I came to a realization late last night, driving the 500E home from dinner with friends, on a long straight empty stretch of I-280: boy, do I love this car. Wow.

As near to automotive ideality as anything I've ever owned and driven. But there is one minor annoyance I'd like to nail down -- in fact, it is the only thing wrong with the car, everything else is perfect!

Under mid to full throttle, there is a pronounced buzzy rattle from the center console, in the vicinity of the gear selector. Resting my
fingertips on the shaft of the gear selector, it seems to be from that.

It's not the shaft buzzing against the edge of the selector slot, which was my first impression. If I tip the shaft a mm or so out from the edge, the sound remains.

Last time the car was serviced, the advisor noted a worn transmission linkage bushing. At the time, I had been aware of the buzz/rattle, but the two didn't connect in my mind.

I asked him if it was in need of urgent service, since we were on a tight travel schedule, and he said, "No, it's just a bit loose, it would be quite a while before it would cause any trouble. The 60K service would be a fine time to fix it." So I rolled it off and haven't thought about it until now.

Wonder if a loose bushing might cause the rattle? If I recall, there are two of the things, and Guido says that they would be kinda tough for a shade tree mechanic to put on the car.

s/b