Leaderboard

After almost 3 months, 2 windscreens, a windscreen moulding, a flooded workshop, another failed WOF, and a pair of new shocks, my 540i finally has a fresh WOF. My streak of never passing a WOF first try with this car continues 🤣 Took her out for a little drive to celebrate.

I'm another new member, finally. I found this place while trawling the 'net during lockdown. Current garage: G21 M340D Touring Porsche Macan Turbo with Performance Package. Yes, that is the official model name - why they didn't call it a Turbo S, only Porsche knows. F31 330D Touring The 330D was a bit of DIY 335D, since they weren't available here, with a remap to ~240kW and 660Nm. It's The Macan was an impulse buy, as it was the last of the true Porsche engines, being the the 3.6, rather than the VAG 2.9V6 group engine. Compared to the diesels, it's a bit more noticeable, so the children nick-named it 'Mr Shouty-Pants'. The 340D I had to have. It's as brilliant as everything I'd read, purchased from Sytner in the U.K., as BMW stopped doing out of region special orders just before the first lockdown. The in-gear acceleration is sublime, and the steering and handling are a big step above the F30/F31s. It was a squeeze to get it before Xmas; it missed the ship from Southhampton it was booked on, the next ship missed its slot through the Panama Canal, so sat there for 3 days, then it had to drop 1 vehicle to Papeete, so instead of cruising down at 17 knots, idled at 7 to push the 3 day journey out to 7 days to meet COVID restrictions for crew. One of the benefits of a small country (and having clients in all the right places) is when it got here I got it off the wharf same day, and to AA Compliance, who received it the 23rd and had it done by the next morning. The next hurdle was that there was no fuel compliance certificate for M340Ds, as they're not sold here, and one of the persons responsible for them at LTNZ had left several months earlier, and not been replaced, and the remaining person left with 1 day's notice to go back to Japan for family reasons, so no one was doing them. Another call to the right person, and we had that by 11am so AA could then complete an MR2A for it and actually get it registered. Next on the list is to purchase a new Alpina D3S Touring, as this to me, is the ultimate sleeper. Alpina are waiting on build slots from BMW at present, which isn't surprising given U.K. orders for M340Ds - and 3 Series in general - are slipping back from 3-4 months to 8-10 months (worst case I've seen reported). The recent news around Alpina's sale to BMW is also a hurry up, as is iDrive 8 on the LCI models (I like buttons to press!). The M340D's breadth of ability is amazing; there's not many cars that'll scoot to 100kph in 4.5 seconds, and still do 5.1 litres per 100km on a trip (55MPG for the older folk).

Seriously ^^^^ ??? Customs and border control were onto that because of information received from overseas. I didn't read anything about shootouts with mobsters or fierce hand to hand battles. The police were just there to handle the arrests and do the paperwork. Tell me about how many of those bikers got arrested after dragging that guy from his car and beating him close to death. There is a societal problem here in NZ whereby certain groups have discovered that if they get a mob together they can can pretty much do as they like with minimal risk of arrest or incarceration. The so called boy racers are chicken sh*t when compared to the hardcore criminals that are starting to compete for the domination of the drug trade in NZ. We are talking about armed thugs who think nothing of shooting at police. Don't minimise the problem by focusing on a simple annoyance like boy racers... tactics as outlined in previous posts are available to deal with this issue. Boy racers without cars are just boys There are larger issues that are mainly confined to the criminal underworld and cause a huge amount of harm and suffering in our society as a whole. Despite all their PR and corporate spin to try and convince the public that they are just a friendly bunch of club members helping old ladies across the street, there is no place in our society for patched criminal gangs. Read this exercise in futility.. Think about this for a moment... does anyone REALLY think that a gang member or criminal is going to (a) apply for a gun licence, or (b) give a single solitary f**k about this stupid piece of legislation ??? This will give you a clue as to who is hamstringing the police when it comes to them getting stuck into cleaning up criminal gangs. Cheers...

Found a buddy today in Britomart - beautiful 318i 2 door in a stunning, rare (but not captured at all in this crappy pic) Mineralblau.

Sold my last one for $3500 in ~2008 with 17X,000 on it, so they haven't gone up much. Not cool\popular enough and V8 is better in most ways. The main issue for me with older these older less common cars are hard to find and\or expensive parts .

I think the police do a great job. De-escalstion is the general tactic which is proven sussceesful. Offenders are identified and followed up with after the fact. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening. There's always North Korea, China and Russia?

Hello all, Anyone looking for a sweet reasonably priced runabout? Motorsport 318ti, half leather, sunroof, tinted windows. 156,000km Has reg and wof until May M44B19, automagic, runs and drives well. Tidy inside and out, with some wear and tear (main ones are ding in front corner and headlining starting to flap in back corner). Has the usual M44 lumpy idle when in gear, but its harmless. There is also a rattle in the exhaust at idle, which i think is the bracket to the trans. Just finishing up some work before sale; new oil filter housing gasket and bushing, new valve cover gasket, new spark plugs, new air filter, new PCV valve, fresh oil and filter. Everything works including AC, heater, and both windows (albeit the passengers window switch needs a new surround to stop it being pushed into console). Still has first aid kit and full tool kit. I really like this car, but having just bought a 5th car on a whim, this one needs to go, preferably before my neighbors get annoyed im filling the street up. $2500 ONO

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

Just want to give a huge thanks to Gavin. I enquired about the cork gasket and magnetic drain plug for a Z3 diff. He later called me and said he was talking to a diff specialist and said the gasket gives issues, a 3-part sealant is best. He also sent me a trademe link for neodymium magnets suitable for the OE drain plug. Overseas parts suppliers are great but you can't beat local knowledge and customer service.

Another really satisfying milestone here getting the engine bay wiring virtually complete !! Just need to wire the back side of the 'secondary' plug which will have all of the wiring that will head into the cabin.

The old gatherings that got too large and out of control were dealt with passively by just showing up. Or they would get smart and block all the vehicles in. And check them very slowly one by one. It killed the scene. And it didn't take too much planning. Who wants to sit there for 3 hours then be handed a fine for bald tyres and cut springs. Or you could chuck a couple of cameras up. Monitored or unmonitored. They will stop gathering there.

Recent events have clearly demonstrated that once a mob forms the authorities have no way of dealing with them. It doesn't matter if they wear patches, rides motorcycles, march with placards or illegally occupy land. A mob can do whatever they like with impunity. The government may react by passing new laws, but if they cannot be enforced, that serves no useful purpose. The inability of our law enforcement to deal with mobs coupled with the reluctance of the courts to imprison, has opened the door for all forms of organised crime. NZ is seen as an easy target for drug runners, scammers, smugglers, thieves and assorted thugs and scum that other countries are happy to export. The NZ Police are by far the largest gang in this country, have all the necessary arms and equipment to enforce the law. But they are are inhibited by bleeding heart liberals who have never suffered a home invasion or been subjected to a random act of violence by someone off their face on meth. The Police don't shoot anyone who doesn't put themselves in a situation where they deserve to get shot. The current "licenced to kill" campaign reads like an anti-police disinformation spiel sponsored by organised crime, and brings no credit to its authors. Let's get real. Sending one Police car with two officers to try and disperse a mob of "car enthusiasts" high on alcohol, drugs and tyre smoke is like trying to put out a house fire by pissing on it. The government has to grow some balls and empower the Police to do whatever is necessary to control and eliminate mob behavior before it is too late. Cheers... PS: If you are going to rant... GO HARD !!!!

When I was younger the car scene was going nuts. What felt like thousands would gather in Auckland CBD to cruise Queen Street and park up where the Oriental Markets once were (Now the Countdown and apartments). We would all head off to the most remote industrial areas and take turns doing skids. Was quite respectful most of the time. It really started changing when fast and capable cars became much cheaper. The "feral's" started turning up. Dumb things started happening. Thefts and property damage. Abusing late night truck drivers (who once would just be encouraged to do a skid and would). That's when we moved onto drifting. Which we kept very private. More in the style of Japanese small clubs you would see in the old Option videos, called it NIZAN. We made sure we took care to not effect anyone else. Created our own T-shirts and stickers and even held our own car show which had the Top Secret Supra and GTR come over from Japan. I accidentally drove through the "Drags" in rural Hamilton last year. I was towing a trailer. They had setup on a main road and were blocking the rail line running nearby that I was trying to cross. There was a number of non attending public just trying to get through like me. Took about 20mins to clear it. None of them gave a sh*t about the poor people just trying to get through. I feel like we were more respectful back in the day. But that could be because I was young and cared less about other people.

Might as well make the most of the shipping cost and grab a carbon roof while you're there.

Mine was done by hand. Not sure how well it will work on swirling, you might need something a little more aggressive or a machine polisher to clear that up first. The turtle black just seems to be great at hiding the pitting in black paint.

Great combo, shame the M4 didn’t back in

Just saw this pop up for sale. Seems like a pretty good deal for $5.2K. Doesn't look like the tidiest example but seems to have good bones. Probably is one of, if not the cheapest running V12 car for sale in NZ, and the engine is encased by a gorgeous E32! Prices on E32s is only going up anyway, as are all classic BMWs. Heap of car for the money, and a nice spec too, with silver paint and black leather.

Thanks 🙂 The M340D is the replacement for the 330D, but I haven't exactly raced to put the 330D up on TradeMe. I'll likely do it in the next week or so. It's just had paint restoration (Rupes DA-Course + blue wool pad, Rupes DA-Fine with yellow wool, then two coats of Uno Pure and 2 coats of Chemical Guys Blacklight), and full groom, so now's the time to do it. I've been in to a couple of dealers with the M340D, and they've gone for a blast, and loved it. It's deceptive in how fast it puts on speed - it feels like it's loping along, when in reality it's flying. I was not a fan of the blacked out look - and especially wheels - at all either, and had even arranged with Coombes to swap the 791s for 792s (Cerium Gray) they had on a demonstrator, but once I saw the wheels on the car, and 'Chelle made the comment 'it looks menacing', I decided to keep them. BMW Car Key is also really useful; great when going to the gym, sailing, or mountain biking/motor biking etc, and can use an iPhone - or my Apple Watch - to lock/unlock the car, and run. The Macan was supposed to be being traded on a demo GTS in Miami Blue this month, but it looks like the dealer's replacement demo was on the carrier that sunk. It'll likely go anyway, as looking after 4 cars is time consuming. There will likely be an M3 Touring in the future as well. Just need to do something about that face. If I can't, it may be a B3 instead!

I hear you man, even if I want to I don't have the time to polish my car anymore. I just took mine out of the garage so the rain can give it a wash, it's covered in bugs and other filth. The turtle black stuff does wash off pretty quick but oh well I still think it's worth doing.

Off to get the clunk fixed finally! I was holding out to get this car to Autohaus but have another one taking up hoist space there and hope to take this away next week.

I had a red one of these (same spec) when I lived in Brissy... sure, no ball of fire but a great value little runabout that loved corners and made me learn to be a better driver - slow car fast and all that! Would definitely recommend one of these to anyone considering.

So anyway, back to my original rant take away points - rubber and tire carcases littering local streets = bad. And remember ...... I think we have better things to do than rage at each other, smiling through gnashed teeth is way healthier

I feel like the biggest issues with having a big engine like that in a barge, in NZ, is that unless you do long haul up and down the country often, there is just no where to drive it. Even then, being capped at 100kph in something that would be more at home on the Autobahn just doesnt do it justice. It would be completely wasted around town.

I remember in the late nineties a supplier to us had his reps and himself in E32s, got them about 5-8 years old. If you where good you’d get a 750 otherwise a 735. He reckoned that it was worth it, cheaper to buy then a new Corolla at the time, gas was cheap, he’d get a good warranty and be balling it 😎😂. His staff retention wasn’t a problem either 😉

Yeah like many cars the market here is small. Im sure the enthusiast grade will slowly increase in value but its a bit hard to know as most are kept and rarely sold.

Yeah when you consider inflation they certainly haven't appreciated at all if you sold yours for 3.5K 14 years ago. Bit of a shame in my opinion, I think their time will come soon though. As E28s, E30s, E24s, etc continue to sky rocket, naturally, the prices of once less desired models like e32s/e34s will begin to rise up. Surely a classy V12 7 Series with the classic twin headlights is a 10K car in the next few years... Seems criminal if that doesn't happen.

A lot to be said for fillers if you 'wax' often I reckon, it's not cool, but it works. Gonna give this a go as I have the same road rash issue. I'm probably 13 years in on black car ownership and a full polish is just too time consuming sometimes.

Could get a 33% down payment on an E30 with 33% of the cylinders 😂 Awesome value for someone with some cojones.

@Sammo I have to confess, I am so in love with your M Tech II...

If only it were that simple

I've been quite surprised down here in Dunedin, there's definitely some bad eggs, but the majority are good. We went to a meet in town a few months back, filled an entire Bunning's carpark, a few hundred people. No police turned up, and nobody did anything stupid. Later in the night they parked up in another area, and police turned up just to make sure nothing stupid happened, but we were home by that point, so not sure how that went...

Not bad since engine has only done 180 not nearly 300kms!

Went through the receipts folder. $18k in receipts 😅

Lot of speculators wanting silly money for their sedans - 25-40K... Could be very wrong but thought the coupe was the desirable option people were (previously) willing to spend the big bucks on. Only saw this today: Someone call m539

I like the wire idea, thanks. I think while I'm out and about grabbing that I'll look into either the red or blue chrome chequer plate mats as a fall back option, that contrast with the black interior - BMW really missed the mark on not including something like that as a factory option

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!

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...

I got these off ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Late-Hella-Style-Fog-Lights-Covers-Caps-BMW-E30-/143664781018?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0 But they don’t fit my fog lights as I have a gasket in the way. asking $50 + $5 for postage

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.

I like the one on the left ♥️

Thanks! She looks decently tidy in photos but up close its definitely an original car but hasn't done too bad for almost 400,000km, has tidied up pretty nice though. Yeah I was pretty lucky to score those wheels, I may be just a tad bias but I think they are the best looking wheels on e34s. Wow I don't think I could last that long without being able to drive my car, the two months my car was off the road was a struggle enough! Did you get a big haul of parts?

My mate spotted my old coupe up in the North Island. I rather wish he hadn't... What the actual f**k are those wheels!?

4 or 5 grand would be my wild stab in the dark. You don't see that interior too often, she's looking good.

A few weeks of hard slog and we're getting there. Most of the faults in the first post have been rectified. Took both front seats out to really give the car a good clean and now all the seats work electrically. I can't believe these things have electric headrests 😂. Tailgate now opens by using the drivers footwell button, but not the exterior handle/button. The last major thing to tidy up is the roof which in reality isn't the end of the world. BUT it looks as though I have to sell the black beast prematurely. A job offer in the Central Otago region means we'll likely be moving on from Auckland. I'm not keen on driving 4 cars and a house removal truck, so something has to go. New job has free electric car charging so I'll be converting to the dark side once down there. Big question is, what to list for? Hard to find a comparison. If I was a gambling man I could go $1 reserve 🤔

+1 for Gavin. Have had the pleasure of dealing with him for the last 10 years through my business and it's been seamless!

Gavin is brilliant. Always helpful, normally has parts, organises fast delivery, and offers very good pricing.

Hi all, Looking for a reputable PPF installer in Auckland, preferably someone who can do paint touch ups too. Recently had my M2 done at Finaltouch Rosedale. Thought they're reputable and has some good reviews, but I have to say they did really bad job...