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Put car on tardme. Price it above everything similar, as its better. One text message 2 days after listing, comes around an hour later, looks it over, pays you asking price in cash with no haggling or screwing around and takes car. Why cant all tardmes be like this!

I did spin a near new XR8 across 4 lanes of highway, down a 3m bank, through a wire fence and 20m into a paddock full of cows. Tyre marks were less than 2 feet from a lamp post too. Every panel, roof included, need to be painted. Cops (lots of) turned up. The motorbike cop was sceptical of my claim that surface flooding caused instant loss of traction hence the spin... wandered off to check with his foot, put his boot in the water and it came over the top and in, wetting his sock. That's close to 400mm, in a lane, on a 100 km/h stretch of road. Only other vehicle to stop was actually the car in front of me that did a u-turn and came back. Even the semi that was coming the other way and I missed by only a few metres spinning in front of didn't stop, wtf? It was George Bolt Memorial Drive back in the day (pre traffic lights) on the route to the airport. Bummer was I was going to pick up the folks, in dad's 1 month old obsession, from their 2 week overseas holiday. Suffice to say he wasn't too impressed regardless of what the cops thought. No cows were harmed in the making of this incident, just a little pride.

From my experience, considerably less than an e36. Cooling system seems to work too.

Old favourite from the 38 brigade

Had a very narrow escape from this guy on Saturday. Just managed to avoid being hit head on about 3 seconds before he went through a raised roundabout and performed some kind of spinning somersault. Trying to do a runner from the po-po, I estimated his speed at above 130.

I've always wanted to flip a BA/BF falcon and see how much interior trim removes itself

I am familiar with the car and the owner, well built well presented and prepared car, and the owner is a decent guy.

Hey guys, I've recently started a build journal on a US site (m3forum.net). I thought I might as well replicate it here as well. Some of the content is written for a US audience (miles vs km, LHD vs RHD, etc) so feel free to ignore those bits. I'll update here as I update on m3forum. So having owned my M3 for a year last week, and given I'm embarking on some significant work over the next month, I though it was about time I started a build thread. I got the car in December 2015. I first seriously looked at buying an M3 in 2008, I decided (wisely) to pay off my student loan, etc. first. I then ended up getting married in 2012, and spending some time & money on travel with my wife. In 2015 I was finally ready to start thinking about an M3 again. For a number of weeks in August and September I had my eye half-seriously on a 2005 Silver Grey SMG model for sale in my home city (living in New Zealand there's not a huge number of E46 M3's on sale (between 5 and 8 at any one time). I still wasn't really sure if I was ready to buy one or not. Then one day it was sold, and I realised then how much I actually wanted it... I thought that was it and prepared myself to wait until the next one that met my requirements came along. Then, a few weeks later the same car was back on the market. It had actually just been traded between dealers. In the mean time the second dealer had done some work on it (to make it more attractive for sale presumably). New wing mirror glass on both sides to replace the damaged ones on it. All trim parts on the centre console replaced - looked like new. New OE brake rotors fitted on the front. That weekend I went to have a look at it. It was in much better shape that I was expecting. The exterior wasn't perfect, which I was expecting from what others who had looked at it had said. But the interior was in really great condition. More importantly the mechanics of the car seemed to be solid. The car had had the subframe strengthened by BMW NZ, had been serviced at a reputable BMW dealer, and had had things like the RTAB's done a few years previously, which was an indication that the previous owner/s had been taking at least some care of the car. To make a short story even shorter, I ended up making an offer on the car, and I took it home 3 days before Christmas. It ticked pretty much all the boxes for me. I was looking for: A later manufacturing year (2005/2006). SMG (yep I know, but I'm an engineer, SMG is cool, its a differentiator, and I really wanted it). Silvergrey or LSB Sunroof 19in Style 67s I bought it knowing that quite possibly it would need the VANOS done (which indeed it did), but that didn't really bother me. My intent in buying this car was to work on it, maintain it, and make it better than the day I bought it. I plan on keeping this car for a long time, and its an opportunity to learn and develop my mechanics skills as I go. I'm lucky in that regard in that I have my dad to help me. When he was about my age he owned and restored a Daimler SP250, so I'm not exactly on my own on this. A couple of months after I bought the car I ordered the parts to do the Beisan VANOS rebuild, did the full rebuild, new exhaust disc (existing hub tabs are 100% good), timing chain tensioner, cam bolts, etc. It was a great first project, we spread the work over two days, took our time, and the end result was perfect. All the rattle was gone, and the engine sounded smooth. Over the New Zealand winter I didn't get any major work done. did new belts, pulleys and tensioners, and replaced the crank case ventilation separator, but not much else. Which leads into the present day The summer project is a full suspension & bushings rebuild, cleaning up the underside of the car, cleaning, painting, etc. The aim is that the underside of the car will be as close to "like new" as is realistically possible. For me that means: Replace parts that wear Clean everything else up Seal and paint where appropriate to protect In New Zealand we don't salt our roads in winter (mostly cause it doesn't get cold enough) so the car is in pretty reasonable condition (more dirt and grime than rush), but if you're under there you might as well do it right hey! A couple of weeks ago I ordered Koni yellows to replace the stock shocks, as well as about 60 different part numbers for pretty much anything on the underside of the car that looked like it would wear out. Today Dad and I spent the afternoon getting the car up to working height on jacks (oh for a lift). Over the next few weeks we'll be dismantling, replacing/restoring and rebuilding. I'll be updating here as we go along. Hopefully in a few weeks time the car will be back on the ground and good to go for another 150,000 km :-) For now I'll end with a pic of the car up on jacks.

The rust on them is crazy! A mate was looking at them (and it was a long time ago - they're weren't old then!), until he discovered how many were rotted out under the back window in the boot.

Just slam the door hard. Should simulate this feature very well. I call it a feature because there is no way it can't be a part of the design as it happens on all of them so often.

Yep def an XR6, could hear that lazy lump getting spanked as he roared past. He thought that coming down an off ramp and traveling against traffic on the wrong side of a wire rope median was a neat trick to pull. Made no effort to avoid us or brake for the roundabout so I'm guessing drunk. I put the pic here and not in the quick rant thread coz I'm just glad not to be more involved

I like this coupe ALOT. But unfortunately a new mortgage is steering me away. Funnily enough in Papakura too Brent.

Did some race car stuff Clean again

No sorry mate, But have a huge receipts folder ?.. When shes done I'll make a little something in the showroom area.

XcelR8ed too much

^ I had my E46 listed on trademe for a bit longer than 2 days but first person to actually book a time to view took it for a drive around the block and said yep i'll take it. paid and done later that evening after work. Full asking price paid. Also, when I bought my car, 1 txt to get address, went to view it, all done paid for and drove home 1 hour after.

No place like home, as much as I go away .. always seem to come back. Just setting up more sensors for the link, m50 cam sensor adapter to allow for minor tuning/fuel/spark adjustments.

What the f' is up with the E46 M3 owners and their sick kids? ? That sucks bro, hope your little boy's heath improves and you get to spend more time with both him and the car!

Unless it's changed recently I think that BMW's response will be that if the cracks are less than 20mm (from memory) they advise welding repair and foam in the rear mounts if not already done (foam after welding, unless you want everything to be on fire ?), and if the cracks are more than 20mm I believe the official advice is a replacement RACP.... Will definitely provide an update here (http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/57571-karter-16s-e46-m3-journal/) when I do the foam on the front mounts - and sure, provided it's successful I'd be happy to pass on what I've learned! Remember as well that although it's definitely something to be aware of and keep an eye on it shouldn't take away the enjoyment of the car in the mean time! The real danger is not knowing/assuming it's not a problem!!

Not a wild claim. Tom`s M3 (207.8kw) vs CSL (203.1kw) DynoTorque PowerChart_GFK676 #4.pdf DynoTorque PowerChart_GMY136 #2.pdf