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New Shoes and a fancy wheel alignment that uses Lasers.

i bought my e70 3d Msport with 20ks on the clock and have kept a record of the servicing to date incl replacement of tyres etc. it has gone through 2 sets of tyres and 2x changes of brakes (rotors & pads) All servicing done at Auckland City BMW with 1x brake change at BM Workshop as BMW could not fit me in. Cost to date for the last 6 years has come to $10,500. its an awesome truck that i will probably drive to the ground, albeit being tempted a number of times to upgrade to the new F15! Just cant justify the depreciation and the fact that its never let us down!

M Commercial division launch

Straight in to taking care of the important bits, the engine. Vanos test in GT1 tells me the exhaust advance value on Bank 1 in crank degrees is way out of wack, like 11 degrees out. Bank 2 passes with flying colours. No fault codes in relation to Vanos, so the issue points to being mechanical. I initially swapped the solenoid packs from bank to bank thinking it may be a solenoid issue. No joy, time to open the engine up. This engine is very clean on the inside. It was apparently rebult 35k ago with : -New oil control rings (excessive oil consumption) -rod bearings -all new chains, tensioners and guides Bank 1 valve cover was removed this evening in preparation to check static cam timing, as per the DIS recommendation during the Bank 1 vanos test. Bank 2 cover and some other bits to be removed in order to do the work. This is the underside of the valve cover on bank 1. Usually these are gummed up badly with old oil so it means one less cleaning job to do.

After selling the E91 and driving the E39 for a while I felt like I needed something a bit newer again and had my sights set on a 135i coupe, looking for the perfect one to pop up. But it was always either not quite right and or a bit too expensive. Then I stumbled across this E87 130i hatchback 2010 automatic and couldn't say no to the lovely 6 cylinder engine so pulled the trigger. Picked it up completely stock and have already started the mods like new wheels (Work Japan 18x8.5), debadged and black grilles etc. Huge list of things I want to do on it but so far very happy with the car and will be replacing the E39 as my daily.

For what it's worth the only regret I have for buying an X5 for our family of 5 is that I didn't buy one years ago. I'm 197cm, wife is 180, 16, 13 and 9yo are 180, 178 and 148. We struggled along in the e39 because I hate the idea of a Chelsea tractor. But we were just too big. I've done 6's, v8's and v12's, saloons and tourings, in e32's, e38's and e39's and in the end bought an e53 3.0l petrol X5 and I don't regret the decision at all. I have the 535is if I want to go for a fang, but when we are 5 up, filled to the brim to go away I want security and cruising ability. The X5 does it without breaking a sweat. As for tyres, you just need to know where to look. A got four brand new Continental CrossContact UHP in 18" for $800 all up. We've done about 30k mainly motorway driving and they still have 3-4 mm. I've thrown it over the Paekok hill plenty of times and never had any trouble in the corners, they have been excellent. It was serviced for the first time in our 18 months of ownership by Mike Page in Kapiti on Thursday. Full inspection II was just under 1k. Including new plugs, the odd belt, brake fluid, oil, all filters etc. I didn't think that was too bad. My budget was much lower than yours but the 3.0l petrol was still 2/3rds of the price of a diesel and they'd all done twice the mileage. Maybe I was missing in my sums something but I couldn't justify the initial price difference. I've just remembered your comments about the 3.0 being underpowered and thirty. We average 11.2 l/100k. I don't think that's bad at all, we don't drive it around town, but I don't remember getting anywhere near that my m62 e38. Perhaps the newer petrols you are looking at are far better. Cruising on the open road is easy as is overtaking. I appreciate your friend regretting it, but not me. I would have loved an e70 but given how cheap the e53 was, it meant I could keep the 535is for the weekends.

We've driven a Range Rover Sport which handled like a good, large sportscar. I suspect the difference between the RR Sport and it's less sporty brethren would be similar to that imparted by an MSport X5. The LR Discovery Sport was another thing entirely. Seemed to bring the best of all worlds into a single package. We can't afford one, but it's good to know these things.

Pretty keen to see also. Will you be making more?

Bmworkshop in Grey Lynn.

Awesome work! All looks very tidy.

One of my biggest complaints is how eager my X5 is to downshift and 'race car!' Even out of sports mode. It actually makes the car a bit more ruggard and agricultural in the way it feels when in reality the engine has loads of torque and power, espically around town. You can all rag on me for being a nana! That's where I think the Mercs really come into their own, especially if you can get the seven speed box like my old C Class had. But they are big and floaty feeling.

Out of interest who did the alignment?

Olaf - what you're really saying is E61 with S85 option - next!

Mercs with larger engines don't actually accelerate. They reach out, and drag the horizon towards you.

thanks, John! F*#k me, that Mercedes V8 was just brilliant. not power. THRUST. It's true, I've never owned a V8 before. Smooooooooth. And almost as good as a good turbo. But ohhhhh, THRUST. 550i next.

Not boring mate it's exactly what I do . Plus you need something to stimulate the brain, it's like a mini project.

First start video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxD8lW_wjNo Excuse my enthusiasm, I was just extremely excited to finally see everything come together after months of work. But all is not perfect, the engine wont idle by itself. It runs great when we manually give it a bit of throttle. We swapped out both the ICV and MAF from other vehicles, but still no idle. I'm thinking the TPS may be water damaged. But we ran out of time, and had to head back to Christchurch for work the next day. At this stage I've got a few problems to solve before the first drive. The steering column doesn't clear the already chopped rear exhaust manifold. I'll probably just get a Holden Astra or similar steering U-joint setup from pick-a-part. The intake manifold appears to be just resting on the brake booster ever so slightly. I think I'll just add some washers on the engine mounts to lift the engine a few millimetres. I need to make a bracket to support the clutch fluid reservoir. The audi brake fluid reservoir clears the throttle body and intake manifold, but doesn't leave any room for a vacuum line to run down to the booster. I'm going to order a smaller reservoir from a Mk2/Mk3 golf which should solve the problem. I need to grab a throttle cable that will work. (probably from an E36) Fingers crossed, I'm hoping to take the car for a drive next weekend.

Number six rolls off the production line. Another 330ti with ZF 5 spd and all 330 m sport suspension and brakes.