With the onset of winter, we might be more inclined to do a little bit of nesting – as in, make our spaces as cozy as possible for our long winter’s nap. Unfortunately, we’re not bears, and this usually manifests in a LOT of clutter piling up in places like our homes and cars and us not wanting to clean it out until the spring… which is months away. Here are our tips to nipping that clutter monster in the bud by getting your car clean quickly!

Supplies you will need:

• trash bags

• air freshener spray (like Febreze)

• upholstery cleaner (like Resolve)

• car cleaning wipes

• vacuum

• Q-tips

First, get all the trash out of your car. Put it in a trash bag and throw it away. Take another trash bag and put all the stuff you want to keep but just not in your car into it and bring that into your house. Everything that you want to keep in your car can go into a third bag and be set aside for later.

Vacuum everything out. Use the wand attachment for maximum crevice access and get EVERYTHING. Every nook and cranny. The spaces between seats, the floors, the vents, everything. If your vents are really gross then get them with a Q-tip dipped in cleaning solution and then vacuum them out again. Use some wipes to get all the dust off of your smooth surfaces. If you have stains in your upholstery, use the upholstery cleaner per the directions.

Finally, spray some nice air freshener and get everything back into your car, but organized, and you’re all set. Impress your friends and family with your cleanliness!

Are you the type of person who likes to have music playing in the car? I know how that is! I’ve definitely described myself as being “allergic to silence” before, which isn’t true factually but it’s how I feel in my soul. Anyway, I have put together a short playlist for the holidays that can either stand alone or serve as a jumping-off point for more music to listen to this holiday season. Check it out and let me know what you think!

What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? – Ella Fitzgerald
White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes
Greensleeves – Vince Guaraldi Trio
On Ice – Chris Thile
Marshmallow World – The Regrettes
Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski
Sister Winter – Sufjan Stevens
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow – Lady Antebellum
We’re Goin’ To The Country! – Sufjan Stevens
Good “Swing” Wenceslas – Count Basie Orchestra

Today’s blog is a crash course in checking your oil. Buckle up and dive in! (And then after, make sure you go and check your oil!)

1. Open the hood. Prop it so it stays open.

2. Locate the oil dipstick next to the engine. It should have a yellow handle and/or be labeled.

3. Pull out the dipstick and wipe it on a clean cloth or paper towel.

4. Dip the stick all the way back in.

5. Pull it out again and look at the oil level.

   1. If it’s in the middle of the hatched/indicated area, you’re good. More is better, less is okay, but if you’re lower than the area you need to get your oil topped up and have your system checked for leaks.

6. Look at the oil quality and color.

   1. If there are a lot of particles or if the oil looks sludgy, you need to get it changed as soon as possible.

7. Put the dipstick back in.

8. Close your hood.

9. Congratulate yourself on a job well done.

When you’re in the market for a new car, the first thing you’re going to do is pick some that you like, whether online or in the lot, and then go for a test drive. Yes, you need to take that test drive, friend! Here’s how they usually work, in terms of using the test drive to determine if the vehicle is right for you or not:

BEFORE TEST DRIVE: I have so many questions about this car. I am going to keep a list and make sure that I answer all these questions so that I can make an informed decision about my vehicular future.

DURING TEST DRIVE: This car is the best! Car. I love car. Vroom vroom. I am FAST and BEAUTIFUL.

AFTER TEST DRIVE: Yeah, um, it had a steering wheel. And went… forward? Maybe also backward. Good car.

Don’t be like this. Have a list, remember the list, bring a friend to prompt you with the list during the drive. To make it even easier, we have created a list for you to bring so that you don’t even have to think about it.

1. How is the ride in the vehicle? Is it bumpy, smooth, or detached? Of course, the ride will always depend on what type of vehicle you are testing, but does it meet your expectations?

2. Test the brakes to see how they are. Are they rubber-band-y? Responsive? Slow? Sticky? The most important question is: would you trust them to save your life? Test the brakes in every type of situation you can imagine.

3. How’s the acceleration? Can you get up to the speed you want in the amount of time you want? Acceleration can make or break the vehicle for a lot of people.

4. From inside of the vehicle, is it loud? Can you see out of all the windows properly?

5. How are the steering and handling? Check the turning radius by making a U-turn somewhere safe. Can you get down curvy roads with ease?

We all experience smells in our lives, whether they’re in our homes, our offices, or even our cars. However, there are some smells that mean trouble. Check out our list of what smells those are and what they mean for you and your vehicle.

If you smell rotten eggs, it means that your catalytic converter is having trouble. This could be either a fuel injection problem or that your cat is failing because there’s hydrogen sulfide in your exhaust causing the stench. Get this repaired as soon as possible.

If you smell sulfur, it is a gear lubricant leak that should be repaired. The leak is coming from either the manual transmission, the transfer case, or the differential housing. The smell comes from a sulfur compound in the oil. Look under your car for oily puddles.

If you smell maple syrup, it is your coolant leaking. Coolant contains ethylene glycol, which smells sweet but is very toxic. This is an easy fix but should be repaired.

If you smell gas, it’s gas. Easy peasy. This means you have a leak in your fuel injection line or a fuel tank vent hose in your engine. If you have a newer car, this is a real concern.

If you smell hot oil, it’s hot oil. Another easy one, this means you have an oil leak, and the oil is dripping (or spraying) onto the exhaust manifold and burning while your engine is running. Try to find the leak and stem it but really you should take your vehicle in for service and repair as soon as possible.

Do you hate stopping at the gas station? Do you feel like you’re spending a lot more time there than usual, or even spending a lot of money on gas? Here’s a solution for that – drive your car in such a way that your fuel economy is maximized! We can’t tell you that you’ll go from getting 30mpg to 70mpg – that’s just not possible unless you got a completely new car – but you can see a couple miles per gallon worth of improvement, which can definitely add up over time! Here are our tips on driving to maximize your fuel economy.

Don’t speed. When you speed, you’re accelerating and decelerating a lot, which messes with your MPG’s. For every five mph over 50 you go, you’re paying roughly 10-20 cents more per gallon of gas.

If you have a storage box or bicycle rack on your roof, consider switching to something that is rear-mounted. With something bulky on your roof, your aerodynamics decrease, which in turn decreases your mileage.

Avoid idling as much as possible. Come to a full stop and then turn off your vehicle. Idling wastes a lot of gas, and also is pretty bad for the environment when you think about the exhaust.

Use your cruise control! It eliminates extra acceleration and deceleration that might happen when you’re driving on the highway and keeps you moving at a consistent speed. I’ve been using it more and have seen my MPG’s go up!

Have patience and focus on safety. When you’re paying attention, you’re more likely to drive safely and save gas at the same time!

For those of you who don’t know, the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show took place at the end of October. While it’s not one of the hugest car shows of the year, it’s definitely still an important one. BMW had a great showing at Tokyo, though it wasn’t perhaps exactly what some BMW enthusiasts and fans were expecting. Two new models were introduced at the show, though – the Concept Z4 and the Concept 8 Series, which are awesome and are starting off on their world tour. Tokyo is a show where the main attractions are sporty cars, so BMW brought out a few of their new M series vehicles to show on the floor.

BMW also premiered the 6 Series Gran Turismo – of course, BMW was also playing to the crowd, and they believe that this vehicle will be something exciting for the Japanese market. They also showed the i8 Frozen Yellow Protonic, which is one of the more eco-friendly models.

Keep an eye out for future motor shows – the German ones should be great for BMW as they’re on home turf and it’s a time for the German manufacturer to shine in their home country.

Meanwhile, check out these photos of the vehicles mentioned in this blog!

Concept Z4

Concept 8 Series

6 Series Gran Turismo

i8 Frozen Yellow Protonic

Changing your tires sounds an awful lot like something that is not only a chore but something that takes a million years to do and that you honestly have no idea when you need to do it. But, hey! Here is a blog that takes at least the guesswork out of your tires. It’s still up to you how much you want to belabor the task… but I would say just get ‘er done!

So, the trick for tires is making sure they’re not bald. This is really easy to do if you have one tool: a common penny. Yeah, seriously, a penny. Put the penny into the tread of your tire with Lincoln’s head facing down. If you can see the top of his head, your tires are BALD, son!! Get them changed ASAP. If not, you’re still good. If you are still worried, though, use a quarter and do the same thing. If you can see the top of Washington’s head but you couldn’t see the top of Lincoln’s, then you’ll probably be due for a tire change sometime this year (and with winter coming up, you might as well just do it). If you can’t see the top of ol’ George’s noggin, then you’re solid.

Your tires should really be changed about every five years, so it’s important to make sure you’re keeping them in tip-top condition for those five years. Make sure they’re always properly inflated, make sure you change them out for winter tires (if that’s the kind of person you are) when the winter season comes, and just make sure you don’t endanger them by, I don’t know, running over glass or nails or whatever with them. And as always, here at Flemington BMW, we can answer any tire questions you might have, whenever you have them!

The perfect playlist is the best companion for a fall road trip. This is a concrete, legitimate fact about life. But what is that perfect playlist? Well, that is what I am here to tell you. I will give the caveat that this might not be the right playlist for everyone. It might not even be the right playlist for the people who it was originally right for because our tastes change all the time. Okay. Anyway. I am just getting distracted now. Here is the playlist! Let me know if you liked it!

Bruce Springsteen, “Born to Run”

Willie Nelson, “On the Road Again”

Prince, “Little Red Corvette”

Ray Charles, “Hit The Road Jack”

Allman Brothers Band, “Midnight Rider”

Grateful Dead, “Truckin”

Matt & Kim, “Daylight”

Tom Petty, “Runnin’ Down A Dream”

Stone Temple Pilots, “Interstate Love Song”

The Beatles, “Ticket to Ride”

Smashing Pumpkins, “1979”

Sufjan Stevens, “Chicago”

James Taylor, “Carolina In My Mind”

Albert Hammond, Jr., “101”
Cake, “The Distance”

Our October specials are here and they’re better than ever! Let us take you on a journey through these great vehicles – we’re pretty confident that at the end of this blog, you’ll be itching to get behind the wheel of at least one!

So, first, we have the 2017 BMW i3. This is BMW’s electric vehicle and boy, is it attractive. And because you can get a $7,500 BMW lease credit or a $3,000 finance credit, you can lease this vehicle for only $266 a month. That’s an amazing deal – maybe saving the environment isn’t so hard after all?

Next, we have the 2017 BMW X1 xDrive28i. It’s a mouthful, we know, but it’s a beast of a vehicle that’s ready to take you on any adventure you can imagine. Driving up a mountain? No sweat. Driving the family to the apple orchard? Easy peasy. And you can lease this vehicle for only $320 a month, so you’ve got more money in your pocket for a fresh apple pie… or three.

I hope you’re imagining that we are leading you around a showroom – because next up is the 2017 BMW 3 Series 330i xDrive, a sedan that will keep you going for as long as you need, and probably longer. You can lease it for only $357 a month, which is pretty awesome if you ask us.

The 2017 BMW X3 xDrive28i is next up, and if you’re looking for versatility in a vehicle, this is the one for you! And since you can lease it for only $397 a month, you know that you’ll be able to go and do the things you want to without worrying about if you can afford it or not.

We have so many more specials available on our website – check them out online, or come down to Flemington BMW and take one or two for a spin! With our prices and vehicles, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t drive one home today.

*All specials expire on 10/31/2017. See our specials page for details.