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The M850i. The only one in NZ. And my daughter has been for a drive in it.

Here you go Olaf. Changed wheels since last saw you, just waiting for centre caps to arrive

Took the 'vert on the BMWCC run down to Port Waikato. Lovely day for it and a great drive to a cool cafe. After an issue with one of the tyres on the Alpina rims presented a problem and required a last minute swap of all 4 wheels and tyres over to my race rims everything ran smoothly. One hundred and fourty mile round trip in good weather and never missed a beat, very relieved and very happy. Did more miles in one day than over the last three or four years. I do really need to use this car more.

Got some ok shots during one of the sunrises this week. Been enjoying the machine a lot. Things that need doing is likely a repacement of the tensioner or idler pulley. The tensioner wobbles a bit during idle (completely stable at >1k rpm) - im guessing either the bearings on that is out or the bearings in idler pulley causing belt to pull tensioner laterally - who knows. BMWorkshop said its not terrible but should eventually be replaced - so will look at sorting that soon.

Glad I dont plan on selling mine with 252k on the clock Its independantly valued for insurance at 16k...

Saw it on Jervois rd on Waitangi day. A young couple rocked into Dear Jervois in style (and Nike flip-flops).

i would stay away personally

BMW Head Office demonstrator, one of three coupes plus three convertibles in country. Good to see it is being used for the VIP customers Graham.

My E36 318ti (316i) cost me 2k. Its manual, handles great (on low springs) and is comfortable (mtec seats) and is great with the sunroof and good stereo. Handles way better than any of my coupes or sedans in the same variant. 110hp is enough for a first car. Heaps of fun.

Motorsport blue is the colour to get imho although I also think they look quite good in white. Get an older one for the manual steering rack for sure.

Its clear you'd be able to get it for less than 6k Personally i don't mind the wheels at all and love manual seats, electrics are heavy and pointless unless you got multiple people using the car. Its got no sun roof also so its about as light as E39 6 cyl can get. K's dont hold much weight at this age. Guessing the 25k would be covering manual conversion, wheels, headers, coilovers etc and if you paying someone to do the work then its easy to rack bills. Someone in Auckland should go look at it

A few details found from car jam and bmw fans. CK19560 Listed as an automatic Assembled Feb 2003 UK reg Mar 2003 NZ reg 1 June 2007 current plate gmd921 effective 4 sept 2012, MATUK up to 7/jun 2007, DZK354 up to 1/Jun 2007 The manual trans listing for it in BMW fans is a S5D 320z- THCH. Have to say the colour looks nice the wheels do nothing for me has only manual adjust seats. The exhaust , suspension and what else has been changedor about to wear out if interested proceed with caution. The five series cars took a big hit price wise and with age catching up on them even a so called rare, limited number 150 in that colour. Its sixteen yrs old covered over 300,000k about 18,750k's a yr and a bmw. As stated only a 220 fitted well below the level it should have. Wonder was the conversion done here in NZ or UK and by whom. Have to wonder also what the 25 thousand was spent on it from 2012 only 7yrs. No maybe not in the five and half yrs of owing a 530 I spent 14. Best of luck on who ever buys it

Update. Department of Beep Beep! Some horn material, yesterday. Brought to you by the department of bad puns. A friend kindly dug these out of his parts stash. A pair of 325i Fiamm horns, one high, one low, complete with brackets. Along with a couple of connector shells, sans pins. (I must be) need a couple of nuts. And either there will be good fortune when I get underneath it and all the wiring is there to plug into, or I'll find those crazy Germans put in different looms. In which case I'll need to find the right pins for the connector shells, and make up some cabling to run from the central 'meep meep' horn to these PaaaaarrrrRRRRPPP horns. One goes on the Right side, and one on the Left (or wrong) side. Depending on your viewpoint. Wish me Luck! @adro next time we catch up I'd like to have a look around your SE to see how it's been done. Other things... Twirly thing I lucked-out, and nabbed a three-spoke leather OEM Sports Steering Wheel (aka SE wheel) from the book of faces, recently. It's pretty tidy, was just a bit faded. I've cleaned it, given it a couple of coats of black leather toner, followed by two coats of leather protectant, and a couple of coats of Elephant Leather preservative. I'll get it onto the car soon. Being fastidious, I've ordered a new locknut. ? Graunch in suspension. The Graunch of Suspension Wood, has been diagnosed by Jon at Auto38. Inner tie rod. I'm going for gold, and we're going to do tie rods, wishbones, lollipop bushes, and replace the steering guibo. I'll install the 20mm front bar, with new bushes & Meyle HD end links. That'll do for the next couple of months while I refurbish the Style 5 rims, and then the 51mm strut housings. This work will get it steering straight and true, and eliminate older (as in 15-20 years, probably) bushings and balljoints. Jon spanner-checked it, and it's a bit 'tighter'. The rest of it (excepting the tie rod) is all still WoF standard, though I want the front to feel as good as the rear end now does. Strut Housings Of the strut housings, thanks to @gjm & @_ethrty-Andy_ for the Bimmersport Good Bstard Express™ assistance from @nick496's. I have all the parts for the strut builds, including new wheel bearings. Just need to sort springs. Sampling @adro's SE last week, I think I'll be able to live with HR Sport Springs to match with the Koni Yellows 8641-1210 Sport (front), & 80-2522 (rear). Abrasives and PPE I've ordered new filters for my 3M mask, and a bunch of abrasives to use with my Dremel and handpiece. It's going to be slow and steady prepping those buggers for paint. I've a large box to lash up a paint booth out of, and an old office chair that I plan to make a wheel spinner out of. Need to figure ensure all rims are true before I start (a precaution only), and cut the valve stems out. Questions about paint Now to source paint for the wheels. Thought about standard Wheel Paint (Felgen Silver) with clear. Nah, I'll get Granitsilber mixed up in aerosols, and clear coat. I liked the idea of Nogaro Silver, but it's darker and too close to Lachssilber. I'll pay a lunchtime visit to Union Hardware soon to source paint. Just thought, though... I have an airbrush compressor, and an airbrush I've little experience with... though it'd probably take an age to paint wheels with an airbrush, eh? Paint would be going off while I'm still painting. I'll keep it simple and go with aerosols, no clean-up. For the strut housings, I'm going to strip them down, rust preventative, etch prime, and two coats of Rustoleum gloss black. Questions - Paint: If you've thoughts or tips about painting my wheels, please let me know. 1k vs 2k, type of paint to withstand wheel heat, etc. Questions - Horns: If you know what bolt/nut, or in particular what the connector pins are for the horn connector shells, please let me know!

Not ideal but wouldn't say its a deal breaker, seeing it in person is the only true judgement. Id usually take a look but voluntarily driving to Auckland these days is the definition of insanity.

Soz, not LCI ?

RE: water pump. Meh, replace it if/when it fails. I'd be more concerned about the DSC pump motor. We have had ours for a good 4 or 5 years now and done 60k kms on it. Currently @ 85k. Only issues have been a failed DSC pump (common) and spark plugs. Maintenance is relatively painless. My gripes with them are the steering is too heavy, the suspension is too hard and they are a little small. Front seats are too narrow and i'm not large. The steering and suspension work pretty well on a spirited drive but the rest of the time it's just annoying. The steering in both my M5 and 535i is far superior in daily use. Engine is solid, fuel consumption is average at between 10-12l/100km. Overall a solid reliable car that is pretty good to drive. Tempted to sell it as well as the M5, but what to buy?!

Plugs & points with a feeler gauge ?

Low K beautiful example shows where these are heading. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2002-bmw-m-coupe-11/?utm_source=transactionalemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bat_watched_listing_ended https://www.mcoupebuyersguide.com/listing?ListingID=18822&fbclid=IwAR3XNiiomk_o9bCz3e1vnzWugnJicL3fWCVCLaizPEc4hBl4q1RHUQMGGdE

Gorgeous cars. How can they not appreciate!

Moving away from my bias, what about a BMW Mini? they're available for less than $5k, much stronger than an MX5, are popular and reasonably reliable?

Found a dirty great about 3 inches long gouge on the face of one of my wheels. Looks like something has hit it. Almost straight out from the lug nut hole. I am very mindful about curbing them so I know it's not that and they have a concave. Frustrating to say the least. Weirder yet was the area around the mark was distant free, yet the wheels are very distu so stood out like the dogs proverbials. Wheel magician time me thinks.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/1952245229 130i for 5-6k lol, high kms but damn its cheap