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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > BMW E90/E92/E93 3-series General Forums > General E90 Sedan / E91 Wagon / E92 Coupe / E93 Cabrio > I built a private car sales search engine (so could snag the perfect M3)



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      07-22-2018, 11:55 AM   #1
porsche959
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I built a private car sales search engine (so could snag the perfect M3)

Hi all, so I wanted to share: https://hiddenrides.com/.

This is a side project/hobby for me - mainly because I enjoy browsing various car forums to see what cars I can afford at any given time.

Shared this on a few other forums and got positive feedback so thought i should spread the love.

The inspiration for this project was a clean green/caramel e46 6spd i missed out on years ago - but the V8 m3 has always been tempting as well.

Any thoughts/feedback would be appreciated!
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      07-22-2018, 05:14 PM   #2
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I like it a lot! If you would include the two big salvage auctions (iaai and copart) I would be totally Set for finding that perfect build car haha

On a side note, crazy how similar the prices for e46 M’s and e92 M’s are!
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      07-22-2018, 05:36 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BioChemBro View Post
I like it a lot! If you would include the two big salvage auctions (iaai and copart) I would be totally Set for finding that perfect build car haha

On a side note, crazy how similar the prices for e46 M’s and e92 M’s are!
thanks for the suggestions! didn't even think about the salvage auctions but definitely something to look into.
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      07-22-2018, 09:48 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BioChemBro View Post
I like it a lot! If you would include the two big salvage auctions (iaai and copart) I would be totally Set for finding that perfect build car haha

On a side note, crazy how similar the prices for e46 M’s and e92 M’s are!
I feel Apple’s to Apple’s e46 and e90 there’s still a 1.5x difference or more.
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      07-23-2018, 07:40 AM   #5
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Nice project!!
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      07-23-2018, 01:01 PM   #6
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Too Cool. Incredibly useful.
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      07-23-2018, 03:42 PM   #7
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bookmarked ! thx
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      07-23-2018, 06:19 PM   #8
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Solid work. I like it.
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      07-24-2018, 02:44 PM   #9
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Doesn't seem to have a lot in Florida?

I was surprised this didn't have a lot of listings for such a big state. Is this exclusively scraping enthusiast forums and none of the primary sites autotrader/autolist/cargurus/craigslist?
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      07-25-2018, 09:32 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tisdrew View Post
Doesn't seem to have a lot in Florida?

I was surprised this didn't have a lot of listings for such a big state. Is this exclusively scraping enthusiast forums and none of the primary sites autotrader/autolist/cargurus/craigslist?
showing about 70 total cars in FL at the moment. only 6 bmws.

the scrapper has only been running for a few weeks now, so its only pulling new listings since then. the list should grow over time.

its only pulling forum listed cars (typically better maintained, tastefully modded, more "loved", imo).

looking into other sources, but there are already really good sites for that.
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      07-25-2018, 09:36 AM   #11
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Im curious (web developer myself) what did you write this in? GREAT WORK BTW love it
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      07-25-2018, 09:49 AM   #12
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Garage List
Very neat but at the same time, I'm not sure how necessary it is. Not trying to hate - I love to see the innovation. And I'm probably wrong... but IMO there are typically a few, if not just one, of the "best" forum for a given car make/model, so searching there alone would likely do the trick. Either way, I like the idea and it's originality, and I'm sure there could be some cases in which your site helped people out a lot.
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      07-25-2018, 01:36 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by meekz View Post
Im curious (web developer myself) what did you write this in? GREAT WORK BTW love it
Thanks!

Front-end is jQuery and Bootstrap CSS. Backend is Node.js with image processing via sharp, NLP via compromise, and CV via opencv. DB + Search is ElasticSearch and Firebase.

Secret sauce is in the aggregation and scraping here
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      07-25-2018, 01:38 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by atmosphericM View Post
Very neat but at the same time, I'm not sure how necessary it is. Not trying to hate - I love to see the innovation. And I'm probably wrong... but IMO there are typically a few, if not just one, of the "best" forum for a given car make/model, so searching there alone would likely do the trick. Either way, I like the idea and it's originality, and I'm sure there could be some cases in which your site helped people out a lot.
no worries - appreciate the viewpoint. i get what you are saying about 1-2 forums end up being the best in terms of content and for sale inventory.

i guess this would be helpful to a niche market, where a person is comfortable with forum cars, has $X amount of dollars and wants to see what they can get. or for general price/research purposes (when it gets to a larger scale).
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      07-27-2018, 12:28 AM   #15
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Awesome!
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      08-24-2018, 12:56 PM   #16
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Happy Friday Day - just wanted to see if anyone had feedback on the new design and features (saved search alerts).
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      08-24-2018, 01:03 PM   #17
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I would try to include facebook classifieds, and craigslist. Maybe have an option for what places you want to pull the data from.
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      08-24-2018, 08:08 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by porsche959 View Post
Hi all, so I wanted to share: https://hiddenrides.com/.

This is a side project/hobby for me - mainly because I enjoy browsing various car forums to see what cars I can afford at any given time.

Shared this on a few other forums and got positive feedback so thought i should spread the love.

The inspiration for this project was a clean green/caramel e46 6spd i missed out on years ago - but the V8 m3 has always been tempting as well.

Any thoughts/feedback would be appreciated!
I got bored a little this summer and did some initial research on the e90 m3.

Here's what I found;

1) Search for one with less than 45,000 miles on it that is or was a "one owner car". Believe it or not, there are plenty of e90 M3's out there that have 20 to 36,000 miles on them and are one owner cars.

2) once you buy one, do the the rod bearings immediately when you first take it home.
A. There's two schools of thought on which type of after mkt rod bearing to get.
1) are the rod bearings going bad because there's not enough clearance OR
2) are the rod bearings going bad due to faulty design....
3) there is not enough conclusive evidence to prove one theory. However, initial findings after taking the rod bearings apart after say 15-30,000 miles from owners using ceramic coated type bearing show no wear what so ever.......
4) unless you could change out the turbos on a 335i, don't try this DIY.....

3) The throttle actuators will absolutely go bad prior to 75,000 miles. If they don't, you are on "borrowed" time.
1) new ones are not cheap; FCP Euro and it's lifetime warranty is an option.
2) there's a company in Warren, MI that refurbishes used ones to "better than new" with upgraded internals and gives you a lifetime warranty for significantly less cost.

4) the engine mounts are easier to change out than a 335i, and they don't last much past 50,000 miles

5) the maintenance intervals, as far as fluids goes, is much more frequent than a 335i. You will be changing Trans, coolant, oil, differential fluids out much more frequently.

6) If you just want to DD the car, you won't have to worry about upgrading suspension parts like you do for a 335i. The car already has the best parts on it.
A) shocks & struts won't be cheap if you have the auto adjusting ride suspension.

7) there's nothing cheap about an M3; your gonna pay through the nose for parts.

8) from my initial perspective, the e90 M3 might be more reliable than a 335i as a DD, if you keep up on the maintenance and if you do the rod bearings immediately upon purchase.
A) gaskets going bad on the engine are not nearly as frequent due to the fact that it's not turbo charged and therefore does not have the heat.

9) interior wise, there is not much of anything to upgrade; it's already top of the line.

10) water pumps aren't really an issue on the e90 M3; even if you had to replace it, it's on top vs on the bottom on a 335i.

11) gas milage is 20mpg at best and that's on the Hwy.

12) you don't have to worry about swapping out M fenders, bumpers etc, it's already got all those parts.
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      08-26-2018, 12:07 AM   #19
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I like it - solid side project. Will look into it a little more when I figure out what I want next, or tomorrow when I want to see what's out there...
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      08-30-2018, 12:44 AM   #20
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Website looks Great!!! I love the notification button, i appreciate all the work you put in, great job! One thing, as specified in a post above, maybe consider adding a dropdown menu allowing users to choose where their results are coming in from ( forums, auctions, websites like cars.com, dealers etc.) Once again, thank you, great work.
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      09-05-2018, 10:55 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arhoads335i View Post
I would try to include facebook classifieds, and craigslist. Maybe have an option for what places you want to pull the data from.
Would love to eventually scrape those sources to provide the most comprehensive used car search engine in the market.

That said, its a whole different ball game trying to get data from tech giants like ebay, fb, cl...
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      09-24-2018, 08:03 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mweisdorfer View Post
I got bored a little this summer and did some initial research on the e90 m3.

Here's what I found;

1) Search for one with less than 45,000 miles on it that is or was a "one owner car". Believe it or not, there are plenty of e90 M3's out there that have 20 to 36,000 miles on them and are one owner cars.

2) once you buy one, do the the rod bearings immediately when you first take it home.
A. There's two schools of thought on which type of after mkt rod bearing to get.
1) are the rod bearings going bad because there's not enough clearance OR
2) are the rod bearings going bad due to faulty design....
3) there is not enough conclusive evidence to prove one theory. However, initial findings after taking the rod bearings apart after say 15-30,000 miles from owners using ceramic coated type bearing show no wear what so ever.......
4) unless you could change out the turbos on a 335i, don't try this DIY.....

3) The throttle actuators will absolutely go bad prior to 75,000 miles. If they don't, you are on "borrowed" time.
1) new ones are not cheap; FCP Euro and it's lifetime warranty is an option.
2) there's a company in Warren, MI that refurbishes used ones to "better than new" with upgraded internals and gives you a lifetime warranty for significantly less cost.

4) the engine mounts are easier to change out than a 335i, and they don't last much past 50,000 miles

5) the maintenance intervals, as far as fluids goes, is much more frequent than a 335i. You will be changing Trans, coolant, oil, differential fluids out much more frequently.

6) If you just want to DD the car, you won't have to worry about upgrading suspension parts like you do for a 335i. The car already has the best parts on it.
A) shocks & struts won't be cheap if you have the auto adjusting ride suspension.

7) there's nothing cheap about an M3; your gonna pay through the nose for parts.

8) from my initial perspective, the e90 M3 might be more reliable than a 335i as a DD, if you keep up on the maintenance and if you do the rod bearings immediately upon purchase.
A) gaskets going bad on the engine are not nearly as frequent due to the fact that it's not turbo charged and therefore does not have the heat.

9) interior wise, there is not much of anything to upgrade; it's already top of the line.

10) water pumps aren't really an issue on the e90 M3; even if you had to replace it, it's on top vs on the bottom on a 335i.

11) gas milage is 20mpg at best and that's on the Hwy.

12) you don't have to worry about swapping out M fenders, bumpers etc, it's already got all those parts.
dude this should be a sticky or something. way too much great info/nuggets on a semi related thread
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