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Finished my first ever paint job on my front bumper - pretty chuffed with the result ?

well after completing the last round of the BMW race series I must say I'm pleased with the results. the splitter worked a treat if only for 2 laps. It parted company from the car on the 3rd lap and part of it ended up in/on someone else's car. 1.16.3 around Hampton Downs that's a PB for me and a guide line. I'm going to make a better front splitter.

Finished painting the new to me shed floor, my excellent missus chucked some nice LED light tubes in the roof and I'm pretty happy. I even let the 316 have a look inside before I bring the race car home

Before I settled on the M140i I test drove the i30 with that same drive train. Was plenty of fun - almost as good as a Golf GTI and lots cheaper. I think if the i30N was available with that same 7-speed DCT gearbox, I'd have bought it. My days of wanting to drive manuals in Auckland traffic are over.

Aaaaand they are gone. Looks, smells and feels way better, feels like I'm in the seats now, not on them.

In my humble opinion, based on purchasing one of these beasts in the last year; cars at this point possibly need some pro-active maintenance. Clutches can rear their ugly head, hoses need replacing, thermostats can deteriorate, and the suspension components such as control arms, bushings, etc need replacing. Just also based on meeting people here in the US who really clock up intergalactic mileage with their cars, as long as you spend the money - these things are sturdy! A mate of mine has a 150,000 mile example in Silverstone. He has done all the pro-active maintenance work on his car through a local independent - and it never misses a beat as a daily driver. I just hope that the current owner of this car has had some big- tickets items done.. otherwise there could be some bills around the corner. Worth spending though- these cars rock!

Picked up the new car today. A special dealer edition

Giving in to peer pressure @Olaf and @adro and sharing 'the journey'... although nowhere near as hands on as the latter or as fastidious as the former! Car 1 is a 2001 E53 V8 Sport Package in Stahlgrau Car 2 is a 2005 E60 M5 in Silverstone II

Maserati Granturismo, heh.

Hi all, Selling a set of 4 E30 basketweaves (15 x 7, et24), with 205/50/15 Toyo R888s. Wheels have been sitting in a dark garage in storage but were previously used for a couple track days and balanced up fine. Couple of the wheels have had a very rough aerosol job, perfect as they are as track wheels or would suit refurbishment for anything more. Tyres are 2007/2008 on the date stamps, so only really suit low key track days. No center caps included. Pick up can be arranged from Wellington or Kapiti Coast, or can drop to Mainfreight if the buyer can arrange. Price: $500 including tyres. Pictures: see below Thanks, Nathan https://www.dropbox.com/s/bqjoq2rymv96awz/Photo 12-05-19%2C 11 07 51 AM.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ynge3l6c9d51m8/Photo 12-05-19%2C 11 08 03 AM.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/0dxodnxacfevcob/Photo 12-05-19%2C 11 08 22 AM.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ozpeild05imbqx/Photo 12-05-19%2C 11 08 39 AM.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/fwndpgfdjtld1fz/Photo 12-05-19%2C 11 08 53 AM.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/qwxlj45zwtyoao2/Photo 12-05-19%2C 11 09 07 AM.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/pd7kjf87hsoez4y/Photo 12-05-19%2C 11 09 13 AM.jpg?dl=0

If you doing that work yourself i don't see him as being that much more expensive than a 540i as long as the engine internals hold up. I considering buying one but i couldn't use it how id like to around here without it having to worry about it cosmetically suffering. Worse type of buyer is the one who buys purely for speculation purposes, no respect given for me in that case.

Great point. A lot of these cars we see for sale today were for sale 8-10 years ago for low 20’s. At $35k for sale now, they probably have broken even with their maintenance costs. A friend of mine in Auckland who had a beautifully maintained 150,000 Km daily driver 10 years ago allocated $4k / year for running costs through an independent. The good thing if you have a fine day example like mine, a lot of the expenses can be spread over a longer period of time— prioritizing the important tasks. For example, I replaced my engine mounts, got new discs/brake pads, and got new hoses fairly soon after purchase. The suspension is my next project- but will wait awhile. However, one I thing I will state again. In my opinion, these cars are an exhilarating drive. What car covers the all round capabilities of a 6 speed E39 M5. Worth every penny!

this is the sorta car that would bring me back to BMW,but for me having somewhere to keep it is also a factor.This has cost implications over and above the cost of of keeping and or bringing up to the condition a car such as this requires(for resale) or for trouble free use.You would probably never lose actual resale value on these but you would probably never actually make money if you kept it in the manner it should be kept.

I got this from Wish

Oh and can also 100% confirm what I said, that the ambient temp sensor doesn't do anything. Fitted one, temp on obc good, idle still rough.

I contemplated an XR5 late last year, when two came. They remind me of an XRi Telstar I had, which was actually a pretty good liftback. And practical too! I've actually ended up another Adventra - Don't know why, must be that 3m+ practicality. It sure ain't the economy ? Can't go wrong with Mondeo, and thats coming from a 'Holden' guy haha!

No nibbles despite @Olafs welcome hype - it's on trademe with a 5k reserve if anyone wants to rip my eyes out with a low ball. https://www.trademe.co.nz/2058755131

Just got the M5 back from Jon at Auto38 ... getting some niggles resolved... Left hand (low-tone) horn unit hadn't been working - my kids have given me a lot of stick for a V10 with a 'meep meep' horn. Sorted now! New horn unit was same price as used - so new it is. Right front outer PDC sensor also hasn't worked since getting the vehicle. Replaced with new unit, colour-coded and fitted. Jon noticed with the left headlight out that it was playing up and the insulation on the wiring had deteriorated. Due to a new headlight unit (xenon adaptive) costing $3K we've repaired the insulation using paint-on insulation as a fix. FYI Hella make replacement headlight units at a much better price than BMW original - but they only come in LHD Another option before full replacement is replacing the lens & wiring. We'll see how this goes. A friend has done this successfully with his E60 M5. My driver's side air con had sometimes been switching magically and blowing hot when it shouldn't. Jon did a thorough investigation of the blinds, actuators and cleaned the dash thermostat - everything that could be done without removing the whole(!) dash. We'll see how this goes too Jon is fantastic - a real craftsman. Communicates the issues (with pics), provides options, shows me the stuffed bits, runs through the bill.

Need pics for future reference...

Not as bad as the new civic type r though!! I think they covered it in glue and drove it through an aftermarket stick on sh1t factory.

hahahahahaha good one! but yeah free if anyone wants it oh and its brand new

I'm sort-of glad you decided to keep it as you know how to treat it. I suspect your ownership will uplift the value anyway, so I don't think you'll lose from it.

Well, the time has come. I'm keeping the BMW for the foreseeable future, so the only logical next step was to drop some dead weight, and pull out the subs. The decision to keep the BMW wasn't one I took lightly, but I'm not sad or disappointed to be stuck with it. I actually quite like the car. There are a few things that didn't suit me about the car though, and having a bunch of useless weight sitting over the rear axle is one of those things. The boot install looked nice, but it really killed my enjoyment of the car. It sounded bad, and had been hastily thrown into the car. The main issue was that the capacitor on the driver's side wasn't actually secured by anything and was just sitting on top of the battery. This meant that every time I cornered hard (like an M3 should), the damn thing would fall over and go for a scoot along the boot floor, until the power wires restrained it. It was sitting on a block of wood So out it all comes. I'll tell you what, getting the sub box out was a mission. First out comes the floor panel and amp from the spare wheel well. Then the side amp, and capacitor come out. This gives enough room to shoehorn the rest of the trim and the box out of the boot opening. Turns out the box wasn't secured at all and was held in with hopes and dreams. It's a big box, that's for sure. I forgot how big a coupe boot actually is! In goes the carpet from Pick A Part, after a quick vacuum Even though this spare wheel doesn't hold air (buckled and leaks at the bead), I still put it in the boot as it helps to hold the carpet up, and also helps with weight balance. I need to find another wheel at some point. The wheel and tire weigh about the same as the amp that was in there, it was a beast. The previous owner butchered all the standard wiring for the speakers, so unless I want to run a whole lot of new wiring, I'm stuck with running the speaker amp. Thankfully I actually like this one as it looks cool, and doesn't take up too much space. Even the wiring going to this is a mess though. Yes, that is the pair of RCA connectors (usually used as one pair for front, and one pair for rear), split out to fill all four channels, front and rear. I'll rejig the RCA cables that went to the sub amp, and use them for the rear speakers so fronts and rears are split properly. The final result isn't perfect. The carpet needs some fettling to tidy it up, and the battery is the wrong size so the plastic cover on it doesn't quite fit properly, but otherwise, it's now a fully functional boot. Driving the car to work yesterday and the lack of weight is noticeable. It's not major, but it doesn't feel like you're dragging the backside around anymore. I would've pulled a good 20-30kg out. The next steps for the car are in motion. I have a set of BC Gold adjustable coilovers to go in, and a nice Purple Tag E46 steering rack to replace the horrible 3.0 M3 rack, which is the dumpster fire of steering racks. I'll also be rebuilding the vanos, since I already have the parts to do it, just need the time.

Likely, but it's not like other M3s are spring chickens either. Most are over 200k and still twice my asking price. Engine runs as good as my old one that had 200,000k on it. No smoke, no oil or coolant use and minimal leaks (damn cpv weeping). Neither its condition or how it runs shows 300,000km, it's literally only the number on the cluster. I could've been like the previous owner and try to pretend the cluster wasn't original to this car and it's really only done 200,000km, but I'm not an a**hole.

Oh my, now that is gorgeous. It would have to be a great M3 to want to give this baby up...

And the X5 is off on the back of the truck to see Auto38! ? And there was coolant under the vehicle on the driveway at home. Just not as much.