The trip counter on this car stands at 66,284km. For a 20-year-old car that’s peanuts, and probably explains why the bodywork and interior is in such good condition.
The red leather seats look as if they’ve hardly ever been sat on. You’d guess that this little Beemer has been doted on by one very, very careful owner. That’s only half the story, however. It has only had one owner, but far from nurturing this car, they did everything they could to destroy it.
That owner is the US oil company Mobil. In 1990 it bought this BMW 325i, with its state-of-the-art 2.5 liter in-line 6-cylinder engine, and decided to drive 1.6 million kilometers in it.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. They didn’t drive anywhere in it. They didn’t even leave the garage. They stuck it on a rolling road — the vehicle equivalent of a hamster wheel — fitted it to a never-ending fuel tank, stuck the throttle at 136kph and kept it running, day and night, for four years. It’s enough to turn your green heart black.
Mobil didn’t totally deprive the car of love. They followed all BMW’s recommended service and oil-change schedules. After 1.6 million kilometers on the treadmill, the car’s power plant was taken apart by mechanics, who were astonished to discover that engine wear was negligible and still within factory specifications for a new car.
BMW were understandably thrilled that their product was so durable. Mobil, too, were thrilled, as they saw it as proof-positive of the life-enhancing benefits of their synthetic oil products.
To help raise awareness of the importance of checking your engine’s oil levels, the 1.6 million kilometer motor has been unshackled from its rolling road and given its head on the open road. It’s estimated that half of us never check the oil level of our car. In fact, most of us would probably be hard-pressed to even find the dipstick, yet this 60-second check could save you a fortune in repairs.
Of course, the oil and BMW’s genius explain why the engine is in such good shape, but it’s the fact that the car has barely seen the light of day that explains why the body and interior work is almost perfect. If it had endured two decades of street life there’d have been many more scars to boast about.
The modern equivalent of this car would cost you up to £30,000 (US$48,000), but in its day this 325i was the height of refinement. It has an onboard computer, airbags, cruise control and a decent stereo, but a drive in it today on a motorway feels charmingly basic.
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
Floods on Sunday trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain as torrential rain drenched the northeastern Catalonia region, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Local media shared videos of roaring torrents of brown water tearing through streets and submerging vehicles. National weather agency AEMET decreed the highest red alert in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180mm of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro River delta. Catalan fire service spokesman Oriol Corbella told reporters people had been caught by surprise, with people trapped “inside vehicles, in buildings, on ground floors.” Santa Barbara Mayor Josep Lluis
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
SANCTIONS: Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Therese Kayikwamba Wagner called on the EU to tighten sanctions against Rwanda during an event in Brussels The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has accused the EU of “an obvious double standard” for maintaining a minerals deal with Rwanda to supply Europe’s high-tech industries when it deployed a far-wider sanctions regime in response to the war in Ukraine. Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Therese Kayikwamba Wagner urged the EU to levy much stronger sanctions against Rwanda, which has fueled the conflict in the eastern DR Congo, describing the bloc’s response to breaches of the DR Congo’s territory as “very timid.” Referencing the EU’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she said: “It is an obvious double standard
RSS