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Sadly the time has come to move this car on to a new owner. 1986 New Zealand new 488,500km low ownership - three or four Arctic Blue Recent top end overhaul 18x8 MAK mags excellent original condition throughout, still has toolkit, first aid kit, torch etc Perfect dash and interior Appears mainly original paint .Looking for offers somewhere north of $20k 021 744 881

Late last year I got a pretty shite cancer diagnosis... so what's the first thing you do? You update your fleet of course! I wanted something fun and with a decent bit of power. Really liked Kyu's M135i but lockdowns were a bastard so bought one locally. Effin fantastic car - took it over to Martinborough a couple of times and it was absolutely brilliant! Pottering around the mean streets of the Hutt - not so much... so much performance but pretty pointless at legal-ish speeds. So, looked at a few other options and decided on a Golf Gti - mid 20-teens vintage. Went a car yard on town that had an ex-Aussie one with a 'roof (luv my roofs!) and the muppets had sold it earlier the same day. Bugger. The did however have a Kiwi-new A250 Sport... good service history, kms, spec; roof, leather, bluetooth - everything worked, so took it for a drive and was very surprised... it was surprisingly fun - and with enough performance, if not a lot. So did the deal, and ended up losing a bomb on the M135i... oh well - I've had a good run the last few years. But yeah; the 250 - worth a look if you're in the warm hatch market... and being a turbo it's relatively easy to stoke the fire a bit more if that's your thing - and get some pretty decent numbers out of them. Mine's bog standard and I'm toying with the idea of a tune and some exhaust upgrades, and swapping out the grille for something less, erm, annoying... but then an A45 isn't much more $$$$, and then I remember whilst I've driven plenty of V8's over the years - I've never actually owned one...

Front splitter, canards and the 10mm rear wheel spacers removed. Softened up rear shocks by 7 clicks, back to a comfy ride again! I had firmed them up in an attempt to reduce rubbing in the rear but didn't work. Looks a bit plain but muuuch more drive-able, which suits my short term plans for this one. I'll swap back in the oem frosted front indicators as I think that'd look better with this setup. Looking for options for a carbon fiber CSL bootlid so I can retain this one for the wing; any suggestions for the best quality..? Also looking for a CSL front bumper but this isn't as high priority (as I have a spare M3 front bumper).

Karbonius is the best quality carbon csl bootlid, I don't know of any other option that doesn't fit like garbage. The karb one fits perfectly from what I've seen as does everything else they make.

+1. Having looked at a bunch in detail over the years, Karbonius appears to have made the best bootlid yet outside of the genuine CSL product. Slon (Russian company) also appears to make a high quality bootlid, but given the current situation there may be issues with shipping etc (https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/e46-2001-2006/139000-slon-or-karbonius-csl-trunk). Karbonius is obviously the more well known and reputable brand so I would say go with them 👍 . Just don't look around too much on their website or else you could find yourself in trouble 💸💸💸.

I feel like the market for toys is tightening up in response to the handbrake on the housing market and the rest. Well I hope so anyway, I need a boat!

35i manual which is pretty sick. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/z4/listing/3516529873?bof=S0A4vocc

Good E30 325i owner fap material - amazing to see it keep up with a 340i (tyres make such a difference).

You know that things are well broken when "boy racers" have gone from harmless park ups, to the midnight drag train, to blocking off roads in industrial estates and now to attacking milk tankers. FFS, I think a fair amount of us went through at least some of this, but "back in the day" we had some respect for the law as there appeared to be repercussions for our actions. Getting over reading the news of idiots who are clearly untouchable destroying roads and private property, with everyday people getting to the point where they take the law into their own hands and then get prosecuted. Strange how the police have no capacity to be everywhere to bring a end to this burnout culture, but have all the resources to prosecute individuals that try to protect their property, family etc from this sort of behaviour. I'm not anti cops, just sick of driving from home to my daughters school and just seeing new black rubber everyday. Nothing is sacred, the intersection outside the local cemetery looks like the burn out box at Meremere. I spoke with the local cops who basically said that this is the biggest issue they currently face in rural south Auckland.

Looks a bit better in a different colour. Interesting that so much effort is being expended by BMW in quite different alternative propulsion system directions (electric, hydrogen, fuel cell...)

This is rank and exactly what the Govt. said they would stamp out, you can report excessive prices to MBIE (https://www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-natural-resources/energy-statistics-and-modelling/energy-statistics/weekly-fuel-price-monitoring/). Also, use Gaspy rather than Waze to see local prices, if one station is excessively high then report them.

Thank you mate, Karbonius it is

Gas stations that are clearly just keeping the tax reduction for themselves. 98 Octane at BP Martinborough was $3.409/L Questioning the staff they just said it is what it is. No doubt kept high to rip off all the Wellingtonians over the weekend. I tried to update Waze with their fuel prices. It was such a jump up in price that the app rejected my prices saying it was not possible and the prices were invalid. Haha Sigh...

Went for $18K, seems a little low but does not sound as it was as tidy as it looked in pics. Some nice bits on it, I want the interior.

Will look for something if I keep it... but don't want to be one of "those" AMG wannabe guys lol... though a mate did get me a AliExpress engine badge so I'll put that on for the photos when I sell it... just for laughs 🤣

Also sorry to hear about the diagnosis. Hope it doesnt affect your quality of life too much. Re your M135 that you had to sell on, it has ended up back on trademe for sale for a very reasonable price! www.trademe.co.nz/3519830527 If anyone in wellington is looking for something locally then worth a look I think! I have had quite a bit of seat time with those A250 as well as an A45 AMG as well as CLA250 and CLA45 AMG's and I think they are pretty cool/fun cars. I find that the A45 rides very stiff though and the A250 is actually a much more pleasant daily drive. The gear knob needs a bit of getting used to though!

Sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis @SmithyInWelly, and congratulations on spending some money on a toy or two! Your A250 looks really nice, I like that grille but imagine you can get an AMG one online? Great colour!

Low effort pictures but importing a car, paying for a manual conversion and good lsd to be installed puts you well ahead of the average BMW owner as far as quality goes

One has been cleaned and moved a clear area to be photographed, the other seems to be going for a “barn find” aesthetic.

E46 is still such a great looking car, design doesn’t seem to have dated at all, and a black M3 will always look good! Even when it’s a less than sunny day at Maraetai (nice drive out there) it looks awesome.

Happy and enjoy to all cheers

Wish I'd done this on the plug i have already wired up ... maybe I'll de-pin the whole thing at some point and deal to it. Anyhow, here is what i will be doing for the 'secondary' plug for the remainder of the ECU wiring. Cost effective solution for tidy wiring labels !! Sheet of laser print stickers plus clear heat shrink

All those listed above including Spareto who I've found to have the best shipping on heavy items like rotors.

Exciting day today, would have been much more exciting if my tyres were not 3 weeks away though!

Depends on the vehicle condition, service history and how much money you want spent. I always change every fluid and filter at the bare minimum if not evidence of it being done. Engine wise i check - plugs, belts and pulleys, cooling system, pcv and intake boots\hoses then clean icv, tb etc and smoke test.

Not wrong. Specific models go for good coin (pre 1990s coupes, convertibles and wagons), but nearly all sedans with the exception of W108 are hugely undervalued compared to everything else out there (except maybe XJ Jags, Silver Shadow Rolls and E32 7 series). Last year I got $12k for this 280SE. It is in pretty good condition. I've seen Mk 5 Cortinas and 4 cylinder Holden Commodores have higher asking prices 😂 Theres a V8 one on TM now for $12k and you'd struggle to find a better entry into the classic car scene. My V12 Coupe I sold in 2020 for $8500. I should have held onto it, an exceptional car and a bargain considering what it is. Currently one on TM for $10k.

Wow. I thought it was a photoshop.

Yikes. Someone is gonna be getting a great deal