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Disappointed, I thought this would be the 540i “Schnitzer” from Rose City Cars that started at $35k(?).

I didn't realize "luxurious feel of a bygone era" was code for "has cloth seats".

For $35k, I’d want my silver car to be silver, the gear knob to be put on properly and the model badge on the right side. For starters.

Owned both in manual and auto form and you certainly feel the added weight of the V8, plus steering rack vs box makes a big difference in feel, hard not to notice that. The auto 540i is probably near 200kg heavier than a manual 6 cyl depending on options. 540i is great on the open road when you need passing power but mostly wasted if you doing typical Auckland driving. A M54 in good running condition with working vanos has great torque for a old 3L.

Buy a msport 530i and swap the manual bits into it. Not quite as fast as a 540i but way more reliable, better handling and you can use most of the parts from your 528i (540i mostly limited to interior, exterior and rear suspension parts from 528i). The average auto 540i is too much of a ticking timing bomb with timing chain guides, unreliable transmissions as well as the usual E39 issues. So unless its been owned by someone like @hqstu or someone who has thrown lots money at it, id probably avoid it.

And here she is after 500km and needing her first wash (hopefully this weekend). If the guy driving a white E91 Touring who waved at me on SH1 northbound lane just south of the Newmarket bridge in Auckland on ANZAC day around midday is also member here, hi back! 👋

Someone is going to buy that and press it into service and find out why low km cars that have been sitting around for decades arent a good idea. The tires alone have a date code of 5206 on them, which makes them almost 20 years old. That should be illegal to wof/sell.

Hmm, couple of different ways you could go with this one……. The E39 chassis is a great platform, if you are prepared to deal with the usual E39 bits and bobs, this is coming from a past 530i touring, + current 540i m/sport owner. You could go the tricked up i6 or the relatively standard v8 option. Loads of performance options for the i6, however to wring more power out of the M62tu can be expensive, but your starting from a higher hp / torque level. I currently have a 1999 540i m/sport that I’m about to do the 6speed 420g conversion on (build post coming soon) + a few intake and software upgrades on. This will be more than enough enjoyment for me as a Sunday cruiser. as far as handling, I don’t think you would notice too much difference between a 530 v 540 on day-to-day driving, unless you like to drive on the raged edge day-to-day. Im too old for that sort of carry on, but the torque from the m62 is pretty intoxicating! As I’m sure the hp from a turbo i6 would be! If your after max power for minimal effort, go the 540👍 current project:

Picked the manual 130i up today. It's pretty neglected. One NZ owner. Typical NZ A-B owner that has done the minimal it's entire life. I do have a ton of receipts for it though. It is the grubbiest BMW I have ever been near. Thick grime on all surfaces that you would touch. I went through about a dozen wet wipes just cleaning the gear knob. Yuck. Clutch is gone but I was able to drive it over the hill without it slipping much. Will decide if I go single mass or dual mass once I decide what I will do with it. Paint is neglected to hell. I did a quick spot check to see how it would react to some cleaner wax and it came up not too bad. So will cut and polish the car. There are dents and some shitty paint from a cheap repair on one of rear quarters. Car has been sunbaked so I will replace a bunch of common trim bits. Standard oil leaks. Needs a new steering wheel badly. But other than that there are no vibrations, suspension is better than my white ones. Engine seems responsive. Good deal for $3K. It's the black one BTW. Good from a far, far from good.

Thats rad, I'm betting you've got the label printer and made little bin locations in the garage / under the sink / above those extra pillows in the hall cupboard nobody is sure about etc 🤣

Another little side project I've been working on is this: As time goes on my collection of spare/new parts continues to increase to the point that it's challenging to keep track in a spreadsheet of what I've purchased/fitted/quantities remaining, etc. I also want to be able to more easily plan out future projects and map that back to parts I have/need to get. To this end I've setup an inventree instance and loaded into it the complete list of part numbers for my specific VIN. Now that I've got this base setup I can go through my parts shelves, load in the quantities etc. and then I have an easy view of what I've got without having to dig through boxes. When I fit parts I can decrease the stock on hand, etc. I can also make use of some of inventree's other features to build BOMs for projects, track what parts I need to order, etc. Is this overkill? absolutely, 100%. But it will make things a bit easier for me, plus it's cool to have a complete list of part numbers for reference.

https://www.wheelsmartrepaircentre.com/ These guys are great. Repaired my F80 wheel a few months back.

I’ve owned my 130i for almost a year and never knew about this thread until someone mentioned it to me in my fb post. I’ve just listed my 2007 130i on trademe. I won’t explain everything again cause it’s in the description of the listing. I will say here that the car is very tidy in my opinion and I’m only selling due to wanting a manual 130i. https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-4682252838.htm

I'd be shocked if the first bill was only 4 figures.

Not cheap - realistic

Interesting, didn't see that as an option on there when searching by part number. Oh well. I've ordered a Hella unit, will see how it goes. Not too fussed with replacement as I've figured out a way to get to it from underneath without having to take the intake out so not that much of a hassle. Before ordering it I called up BM Parts to see what they stock locally, got offered the same Hella unit for $420+GST. From Spareto it's €76+30 shipping so all up $480 vs $190. Bonkers how we're getting shafted over here left & right

Got the cooked box out and replacement in in about 4 hours today. Not bhed for an amateur lying on the floor. Off for a wof next week then do some cruising!

First quarter of the job. Good box out

17inch OZ Futura 17x8 et32 17x9 et32 5x120 Fully rebuilt and purchased from Europe couple years ago. New lips bolts etc Very good fitment for 3 series (and probably others). Bang on for stock body e30, e36, e46 etc $5500 Located Dunedin. Happy to ship at buyers cost

Yeah it looks like a poor reproduction, or just a "close enough" match. The actual retrim itself looks decent though. I'm curious if he's had the entire car resprayed, or close door and if the door jams are still silver / engine bay too. Hard to tell without any photos, looks like the tailgate inner is silver still. Also wonder who his mechanic is with this nonsense "My mechanic says it’s a newer engine than what the mileage suggests, and in his opinion about 150-200k) and must have got swapped out prior to me owning it."

Its a very nice car, no doubt, but the reupholstery on the 318i Touring makes me very hapy I stumped for all original BMW fabric for my retrim - looks like spotlight or corolla fabric.

Ohh it would be! Priorities are elsewhere right now though, trying to upsize to a lifestyle block and plan is to have kids in the next year or two so wouldn't have the time, space or money to take that on just yet. Maybe one day...

There could well be! Haven’t given it a good check over, but will let you know if the good one doesn’t need it

Fair point, there was a few years gap between ownership of the 6cyl and v8, so a little difficult to make a comparison. As mentioned, the v8 would be my pick if the bulk of your driving is open road stuff and/or if it’s a “Sunday driver” car. This is what I use mine as and I think it suits the application well. Stick with the 6cyl if it’s a daily driver IMO.

2 white tourings in one day 👀 Pricing on the 318 might be a tad optimistic. Both look juicy tho. 1989 325i Touring 1988 318i Touring

Got the Simple Green and then the Aerospace 303 out to clean up the plastics I'll not see for another 180xxx km. Back on the ground for a couple of days before my airfreight arrives 👀

Never. Wasn't getting enough people on fb market place asking if it's still available so I dropped asking to $7200

If there's a market for it then all power to them I guess. Personally, I find it hard to "support local" knowing that there was zero value added to the original product by the entity taking your money when you can get the exact thing from elsewhere for 1/3 of the price. I'd rather support businesses that, you know, do something.

Fair enough, if have to pay someone to install it probably makes more sense. I always inspect them and replace the brushes etc if needed. Remanufactured\rebuilt is such a broad term that you dont really know what you are truly getting for your money, same with alternators.

$20k, damn, almost had a flutter last minute with the E30 resto fund 😬

What BDS is doing is interesting, 300bhp, faceballs reel thing - https://www.facebook.com/reel/1417224932251571

Yeah, we liked it because it never got hot in the sun.

Got the cooked box out and replacement in in about 4 hours today. Not bhed for an amateur lying on the floor. Off for a wof next week then do some cruising!

Got my white one which I need to now sell, I'm seeing a wide range of pricing but what's a fair price for a 2006 white manual 130i with 220k on the clock? It's in good running condition with no oil leaks etc.

CDV delete and new trans fluid today, easy job aside from rounding off the stupid plastic bleed screw a little..grrr What a difference !! Clutch action is just 100 times better, shifts butter smooth, what were BMW thinking with this. Interesting that my car was owned by an enthusiast without deleting it, crazy

100% this, just trying to re-iterate the myths about imports to make his car look better. Imports got a bad name when the less scrupulous dealers used to wind them back to get more $$s and then they had issues. Not a problem with a recent M car that would have all the servicing data in the iDrive. There are not a huge number of recent imports of newish cars, due to exhange rates and increased transport costs, so not massive numbers around now as there might have been in the past. Just look out for the Aussie imports that were hail damaged, other than that treat each car on its own condition and specs.

235/35/19 were 450ish corner with N3 discount at advantage.

Thanks @Olaf! Completely forgot I had this lol. Will $170 help anyone? With or without the ramps 😁

bump!

I tried a few decoders, I can only see Sport Package. I think it might be more practical to just have a regular diff and a welded one for the track. My goal is to make a car I can learn to drift in, but still be able to drive it to the track and back. I don't have space for a trailer, and can't keep one on the street because it'll get stolen immediately.

The amount of effort that's gone into it is kind of impressive but also... somehow nauseating? Won't see another Z3 like it, that's for sure. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/z3/listing/4674093509?bof=hgofd8wg

I was once told that buying any second hand car is a lottery regardless of age, kms or if nz new or imported. If you can, view for condition, check any maintenance history and perform due diligence to make an informed decision - trying to somewhat mitigate the risk.

My old e46 m3 was a Japanese import. Owned that one for 11 years. Needed the usual M3 servicing. Wasn’t any better or any worse that my NZ new counterparts owned. Brought it at 48,000km and sold it at 189,000km My F80 M3 is a UK import. Seems normal, done 22,000kms E36s were a different story NZ New 325i , no issues, just needed servicing to 220,000 km Imported 328i , auto transmission issues at 120,000 km Imported 318i aka the lemon. Auto transmission issues , most things actually. Suspect the dealer had had the speedo reversed and the car was built by British Leyland workers on a Friday after the pub.

E30s. Three different ones, at different times. In the rain, all in Central Hawke's Bay !

So the end result of this is that the car now has a new correctly installed OE Pilkington screen courtesy of CCBMW after S+S had put 2 new aftermarket screens in, awful whistling above 50kph with both. I swear the inside vehicle SPL is about 10dB less with the OE screen. Very happy

E30 cabriolet roof Fabric roof , complete with frame and front locks. This is the mechanical style Roof appears to be a replacement at some stage and will respond to a clean.it is the Fabric style roof . Fabric has no rips or tears ,no rot, stitching is all intact ,back window is good and the mechanism opens and closes $1880 here or .. Trademe $1980 Buyer must collect ,to difficult to freight,it would get damaged , or I could assist with freight to wairarapa, wellington, Taranaki, taupo delivery, however there will be a cost Based in Marton 021651591

Fractured pelvis. So that's golf and snowboarding done before the season began. Stable fractures so no surgery, but I was teased fairly aggressively by the ED nurses about being under 40 and suffering an "old lady injury." Priority parking for the next 6 months though!

Some dodgy sh*t going on with that 318i Touring. Listing claims 347k km's on the clock. The same car was being sold in '21 at 469k km. A quick carjam shows it hit that mileage in 2019 when the odo broke since it's stayed the same since. Must have passed half a million by now. I'd be wearing that as a badge of honour instead of half-arsedly trying to conceal it.

Things were going well. Until they weren't. My kingdom for 2mm.

This is a dangermouse car!