Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Right to servicing, right away

Word on the street is the Mazda MX-5 Miata comes out of the factory just sort of aligned. The suspension geometry is within a wide specified threshold, but nothing is precise set and matching. The front wheels can have zero degrees of camber and it would be considered satisfactory. This is kind of surprising because such a lightweight sports car is very sensitive to differing geometry. You’d think Mazda would want to set it down perfectly so that potential buyers experience the optimum setup on the test drive.

It’s very unusual to take your brand new car in for an alignment service. Typically you do so after a few years’ worth of mileage. Even the ultra meticulous Porsche owners don’t take their 911 right to a suspension shop from the dealership. Nevertheless, I booked my 2026 MX-5 with a local performance shop to do the alignment, and realized two things.

One is the issue of the manual transmission. With less and less cars being fitted with a manual, you’ve got a generation of people who has never interacted with an H-pattern gear lever. These same people now work in automotive shops. You bring your rare manual gearbox car to a tire place, and it’s very possible that none of the staff there can move it onto the ramps. You wouldn’t know any better until you pick up the car and immediately wonder why it smells so much of burned clutch material.

This is why when I fitted a secondary set of wheels onto my Miata, I transported the wheels and tires separately to America’s Tire. Whatever I can to avoid trusting another person to drive the manual.

But it’s likely not possible to avoid it forever. What if there’s a manufacture recall? Outside of a Porsche dealership, I personally am not confident another brand of dealer will for sure have someone who knows how to drive stick shift. Even for Mazda, a brand that sells the most iconic manual roadster of all time.

The second realization is: you ever noticed most automotive service shops are not open on the weekends? I am super fortunate to have a job where I can call out for a few hours to take my cars in for servicing - whilst still getting paid. Krista the barista at the local coffee joint can probably call out too, but during those hours she is not getting paid. It’s a sort self perpetuating hole the working class finds themselves in. They can’t afford a brand new car - less chances of something going wrong, but they also cannot afford to take time off to service their used cars.

“Just buy used and take care of it” is not as easy in reality as it is pithily said. The very people that can use that advice often cannot do so because none of the service shops are open on the weekends.

My local America’s Tire is open on Saturdays, but you should see the absolute humanity that crushes into the store for those precious weekend hours.

Marketing on Youtube

A pain point for us car guys is finding a trustworthy shop. Now obviously the dealership is the prime option. And if they screw up, you can always complain to the manufacturer. But for those of us not made of money, we’d like something a little less costly. After the initial warranty period is over, of course.

I think a good way for auto shops to advertise their quality is to start a Youtube channel. Putting it on video will show potential customers what to expect. Are the mechanics knowledgeable? Are jobs done in a timely manner? Is there excellent attention to detail? Think of it as marketing cost. Pay an intern minimum wage to produce videos. The cinematography doesn’t matter as much as being able to show what the shop is capable of.

For example: after watching a few videos of Tyrrell’s Classic Workshop, I can judge the quality of their work to be the highest. If in another multiverse I was endowed with the monetary ability to buy expensive classic cars, I would readily commission Iain Tyrrell Classic Cars to perform maintenance work.

With my BMW M2 nearing its end of dealership service plans (first three years were free, then I bought two more years), I will be looking for an independent shop to continue the car’s maintenance sometime next year. In lieu of running into a local BMW shop’s Youtube videos on the algorithm, I will have to troll the BMW forums on where the local owners prefer to take their cars to.

Ideally, I would have the space and do the maintenance myself. However, as we know, none of us live in the ideal world.

Waning enthusiasm

I guess gas prices (in the San Francisco Bay Area) is just going to stay in the five dollars per gallon threshold? We’re never going to see the number 3 again in front of the decimal point are we? Unless of course we move to other parts of the country where not only do they have cheaper gas than California, but they also have higher octane! (93 versus 91.) If I’m getting reamed in the butt on petrol price, at least give me the best gasoline possible.

It’s a good thing then that I’ve only driven 4,000 miles since the previous September. Paying over $70 to fill up the BMW M2 is so not the business. As much as I like driving, the cost of gas adds up very quickly. At least that is something I can control. The higher insurance premiums that we all received in our last renewals? Nothing I can do about that.

Perhaps my car enthusiasm is waning? I don’t know. I took the M2 in to the dealership for service last week, and I keep thinking what a hassle it is. Even though I’m not removing a single bolt myself, it’s still time out of my day to drive it to the dealership (on the other side of the city). Imagine if I didn’t own a car at all - how much simpler it would be. No gas price shocks, no insurance premiums, no maintenance costs, no worries about parking it somewhere and risking some asshole damaging the car.

Of course, it’s not tenable to not have a car. I rely too much on Costco trips to fight the ongoing inflation. But I’m thinking maybe I don’t need to own a high-strung sports car. It would be cheaper and less stressful to instead own a car an old man would drive. Something boring, something dead nuts reliable. That can only mean one thing: a Toyota.

Change is the only constant, right? I’ve like cars since I was a kid. Who knows, maybe that enthusiasm does come to an end.

Afford to maintain

My BMW M2 is due for its annual service in September. Good news for me, I already prepaid for this last year. $800 for two annual services seems like a fantastic deal to me, especially so with all the inflation going on.

It would be naive to think the inflation hammer missed the automotive maintenance and repair industry. Apparently, there’s a shortage of skilled mechanics. You know what that means: labor cost is higher to keep the few good ones. Even if parts and material costs remains flat (I see the five quart jug of motor oil I bought back in 2022 is only $3 dearer), the price for an oil change would have certainly increased due to the higher shop rate. Can Jiffy Lube even do $20 oil changes anymore?

It feels like $100 is the new $20.

The average transaction price of a new car is $48,000. Auto insurance premiums have increased about 20% for everybody. Gasoline prices (for 91 octane) have stayed consistently above the five dollar mark this entire year (San Francisco Bay Area). The math of car ownership is quickly becoming a painful one. It’s no wonder people skimp out on vehicle maintenance. A car only needs periodic oils changes, and nothing else, am I right?

Japanese cars have a reliable reputation because they can survive on oil changes alone. German cars have an unreliable reputation because they absolutely cannot. For example: the M2 calls for spark plug changes every three years. Go see how long the engine will last if an owner ignores the book and just changes the oil every year.

I think German cars can be equally reliable as the Japanese, so long as you follow the maintenance manual to the letter. Obviously, that’s going to cost a hearty chunk of money annually. This is why I would hesitate to buy a used German car that doesn’t have a full stack of maintenance invoices matching the book. The only used car I ever bought - the 911 GT3 - had full dealership service records.

I am definitely saving up for future maintenance spend for the M2. It most certainly is going to get more and more expensive.

I want to DIY

Speaking of routine maintenance on my BMW M2. For now, I still take the car to the dealership for servicing. The first three years of that was free - every new BMW sold in America has that perk. Then I prepaid for the following two years of maintenance for about $800.

That may read super expensive to you, the person who takes your car to the local Jiffy Lube for $35 oil changes (perhaps it is much higher these days, what with the rampant inflation going on). But that $800 is for more than just two oil changes. Plus, I get a free rental car from the dealership. It would be nice if they give me one of those sharp-looking BMW X1 SUVs for a test drive…

But I will be in a conundrum after year five of owning the M2. Do I continue to pay dealership prices? Once you start changing out spark plugs and the rear differential fluid (every three years), the invoice gets mighty high. If I remember correctly, it’s about $3,000 to change out a full set of four brake pads and rotors! Good thing I don’t put that many miles on the car…

The dream is to have a small warehouse space when I can do all the servicing myself. A space completely dedicated to the car. Obviously, that doesn’t solve the cost problem that I was just rambling about the paragraph before. In fact, paying rent for a warehouse would surely be more expensive than paying for servicing at the dealership. But at least I can be sure the job is done correctly. The old adage goes: “If you want something done right, you do it yourself.” I would like nothing more than to have the space and tools to maintain my cars properly, with my own hands.

Can you afford it though?

I reckon most people don’t think about the total cost of ownership when it comes to cars. So long as the monthly payment is reasonable, why the hell not! You can absolutely afford that $70,000 truck. I get it: those payments are the consistent, tangible thing on the monthly budget. And if you ever miss payments, the lending bank is coming to take that truck away.

Wouldn’t want that now, would we?

The other costly parts of car ownership shows up not nearly as often. We get to gripe about super high insurance costs only once every six months. State licensing is an annual thing. Maintenance? The typical new car has a few years of free maintenance at the dealership. Unless you drive an F ton of miles, wear items such as tires and brakes get replaced every few years. Out of sight, out of mind, and out of consideration.

Out of the budget, too. How many car owners actually save up money in preparation for that $1,500 tire bill, or $600 major service - after free maintenance expires? (I’m obviously excluding the rich folks who can more than afford to write a random $2,000 check like it’s nothing.) Anecdotally, I’ve seen many people who can’t come up with these sums so suddenly. So they either put it on a credit card, or cheap out on the needed service. “What’s the cheapest set of tires available for this car?”

What then counts as maintenance is taking the car to Walmart for oil changes. That’s it. I’m half convinced the reason certain car brands are unreliable is because of owners not following the specified maintenance procedure precisely. Simply changing the oil every year on a BMW is not going to cut it. On the other hand, a Toyota will still last forever on oil changes alone.

Which is why I have no worries about keeping my BMW M2 past its warranty period. I am going to maintain that car by the book - either with the dealership, or an independent BMW mechanic. And obviously, I’ve budgeted for this. New tires are due this year, and the cost is not going to be a surprise.

Tire check

I’ve been remiss in regularly checking the tire pressure on the BMW M2. Best practice with any car is to maintain tire pressures as dictated by the sticker on the driver-side door jam. (The M2 calls for 35 psi cold at all four corners. Easy.) Almost imperceptible amounts of air leaks out of the tires over time, so it’s important to refill it periodically. Back in my more diligent days, it was once a month check in the morning, when the tires are stone cold.

With the M2 sitting at nearly 18,000 total miles, it was also time to check the tread depth. The BMW comes from the factory fitted with Michelin Pilot Super Sport (PSS) tires. No complaints about these boots: they grip fantastically, and perform reasonably well in the wet. The PSS has a 300 tread-wear rating, which to me means if a driver drives completely like a grandma, the tire should last 30,000 miles.

No chance of that happening in a rear-wheel-drive sports car with 400 horsepower. From what I can gather in the inter-webs, the rear tires on a M2 Competition (or BMW M3/M4, which has the same exact drivetrain) typically lasts from 12,000 to 15,000 miles. (The front tires obviously last longer because all they do is steer.) So I was surprised to find a decent amount of rear tread remaining on my M2.

It seems I drive the car in a performant manner very seldomly. For shame!

I reckon I will have to replace (at least the rear) tires at the end of this year. This BMW M2 is reaching a point in its young life where it’s starting to cost me some money to maintain. The free service (first three years or 30,000 miles) ended last year. The consumables are consuming to the point of needing replacement. This is the point of ownership when car enthusiasts tend trade it in for another new car. We get to drive something different, and it resets the maintenance clock, too (if you will).

But not in this economy! This BMW M2 is my ride-or-die for the foreseeable future.