N54 Community vs Others

[Beemin]

I've created this thread to hear your thoughts on the N54 community as a whole in comparison to other car communities you have been involved in. Pro's, con's, differences, etc.

I've only owned two cars; an e36 and currently an e92 335i. Even though they were both BMW's the communities varied in many ways so I'm curious what others are like. The n54 community (when compared to e36) is more active, progressive, and interesting with new developments happening often. Yet, it also feels smaller with the same few enthusiasts and vendors dominating the discussions and new product development. I also feel like the n54 community is 'needy' with more people needing to be spoon fed information. That being said, some of the more experienced individuals are extremely knowledgeable and generous with their time, so it balances out.

For those of you that have been involved in different car communities, please share your feedback. I'm especially interested in how our community compares to more popular platforms like mustangs, corvettes, Subaru, DSM etc...

 

[Euro venom]

My 08 135i is my first BMW, before that were all Volkswagens. I've been on a lot of Volks & Audi forums and the N54 forums are way better in comparison. Less stance, less bitching or whining. I can actually ask a question and receive useful feedback. I feel like the people I regularly talk with are genuine good car people.

 

[Bigdaddyaaron]

Coming from the mazdaspeed community, I can certainly say that I enjoy this group of people much better. The mazdaspeed community is just filled with endless dick jokes, and seeing who can be the gayest to each other. Literally feels like middle school. It was funny but it just never stops and gets old. Lots of trolls and nut huggers too. I think that the age group has a lot to do with the difference between the two.

 

[335iHaroon]

N5x community is great coming from a VQ. A lot more information and helping each other.

 

[Jboyorak]

I came from a dsm community. One thing I have noticed in the n54, is the obsession with dyno graphs vs track times, and how a lot of things turn into just a d*** measuring contest. Probably just a BMW thing.

A lot of very smart people in the community for sure though!

 

[klooney]

Coming from VWVORTEX and clublexus. The BMW community is much more helpful and technical than both forums put together.

 

[Beemin]

I came from a dsm community. One thing I have noticed in the n54, is the obsession with dyno graphs vs track times, and how a lot of things turn into just a d*** measuring contest. Probably just a BMW thing.

A lot of very smart people in the community for sure though!

I agree. That's probably because dyno numbers are what these cars excel at, and track times are definitely not.

 

[Beemin]

Coming from VWVORTEX and clublexus. The BMW community is much more helpful and technical than both forums put together.

Agreed. The technical side is pretty interesting to watch.

 

[08_335i]

Coming from VWVORTEX and clublexus. The BMW community is much more helpful and technical than both forums put together.

VWvortex.... GOD that place is full of flipping children and who has moar stance.

 

[doublespaces]

I came from a dsm community. One thing I have noticed in the n54, is the obsession with dyno graphs vs track times, and how a lot of things turn into just a d*** measuring contest. Probably just a BMW thing.

A lot of very smart people in the community for sure though!

The more intelligent and successful people there are in a community, the higher the number of those who want to measure dicks and be the best. Just comes with the territory in most cases I think. Hopefully we can keep that to a minimum here. Competition is good though

 

[Snelson3003]

When i had a Infiniti G35 Coupe: The VQ community was OUTSTANDING. Great help and lots of good information.
When i had a Lexus IS300: Community (2JZ Crowd) was a joke and often filled with tweens. So much rice too.
When i had a Audi TTS: Community was very small and not so interactive. Never saw alot of love there and most were older with kids.

Now that i have my BMW 135i: Community on N54Tech is great. Lots of open dialog and helping one another out always. Love it. BUT I WOULD CHANGE THE AMOUNT OF SH*T TALKING. Seriously is staggering the amount of hate people get here. So its bitter sweet to me. If you need help with engine stuff most are helpful, but if you change the way your car looks even a little people LOSE THEIR DANG MINDS.

"bruh you put those wheels on it, what cant afford (insert stupid expensive brand here)?"

Oh and LOTS of emojis with the N5X crowd. Like wow ya'll communicate like that LOL.

 

[Sered]

I feel like much of the N5X community has this entitlement problem. Everyone feels as if they're an expert and thus everyone feels they are right, regardless of whether the facts hold up or not. I've endured some seriously vicious arguments on FB in this community. There are honestly some seriously stupid people in this community that believe they know everything. It's almost a systemic culture problem; one that many of us here in this very thread are guilty of being swept up into on occaision.

Either way though, I feel that the experts in this community put other 'experts' in other communities to absolute shame. There are some seriously intelligent people in the N5X community. They nearly all share information mostly freely (after Shiv finally departed anyway) and are eager to help others with issues. You don't find that in other communities at all.

I also like how many people are very willing to share their mod lists and things they learned. On domestic forums, you don't find that very often as everyone lies about their mods or never explains them. It's easy to learn from someone here, but elsewhere it's just a crapshoot.

 

[Jesushdz92]

Evo guy. Kind of a lone wolf locally, but yeah scene is a little more mature. More professional than dsm/evo guys

 

[Vdkk]

I came from the Supra/2jzgte community. It was awesome when it started taking off 2005-2008 then became a massacre. No one helpful, everyone claiming XYZ with no proof. People just spewing the dumbest shit. No vendor communication. My favorite part of the n5x community is vendor communication and being able to ask a quick question about a product and have an answer, it allows quick and decisive decisions for me.

I feel like much of the N5X community has this entitlement problem. Everyone feels as if they're an expert and thus everyone feels they are right, regardless of whether the facts hold up or not. I've endured some seriously vicious arguments on FB in this community. There are honestly some seriously stupid people in this community that believe they know everything. It's almost a systemic culture problem; one that many of us here in this very thread are guilty of being swept up into on occaision.

I feel this way 100% at meets and on Facebook groups. Holy fuck the shit people say. When I had my Supras it was always "hey man cool car, what have you done to it?" With the 335 it's, "wow you went 6466 instead of upgraded twins? You're slow!" "Oh I read online you need X to do this. You didn't do that your way is stupid" ect ect.
Basic everyone on the internet is right and if your car doesn't match what they read online your knowledge is useless. Usually as they drive their stock car with eBay intercooler and eBay BOV reving around the meet.

 

[Torgus]

N5x community is great coming from a VQ. A lot more information and helping each other.

I always thought the VQ community was pretty helpful and decent forums. Granted the head moderator for maxima.org can go fuck himself. Then again I drove a bunch of maximas and didn't have to interact much with the 350z and Infiniti guys much. I could see their community being less healthy/helpful.

The N54 is a decent place, most people are helpful and friendly. It's nice to have vendor interaction and actually discuss things in public. That being said, as the cars get cheaper there are more and more bros. I stay away from the facebook crowd so I avoid most of that.


"With the 335 it's, "wow you went 6466 instead of upgraded twins? You're slow!" <--Anyone who says this is an idiot and likely can't afford a ST.

 

[veer90]

N5x forums are great.

Most N5x facebook groups are a complete shitshow. With the exception of N5x Enthusiasts and some smaller N54 ST groups.

 

[JBacon335]

I came from the Fox body mustang community. Needless to say, there is a massive amount of information out there for them but this forum really is amazing and I love how it's progressing. Can't wait to see what the next couple years brings

 

[langsbr]

Over the course of the past 20 years, I've experienced a number of different platforms - LT & LS F-body, Fox body Mustang, Acura TL, C5 Corvette, Subaru, etc.While I think all of the forums have a gamut of different people, the key things I have found regarding this platform are:

1. Data centric - I love that logging is done so often and when asking for diag or help, people say post a log. From my experience, that's rare, except in advanced threads. It's table stakes here. Granted, the N54 is so finicky, you have to log quite a bit.

2. Never, ever, ever, have I seen such hostility between vendors. It's subsided a bit in the past couple years, but there is still quite a bit of hostility between vendors. On every other platform, there is a more collaborative or cooperative environment with regards to vendors and tuners. The "tooner wars" as of late have been pretty funny. It could be that hanging your shingle without experience is too easy on this platform, or it could be that those with knowledge are entering the platform and others are feeling the cash squeeze. The same can be said of turbo vendors. How many hybrid vendors are there now compared to just 5 years ago? You'd think there would be more cooperation and collaboration in order to move the platform forward, but it's been absolutely the opposite.

 

[JBacon335]

I can agree with that, also on a side note don't go on yellow bullet without knowing your shit or it will not be fun

 

[fmorelli]

I came from the Fox body mustang community. Needless to say, there is a massive amount of information out there for them but this forum really is amazing and I love how it's progressing. Can't wait to see what the next couple years brings

Dang. I built one of the first American Sedan (SCCA) Fox body 5.0's back in my youth. Best platform ever: every part adds 25-60hp according to the advertisements back then ... we figure you add up all the numbers and one could make 500hp on a stock block EEC-IV . The brakes were beyond garbage. We even would send rotors to Swain and he'd resurface new rotors with different metal ... still sucked, just less. The chassis was horrible. I think we ran 800 lb front springs and delrin everywhere.

But other than that, they were a blast! lol ... I would have thought anything Fox body would be retrospective the last 20 years. Built a 2.3l turbo intercooled Ford Thunderbird of the same era. Sold that and bought a 1969 Boss 302. Was kind of a diehard Ford guy.

I can't wrap my head around what it must be like to jump from Fox body to this ... like being teleported to the U.S.S. Enterprise...

Anyway while I'm here - I came from lots of other places ... but mainly in the past long while a number of BMW-centric forums. The N54 platform is a different world than the traditional BMW world (the old school BMW guys don't get turbo BMW's) ... and this has been a big learning curve forum-wise, since the N54 collects people horizontally (by technology) versus vertically (by brand).

Filippo