balancerider

Having watched a LOT of M539 restorations on youtube lately I'm finding myself unexplainably drawn to this - downsides are the fact that its' ass is dragging on the ground (presume cheap lowering springs), it's cosmetically pretty rough and most of all it's powered by the shitty N46. But it's a well specced manual 3 series touring so possibly worth saving despite that. Reckon you could probably triple / quadruple your purchase price to get it going well though. WOF history suggests it hasn't had much love for a while https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/320i/listing/3958250879

Lovely touring @darren_mk (the M3 isn't bad either). Hopefully this one escaped the UK quickly enough for rust not to become an issue. The 3L diesel is a fantastic unit in a car of this size.

@aja540i sums up my conflicted feelings on this car. Awesome engine but just doesn’t suit the kind of utility I would expect from a wagon (due to the combination of thirst and small fuel tank)

Not sure if it is the same one. Don’t think the other black one had a sunroof? Also this one has been on 6 different plates since arrival and is now running a beautiful set of Goodrides to put down the 400kW. I love the idea but I think I’ll pass on this one EDIT: it’s definitely not the same one, I remember now that one had a hitch receiver towbar

I understand it’ll average somewhere between 15-18l/100k in that sort of use. So 400k out of a 68L / $170ish fill every 10 days. That’s gonna get old fast IMO

Seems a big power jump claim for an NA engine. Car is looking awesome...feel like a rear PDC retrofit and carplay capable HU would be the cherry on top.

Bet this sounds mint 🙄

bimmer.work says allotted VIN LHD Euro-spec (CM91) for Japan. ad is definitely misleading

Definitely a LHD shell…tire pressure sticker on the wrong side. Guessing it was a US chassis as no VIN sticker on the sill either

@Kees that Montreal Blue looks nice, same colour as @BozzaFC's 328i I think. 170kw from a V8 is kind of pathetic though, even the M54 in an E34 had 145kw. Possibly ordered in the UK by/for an NZ buyer, the kph speedo being the giveaway

Super clean E34 manual 525xi touring. Sub 100k km according to carjam and Oxford green over beige leather 😍

Looks pretty tidy. The fact it's still on OEM Bridgestone runflats (at $600+ a corner) suggests they probably haven't cut too many corners on maintenance

Very few NZ New X5 35i's, majority will be 30d with a smattering of 40d/50d. Would avoid a post facelift 35d as they'll be ex-Japan and likely with AdBlue emissions gubbins to go wrong. Facelift came with the ZF 8 speed which is much better than the old 6 speed auto. N57 in 30d/40d guise is a sound engine IMO (I have it in my 335d). I would steer clear of anything with dubious service history, even factory service intervals are too long

Rode past CCBMW Wellington today…hardly any stock, 5-6 cars outside and the used car section inside was sparsely populated also. Heading for 6th different franchise in last 15 years?

From memory it was manual converted. No sports seats either. 48k will buy you an E61 M5

A neglected pair of tourings (both NZ new - 328i and 330d, look like they've been sitting since 2018)

Looks like it's had a visit to the same exhaust shop as seems to work on the Golf GTi Mk V's I see around welly...straight pipe from headers probably

If you include space grey and silverstone in the ‘silver’ category I’d say very few! Interlagos is a great colour for the E90, there is a pre-LCI I see in Welly in that colour that looks great (although I think it now has a Matt black wrap on it 🤮)

I wondered if Malachite Green was the original colour - seems it is

Same colour with similar performance and a less stratospheric price - also nicely equipped, bit surprised this hasn't been snaffled yet. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/530d/listing/3835995186

Mental...F31 335d Xdrive weighs the same (with an auto AND 4WD AND diesel I6 AND a touring body) 🤣

This one is pretty nicely specced - there is a 2016 F11 535d ex-UK also on TM and this is much nicer, fancy merino leather, multifunction display, adaptive LED's...it doesn't want for much. Also no sunroof is a big plus.

Lovely looking thing though @skidz

Imported F11's are a dime a dozen. Can think of very few NZ new ones (assuming that means anything). Diesel wagons looking less attractive currently with the trajectory of diesel vs petrol (95 is cheaper than diesel in Welly BEFORE you add on the RUC's)

Can't imagine there were many(/any others) of these sold NZ new in 2016 (must've been special order, I think they'd stopped bringing in F11's after the LCI). Great colour combo and spec too. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/535i/listing/3815440540