Month: December 2022

NEW PROJECT – Auction BMW i3

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Hey Guys and welcome back to my new problem aka an auction bought BMW I3 with a broken side window, gross interior, no key and many other issues! In this video I will go over the reasons why I bought it, the very difficult process of getting a car delivered that doesn’t run and I will show you what it looks like before I start working on it.

Car History:

Before we get into why I wanted a BMW I3, let’s talk about a little bit of history and what makes it special. Anyway, the BMW I3 is very unique in the BMW world and even other brand line ups as it was specifically designed to be an electric city vehicle. The designers and engineers had lots of freedom on what they could do with it and that’s why it has such unique looks, specs and options. The i3 is a rear-wheel drive BMW hatchback that’s made out of carbon fiber which is incredibly light and yet also incredibly stiff. This car weighs only a little over 3000 pounds including the Range Extender which is 500 pounds lighter than the Nissan Leaf. It has a small foot print, but also a lot of interior space that you would just not expect from a small car like this. For what it is, it’s a surprisingly nimble, agile and fun to drive at low speeds. It doesn’t confine to a set of predefined rules on the inside either as you can see exposed carbon fiber reinforced plastics, lots of  sustainable materials and revolutionary design that many modern cars are now copying into their own models. Don’t get me wrong, there are many negatives about this car and I will make a video to talk about those in the future, but for now.. let’s talk about why I bought this BMW I3.

Why I bought it:

Of course, this isn’t the fastest or longest-range EV you can buy, but there is something about it that I always found very interesting. Not only is it very unique and quirky, but it also breaks the BMW standards that I’m so used to and I wanted to see how it feels to experience that. I’ve always liked small, fun cars and that’s why I’ve had the Mini Cooper S, the Fiat Abarth and current daily a BMW Z4. This BMW I3 perfectly fits my curiosity and now that the depreciation has done its job, I can comfortably get a project like this. Even if you were to buy one that’s in perfect condition, you can easily get it for under $20k. Of course, that isn’t cheap, but considering these sold for about $50k when new, you are getting a bargain. I got this car at auction, without a key and not knowing if it will run or even start, so I got it for less than half of what you would expect to pay for it  retail. So, in my case, it’s a $50k car that I got for cheap. Yes, I said cheap and I know people will complain that I call this car cheap, just like I had complaints on my Mini Cooper S video, but IT IS a cheap car that offers pretty cool features for the price. Of course, it was expensive when new and maintenance on these cars will be that of an expensive vehicle, but if you are willing to accept an example like I got here and do some work yourself, it is very affordable.

Another reason I wanted to get the I3 is because they are no longer selling these new! BMW has switched their concentration to the new generation of electric vehicles with the funny grills and larger SUV sizes. To each its own, but I prefer the quirky looking BMW i3 to the ‘look-at-me and my face’ BMW iX and i4. The i3 is also unique in that it has a gas generator on the rear axle and I don’t think we will see many new cars sporting this option. I find it fascinating in how it works and possibility of adding range. We’ll talk more about how cool that is in the future.

My next reason for getting this BMW I3 is that it gives me an opportunity to learn something I have no experience with. It allows me to try and experience something I haven’t had a chance to play with before. I’m also excited to see what kind of modding or ‘hacking’ possibilities an electric vehicle opens up for me and what I can learn in the process. From minimal research, I know I can increase it’s range by just coding in a larger capacity fuel tank. What else can do with simple coding? Can I increase acceleration or power output or something else like? We will find out together in future videos! That’s what makes it an interesting project for me, it’s an opportunity to learn and educate myself on something I’m not familiar with and just have fun with it!

Buying Car without a key:

Before I finish up this video, I wanted to share my experience of buying an auction car without a key and why you should avoid it if possible! I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal as I’ve purchased a car without a key before. You go to the dealer, show proof of ownership and a couple days later they hand you a key. That’s exactly what I did this time as well. However, due to chip shortage, the key was on backorder without a set date and now I had to receive the car without the key. The problem is that on this BMW I3 it is impossible to put it in neutral if you do not have a key. This may not be a problem on older cars or even many other modern cars where you can force it into neutral in some way, but on this car, you must have a key. This meant when the 18-wheeler showed up, I had to figure out how to pull it off the truck. I had to attach the i3 to my BMW Z4, chock the wheels and have the truck driver slowly drive forward dragging the car off. After that ordeal, I still had to use my rear-wheel-drive convertible to pull the car onto the driveway with the rear wheels completely locked up on the I3. So, unless you are willing to deal with this kind of delivery and hassle, avoid getting a car without a key!

Current State:

Before I finish this video, I wanted to just show you around the car and see what kind of state it came in. It was hard to tell from auction pictures what the interior looked like, but I was not expecting THIS. I was shocked when I first opened the door, to be perfectly honest.

Conclusion:

I plan on fully recommissioning this BMW i3, so subscribe to see my next video where I will show everything that’s wrong with this car,  my plan on how I will fix all the issues and how I will get it back on the road. Of course, after everything is fixed and the car is drivable and isn’t gross, I will do all of the maintenance items on it and then start modifying it to my liking. I already have a new bigger display, CarPlay  and lots of filters and oils on the way, I’m looking for better wheels and I will most likely wrap the exterior of the car in a fun color or maybe even some graphics. I’d love to hear your suggestions as I build my plan for this car and we turn it into a fun grocery getter or even more! Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.

BMW Z4 Reverse Camera Install – Aftermarket Backup Camera DIY

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Hey Guys and welcome back to the SimpleCarGuy channel. Today, I will show you how I installed a reverse camera on my BMW Z4. You can apply this method to any vehicle that has an aftermarket head unit as long as it supports backup cameras. If you’d like to see how I installed the head unit in this Z4, click the link in the top right corner. There are, of course, a few ways to do this, some easier than others, but here goes how I did it. Hope you enjoy.

Since I don’t want to drill a hole in my bumper, I started by modifying the bracket to fit my preferred camera. You want to get this done first and make sure it fits well as making changes after you run the wire will be a lot harder.

Here is when the simple project got just a little more complicated. After connecting the power wires of the camera to the reverse lights on the car, the camera would not power on. I assume this car limits the power sent to the reverse light and it’s not enough to power the camera. Solution here is to install a relay that gets triggered by the reverse light and then sends power to the camera directly from the battery. The relay I ordered also included a fuse, so now we have a much safer, fused installation.

So, here is how I wired it. The red wire on the relay connects to the positive terminal on the battery, the blue wire connects to the positive wire of the camera. Then the blue and black striped wire on the reverse light connector connects to the white wire on the relay and black goes to ground. This means when the reverse lights are on the white wire will turn on the relay which then will connect the camera to the battery over the fuse. I hope that makes sense. I do a visual explanation later in the video if that helps!

I decided to add crimp connectors to pretty much every connection that I made on this install. I like it because you can easily disconnect at any point if needed.

So, here is how it actually works from within the car. It’s very simple to use and that’s the entire idea. All you have to do is put the car in reverse and it will automatically switch to the correct app on the Head Unit and power up the camera in the back. The lines move with the steering wheel, which is great and the quality isn’t too bad for an analog camera. So, was it worth all the work that went into it? Honestly, a camera isn’t really needed in a small car like this and it was a lot of effort, but I like tinkering with my cars and I enjoyed doing some wiring.  If you have any questions or concerns, leave your comments below, like the video if you found it useful and I’ll see you in the next one.

Top 10 Useful Lexus RC Hidden Features

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Top 10 Useful Lexus RC Hidden Features

Intro:

Hi guys and welcome back to the SimpleCarGuy channel. Today we will talk about some hidden features, tips and tricks and things you may not have known about the Lexus RC range!

If you have been driving a Lexus for years, I’m sure you already know most of these and I’d love to hear some I haven’t mentioned in the comments down below. If you are new to the brand, stick around and I hope you enjoy the video.

Things you didn’t know:

Chassis Construction:

The Lexus RC is a little bit of an assortment of parts, but in the best way possible. It borrows it’s front subframe from the larger GS, midsection from the old IS250 convertible and the rear section comes from the 3rd gen IS. This makes for a great handling car that has a shorter wheelbase than the IS, but the body is just as long. To be clear, I know this is a unibody car and there isn’t a chassis as such.

Moving Instrument Cluster:

The first thing you notice on this car as soon as you start it up is how cool the dashboard is. I love mechanical things and this makes me very happy in how it moves so mechanically but yet so modern at the same time.

The Roof Panel:

Next is the roof. The roof panel on the RC range is not traditionally welded or clued on like on many other cars, its actually laser welded using a laser brazing technique to provide better rigidity and eliminate rain channels for a smoother appearance.

Vortex Emulators:

Speaking of smoother appearance, this car has these little fins all over called the vortex emulators that create a spiraling vortex or cone of air to reduce drag. It does this  by lowering the levels of adhesion as air leave the body. Very cool!

RC stands for radical coupe:

[Point to emblem] Now this is something I just learned recently when starting to read about this car. The RC in RC300 stands for Radical Coupe.

Rear Seats:

Actually usable. I can easily go in and out and can be lowered almost flat.

Hidden Features:

Mirror Tilt:

A not so obvious but useful features on the RC is the mirror adjustments. Of course, you can normally adjust your mirrors, but what if you don’t like how they behave when you are in reverse. Luckily, Lexus allows you to change how far the mirror goes down when in reverse. Once in reverse, simply select the mirror you would like to adjust and the next time you put the car in reverse, it will be set to where you want them.

Traction Control:

You can fully disable the traction control and on the F cars put it in track mode by selecting sport plus mode and then holding the traction button until the dash lights up.

MODE button:

Want to turn off the stereo without taking your hands off the steering wheel? Simply hold the MODE button and the radio will turb of fin a few seconds. You can use it to turn it back on again as well.

Extra Tilt:

Tap the steering wheel tilt button 4 times in any direction and it will give you more tilt; it works after the tilt is at its max and gives it more tilt. Hopefully, that makes sense.

When you’re moving your power adjustable steering wheel down and it stops, don’t give up, you can actually lower it farther. After the steering wheel stops, continue holding the down button for six seconds. Push it down again, and the steering wheel should go even lower.

Physical Key:

You can pull out the physical key and open the door behind the handle.

Lower Windows and Sunroof with Key:

Your key can also lower all windows, open the sunroof and start the engine on some cars IF you ask your dealer nicely to unlock that feature for you. Press the lock button 3 times and hold on 3rd  press for 5 seconds to start the engine and if you do the same combo but with the unlock button it will lower all windows open the sunroof.

Rev Matching/Downshift Blip:

Sun visor:

 Telescoping sunvisor

Conclusion:

I’ll be honest, I was surprised that I was able to find any hidden features on a Lexus as these are more known for making awesome daily drivers with the comfort and reliability that’s unmatched in this space. Luckily there were a few interesting ones to mention and I hope you enjoyed learning with me. I’d love to hear from the owners, I know there aren’t that many of you and see what you have to see. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one!

BMW Z4 Aftermarket Apple CarPlay Retrofit – Full Installation DIY

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After upgrading the speakers and subwoofers in my BMW Z4, it’s now time to modernize the infotainment system even further by installing an aftermarket Apple CarPlay and Android Auto unit with a BMW style controller. My Z4 came with a storage box instead of the screen, so I couldn’t do what I did in my BMW 550 and just add an interface to the existing screen. Anyway, let’s take the car apart and get this installed!

Last generation BMW Z4 (e89) never offered Apple CarPlay or Android Auto and most didn’t even have a screen fitted. My Z4 is a perfect example as it doesn’t have any kind of display and came with a storage box instead. So, in this video I go through each step of installing an aftermarket Android unit that offers CarPlay and AndroidAuto. This unit also displays vehicle information when the car is running. Even though this head unit is touchscreen, I decided to add optional controller to make it easier to use while driving. This unit can be installed on any BMW Z4 E89 that doesn’t have a display or you are willing to replace the original CiC unit.

I have now wirelessly connected my phone to the Apple CarPlay and played with it for a little bit. CarPlay works as you would expect and connects automatically. Of course, you can also use it without connecting your phone and still have music, navigation and car data. This unit pulls this data from the car computer and can show you speed, revs, mileage, temperature and other data in various screens. Anyway, this concludes the install video, subscribe to the channel to see the follow up video for a quick review of the unit after I use it for a couple of weeks. Also, if you have any questions about the install or the unit, leave those down below and I will answer them in the same video. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.

Lexus RC is the Most Niche Lexus Ever and YOU Should Buy One!

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Intro:

I’m the SimpleCarGuy and this is a Lexus RC300 F Sport. Let’s talk about why this is such a niche car, why it’s not more popular and why you should you look into getting one.
History:

Let’s start with a little bit of background and history. The RC is a little bit of a Frankenstein when it comes to its creation and construction. The front subframe was borrowed from the larger GS car, the mid-section was borrowed from the old IS250 convertible and it shares the rear section with the 3rd generation Lexus IS. All of this adds up to a shorter wheelbase but same length car as the IS that handles wonderfully. Surprisingly, you can pick almost any engine you can think of for this type of car. You can have a fuel-efficient hybrid, a 4 or 6 cylinder and even a naturally aspirated V8 in the RCF.

Why It’s Niche/Unique

So, what makes this car unique? Well, look at this spaceship like instrument cluster! This is so much cooler than a fully digital dash on modern cars. Anyway… the biggest factor that makes this car unique is actually the styling. Love it or hate it, it’s definitely not dull like a lot of other pedestrian Lexus vehicles on the market. Most people love how it looks and you will even catch people starring or complimenting it. I especially like the RCF and the F Sport styling that gives the car a more aggressive look. Of course, not everyone agrees with me on this and there are plenty of people that absolutely hate how this car looks. Honestly, I’m not really sure why, the only styling decision that I think looks funny on this car is the wheel gap. That’s just too much gap for a sports car and it would look much nicer lowered an inch or two.

Either way you look at it, it’s most definitely rare on the road and you will get attention. I live in the Chicago area and I don’t think I see more than one a month driving around. So, if your goal is to stand out from a sea of BMWs and Mercedes and be your own king of the road, this might be a great option for you.

What else makes this car unique is that it makes for a decent daily driver. It may not have as much space as the 4 door IS, but it’s much more versatile than it may first appear. Front passengers get to enjoy plenty of leg space, very comfortable sport seats and great ergonomics. The rear seats fold down creating a large trunk space where you can fit large suit cases, skis or snowboards and whatever else you may need. Of course, this isn’t a family car, but if it’s just you and your significant other at home, it will make for a great daily driver.

Not more popular:

Now, there are a lot of reasons why this car is not more popular and hasn’t sold in the millions, so let’s talk about those.

To start with, this is a heavy car. I don’t mean it’s just a little but heavy, it’s heavier than a lot of 4 door luxury sedans and unfortunately, that also means that it’s not as fast as it’s competition. Coming in at almost 4000 pounds, it cannot complete when it comes to performance with others in the segment. It also doesn’t help that it’s more expensive than the competition and lacks aftermarket power modifications. We’ll talk more about performance and reliability in just a minute.

Another reason the Lexus RC is not more popular is because Lexus makes some really good-looking sedans and SUVs that are just as fast and even use the same engines as the RC range. Lexus is a luxury brand that tried adding performance to its lineup and change the perception where no one really thinks of Lexus when thinking of a 2-door coupe. Lacking the most modern and up-to-date technology doesn’t help attract younger buyers either.

On top of that, the sales of sedans and coupes are down because everyone wants a truck or SUV. There is a market for a small, fun, lightweight stick shift weekend car but generally that’s geared towards the younger crowd with no family or kids and usually no money. I’m sure Lexus sees no reason to chase a diminishing market which is proven by the lack of advertisement. Lexus isn’t really known for doing a great job advertising their performance models and it’s no different with the RC range.

Performance vs Reliability:

So, if you aren’t getting the latest tech or fastest 0-60, what are you actually getting? What you get is very high quality, comfort and super reliability in a fun package. Lexus doesn’t use the latest tech until it is proven to be reliable and useful to the owners. Lexus doesn’t use latest engine tech until it is proven to withstand time and stay reliable way past the warranty periods. Lexus simply will not put anything in their car that they aren’t 100% sure about.

Aftermarket parts that are readily available for other brands are limited and expensive, so making it faster on your own isn’t very easy. Outside of enthusiasts, most people are looking for instant gratification and it may not be something that Lexus RC can deliver.

Conclusion:

With all of that said, I think Lexus RC is one of the coolest, most fun and interesting cars produced by Lexus and I’ll be said to see it go as it’s being discontinued in different parts of the world and soon people will realize what they have been missing. Now is the perfect time to go and find one for yourself despite what car nerds think about its performance. It’s all relative to your expectations and since some models are making 300 and more horsepower, it may meet your needs very well. Even thought there were pricey when they came out, you can now get all that comfort, luxury, sportiness and most importantly reliability for a very decent price. I believe these will become even cooler over time even if they don’t have a convertible version like I always wanted. On that note, thank you guys so much for watching, let me know what you think of the Lexus RC range in the comments down below and I’ll see you in the next one!

BMW Z4 Full Speaker Upgrade DIY

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Have you ever felt like your stock speakers are just not good enough or you wanted more quality and bass? In this DIY video, I go over each step of installing and upgrading the dashboard speaker, the rear panel midrange speakers, the door speakers and tweeters and even the woofers behind the seats on my BMW Z4 (e89). The speakers and woofers I’m installing are AlphaOne by BimmerTech and I have been very impressed with the quality of the speakers, the sound they produce and even the packaging that they came in. All of the bracketary, adaptors and crossovers were included as well which made for an easy sound system upgrade. BMW Z4 speaker upgrade has been the best modifications I’ve done to the car so far!

My BMW Z4 (E89) came with the HiFi system (S676A), with included the following speakers:

5 x Midranges

2 x Tweeters

2 x Woofers

but you can also find the following sound systems on the E89 platform:

Base System:

4 x Midranges

2 x Tweeters

Top HiFi (S677A):

5 x Midranges

3 x Tweeters

2 x Woofers

1 x DSP Processor