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Hi all, I have my E46 330i Touring up for sale. Brought from Turners Tauranga in September 2017, have completed 30,000km over the last four years. NZ new - 3 previous private owners M54B30 with ZF auto with steptronic - 179,990km Oriental blue with full grey leather electric memory sport seats and wood trim Style 96 - 17 x 8 with Firestone Firehawk Sport 01 (225/45/17) Almost completely original spec including rear parking sensors, multi function steering wheel and arm rest. I have driven a few M54B30's coupled with the automatic and this runs the best out of all of them. In my ownership the following things have been done: Valve cover gasket Water pump and thermostat Cooling hoses and expansion tank Intake boots Front control arm bushes Both front door window regulators Front seat panels repaired and re-dye Rear tail gate, rear passenger door and front guard replaced with matching color panels (previous owner had badly dented them) New Din65 battery (October 2021) Full set of new tyres (January 2021) Replacement front windscreen moulding Cupholders retrofitted Replacement front number plate trim panel Things that let it down: The body work is a little rough, to be truly mint it needs a full respray, no clear coat lifting, just dents and scratches Rear tailgate switch is a little sensitive Air conditioning does not work - has been diagnosed, requires a new condenser (quoted 1k to repair) The passenger front window regulator is still slightly clicking (even after being replaced) Looking for 5,500 ono, based in Upper Hutt, Wellington. Thanks, Nathan

@hqstu has passed the torch onto me so i thought id just continue adding to this thread. Lots of time and money already gone into this so just taking it to next level mechanically whilst keeping it original as i can. Cosmetically it's pretty much already sorted for me apart from a few trim bits i need to install. Still looks tidy despite the age and k's, only really let down by the classic NZ stone chips on the grill and bonnet which require a proper respray to sort. Engine wise its same as above, again Stuart has done a good job here. Engine still pulls strong like most higher k's NZ new cars ive owned. Vanos seals will be done for a likely improvement. Very minor seepage from high pressure power steering hose and rear main seal, otherwise one of the cleanest well running M5X's ive seen. SSG transmission takes a bit of getting used to, it can be shifted quite smooth in lower gears\rpm around town once you adapt but its really at home under sprinted driving using 3-5th gear. Still prefer the manual overall but it's far more enjoyable than the 5 speed auto. Suspension is average BMW, it appears most parts are still original items as expected but beside front bump stops nothing has outright failed. This is the main focus for me and is always money well spent in my experience. Steering isn't as razor sharp as it should be. There slop in the linkage from rubber steering coupler which is past its used by date. This will be replaced with poly version of some sorts due to cost\availability of genuine RHD one. Doing that along with the front control arm bushings should vastly improve steering response. Tyres appear to be flat spotted somewhat which is likely the cause of minor shimmy at highway speeds (lesser degree once warmed up). Re-balance, alignment and new parts installed along with more driving should help that. Following parts have\will be ordered: Sachs front struts with mounts and bump stops Sachs rear shocks with Meyle HD mounts Meyle HD front control arm bushings Lemforder rear trailing arm bushings and ball joints with limiters TRW brake rotors front and rear to go with supplied Akebone ceramic pads Brake hoses front and rear Caliper guide bushings front and rear Vanos seals 2x coolant pipes under manifold with associated seals and CCV + hoses (for piece of mind) Hood struts Front and rear sway bar bushings (maybe poly, genuine ones seem overpriced) Future: O2 sensors (reading slow) Rest of rear control and subframe bushings (will re-evaluate once above suspension parts done) Inspect clutch\flywheel and driveshaft. Replace flex disc and hanger bearing\support same time.

I’ve decided to take the plunge and get into an E30 before the market gets even more silly. Ideally I want a clean, rust free FL 325i 2 door manual - original is nice, but not at all opposed to something 24v swapped. Looking to spend around $30k

Pity you're not after a sunroof 4 door. I have a FL 325iSE South African Spec that I will be parting with at some point in Delphin that's just had a full respray. Has sunroof though

Having a black car is a pain at the best of times and I have had too many of them. But my current has the additional issue of road rash everywhere under the half way line as everything gets picked up and smashed all over the side of the car with parts of the car in the line of fire looking grey, it's that bad. It has annoyed me for quite some time as it looks nasty up close or in full daylight. So I thought I would give a black car polish a try and purchased Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Black Liquid Polish. I gave it a go today and damn, the results are fantastic. You can almost forget the rash is there anymore! Results speak for themselves but additional benefits over amazing rash coverage: Easy to moderate effort to apply and remove. Cheap. Cost me $20 as it was on special, and I got a voucher. Good slickness. Good shine and depth. Doesn't dust white or leave white residue like a lot of other polishes, which is super annoying on a black car. Can be used on black plastic trim, it restored my mirror arms to black from the grey they were. Will see how long it holds up and I might go over it with Meguiars ceramic wax one day, or I might just use this alone, or team it with the Turtle spray wax. There's probably better products for depth and slickness but for what it has achieved in my scenario it gets a solid A. I'd recommend to anyone with a black car.

Hi there I have recently purchased a BMW Z3 for my daughter and absolutely love it. I am definitely hooked on BMW now. Looking forward to meeting some of the members. Kind regards Williev

target acquired hahaha

Welcome to the forum from Timaru. Great looking Z3. Be careful, Z3's are addictive. I will not be long before you'll have a 2.8L or 3.0L Z3 in the drive for yourself. I'm banned from going to look at any Z3's that are for sale, as they have a tendency to follow me home. I'm down to 2 at the moment.

I can back up the recommendation on the Turtle Tax Ceramic Black Polish. Had always been a Meguiar's person for car polishers but I gave the Turtle Wax product a try and it worked really well on my 540i. I find Meguiar's polish leaves a lot of polish dust which is really annoying if you are polishing an entire vehicle. I had a particularly nasty scratch on my passenger rear door which the polish has darkened to the point where it is virtually un-noticeable unless it is pointed out. I also coated my car with three layers of the Turtle Wax Ceramic Black hybrid wax. Haven't washed my car since its polish but when I do I will use the black car wash product (although I'm not sure how useful it will be given the car has been fully polished and coated). Before: After:

Had to go into Carterton New World to have them call the owner of this poor M3 that had all 4 windows down in the pissing rain for 20mins. Lady driver had no doubt held the remote unlock button down as she walked away. What kind of person doesn't look back at their M3 just to admire it...

X

Wowie! Probably the best non M3 E46 I've seen. Great work sir.

Owning both an E30 and a 330 (albeit touring) I think the same thing!

I got excited for a split second when I saw that pop up. The other concerning thing is when people immediately comment 'that's cheap' - car is needs cert / panel and paint / god knows whats up with the engine and the interior is completely trashed.

Don’t get a diesel CX-5, esp pre 2017. Stick to the petrol, 2.5. The CEO of a warranty company put me onto that. There’s 3 CX models in the family (3,5,9) and all have been basically faultless. If you get a CX5 at all that is.

will take some today

Stop it haha!! You're leading me off the path already 🤣

Photos:)

it is rather beautiful! But I know how alluring the 2 doors are. I prefer them myself. This 4 door is quite beautiful in itself with headers and a cam to boot. It goes very good. Someone will love it when I do sell it

That sounds like a tempting 4 door indeed! I'm not actually opposed to a nice sedan, but dream is the 2 door / coupe so will hold out for now.

Beautiful spec, if I hadn’t just bought a car… Good luck with the sale, love a touring

Awrrite now.... no mucking around chain dragging lockdown slow Vq speed...GET THIS DONE!!🤣🤣

yes old coolant sitting in those trans cooler and they will corrode , best to replace , cheap insururance

Welcome to bimmersport and Z ownership. Great motoring for the summer.

Looks like a very tidy example! Welcome

She said the same thing 😉. I think you are right though. She is having trouble keeping me out of it. I will need to get myself one as well.

Welcome. For your daughter, or for yourself? Sounds like you're gonna enjoy it more than her! haha

Yeah, bugger selling that for an E30, what a huge backwards step 🤣

Hmm! E30-itis

The wife has been borrowing the E46 the past 2-3 weeks driving through a construction site daily while her Audi gets fixed so its been uncharacteristically dirty lately. With the amazing weather, was high time to give her a good going over, also fixed a door speaker and sorted a little handbrake issue. Stopped for an impromptu snap en-route to the Supermarket - its been a while. Just doing a few minors on it now (RTABs / Alignment / Oil) as will be selling it on once I find an overpriced E30 for the next project 😢 I think she knows, was an absolute pleasure burbling around, turning heads in the sunshine, making me doubt myself...

More E30 goodness from BMW Classic

Great result, it had me buggered for a while, trying to figure out what had changed!! The simplest of things!!

Haha you are right about the power, not that easy to break traction even with the open diff. But man does it like to hop in a corner if it hits a few bumps.

Dang, I adore this attention to detail. Have you done any work similar to this type of manifold design and construction? Seems like it's not your first time.

Wife is out of town so went for a 'blast' out to Piha today - typically, got stuck behind a line of soft roaders and people movers heading out but got space to stretch the legs on the way back.