logic. Coding is mainly in German for example, I'd try translating it first to see where that get's me, not a BMW forum, blind questions followed by no answers.
And finally, I think the attitude for people to try new things just isn't there. Obviously all of things we modify (software and hardware) are by people just trying things out and seeing what works and what doesn't. But I see loads of threads where the top reply is "Not possible". Dynamic Anti Roll is my favourite, if you can fit power steering to a MK2, you can fit Dynamic Anti Roll to a BMW, to be honest it might even be cheaper to do at this point. Power tailgate is another one, super easy retrofit with minimal info on it.

It seems that if it isn't a headlight change to LCI, iDrive retrofit, or some overprice billet parts you're on your own.

Don't get me wrong, there is some cool stuff out there, and I know I'm probably seeing the worst of it but, I don't know whether its the brand, the newer cars, or the type of people but generally I would say the VW forums are a much safer + more adventurous place.

Thanks for reading my musings

 

Must be a newer car thing, I've found loads of information, threads, help etc in relation to my e39 and e30.

 

I've had the same on several VW forums.
It's all depending on who's on the forum, how old the cars are etc.

Most recently I have posted an introduction doppelwobber, the biggest German forum I guess?
Nice introduction in the "My Car" section, FIA Group H built car, pictures, history etc. My German is OK so all in decently readable German.
No reply. Not one, since October last year.

 

Was on the clio forum years ago, just seemed a keyboard fist fight on there, gradually going downhill until it usually ended with someone posting a picture of what they did in the toilet, seriously, and I don't mean some nice tiling and grouting.
Mgf one on Facebook is actually one reason that I left social media,
Polo forum I was on had the 'Why??' Attitude, whereas myself and everyone on here are more "Why not?" Which is fantastic.
Don't we all want to keep a car going? Adopt and adapt etc,
And I'm afraid a lot have folded, which is a shame as the knowledge lost is saddening.
But, when I had my e91 2011 3series touring I found US forums quite helpful, thought of fitting the satnav stuff, could get kits that you modify the dash top, rather than swap completely.
And reverse mirror drop on the passenger side, quite a few bits that could be coded from memory.
Unfortunately I found mine a lovely car to look at, but it wasn't one for me, so didn't get everything done that I wanted on it.

 

The older the car the more likely you are to get sensible people on forums. My old Porsche forum for 74-89 cars was brilliant, this forum is brilliant and the two forums for my BM are very very good. However, the BM forums are a little quiet which I think is down to the low number of cars, especially the uk one. The US one is good with lots of info. It’s not like VW though, the amount of modification and “out there” thinking is limited. The people are great though.
I can’t bear Pistonheads or any of the mid modern Ford forums, they are awful.

 

Fully agree re: older car forums and those that frequent them. There are a far more civilised platform and you don't get a keyboard in the face everytime you ask a question.

 

I reckon it's because it is a newer car and there are still lots of owners who have no idea which end to hold a wrench, let alone enter into the complexities of modern electronics, so they just fob you off to get their post count higher.

 

Trust me there are VW groups just as bad.

Try the T5 groups or the some of the MQB guys. If it does not fit like an Ikea pack, then it cannot work.

The thing is, lots of folks here, have been either here for a long time or are too old to give a toss about some newbee's finnanced whip, with a brand new billet cam cover on finance, if said part is only there to gain attention.

 

When I had my last BMW I was on a US forum,some of the guys on there were really rude and in some cases downright nasty,the term "newbie" to many on there meant you were a total clown from the on set regardless of your skills ,experience and ownership history.
Best thing was that I sold the E39 (it was a dog ) and the other good thing was I no longer had to go on there.
This forum is IMO a pleasure to be on .

 

I'm not even sure what LCI means; Low Cost Initiative, Liquid Crystal Indicator, or what?

Hang on, Low Carbon Initiative?

I can't abide modern f**ds, to be frank, even though my da worked at the Swansea plant for 20 years. I gave up on the 'blue ellipse' after the '95 escort face-lift, with everything that possibly could be teased into the shape of that badge. In fact, the prospect of having one of these as a company car (which would have been the third 90's escort I'd been issued) was a minor consideration in changing jobs.

Did you tell them it was a dog (or 'lemon', if they were yankees), and they could shove their opinions?

 

Nah it just became a dog as everything broke,the local tow/salvage guy knew were to take it without being told,it had issues with o2 sensors,ignition coils,fuel tank level sensors,Vanos,oil seperator,crank position sensor,plastic waterpipe parts,broken door handles and window switches...I could go on forever honest.
A beautiful car with great options as I bought it from an employee of our countries largest BMW dealership up north,as they say "pretty face don't mean a good heart " very fitting for this car.
Like the comment about shoving their opinions...well here is the story,replied to the rude comments with a polite factual info and got flamed by the "key players" on that as appears that was wrong ???,reality many knew little and just repeated info from other post replies or rubbish info from Google or said I just take it to the dealership for repair.
I think my point is keep it nice or don't reply,if you have had a few drinks leave it still the next day,if you are having homelife issues sort that out before replying,appears many US sites members don't think about that.
I jumped off US Pelican Parts forums for my Porsche questions and went to 914 World,real nice bunch of members on there and just like members on here...many rust bucket cars turned from crap to diamonds by DIY guys like me,pretty cool realy

 

@watercooled you should try DDK online if you haven’t already

 

Try the Facebook groups if you want to find the real wallies of this world. There's one bloke on the mk2 owners club FB who must drive the most amazing MK2 in the world as literally every post anyone makes about thier own car or parts he pops up with some sly dig at it. Probably still lamenting the fact that his wife left him so therefore hates the world.

 

I caved in and joined Facebook a year or two ago... account was inexplicably deleted after a few days for being 'fake'!

Even in that short time it convinced me I wasn't missing much, haven't been back since.

 

I'm with you on Facebook I thought it was a waste of time checked out very quickly and not been back.

 

I like my Fords as affordable work-horses (the Focus made it to 275K, the Fiesta just purrs along and the Kuga is a nice towing car) but the forums seem really shallow in terms of the depth of knowledge. I've got software for coding in components but getting detailed info eg adding cruise control - what parts from what cars will I need? I might as well be asking them how to fix the Hubble telescope!

I have been utterly spoiled by this place

 

All this talk of Facebook got me curious again and signed up one more time.

Tried to join a few groups but I'm being totally blanked by them... not a good start, maybe I should quit now while I'm ahead!

 

Without a shadow of a doubt - in military aviation parlance "Eject, Eject, Eject!!"

 

The only reason I am on the Facebook is for parts, they are usually good value and certainly cheaper than eBay.
The two groups I use arehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/230231787160153/?ref=share