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Ive got mine plenty hot, had smoke coming off em 2 pack clear over the decal, over high temp enamel, all is well.

Make sure you use a high-temp clear. ?

jeepers i would buy an e34 just for those style 5s

BMW NZ have brought in more than the one B7, plus a number of people have bought new cars direct from the Alpina factory. Still very rare here though. As for the particular E46 vert model referenced, I have not seen or heard of any and it would probably have popped up by now if it were here.

This one's not a project so it lands in the showroom. Although I do have some small projects on the way. For those that don't know I've been casually looking for a 130i for a few months, I say casually but I have put a fair bit of time and effort into checking around 7 out. Including putting 5 up on stands and taking the under-cover off. None were ideal, all were filthy underneath, only a couple were briefly tempting. I was disillusioned tbh. I was one of the first people to view this one (mine now) at a dealership and liked it immediately, interior 8/10, exterior 7/10, mechanical 9/10, extras 10/10 - all based on my scale of needs. Drove it home to look underneath and there was almost no oil so I did a deal for $8.5k including 12 months of AutoSure which I was very happy with. I've looked at $11k cars that are in way worse condition than this one. Been in NZ since mid '16 and has ~$3k NZ receipts in the glovebox. It's been covered by mechanical insurance since arriving in NZ and has had all the top end and vanos gaskets done recently with BMW parts. It's had the oil and filter replaced every year with great synth since it's been in NZ... 😍 It has an aftermarket stainless exhaust and coilover suspension which, amazingly, has been LVV certified in NZ! The springs are Eibach and the exhaust and shocks are from a bespoke Japanese tuning house 'Orange Wolf' - try finding that sh*t on Google! I had to search in Japanese to find them. The suspension and exhaust were installed in Japan, suspension obviously not detected upon import seems to have been cert'd before the first non-dealer NZ owner. Edit: also has an LSD... 🤯 I like both the exhaust and the suspension, it's got a real bark without drone (unless you hold it at revs too low) and handles like it's on rails. Some wouldn't like the exhaust for a daily but I don't mind it. It drives and feels way, way more stable at speed than the stock suspension yet doesn't bang and rattle around at all. Totally stoked. And it does a rev-blip in sport mode on the downshift, lovin' it 😂 (however pointless that might be in an auto). The wheels have been cheaply painted (whilst on the car! 🤨🙄) but that doesn't concern me at all and the body has a few scrapes and proper sun fade on the bonnet and roof but I'm okay with that too. The front bumper has had a poor respray but in the end it was all these (aesthetic) factors that I was looking for to drag the price down. Perfect. It is my new daily (leave anywhere) car after all. I'll have to replace the aftermarket (real) carbon fibre front kidneys because (unfortunately) they look like crap after too much sun. TL;DR - New car, very happy. Picked it up today, hope to wash it and take some proper pics tomorrow. December 2019... June 2020...

I've painted my calipers blue with high heat paint and they turned out pretty cool. Thing is I had the impression that the calipers get extremely hot and I wanted to add the M logo onto the calipers. Took the car for a rather hard long drive with plenty of stops/start as well and when I stop the car after the drive, I touched the calipers and they were not HOT at all but rather luke warm. Is this normal ? So I cut the logo out of vinyl ( see photo attached ) and stuck them on and tested with driving the following day and they still good as new. So pretty happy with outcome so far. On for 4th day now and no sign of them disintegrating. I've read calipers can get up to 250 degrees in temp but certainly not hot to touch.. in my case anyway.

ahhhh no

once i was in it was fine but you have to duck pretty low to get your head under the door frame

Buy some adaptors and whack themon the e30 ?

The chances of them getting anywhere near 250*C on a street car are about zero. The calipers will get super hot only once the rotors are almost glowing and then you stop the car so the calipers act as a heat sink. It's highly unlikely your rotors will glow before you crash. And if they do, follow proper cool down procedure and your calipers will be fine. I do think that your stickers will peal off though because of heat cycles, road crap and washing. As soon as a corner lifts they'll remove themselves quickly. If you spray a clear coat over the top though they'll last a lot longer. Edit: I must say that the calipers do look good so props on that front.

that's called the X1, I believe!

Yeah they're a nice looking car. People don't really notice that it's a 3 door until I point it out haha. They're 17s from the newer 1 series, not sure what style code they are. My bro in law hasthe car atm but I think they're staggered with 225 front and 235 or 245 at the rear.

they are nice cars if you into the dynamics of good handling cars,i would have another 1 series if they werent quite so low(age and 190 cm)

There is not a 46mm socket, on its own, in the country. And if there was it'd be $45+. ? So I bought a 21-piece 3/4" drive set for $129. New tools. Happy Christmas to me. ??

Or any of the ones talking about SCR (ad-blu) or any of the other US features not fitted on NZ models, or even US models not offered in NZ. It’s a factor with all these “bigger” BMW sites they are heavily biased to US or EU drivers as that is where the vast majority of their users are based. That looks to be a US biased site. Sounds like a good deal to me. So many buyers are put off by the high Kms number, but if the car has been looked after (and it sounds like it has) then it’s an opportunity for the discerning buyer.

There are very few Alpina's here as only ever second hand imported (apart from a single black B7 sedan brought in by BMW NZ). There's an F10 D5 and an E39 B10 V8 on tardme atm.

Man those 3 doors look good don't they? I very much like those wheels are they 17's or 18's? And are you running 245's all around? Edit: GLWS.

This is for sale, as I’ve bought another one ? https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-2375979356.htm?rsqid=e98820dc5dcb4314941bc107f5812d9f-002 11k ono Located in Wellington Well maintained in my ownership 55k Kms Rare 2 door variant of the 130i Fantastic car to drive with upgraded shocks and sway bars Showroom thread :

I feel that no servicing for 60k before a failure just shows how well the vehicle was built!

Be aware Graham, when you put the new hub onto the spindle, do not hit the hub. The outer bearing inner race can come out..... end of bearing assembly. Find a large socket that goes over the spindle and matches the inner race and make sure when you hit it on it is square to the spindle.

lol this thing is fun, even the auto box is a delight in sport mode. The car is way quicker than I imagined it would be and it has hydraulic rather than electric power steering, bonus. The seats and suspension probably feel better than my M3. ? I played with all the settings that mapped across from my '08 coupe manual and have set it up how I like. Tilt might need some inspection on the driver's seat, it clicks but then does nothing but the current position is okay for now. It has privacy glass too. I'm impressed that the radio preset buttons are capacitive touch buttons as well as proper buttons, that's cool. Not enough pockets and no coin storage, that's a bummer. I could use the cup holder for coins but it's not ideal and there seems to be no OEM solution. I washed it by hand today and exposed all the imperfections and there are many. Looks great from a few metres out but not so good on close inspection. I knew this going in though and I'm not at all concerned with what I see. I'll probably pay for a good cut and polish in due course and see where we go from there. More pics... These must go... These can stay... 100% happy so far.