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Had all these at once - once upon a time in the 90's. HK GTS 327 "Bathurst" HQ GTS 350 HQ LS 308 What I could buy with the sum of those now...

My Volvo 850 T5R

Never bought into the whole 'shouldn't sold of because they are worth x amount now', too many shortcomings I view the situation as 'should of owned one because they were cheap and readily available at a time you could afford one'

And she’s home

The generation prior BFMR in the two tone white and grey were the TITS when I was a teenager

Yes I had one of these for 5 years, bought it at 8 years old only having done 1500km, although I did have a few issues to sort due to this...

Oh man, I want me a turbo brick, the wagon, mmmmm

The E34 is being looked after

Some better photos today

I got offered 40k for my car last year before it was written off. I declined. I think that Tech 2 is beautiful. He actually brought it round here yesterday and I must say, she's a tidy one. But Tech 1 over everything for me

Bought a staggered set of style 66 wheels, they look a little bit rough which will match the rest of the car perfectly!!

Sold Well, it's time. Some of you have seen my posts on this car over the years. It's time to find her a new home. Hopefully someone who appreciates the thousands spent on modifications and high degree of maintenance. Bear with me here this will be a novel... am I a bit crazy? Probably yes. 178000 KM. First, the history, which may scare some of those less brave buyers away It suffered an engine failure on track late last year and has undergone a no-expense spared engine replacement. I've seen working 335is sell for less than what I spent on this! Engine has just been replaced with a partially rebuilt unit. All bearings (rod bearings, upper and lower bearings), timing chain, front/rear main seals replaced, so you can enjoy it with no fear of any impending bearing failures! For good measure, a chunk of the cooling system was replaced at the same time - water pump, thermostat, various pipes. All genuine BMW parts! DCT transmission fluid was even replaced when this was done. This work was done by DCH Motorsport in Christchurch. Modifications: MHD Tune - Stage 2+ 98RON, done lots of data logging to ensure the engine runs perfectly with this map. VRSF catless downpipe 6 inch intercooler - Chinese no-name but I have done back-to-back testing to ensure it outperforms the stock one and keeps intake temps low when running a tune. CPE Aluminium charge pipe Turbo rebuilt with upgraded compressor wheel by a reputable NZ turbo builder (like what they on the Stage 1 upgrades, but not the turbine). Go Fast Bits diverter valve was fitted too Pics here from the man himself: With more background and pics here, plus details and pics on other modifications: Solid rear subframe bushings Rear differential brace (both pictured in thread above too) Foam rear upper shock mounts upgraded to solid rubber. KV V2 coilovers. Certified. These have adjustable rebound damping so you can adjust it to your taste. M3 front control arms (installed at 160 000km). You might think this makes for an uncomfortable, noisy, stuff ride? Not at all! As long as you don't put runflats on it. I've roadtripped across NZ in this car, comfort was fine and it was incredibly fun to drive! Customised exhaust. Muffler internals modified to change the tone, resonators added to cancel out the loud metallic rasp that you get with an aftermarket downpipe. It sounds beautiful I assure you. But not boy-racer obnoxious loud. Other notable big ticket items: Tie rods replaced at 160 000km DCT had a full service at 151000km which included all seals - side pan, Top o-ring, lower sump cover, new sump pan and filter (fluid replaced again at 178000km while the engine was being replaced, probably pointless but it's one less thing for the next owner to worry about). New high pressure fuel pump at 147000km. Brake disks at 144300km - aftermarket slotted rotors, probably no performance gain but they look cool... Has Motul RBF 660 brake fluid and Ferodo DS2500 brake pads. Dusty pads but they perform, these do pretty well on a track but feel great on the street as well with minimal noise. If you prefer less dust and pure silence, the EBC Redstuff pads are boxed up and can be swapped over. Still have most of their pad material left on them. Less performance, no good on a track and you can overheat them if you push really hard on a twisty mountain road, but great for street driving in general. PIAA silicone windscreen wipers. these apparently last forever, they also leave a nice 'rain-x' type coating that makes the water bead off. Works even better if you clean the glass with Rain-X or similar. Asking price: I'm gonna throw out a number of $20k but if you're seriously interested, make an offer, just not a silly one, and we can see Last pic shows it wearing a set of Apex Arc-8 wheels - these are for sale separately.

Hello...My 2007 130i 6 speed finally arrived from Japan to New Zealand. Currently at the groomers getting ceramic coated. Its a white M Sport so I got the painters to paint that grey rear valance black, and removed the 130i and the m badge! Fitted gunmetal Avanti 11 spoke wheels, flat bottom leather and alcantara steering wheel from Lativa, Genuine BMW short throw gear lever that I scored new sealed bag off Ebay via the USA as well as a Storm Motorwerks weighted gunmetal gear knob from the UK, Pedal Haus aluminum pedal covers from Europe (to be fitted), LUX H8V3 bulbs, new floor mat set, new alcantara hood lining fitted, Gloss black grills etc. Looks like a new car. This will be my daily for work as I had a desire to row gears, gave my E70 35i M Sport to my wife so that will remain our family car and will sell her NZ new X3.

I bet we have some good stories and lamentations. will begin. 199X E34 540iS in Technoviolet with cream leather interior and factory LSD and manual, purchased approx 2008 for 8.8K, sold approx 2010 for 12.5K, now worth 25K? 1990 E30 323 Manual Coupe, Metallic Blau, LSD, Borbet 15’s and Hartge Body kit. Purchased for $3200 In 2015, sold 2016 for 2.5k (insurance write off, could have probably fixed <$1k

@m325i Nice, and the GTiR (!!!)- Japanese cars were so wild in the 90s... what happened?

The original "DOHC Turbo" Here's my old one

The E30 Classifieds NZ page is pretty good too. (I may be biased!) The Facebook pages do support each other pretty well. Patience. There are good cars at sensible prices, but as Sammo said, also some unrealistic listings.

Back when a 1600 twin cam made you a bad boy ?

Cheers for the reply Sammo! Yeah I have asked on the owners pages, but thought I'd ask here incase any members have one tucked away. I've left a few notes on cars I've spotted around Christchurch, but no luck yet.

I'm not an expert, but my feeling is Facebook listing (e.g in E30 owners club pages) will be more realistic. Mint cars still sell quick for good money on Trade Me but then I think people see a mint manual listed then assume their tired auto 318i is worth $12k as a result. Join E30 Owners New Zealand Car Club on FB and put the feelers out.

@BreakMyWindow thats an awesome ZR-4! @hqstu - wow what a collection of Monaro’s. And to own them at the same time, thats pretty amazing! Another one to pine for - 02 V2 Monaro 6spd as well. Why oh why did i give it away...

Yep that dohc turbo era was great.

$1.53 for 91 in Waipukurau...

Yep, same story here, no way I would have paid for mine!

Works out around nz$2700 + shipping. Luckily it was on the car when I bought it...

I had an 89 Galant VR-4, the "Evo 0" and it also had a lot of trick kit for the time. Cool car actually.

The 728i is even quicker if it has the sort diff ratio option. The 730i V8 was pretty much the dog of the range - like an E30 320i auto.... uses the same/moe fuel than the bigger engines, ends up slower than the smaller engines ? The M52TU in the later ones was a much more advanced engine... though the little V8 sounded nice... (mostly because it worked hard a lot!)

I'd love one these days but they're almost impossible to buy. They all got thrashed, blown up and scrapped years ago. Even my twincam non turbo BFMR was awesome, especially on gravel roads.

Looked underneath the car and it has a full Laptorr exhaust system

Oh yeah. I turned down swapping my cl1 euro r for a tidy, stock, road legal nzdm AE86 levin. What a f**king asshat ?

I reckon the Kenwood works pretty well with the ‘battle stations’ amber lighting of the e30 dashboard.

Should've kept my first dc2r turbo and should've bought a gtr when they were affordable. Mad Ragrets.

Not sure if this is a bmw exclusive thread, but... i shoulda kept the 89 Mitsi Galant gti liftback i had 20 yrs ago. NZ new that was so practical and had a bit of go too ?. 4G63B (pretty sure thats the engine code), manual and ESC suspension (yes it still worked!) - was so cool! I would have another today but they are so few and far between now ☹️ Damn, just realised i said ‘20 years ago’ ☹️

@qubeLuck, like the E28 525e I just bought for $1500 today, or E30 318 for $2000 3 months ago or @BreakMyWindowwho got a barn find e39 M5 for song, won’t out what I paid.

@qube yeah - I thought that was an odd detail to miss given the makeover its had and not everyone would realise. For the sake of $200 the car would actually be legal.

The "325I M" plate is not a legal NZ manufactured plate, will need to be re-made to be 100% legit. But does seem like the owner has had it for a long time as it was first registered to the car on 1993! Hogg & Swan - trademe user goeuro - have consistently had numerous E30's for sale in the past, none quite as good as this though. On the original sales brochure under extras it says "Superb Performance" lol! Only 2 owners!! (3 incl dealer) It is so nice but 40k is 40k.. a lot of money for one of these.. (i'll probably be laughing at this post 5 years later when its $65k)

us$ 549 plus shipping to NZ.. not cheap! Fully reshaped thicker form Genuine Alcantara wrap Flat bottom Alcantara wrapped trim New Genuine BMW M logo Genuine black Nappa leather M triColor stitch Top quality hand made. Made in European Union. Genuine german part. No poor stitching, no cheap low quality materials or wrinkles on leather. Took 3 day to build this wheel by hand. https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-custom-steering-wheel-flat-bottom-M3-E91-E92-E82-E90-E87-328i-335i-135i-128i/254352060802?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

^ thats going to sell quick for sure.

This should be fun!

Their motivation for buying an e30 isn't important to me; though what price the market is standing, is of interest. Mine's not for sale, isn't an investment, it's driven regularly, and is fun. I have no plans to sell. However, if some CUB walked up and offered me a keen and serious price well above market - at a level that stops objections - I'd have to consider it, wouldn't I. Does that make me a degenerate? No, I'm an enthusiast.

I hate how BMW put the the LHS decals on upside down... ? They should look "correct" on the calliper, regardless of how it's installed on the vehicle... like every other calliper on Earth. ?

there are plenty of "better" options out there than an E30 but its not an E30. I mean for 10-15k you can get an E9X 335i which is similar in price to the current day E30 market values.

VW Caddy?

? shhh

It takes a lot of patience to Audi.

Have to change the name of the site to "130i Owner's NZ" at this rate...

Hi there, thanks for stopping by. After pining for years, I finally managed to muster the courage to get myself an E30 project car. Guess it was a few years at uni (7 to be exact ha) and moving around for work, that prevented me from getting hold of one earlier. Anyway, here is my little E30 coupe, I picked it up at a selvedge auction so there's a fair bit of work required, just to get it roadworthy following a rear collision and subsequent insurer-required de-registration. This will be a slow build, with the end-goal being a tastefully resto-modded-s50-swapped beast Here are a couple of photos from the day I bought it. Guess it was a little bit of a rushed purchase, as I saw it listed, won it and drove up to Auckland to collect all in the same day - imagine my surprise when I saw it being dropped-off for collection on the front of a forklift! Other than the usual rust spots, there is a bit of work required at the rear to correct the collision damage and, to some, that would render this a parts-only car, but I struggle with that idea (unless the car is an absolute mess). So, with that, my focus to date as been cleaning it up, inspecting parts and collecting required parts/nice-to-haves for the project and gearing up for some bill shock, come repair/revin/LVV certification time. On that, if anyone has an S50b30 or b32 and a ZF gearbox they would be willing to part with, please let me know! ha ha. Looking forward to sharing my progress and learning a few things along the way

Forgive the crappy phone pic but this thing, parked around the corner from my office, is seriously mint, possibly the nicest I've seen. Great plate too.