Just back from a 3000km trip in the E34.

[pundit]

Well I just got back from my interstate holiday.
Melbourne-Yarrawonga-Canberra-Sydney-Wollongong-Gundagai-Melbourne. (Yes we have strange place names in Australia!) The car ran perfectly. I did an economy test and got around 9.6 litres per 100km on the last leg (around 700kms) at a cruising speed of 110km/hr.

I'd like to reduce the slight understeer and body roll whilst cornering but apart from that I was happy with my first extended trip. The M30 six (EAT chipped) never let the road speed drop even 1km/hr up any of the hills I encountered whilst is cruise control on the entire trip. Something to be said for torque!

Here are a few photos (http://clients.net2000.com.au/~rowmat/e34_trip.html) from the trip.

[632 Regal]

You snaped some pretty nice pictures!

The understeer can be adjusted with tire pressure, less in rear/more in front=more oversteer. Not that this is science but I can definetly feel a difference just changing them by a few pounds.

[pundit]

You snaped some pretty nice pictures!

The understeer can be adjusted with tire pressure, less in rear/more in front=more oversteer. Not that this is science but I can definetly feel a difference just changing them by a few pounds.
I ran 36psi in the rears and 34psi in the fronts.
The trunk was a little loaded but nothing too radical.
I think it's just a case of natural stock E34 understeer... not bad but it's there.

BTW I've just put up the picture descriptions.

[shogun]

Murray River and Minnamura Falls I have been some years ago.
Not with a BMW, but with a rented Mitsubishi Diamante.
Nice area, I enjoyed very much.

[epj3]

Nice pics! What kind of camera did you use?

[pundit]

Nice pics! What kind of camera did you use?
Thanks. This was by no means a photographic excursion. These were just snapped along the way and I spent more time trying to decipher both the manual and the camera than looking for visual treats.

The camera is a Pentax *ist DS (http://www.pentaximaging.com/products/product_details?reqID=3&subsection=digital_slr). It's a digital SLR (6 megapixel). I bought it the week before my holidays. I'm still getting the hang of it.
It was cheaper and more compact than both the Nikon D70 & the Canon EOS 350D and felt much nicer to use than either of these. It came with a Sigma 18mm-125mm zoom lens which is equivelant to approx 27mm-190mm on a 35mm camera. It's an okay almost-fits-all general purpose lens but is neither sharp enough compared to my Nikon prime lenses or fast enough for lowish light if you want to use available light. In reality it is a zoom lens which (like all zooms) are a compromise. Consider a zoom if you don't want the expense or inconvience of carting around a bunch of fixed lenses. I'm looking for a couple of decent prime (fixed lenses). For landscape work I don't use auto focus or auto exposure. Auto focus is simply not reliable 50% of the time. In fact it is now permanently switched off it as it is so ****ing completely useless. I don't know whether it's a fault with the camera or not but I'm getting a different (split image) focussing screen as I don't trust the auto focus for landscape work. However I didn't buy the camera because it had auto focus so it is irrelevant.

These pics are very compressed compared to the originals. (11 megs each in RAW mode)
Any of the current digital cameras from about 3megapixels up are capable of very good results. I went for a digital SLR because I wanted more exposure control and the flexibilty of interchangeable lenses. I also use a tripod for most nature, landscape shots. Definately required for depth of focus with no camera shake at low shutter speeds. I'll spend more time with the camera over the next few weeks and see what I can come up with once I get a couple of decent lenses for landscape shots (and maybe more pics of my E34 for instance!!)

The problem is I now have a bunch of Nikon 35mm camera gear which is rapidly depreciating!

[pmlmotorsports]

pundit, that setup of tire pressures will increase understeer, not combat it. You should reverse those readings to 36 front, and 32 rear. FYI, the absolute best way to measure tire pressure is to inflate each tire to 40lbs just before you park it for the evening (overnight). Now, before you go anywhere the following day, adjust your measurements accordingly and you're done. I run 34 fr, and 32 rr, but I drive on 18" wheels and tires. hope this helps....

[pundit]

pundit, that setup of tire pressures will increase understeer, not combat it. You should reverse those readings to 36 front, and 32 rear. FYI, the absolute best way to measure tire pressure is to inflate each tire to 40lbs just before you park it for the evening (overnight). Now, before you go anywhere the following day, adjust your measurements accordingly and you're done. I run 34 fr, and 32 rr, but I drive on 18" wheels and tires. hope this helps....
Yes I know you're right but I was compensating for the extra weight in the trunk. I wasn't pushing it hard, it was just an observation that seems to coincide with the opinion that E34's are engineered to understeer slightly rather than oversteer. Even with normal commuting and tyre pressures (no luggage in the trunk) the car is naturally an understeerer. As my suspension and wheel setup is entirely stock I don't think any combination of tyre pressures alone will completely cure the understeer unless I use excessive non recommended pressures which of course will effect tyre wear. BTW I'm running standard 15" basketweaves with Bridgestone Turanza E50 225/60/15's.

[Paul in NZ]

i am always amazed at how nice the 535 is on a trip,i did over 1100 ks in about 48 hours on typical NZ two lane windy hilly roads,got home fresh as a daisy,just a lille bored,the last 200 ks are pretty straight and flat(for us)Left home 3 33 am saturday ,did a driver training day (400 ks from home)visited my mum on sunday(550 ks from home),turned around and drove 550 ks home......got home about 8 pm sunday ;) how much was the pentax? did you look at the fuji 5500?

[niall]

it has to be said that the pics you took
are pretty bloody good,

good on ya fella

[pundit]

i am always amazed at how nice the 535 is on a trip,i did over 1100 ks in about 48 hours on typical NZ two lane windy hilly roads,got home fresh as a daisy,just a lille bored,the last 200 ks are pretty straight and flat(for us)Left home 3 33 am saturday ,did a driver training day (400 ks from home)visited my mum on sunday(550 ks from home),turned around and drove 550 ks home......got home about 8 pm sunday ;) how much was the pentax? did you look at the fuji 5500?
The last time I drove this holiday route was about 2 1/2 years ago in a Toyota Tarago van. The difference was the trip in the van was a chore, while the trip in the E34 was enjoyable. This was down to the comfort and quietness along with the ample power and the fact that the car was never at any time extended to it's limit. In fact at 115kms/hr I could feel it saying to me... "Well what are you doing? Let's GO!!" Unfortunately there are plenty of speed cameras and cops along the Hume Highway so one has to watch one's speed! ;)

The Pentax *ist DS was $1349.00 AUD including a Sigma 18-125mm/F3.5-5.6 zoom lens. The Fuji is 3.1 megapixels which is fine for most general pics but if you are considering an SLR then I would go for at least 6 megapixels as this will allow enlargments up to A3 in size with acceptable quality. Although I believe the Fuji is below $1000.00 which is probably the cheapest digital SLR around.

[Paul in NZ]

wow i didnt realise the penta was that much.......i have an old pentax slr,and i want a slr like digi cam....

[pundit]

wow i didnt realise the penta was that much.......i have an old pentax slr,and i want a slr like digi cam....
The Pentax is cheaper than the Nikon D70 (but uses the same CCD sensor without the moire problem of the D70) and is not as large and cumbersome IMO. It also feels better built than the Canon Rebel EOS 300/350 and has a much better viewfinder than either and is ergonomically very good. All the controls feel just in the right place. The Canon EOS350 replaces the EOS300 and is nearly as compact as the Pentax *ist DS. It is just a little more expensive than the Pentax (not much though) but as I said lacks the quality feel and ergonomics of the Pentax. It is an eight megapixel camera but anything over about 6 megapixels does not necesarily mean better quality (in some cases worse) unless the CCD/CMOS sensor is also increased in size. Some full frame Pro digital camera have 12-14megapixel full frame (35mm equivelant) sensors. But BIG dollars $6000+!!

An advantage for you is you can also use your old Pentax lenses with it. Just remember the x1.5 rule when using your old lenses with a digital SLR. A 50mm lens will have an equivelant focal length of approx 75mm when fitted to a digital SLR. If you have some genuine Pentax SMC prime lenses ie 50mm/1.8, 50mm/1.5, 50mm/1.2 (plus any wide angle Pentax SMC lenses) either keep them (if you buy a Pentax digital SLR) or make sure if you sell them you don't sell them cheap. The genuine Pentax SMC lenses are rapidly going up in value as apparently Pentax has stopped production and everyone is after them for the digital Pentax SLR's. They must be genuine Pentax though, not an aftermarket lens with a Pentax mount.

The focusing problems I mentioned are in fact more of a generic auto-focus issue than just related to the Pentax itself. There a quite a number of situations that cause trouble for auto-focus systems and I just seem to run into these situations quite a bit.

[Paul in NZ]

yep i have an old kx with a 55 mm genuine takumar pentax 1.4 or something ..i will have a look at this......