Sightseeing & Canter's

Saturday evening we felt sluggish. We'd started the day late after a very long drive Friday night, our car shopping was mostly a bust, but at least the pool was relaxing. We were at loose ends. Then around 6:30 I thought, "What about scenic drive?"

Mulholland Drive snakes across the top of the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. It boasts some beautiful panoramic vistas down over Los Angeles. Though we used to live in West LA years ago we'd never done that scenic drive.

I'll post pics from Mulholland Drive another time as they're on my other camera that's still in the car.

As we wrapped up the drive it was getting dark. We discussed what to eat for dinner. Hawk had been in the mood to have a small, light dinner after our big, tasty (and late) lunch in the afternoon. But then we remembered that if we're in the Hollywood Hills we can drive down the south side of the mountain to Hollywood, and next to Hollywood is Fairfax, and if we're in Fairfax we can visit... Canter's!



Canter's has long been a fixture in the Fairfax District and a hub of Jewish community there. Hawk mainly just wanted matzo ball soup and challah. I enjoyed a matzo ball, too, along with a brisket sandwich. After dinner we grabbed some sweets from the bakery. Hawk bought a piece of literally everything made with poppy seed paste (shopping bag shown above). I went for a slice of cheesecake to eat for dessert back at the hotel.

On the drive back to the hotel we took a short detour through Hollywood to pass the Chinese theater. It wasn't worth it. The classic epicenter of Hollywood is basically a mass of easily-herded tourists mixing with locals trying to show off, in front of the same franchised businesses you now can find in the tourist area of any big city. Oh, and it reeked of marijuana. It was like a seedy section of the Las Vegas Strip.

Car Shopping: Another Bust

For Sunday morning in LA we had been consider going on a hike in the mountains and then driving home. Yes, even though this was nominally a car shopping trip we brought our hiking gear! But then we decided since it is a car shopping trip and it's been pretty much a bust so far we should... keep shopping for a car.

Our first stop of the day brought us over to Glendale where we had found a used 2017 BMW M240i convertible we wanted to look at.



The M240i is different from the 230i primarily in the engine. The 230i runs on a 2.0L, 4 cylinder turbocharged engine that makes 248 HP and 258 lb-ft of torque. The 240 sports a 3.0L turbo inline 6 cylinder producing 335 HP and 369 lb-ft of torque.

All that extra power lets the M240i run 0-60 in a blistering 4.2 seconds. On public streets, though, the power difference is not readily apparent. The 230i's specs are no weak sauce, and with the flat power band delivered by the turbo (peak torque available as low as 1500 rpm) it steps out smartly at full throttle. As much as anything else the M240i seems to produce more... noise. It is noticeably louder while accelerating. But on public roads and with seat-of-the-pants rather than instrumented testing, it feel only marginally faster.

We test-drove a 2018 version of the M240i last weekend. We didn't like it then, either. In addition to not feeling faster its suspension felt overly stiff. We tried again with this car to see if the first time was a fluke. Plus, this car in such a pretty blue! Alas, the stiff suspension was no fluke. And this car was actually louder than the other M240i we tried. On this one I could tell that some of the engine/exhaust sounds were being faked through the audio system. Ugh, I hate the concept of fake go-fast sounds. The person who thought that up the idea, "Let's synthesize engine sounds and play them through the stereo so drivers feel like the car is doing powerful mechanical things!" should be hanged. I don't need fake exhaust crackle being played through the car's rear speakers.

Driving this M240i strengthened my appreciation for our aging 135i. The two models have similar engine layouts. The new one is slightly better tuned than our, but ours is so much more... civilized. It doesn't make fake rumbly noises. And our car's suspension is firm without being stiff and jittery. I wish we weren't facing multiple thousands of dollars of repairs to keep our car running another few years. Our car is in many ways better than the one that succeeds it!

After this test drive we checked on two other cars we wanted to look at. One just sold, one hasn't actually arrived yet. With nothing else to do in LA we decided to head home. Maybe we'll test-drive cars in northern California on Monday.