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And another, if you’re not a follower of BMW Classic on Instagram than I totally recommend it.

Is up to 219 km I think. Shows how often I drive it!

OK works done and I can get back to the trip story. After getting settled at the overnight accommodation I emptied out the wagon and spent the next few hours cleaning the interior making sure that my daughter had not left any surprises behind. Knowing that we would be spending a couple of hours from 5am sitting in the line waiting for the ferry I made sure that the DVD's we had hunted down would play in the CIC unit - you would not believe how hard it was to find a place on the way that sold DVD's. As a BMW newb I found it both frustrating and ultimately rewarding in a "I beat your crazy German logic" once I managed to get the DVD's playing - I had forgotten just how long it took for most DVD units from that era to load / boot. But the relief of not having to deal with the "how much longer?" line from our daughter was almost worth the cost of the M5 (man math is great). Finally we got onboard and parked behind a sheep truck, something that totally bit me when I forgot that the moonroof was cracked and let the delightful smell invade the interior. Other than the brutal smell (and we have sheep so it's not some city boy complaining) we had bigger problems as the ride leveling system threw a code when we arrived in Wellington. So first major mechanical failure, compressor looks to be on the way out - or at least sounds it. After getting off the ferry and hunting through the online resources I concluded that we could proceed without issue as I could get air into the bags and the error was very intermittent. After spending a few hours in lovely Johnsonville at the mall carpark so I could take a meeting we spent what seemed like forever just getting out of Wellington. By now I was worried about getting home at a reasonable hour, which was great when I missed the turn towards Taupo and ended up miles off course, so well after sunset and on a road that I knew quite well between Whanganui and National Park I really started to push it. A few things immediately became apparent, the turn in for something of this size is fantastic, 6 - 8,000 rpm is like having a turbo come on boost and the sound of the rotors whistling makes it sound like a blower in action. The pad knockoff is pretty intense once things are up to temp, the Dunlops on the rear of the wagon are a 275/40/19 which makes for a tall sidewall which probably helped iron out a few of the bumps. I have never run Dunlops on anything, but these are pretty sticky in the wet which was great given the horrid conditions we were progressing through. At first glance it would appear that the S85 becomes more efficient when you are on it, the engine was certainly much happier and smoother after having been flexed on the way to National Park. On the final stretch out of the gorge I got stuck behind a couple of delightful individuals who I had earlier seen at a gas station, they looked like stand up (fall down) pot smokers who were slowly driving off with a trail of smoke and bumpers barely hanging on. After answering the age old question of why does anyone need 500hp to pass a Honda Civic, we stopped off at National Park and had in my opinion a well deserved steak. Then it was off for a final push to Auckland, as my wife had flown down we had to go all the way to airport to pick up her SUV and then back south again. That turned out to be great as the motorway was closed in both directions so we were diverted for what seemed like forever. I think I turned her off around 2am at home. So final thoughts, on this purchase: - Initially it felt very much like this was someone elses car that I was babysitting, but after some hard miles on it and building the confidence to use it I feel much more like it's mine. - I didn't buy this on impulse, I had been hunting for a few years for an E60 and had spent just as long researching how this was going to financially cripple me, that said I have built a career that allows me to have some toys in my life and I have chosen this path. I could have gone for a 911 Turbo, but that is a very selfish car when you have a family. - I am a firm believer in the "buy once cry once" mentality - and I have the T shirt to prove it many times over. So I paid a premium over an E60 - but then this is an E61 with all the boxes ticked. - There are lots of things that I could have bought instead, but as others have put it "they are not an E61 M5". - The car has been well maintained by its previous owners from the limited documentation that I have, although I do have the service records - but a stamp and signature in a book doesn't always tell the whole story. - I think that cars like this are a rare breed, and people who can afford to buy and maintain them should. These cars are dinosaurs, they are the last of an era of big displacement high rpm powerplants with unique drivelines. While many will argue that the E60 / E61 is not a classic or future classic I would like to have that conversation in 10 years when there are even less of them and we are all daily driving hydrogen bombs. I'm not anti the future of fuel efficient ecomentalist cars but I guarantee that I plant more trees on my property in an average summer than all of the current policy makers combined, so if I want to put some CO2 back in the form of V10 noise and a happy smile then I will. - I love the SMG, I think it makes for a unique drive where I have to think about what I'm doing with the throttle. Anyone that drives these and thinks that the SMG is the worst thing ever is totally entitled to that opinion. I was worried for all of 10 minutes that the SMG was going to be a pig, as dumb as it sounds I learned very quickly to drive it based on experiences with a horrid Ford gearbox that they put into the later gen Fiesta Zetec. While they are worlds apart in power, they can both be very stupid boxes until you work the throttle timing, and I know this is nothing new for most but this is my experience. - Last thing is that it works as an amazing family therapy tool, wife complains - press M, daughter moans - press M, need to get away from inlaws house fast - press M. As a family cruiser that you can do a holiday in the E61 has already proven itself, I didn't expect to make it home with a car that has been in hibernation for some time without some issues and they will get sorted out in the coming weeks. Cheers.

SMG doesn't have a Park option, its in a gear, or its out of gear ( neutral) its a manual gearbox.

OK, following on from my intro thread https://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/65870-hopefully-a-new-owner-e61-m5/ here is my little South Island to Auckland trip with the new to me E61 M5. Firstly, to the various members that gave me assistance in Christchurch to make this all possible many thanks. In short I drove my wife's MK6 GTI down to Christchurch for the trade on the E61, took collection of the E61 late on Friday, spent the weekend in Christchurch and then headed back to Auckland. Honestly I didn't expect much of a demand for images and details but I'm more than happy to provide what I can. Sorry for the delay, but I've been flat out squeezing work meetings into the rest stops along the trip north which has left little time to post / create this thread.

All Castrol, all the time!

I don't speak Russian but thats an iX

My mate didn't even need to send back the (street) brake pads he destroyed in 5 laps at Hampton, he just sent FCP pictures of them and they sent him new ones, no questions asked and no shipping fees either. I was floored. Send them the pics, pretty sure they'll see you right. Now, having said that, some of that damage doesn't seem like it comes from folding alone? I got a rear window seal for my M3 from FCP and it came rolled up which was no problem.

@bmwclassic 😍

Makes 215hp @ 13,900pm out of a 1000cc NA IL4 engine. Be nice if they could make a 1500cc IL6 version that would drop into a stripped out E30 shell Cheers...

SOLD 14 complete years of BMW Car Magazine in excellent condition. 1995,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007,2008, Plus one box of random ones earlier and later - not all in such good condition. 4x1994, 1 x 1996, 1x 2000, 1x 2001,1x 02, 2x 2004, 1x2005, 3 x2009, 3x2010, 1x 2012, 1 x2013, 2x2014 Asking $15 per year and $15 for the random box. or $200 for the lot. Pick up Mangere Bridge SOLD

Oniomania (from Greek ὤνιος ṓnios "for sale" and μανία manía "insanity"), is characterized by an obsession with shopping and buying. Safely ticking that box at the moment... Still haven't bought tyres yet, so the poor basketweaves are sitting naked in the corner of the garage. But we've got a dyno day coming up so I've borrowed a set of my mates (a fellow hoarder) Rays Gram Lights. They're 15" and don't actually look too bad! I said earlier in this thread that there's no way I'll be retrofitting A/C... I've just bout a complete kit from a SA 325i and lining up what new bits and pieces I need. So I guess that is happening. Also just bought an almost complete, OE cruise control kit. So there's that too. However the most exciting thing recently was the arrival of my sport seats! The vinyl is average and theres a few bits of missing trim here and there but they're NIGHT AND DAY comfort wise to my comfort seats. They fit snug and the lower lumber support is far better. Aesthetically, the car is pretty much where I want it to be. Yea it could do with a paint if I was fussy and ideally the seats would need recovering (will probably buy the kits from LSeats.com)but I'm going to leave those jobs to when I'm an old man with expendable cash I reckon. Also, to change up the wheel situation I thought I'd get round to putting in the Mtech II steering wheel I purchased of the late Jake Hamilton.

So the first night of having the car I noticed a vibration that I initially put down to needing the wheels balanced or possibly the tires being out of round as the car had stood for quite some time. First thing Saturday I got this checked over by Mag and Turbo, the tires while not in amazing condition from standing for months balanced up but did take a fair amount of weight. This unfortunately did not solve the vibration which was always present at motorway speeds, I pretty much had RSI in my wrist after the drive up just from that non stop vibration. The wagon will be heading in to BM Workshop to find out what is at the root of that issue. Other than the vibration the trip between Christchurch and Picton was uneventful ..... yeah right. About 20 minutes south of Kaikoura our 5 year old said she needed to go to the bathroom, so I asked her if she could wait just a little longer - silence..... followed by tears and breakfast now sitting in her lap. Luckily this all evacuated onto a blanket and not the interior. There was no where to stop that was not a blind corner, so I found a spot that was slightly less than a blind corner and did a road side cleanup effort. And for the shortest of times it wasn't hammering down with rain, but still got plenty wet and well frozen by the end of that little moment. Had lunch in Kaikoura and then headed to Picton, I had 5:30 meeting that I had to be on and everything was looking good until about 10 minutes out from Picton in very heavy rain junior played back lunch this time into a plastic container that I had picked up after the Kaikoura incident "just in case". So this time in the middle of a massive down pour my wife bailed out and sorted out our daughter while I let people know that I may be late due to some "issues". Anyway some more pic below: First night in Christchurch. Out at some country eatery in Christchurch. And before anyone says the car sickness came from the way I was driving, it came from my daughter gluing her eyeballs to nav map and reading everything back to us non stop - never looking out the window. Once that was gone from view she was back to normal, it just took a couple of events to work out what was happening.

More details and images to come in above thread.

Here it is under lights (filthy again) looking blue.

For a cheaper tyre the RE-003 / Indy 500 looks good and performs pretty well. But what no one is mentioning is longevity. They wear pretty fast. My experience with Michelin is great milage, (even with track). So if you plan to keep the car the extra millage you get combined with top in class of all other categories, make them the best choice for me for sports cars. Going from RE050's - PSS / PS4 is way more quiet, rides softer, looks better. The price difference is pretty small if you plan to keep it, so if you're on a nerd forum like this even asking the question, just get the best sh*t

Bought some bits from FCP Euro and fck me if they didn't fold the rear window trim in half to get it in the box. I know people with half a brain cell who wouldn't have done this.