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Have bought a c63 - from user liyi_92 and drove it back from Christchurch to Auckland on the long weekend. As a daily driver the c63 isn't great, the suspension is hard, the clutched auto gearbox is finicky, the bucket seats are hard to get into and the cold start noise is obscene. And yet it is exactly what I wanted. After you clamber into the very supportive bucket seats trying not to wreck the bolsters you immediately get over the increased difficulty as you realise how supportive they are. You turn the key and then engine barks at you, at very short sharp exotic sound before quickly settling down - you almost feel it winking at you, nudging you to stab the noise pedal at some point in your journey. Pulling the T handle handbrake release in the lower dash you cant help feeling that its very in keeping with the theme of this pseudo luxury car, an unholy cross between fiendish race car and mid level sedan of yesteryear. As you bump along at 50kmh on your coilover hard suspension avoiding potholes and speed bumps or anything else that might clean your bumper right off, you start to wonder what you have gotten yourself into. Deciding there is nothing to lose and with the 100kmh target approaching you punch it in auto mode and a wait a fraction of a second while it drops 4 gears before the car shoots out from under you. Thunder roars behind you, four hundred and fifty odd maniacal german horses loose from their stables and you grab the steering wheel for dear life- but you needn't have done so, a perfect smooth straight acceleration occurs, warpspeed but under control, no tire noise, no torque steer no fighting the steering wheel on road imperfections, just glorious throaty vocals and a blurred pointless digital speedo. 4 or so seconds later you're well into lost license territory and back off and slow to the limit, the car rewards you by smoothing out the ride considerably and its low speed faults fall away. No longer an unhappy racecar idling around the pits but balanced mile muncher, perfectly in its element doing the Christchurch to Picton run in the dead of the night. You hit the first 65 corner at 85, not ready yet to push it and the car just eats it for breakfast leaving you wondering if you actually went round a corner or just through it, giving you confidence for the next corner, then the next... Before long you have the paddles going and are smashing the fun pedal upto the corner before jumping hard onto the picks with no sign of fade or complaint from the giant 6 piston stoppers, you wonder how you could ever muck it up enough that you couldn't stop in time or couldn't make the corner. The 70 target appears and you coast through a sleepy village at 70, the car still completely content, almost relieved that it isn't executing a 3 point turn in a Ponsonby car park but merely gathering its breath for the next blast. Now you pass the 50 target which excites you because you know there's triple digits coming up and you aren't going a hair above 50 till its in sight, another few seconds of symphony to soothe any fears you had pottering around town. 100 approaches and you put $1 of 98 into the German jukebox again looking for that brilliant but over all too soon track, bumps are present but don't transmit to the chassis, somehow the stiff suspension transfers it away without upsetting the balance letting you know the harsh ride isn't the result of a cheap coilover setup. Too soon you reach Picton, your stomach growls because you forgot to stop for dinner with your high octane shenanigans, doesn't look like anything is open in Picton either, must remember to eat tomorrow..

All he needs is a basic oil service to keep the policy ticking over. I work at Chch BMW and we do them for like $240 if that which isn't expensive by any stretch. Especially if it means keeping Autosure happy should there be anything to claim in the future

You have two choices with the warranty servicing. A. Stop trying to cheap out on parts, get the service done properly and by the book and be able to claim on warranty B. Use cheap parts you supply yourself, DIY it (and potentially stuff it up since you appear to have little experience) bugger the warranty and foot the bill for any issues that come up No point whinging about it, you should have read the terms and conditions booklet before you purchased the warranty, its all very clearly outlined in there. Me personally, if i had forked out the cash for the warranty, i would just service it by the book and be done with it. When the warranty ends, get a couple of helpful, BMW knowledgeable friends together and learn to DIY it.

It's not the kind of car I would personally import. There are too many things you'd want an e46 'expert' to check out. The local market really ebs & flows. There are none on TM now, but ~8 months ago there were like 5+ really nice ones. That said, I highly encourage you to buy one.

How much did you pay for your 116i if you dont mind sharing? And how much did you spend on the autosure warranty? How long do you plan to keep the car and is it the only car you have? too many variables, so many opinions, no right or wrong answers, but since you dont have tools or knowledge, take the car to a workshop, expect to spend $500+ each service at least and learn about cars for the future/next BMW you may or may not buy. Also, mech warranty is bloody annoying and only really useful for big major issues and it is kind of redundant on a cheap car like the 116i but then again the 116i is pretty unreliable so you may be lucky with the warranty in a year or so if it decides to break down.

Not trademe, Buuuut...........looks like it may be an M, judging by the wheels/exhaust? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=12145897 napier drivers ?

It'd be easy to say "but National would have..." But Labour did say no new taxes. Sadly, I suspect that reality really hit home once they were the main party in power and had a better grip on the country's finances. And the reality is that more money is needed for the country. Overseas investment has tended to be of the one-off buy land variety, which is unpopular. Overseas income from dairy sales has fallen as world dairy market prices have dropped, and (like it or not) a situation has been manufactured in NZ where we have become dependent on that income. So the 'normal' streams aren't there to support the infrastructure changes the country needs. New streams can be created, but that takes time, and Labour don't have time. They have to be seen to act now. So we get to suffer.

Had to replace the intake pipe and do an oil change on my 116i the other day. Both things I could do easily. oil $50 filter $20 pipe $100 2 hours work ish i got lazy and took it into a shop and paid $490. $240 for oil and filter and $250 for pipe fitted. It’s not cheap nor expensive but it saved me a lot of hassle. Just drop off and pick up and know that it’s done instead of mucking around with dirty oil and re fitting a million screws and clips. I’m okay with it.

Yep, it's not an oil service without them ? Bearing in mind that it is a 116i We'll also fit parts you supply but when I ask them how much they pay for said part it's often not too much more. Should the part fail again you still have to get it fitted assuming you didn't do it yourself. Hell, if you buy the part from bmw, fit it yourself and it fails, we'll fit the new part for you under warranty

Just want to say thanks, really appreciate your time. Really happy now?

I have NEVER seen an e46 m3 from the UK without some sort of under floor rust (be it minor or significant) and I have seen a lot of them. It is usually the floor, suspension components (nuts and bolts), subframe, arms, fuel tank strap, exhaust mounts, front wings and the list goes on. I have even seen low mileage UK CSLs with tons of rusts. I also went and saw a 2016 X5M freshly imported with running in miles and it had beginning signs of rust. If you know where to look you will find it. If you can’t see it, then it has been removed or covered up. To say a UK import that has been used in winter has zero rust you are simply in denial about how science works. Given the amount of potential issues I’d never import one without checking it out by somebody that really knows overseas or personally. Choices aplenty locally to make importing make sense. EU4 compliant software thread

Finally decided to upgrade the turbos ^^

No - in their first term.

That's as early 2000's Aussie as you get. Just missing the Veilside body kit.

Amazing talent. Amazing car. RIP.

Fine line? I'd say a chasm would be more accurate.

Don't bother listening to any of the stereotypes - none of them are true for every car. Look at each car on it's merits. Mt Singapore E39 only had the usual electrical issues: ignition switch and ABS module failure. I've seen some poked NZ cars too - on average NZers don't care any more than any other country. Just find a good car, and buy on condition/milage/history/feeling - whatever floats your boat. Have it inspected by someone who really knows their stuff, or learn the stuff yourself.

Hmmm. So say you guys buy $999NZD of goods and shipping at a time from Driftit No.1 Ltd based here in the US. I get supplied from FCP or similar. Once I reach 60K I start up Driftit No.2 Ltd and so on. No GST? Oh and it will be based in Delaware which has no local sales tax either. Actually I think I want to call the company 'NONZGSTLOL Ltd'

M3 will be able to be brought in under the Special Vehicles class. Japan or the UK are really the only options. There are plenty of agents who can sort it for you. It can be worth it if you are looking for a specific car. NZ is a very limited market. The UK would be the better place to look for an E46 M3.

I have an E30 coupe race car that may be available shortly, without engine, or with enough parts to build a good M20B28... Give me a call if interested 021 744 881 C Cheers...Stephen

http://www.pickapart.co.nz/webpage/WebPage.asp?Ref=10381&VehicleID=27535&SeriesID=2581