What was the last year of "regular" ignition keys on the 3 series?

My understanding is that -- in the UK at least -- overall theft of newer cars is falling because it is getting harder.

DAS

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What I've heard is that, instead of simply stealing your car (which is getting harder to do), thieves now first burglarize your house in order to acquire the keys, _then_ they steal the car. Keeps the car intact too.

Admittedly, by its very nature, this combination of actions is harder to commit, so overall it should indeed happen less frequently.

On the other hand, carjackings and thumb (and/or eye) removal usually go beyond what the average, hard-working car thief is prepared to do to acquire a car. (Of course, a Latvian or Serb outfit won't even blink at the sight of a pair of bolt cutters snipping off a well-manicured thumb or two.)

I happen to think its a good idea, it has certainly eliminated the lock-picking thief, and its not that difficult to keep a key safe from burglars. if your stupid enough to leave your keys to your £30,000 beemer hanging on the wall by the front door, well you know the rest. Steve.

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I would tend to agree, but I severely doubt it's got anything to do with the key crap. Doors on BMW's, Mercedes, etc. have always been much harder than American cars to steal because of how they do their door locks and steering columns. American cars have gotten better, and probably all have, so I think that's likely the cause of the statistic. You used to be able to steal alot of older cars with nothing more than a coat hanger and a big screwdriver - WITHOUT breaking the window. I had one once (a Toyota MR2) that I knew that could happen on, as well as slim-jim vulnerability, so I put a metal piece in the door to protect the one and disconnected the very stupidly designed door lock/unlock buttons (coat hanger openable). Then I put on an alarm with remote door locks and hid a key in a virtually impossible place to find underneath. You would have had to put it on a lift and know exactly where to look. Otherwise you could only find it by feel and sticking your hand blind way up into a hole - one of those things people tend not to like to do :)

I've never even heard of that happening. I think I may have heard a rumor once. But, yeah, infrequent enough as to not affect any statistics, and certainly infrequent enough that it's not worth designing a whole ignition system to prevent it!

Actually, I think it was South Africa or something. Only heard of one instance so far, but you can bet it'll increase as cars with that feature increase. My personal thought on it is why not just use a damn keypad with a code. They had that figured out decades ago on those old Ford Thunderbirds, and some modern Fords I think still have em. Then you hide a key inside somewhere. Doesn't give that super cool convenience though, where you just grab the handle and it opens, push a button or turn the key type switch and it starts. I have to admit, that's a pretty attractive thought :) I think I'd go for the retina scanner if I was gonna get that though (which I guess they'll have eventually). I don't think those work if they try to rip out your eye! They might work if you're dead though... or, gasp, they chopped off your head! Most car thieves aren't sociopathic axe murderers though... we hope.

But, the stupid electronic key - I just don't see it preventing much, and certainly ads no convenience.

So anybody know when it started? More important, the one's that need "recharging". AFAIK, the early once had not battery or programmability to go wrong. Speaking of which, what happened if your car battery was dead?!

-- _____________________________________________________ Drivin a 94 BMW 325is w/sport. For email response, or CC, please mailto:see.my.sig.4.addr(at)bigfoot.com. Yeah, it's really a real address :)

I disagree strongly. When I bought my new 3-series, I found out that the comprehensive portion of the insurance of a new 3-series was slightly lower than on my old 3-series. Imagine that. The insurance that covers for theft and loss of a brand new car is lower than the one for a 11-year old equivalent car with a market value of 10% of a new one. And my insurer gives no discount for having an alarm on the new 3-series ($3/month discount for having a LoJack). The reason given is that the car is a lot harder to be stolen. If the insurance company thinks that, it's good enough reason for me to believe it's true, as I don't think anyone knows more about the rate of theft and loss than the insurance companies.

On Sat, 28 May 2005 05:34:35 GMT, Marcio Watanabe spewed:

I disagree strongly with THAT! :) Ins. co's use the DMV's "point" system that gives the same 1 pt. for a speeding ticket as an accident that the insured person may have caused themselves thru total stupidity. That's hardly taking pertinent facts into acct. I believe the DMV even gives pts. for an accident if you WEREN'T at fault. Even if I'm wrong on that, I know you're "automatically" at fault if you rear-end anybody REGARDLESS of the situation - i.e. somebody decides to abandon their car in the middle of the fwy. at night, with no traffic, just over a hill. You come over the hill at 80 (or lets even say 65) and there is no possible way you can stop. That's why fwys. don't have intersections, "controlled access", fences, no pedestrians, etc. But, boom, STILL your fault. You should have been omnipotent. I know 2 people who have been KILLED by same, and I personally missed some idiot who'd done the same thing by mere inches, because I was smart enough to take the risk of swerving around rather than futiley trying to stop.

Ins. co's are totally on board with this idiocy, so putting your faith in their intelligence is about as wise as putting it in the DMV, law, or police. Granted, ins. statistical anylisers are probably the least stupid of the 4, but far from somebody to believe without proof.

-- _____________________________________________________ Drivin a 94 BMW 325is w/sport. For email response, or CC, please mailto:see.my.sig.4.addr(at)bigfoot.com. Yeah, it's really a real address :)