[yjsaabman]

So last weekend a buddy and I flew out to St Louis to pick up my latest Touring. After having 2 pre-facelift titanium silver cars taken away from me by other drivers, I searched for weeks to find my next one and tried to stack the deck as much in my favor as possible. I located it through the Tourings for sale thread here on Fanatics, and couldn't be happier! Grey Green metallic over sand leatherette, 2003, rwd, 5 speed with sport, preium, and cold weather packages. It has 114,000 miles after the 1100 mile trip back home, and came with a binder full of maintenance history including the original window sticker, customer order sheet, and European delivery paperwork. It also came equipped with an H&R touring cup kit, 18" ASA wheels, and a Racing Dynamics rear muffler section. It needs a few little things addressed, but gave us an uneventful trip home. I'll update as I add a few things to make it mine, but here's a pic of it as I recieved it.

 

[flipwils11]

Congrats! Nice to see the tourings for sale thread is helping people out. I like the mint green.

 

[yjsaabman]

Congrats! Nice to see the tourings for sale thread is helping people out. I like the mint green.

Lol! That's what my one buddy calls it, too. He's dubbed it the "Mint Green Machine."

I also have to say that this one is by far the nicest one I've owned. Hopefully it will stay in my possession for a while.

 

[Robotpants]

I love those wheels on the e46 wagon. Nice find. Cool color too.

 

[avincent52]

Welcome to the club and a great car. I almost bought a Touring in that color, but it hit the market just after my wife had bought her Acura TSX with the insurance settlement.
I got my Topaz Touring at right around that same mileage, and I did a bunch of PR including the cooling system, DISA and VANOS, VCG, and fuel pump.

Anyway, enjoy it.

 

[razkole]

Congrats man. Car looks great gotta have those maintained records!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tailendcharlie]

Looks like a great car....one of the nicest I've seen for quite a while!

 

[Cincykyle]

Congratulations! That color is pretty cool!

 

[Solidjake]

Congrats man!

You should get a custom plate saying 'TIC TAC" :rofl:

 

[yjsaabman]

Well, I've determined this car definitely needs some coding done. I absolutely hate the rain sensor! What is the point of intermittent wipers if the sensor is going to override them? It should have an auto setting, like the headlights. I may also turn the park assist off, and would like to turn the one touch unlock on. Time to do some research!

 

[VpointVick]

The only time that I've disliked the auto wipers is when I drove my car home when I bought it. 15 hours, mostly light rain, and worn out wiper blades meant that I had to listen to that characteristic squeaking way more often than I would have liked. Put new blades on it as soon as I got home though and I've loved it since.

 

[elbert]

Well, I've determined this car definitely needs some coding done. I absolutely hate the rain sensor! What is the point of intermittent wipers if the sensor is going to override them? It should have an auto setting, like the headlights.

I think the rain sensor is one of the best features, especially in that misty rain mixed with road spray. Having to constantly adjust the wiper speed is annoying.

The dial is to adjust sensitivity, it is not intermittent timing adjustment.
If the sensor isn't working properly, clean your windshield with a good glass cleaner. It might look clean, but it probably isn't.

The reason for not having wipers completely automatic is the number of idiots out there. For example, if someone took their car to a car wash and the wipers start going, they can get damaged.

 

[yjsaabman]

Some of it may be that my car has an aftermarket windshield. I'll play with things a little more, but if what would be lowest intermittent setting is lowest sensitivity, then it's getting coded out. Was driving home in what was really no more than the borderline between fog and mist and it had the wipers on low speed. I also tend to keep a good coating of RainX on my windshield, which makes the wipers even less used because they annoy me going across my field of view.

 

[elbert]

Some of it may be that my car has an aftermarket windshield. I'll play with things a little more, but if what would be lowest intermittent setting is lowest sensitivity, then it's getting coded out. Was driving home in what was really no more than the borderline between fog and mist and it had the wipers on low speed. I also tend to keep a good coating of RainX on my windshield, which makes the wipers even less used because they annoy me going across my field of view.

Yeah, that aftermarket windshield is probably the culprit.
Do a really good job cleaning off the RainX over the sensor. The light fog that gets left behind can screw with the sensor too.

Been there before. When that rain sensor doesn't work, I completely agree it gets super annoying. But when it works, it works great, and I miss it when going to cars without one.

 

[VpointVick]

That RainX application may screw the sensor up entirely, not sure though. Just based on my knowledge of the way that it works.

<---Hates RainX

 

[deathplayschess]

Glad you like the car! It served me well and I'm happy to see it go to an enthusiast.

 

[yjsaabman]

Glad you like the car! It served me well and I'm happy to see it go to an enthusiast.

Thanks for making the buying process go smoothly. It is in good hands and will continue to be well loved and cared for. Of the 3 tourings I've owned this one is definitely the nicest and was worth the trip to retrieve!

 

[yjsaabman]

Diagnosed a few minor issues today. The first was a low coolant light that had been coming and going, level was low and it's been leaking out around a low quality cap. Topped up the fluid and will grab the OE cap from my wrecked 01 tomorrow until I can get a new one.

Also finally got the car up in the air to give it a quick once over. The car is super dry on the underside, which is fabulous. Found the cause of the minor front end shimmy, both outer ball joints have some play in them. I also found a some play in the LF swaybar link. No big deal, my wrecked car has all components on it to replace the worn ones. Should get to swapping them all out next weekend.

Also noticed a difference between the cup kits. Not sure if one is the Sport while one is the Touring series, but the new car has different color springs. It may just be a difference in the age of the kits, as they both seem to sit at the same height and have similar ride quality.

I also added some cosmetic goodies to my Amazon wish list for the upcoming holiday to help me personalize it.

 

[yjsaabman]

Coolant leak is fixed, it was actually the upper radiator hose leaking where the rubber hose is clamped to the fitting at the expansion tank. Had a spare, used hose in my parts hoard, new upper and lower hoses ordered.

Been trying to decide what to do with the front bumper. I'm not a huge fan of the facelift bumper and it needs some love, so I've been trying to decide between the Mtech 2 and the M3 replica from Khoalty. My last touring had the Mtech, and I see it a lot. It certainly doesn't look bad, I'm just not sure it's what I want. OTH the M3 rep isn't as simple an install, but I like the styling and that it's a bit different. The ACS lip isn't a bad look, but not as easy to find or as inexpensive as the Khoalty options. No rush, and I'm open to input.

 

[UncleShrek]

Csl...