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Aye that interior is pretty average. At least looks tidy enough. Overall the car looks pretty identical to M539's recent project so you'd at least have a great tutorial to follow.

To be fair, it that was the only qualifier there'd be a lot more M3's on the road today! 😉

It’s Cirrusblau (lovely colour) but has Pacific Houndstooth 0212 comfort interior (which is what’s holding me back TBH).

I personally think it is a fair offer. A six speed with S70 m powered engine, suspension , etc with Schnitzer cosmetics is a very cool proposition. If the mechanics are in good condition and the vehicle goes as well as it looks I would find this rather compelling. Nigh on 400 Bhp!!!!!! 6 speed manual!! Ferrari Testarossa like power and looks! Just depends on your overall objective. Not sure it would be an easy sell because of its ‘bitzer’ back-ground. In Europe or USA, yes but not in NZ. Wouldn’t be an investment like a nice e36 M3- but a car you would have no fear about tracking and clocking up the mileage ( and would certainly attract lots of attention)!

Personally I think its a very unique car for $38K that is well worth the money. I don't think you would ever, ever find a manual V12 for less than that, unless its the carcass of a burnt out 550M or something lol. Even if you just consider the parts value of the CSi engine, manual box, suspension, ACS body kit and wheels, its a good deal. Would personally take it over a manual e36 M3 any day of the week given how epic it looks, and I bet it would turn many more heads at a car show. Its only down side in my eyes is that it is LHD which would probably be a bit annoying, but like at the end of the day a manual V12 is generally a winning combination. You could probably get a ratty SMG E46 M3 for a little more but once again...., manual V12! Just my 2 cents worth though.

Airbox arrived, and has swiftly been named Geoff. I have a CSL decal on the way, but think I'll leave it as is

Z3s are going up but this is pretty 'optimistic' Granted, it is very low kms and the best one available. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/z3/listing/3317065438

I would say 28k bro. it's pretty tidy. also being pfl I'm biased hahaha

I got to the same place with my SE. Got enthusiastic, paid top dollar, want it to be manual and subtle suspension tweaks ie turn it into @adro’s spec, but it’s not worth it. Another $10k could be spent and I would still have a mint SE with comfort interior, and doesn’t seem worth it. So am looking at factory manuals now and see how I feel then about selling the red machine next year

@Sammo it looks tidy and agree a great body colour. I like the interior as reflects the era but can see it isn’t universal. My first BMW was an E28 with blue interior, nostalgia. If you are thinking long, long term it could be worth investing in an interior refit down the line or if you found sports seats a retrim (navy leather?). Big bucks

Thinking of buying? If you’re not I might…

What you thinking @Sammo? Sounds really compelling esp. PFL and manual. Am I on drugs thinking $25-30?

At face value, I'd much prefer that to the cabbie posted above, but you may have read my comments on that listing.

Decodes fine on Bimmer.work. Its no surprise that NZTA data is buggered, the system has always been flawed when relying on human input. wbsbg92090ea88129-bimmer.work.pdf

Here you go, in this thread (from 2015), it says listed in 2009!

Any of these examples are well worth what they have been 'offered' for IMO. Happy to be corrected, but I'm confident that these will be well and truly the best examples, in tip-top condition, that you will probably find in NZ. The seller is known as an extreme e31 enthusiast and does things to the highest standards. And disclaimer, I don't know or have any affiliation with them. That Dakar CSi is a bargain for what it has been offered for! @Blackie- if the budget could stretch another $50k or so it would be worth it 😎

Not sure about least loved, I think that's subjective, and I'm biased anyway. NZ new slicktop with no rear spoiler, that's a good set of options. The absence of interior photos is compounded by the totally screwed up registration (I assume BMW NZ or an official dealer is to blame for this sloppy work). Registration (CarJam) says it's a 5-speed 3.0 which it is not. The VIN decodes to almost nothing as well, none of the usual details are available on mdecoder, (the only one I checked), and it claims it's LHD. That all could present valuation problems in the future, especially if you wanted to prove it was genuine and not a cut job. Can't be worth 60k IMO.

My wife's X3 N52 has same noise, is the fuel system evacuation purge valve solenoid. The operation at idle is normal, the noise is from valve wear and should not be audible from inside vehicle. Removing solenoid plug while car is running will/ should cease the sound. Not a major fix or cost for new valve unit. As Glenn rightly says, have full scan and check over before proceeding.

$23,600 - while my estimate looked shaky early on, I'll take it - 97.4% accuracy is within the margin of error

A milestone today, one side of the headers completely tacked up and ready for finish welding !! So much work ... can't wait until they are completely done. Onto some pics ... pretty self explanatory, the first is all of the pieces for the last tube on this side.

@M3AN @sweetm3 bump up those insurance policies!

I bought some spare 20” wheels for the X5, they had been painted (badly) and were pretty rough. Decided to powder coat and got them sand blasted, then powder coated, result is below. Note, due to a combination of laziness/desire to get it over with and some indecision over the alloy wheel filler I had standing up to the powder coating oven, they got a quick file of the worst bits, so there are some ripples on the edges, but the powder coating itself is mint. Ironically, the worst damage (3rd wheel from the left) happened on the way to the powder coaters in the back of the car. Stuff I learned @aramoana Sandblasters aren’t equal. I had one guy do one as a test. He moaned about how hard it was and would only take $100 in cash. The second guy charged $80 + gst a wheel, pulled themselves up at not getting them perfect and redid them, then laughed at the other effort and redid that. Powder coaters aren’t equal. One company gave me a quote, then told me it was all too hard, they didn’t have the colour, wouldn’t order it and to try somewhere else. As a sales pitch, unbelievable. BMW wheels have some god awful rubberised coating on them that is difficult to remove. Make sure your wheels can’t move in the car, alloy is surprisingly soft….. The powder coating guy recommended stripping the paint before sand blasting. He also recommended against chemical stripping as they have had the chemicals “get into” the alloy and then ruin the powder coated finish. Make sure the wheels are as clean as possible and try not to touch the face once prepared. If you buy cheap centre caps from TM, you will get what you pay for. I thought the fake carbon ones that came with the wheels were rubbish, the stickers on the new ones aren’t even stuck down properly. Be patient. Im really happy with the result, they did a great job and were $30/wheel cheaper than another place I tried, not the one mentioned above.