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Alpina XD3 BiTurbo outside work Mt Eden , Auckland earlier today

Picked this up a few months ago. Came with Schnitzer Kit Inc suspension, bodykit, exhaust, strut bar, steering wheel etc. Is a NZ new manual HD12 with black leather m-tech seats. I swapped the original Schnitzer wheels out with BBS rs 005 & 006 that I refurbed a few years ago with new Turanza tyres, it gave me a 1cm lift I needed to get up driveways etc. Very happy with the cars performance & driveability. If anyone knows more about the cars history I would be keen to hear. Previous owner also threw in new Jim Conforti chip I'm yet to install.

Cheers, I say three fantastic cars as the 530 in many respects is a seriously good practical and awesome performing vehicle - that looks the part... I was a certifiable Holden nutcase back in the 90's when one could actually afford them. I'm very lucky to have this LS Monaro (a CV8 Monaro made way for it..) and now having discovered Beema's, my allegiance's are very much split... and my credit card is consequently more plastic than elastic...

First decent drive over the weekend, drove to Napier and back! Everything went well. Did some mild maintenance once we got there. Replaced battery (it's been a bit rubbish for a while), cleaned wheel speed sensors after they threw faults & fixed reversing sensors. Took a boot full of junk down, which ended up coming in quite handy. Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr] Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr Engine is running very nicely, tonnes of torque in the low & mid range and the fuel efficiency is heaps better. 650kms from a tank...! Best I had in the past is mid-500's. Chuffed. Edit: shot of it back together shortly afterwards. It's dirty, but it's not that bad given it drove to Napier and I didn't wash it down there..! If that doesn't convince you on ceramic coatings, I don't know what will haha Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

seriously cool x3, its the best shape out of the BMW SUV's imo

From your description it could be one of many things causing the original coolant leak. Radiators, hoses etc all fail & one of them would have been the likely culprit. Why did you original mechanic not pressure test the system to diagnose it? Did he confirm the head gasket? Did the repairers pressure test the system? Presumably they did & confirmed the radiator at fault? A slightly leaking/seeping radiator is not going to cause the engine to overheat, nor consume large amounts of coolant. That said, any loss needs to be identified. If the repairer did infact confirm the radiator as the fault & repaired/replaced accordingly & fixed the leak then I don;t blame them for not accepting responsibility. They fixed the problem on hand. 1900km is plenty of distance for a fault to develop. Why was the car required to be towed to recover - did it run out of coolant/ overheat? Did the car stop on you/ did you stop it, if so why? If it had overheated then - i would suspect that was when the head cracked. Also - had it still been using coolant after the radiator repair?

Very rare factory 6 speed manual v8 bimmer, South Africa car build sheet shows all Motorsport options. 280k but been well looked after and still drives great I have recently fitted new clutch and radiator, back bumper needs a repair and a/c has not worked since I have owned it never bothered to see why, can deliver free anywhere in NZ. Driving will impress, located in Christchurch $8000

the original repairer wont just easily say "oh yep our fault we will give you a replacement engine" just like that. you might have to hassle them or take them to small claims court. alternatively, can you not just claim mechanical warranty again?

Yep replacement plates for $17 (much better than $400 for replacement new euro style plates), different font of course to the old one but importantly the same number, and coincidently new rear brake pads and washer fluid lines recently as well... I see there is another topas blue 530 up for sale at moment... Cheers Colin.

@hqstu - what two very seriously fantastic machines you have! Envious. Very envious am I!

Agree - another example was the NZ new 840ci that was recently sold by an Auckland dealer. This example was registered in 1997 model when in fact it was actually built in 1995 (as per the VIN) . Legend has it that it 'sat' as a 'demonstrator' with the original BMW dealer i.e. unsold (they couldn't sell it), for two years. I had my 1996 840ci (UK model) parked next to this one when visiting the local dealership once. I asked a staff member why the 1997 NZ new one had the 4l and standard automatic as opposed to the 4.4l and steptronic that was in mine (and standard from March 1996 for the V8 8 series) they said different specs for different markets. Yeah right...

Yeah, I get a bit suspicious of some of the bids on the $1 reserve auctions. I'm thinking it will be around $5k as well, which would be a steal if you're in the market for one.

I reckon it will close around 5k

You got a new number plate! New rear brake pads and a handbrake adjustment for the 520i last night, handbrake was barely functional beforehand. Also replaced it's washer fluid lines.

Makes me chuckle when people do the old 'chain driven so no need to worry about cambelt' line. Yeah no cambelt but you get cost cutted chain design that only lasts twice as long as a cambelt but costs 3x as much to fix.

^ yes, worth mentioning. That looks great! On a day other than today I discovered and fixed a coolant leak on the 328 and replaced the belts and pulleys, tensioners were fine. Belts were on their last legs so timing was good. Removed the ECU from the M3 and found what I suspect is a problem with the circuit board.

Put up a shade sail in the attempt to stave off the bee poo bombardments this coming summer.... Also over the weekend took the Monaro up to Auckland for a "End of Holden Production Cruise" - Not BMW but thought I'd mention it...

Cage now has 4 feet, 4 bolts each, goes in and out...but you have to know the right way haha. I'm going to cut the harness bar out and get a new one bent up, currently it sits hard up on the back of my seat so no good, then paint. Made backing plates for each leg as well, one happened go right where all the fuel lines are which turned a bit chaotic All painted up, same colour as car. Cut some carpet to clean up the rear seat area Now I REALLY need to dye/paint my front carpet.. Quarter bonnet, just because..

Will upload more pictures later. I can also take specific pictures if you require. NB: Will come with standard parcel shelf, not the blue one

One of these is not like the other...

Mine

Finally got around to putting the wheels on the E39