Eagle

Haha yep. Amazing what EFI can compensate for. Carburetors just sh*t the bed if anything is off. Not sure if he is still in business but Bertz customs in the UK appears to be the best price vs quality ones i ever saw They were about ~1500NZD for memory + shipping. Every NZ new or UK import BMW ive owned looked like this, asian ones werent bad per se but generally never as good (much darker).

Ive got a cloth sport ones in my E36 that isnt as bad as my leather ones but its still not that great. New bolsters may help, most seats have been quashed\foam has failed to some extend. Ive never had an issue with E39 ones, but @hunter redid his alcantara ones and they are noticeably more comfortable and support much better than worn stuff thats around. Yeah need a cert for seats (seat belt anchor point changed iirc). There are bases that use a modified stock\base rail (Brey-Krause) but they are cheap and not sure if they would need to be certed or not. I just take my out for the WOF since its easy in a coupe. Current one me close to 1k seat+base which is fairly cheap considering what @Harper and others have spent. I dont care about passenger one so it made it much cheaper I think the genuine E46 base\rails for Recaro seats are hard to find now, the place in Japan i got them from delisted the drivers ones ordered it. NZKW do their generic E36\E46 one and im sure there are other around. Its a bit of mission finding and figuring out what you want and not usually cheap, but once you find the right seat its like your favourite pair of pants etc.

Done all my rear BMW ones with this - https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car-parts-accessories/tools-repair-kits/repair-kits/listing/4429644283

There probably is but most shops don't really need them as they would just use generic tools\parts to do the job. I do the majority bushings with the above, wheel bearing press kit, ball joint press kit and various 1\2" sockets.

Sporting the usual dealer standard equipment option - worn shift knob

Should be a WOF fail over a certain age. Crazy how you run a 20 years old spare wheel\tyre but fail on 100 other bs things. My compact was imported 2008 from Japan, 63,000km and who knows how many hours being a ecobox. A simple old style BMW design goes along way imo just like an imported corolla etc. Even came fitted with 2008 Japanese Bridgestones, great if having traction isnt your thing.

Dont think any workshop would rent anything out in the unlikely event they would have it. Dont really need a special tool though. You can make something up via M12 8.8 rod, washers, nuts, steel plate, pipe offcuts etc, or buy something like that you can use for other jobs too - https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car-parts-accessories/tools-repair-kits/repair-kits/listing/4432809073

Annoying. Neglected cars always seem to be the ones that have ongoing problems. Hopefully these are the last of them Yeah E46 msport seats are probably the worse BMW seats ive experienced on longer trips. Worn bolsters dont help but ive never had any issues with other old BMW seats. My Recaro is a joy to sit in and worth every $.

Most headunits will work fine with correct wiring adapter (plug and play connects factory wiring to new headunit). Most aftermarket units look out of place imo but i used this one years ago in my Mercedes of same vintage, looked and worked fine - https://www.amazon.com/VDO-Continental-TR7412UB-European-Bluetooth/dp/B08D2R48HZ

Is the your wifes handy work on the rims too? haha. Probably a good thing you haven't got a purple tag steering rack in it

With the 90's era stuff at least the asian imports were generally in better cosmetic condition mainly paint and bodywork, cloth interiors are always a mixed bag and why i dont like them. NZ new engines and ancillaries and always felt stronger\less worn to me. Also depends when it was imported too, some big ranges from 3-4 years after build date to near or over a decade.

As useful as you want it to be. Lots of tools run on air. I think the cheap ones generally hold up you change the oil out for something decent and keep them maintained, probably all made in the same bunch of factories. I bought one of these over 10 years ago and was still running fine before sold it and upgraded. It was too small for tools but ok for occasional compressed air blasting and inflated, anything below 50L tank size isnt going to run much for long - https://collingwoodscrosscountry.co.nz/product/dek2024-air-compressor/ Id go for something 2nd hand though as you can get something bigger\more powerful for a lot less money (if you have the room), or just save on similar specs.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/building-renovation/tools/hand-tools/sets-kits/listing/4405203721 Anyone here win that?. I got 2x but id buy that for a $1

Still plenty of tidy E39's around though especially later facelift stuff. E34's are the more durable engines, drivetrains and cost less to maintain and stand more a chance to survive. I see plenty of low k E34 540i's which are probably still rocking mostly original parts. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/325i/listing/4393895444 Interesting to see what this goes for

Id wager the vast majority of cars on the road need new struts\shocks

Once the suspension and steering is refreshed they liven up. Most E34 I've driven certainly felt like boats

Im sure if someone turned up with 30k in the hand he'd take it. If it was such a deal he should of bought and re-sold it. Tis known the market and slowed along with available funds, so to me its more of a realistic sale price than an artificially inflated covid price.

Look them up on here - http://www.bmwstylewheels.com/ Should bolt up but offsets maybe different

@balancerider is correct Not great but ive changed fluid on quite few older models with 'lifetime fluid', all had done over 200,000km. If its shifting good then i think you'd be fine with a service. I dont really keep track of what these are actually selling for so cant help with that . With what's known about it id say its average example in general. so . They tend to be fairly cheap for a reason when they reach that age\mileage, not many people spending money on refreshing and doing preventative repairs on cars like this. You do get a fair bit of car for the money which is the appealing part i suppose. Everyone is different when it comes to acceptable maintenance costs, but if you have to pay someone to work on it then id say a mechanical warranty is needed along with the above.

It did mention they had been replaced, springs im assuming Drivetrain should be one of the more durable bits. Transmission can develop issues but much of that depends if its been serviced and how its been used. Id say the engine ancillaries are the weak link as far as costs. If you google N54 engine problems you will get an idea what can happen. Most of the rest is just normal wear and tear which a pre purchase inspection and service history should reveal.

He wanted 35k or 40k before iirc. I wonder what the true market value of these are considering this probably was a 20k car a few years ago. 25,000km in 15 years must be garage queen status though. No doubt it will need a good mechanic birthday but at least that's the cheaper part if doing it yourself.

Some people got a phobia against anything green. As long as its HOAT type and you dont mix you wont have an issue. Penrite is OEM approved. Mercedes had a water quality document i read along time ago and most NZ water was acceptable for mineral etc content iirc.

Cant help with what to choose but any model can have electrical problems, some better than others but with modern cars being complex these days its luck of the draw imo. Getting a PPI done on a good example and budgeting for some preventative maintenance is the main thing. Cars you are looking at are 10+ years old so id argue the k's aren't that reliable of an indicator. You can have high running hours, lots of stop\starts and short trips but low millage. The best vehicles ive owned were NZ new ones that were mostly used on long distance highway driving\had higher k's. Heat is the enemy so a cooler engine and less heat cycles goes along way imo. Higher k's have a more likely hood of parts being replaced\service history, although cosmetically generally are worse off to varying degrees.

I did see that that one hence some better than others comment, but unless he hasn't mentioned or it's just considered general service history it's nothing great imo. @Harper Yeah exactly and why you rarely see stuff like that for sale.

Some certainly appear better than others but dont see anything for sale that had a real mechanical birthday. To me it always felt like people stop about driving them when they reach 10+ years old and creep up around 100,000km, certainly rare to see anything over 200,000km. I dont know if that's due to perceived value loss, mechanical uncertainty, or both. Any profit would probably vanish if you refreshed it and drove it regularly for 5 years.