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To celebrate the car being back under cover again (sorry, still no garage for her) after almost two months in the Auckland winter rain, I washed it for the first time in 5 weeks. Feels good, just need my long delayed interior back in and will be ready to be seen in public again!! Still a bit of landscaping to be done but nice to have a better space for her.

Looks like you not only built a carport for your 325i, but a house for your digger 🤣

We had a quick look at the i4 e40. Here is our quick take on it: - it's probably one of the best/better EV in the market as a drivers car. However compared to our M5, it's very much softer even on sports mode. I am not sure if the i4 had adaptive suspension, I think all M spec version should be fitted with one. It did feel stiffer on sports mode. - acceleration from standstill is really good even if its just e40, in fact for me 300-400 hp is what I prefer for a street car. More than that is not fun in the public road, so the 340hp e40 variant is on the sweet spot. However I can say beyond 80km/h the M5 V10 is very much competitive or better - it's interior is great, the screen is great (not as fluid as a Tesla though). The seats (it didn't have the most expensive optioned seat) are actually better than a normal car but its actually not as nice as the old leather seats of the M5 both feel and support (however I got my M5 seats dialed to me already, so maybe if I spend more time on i4 it could be just as good) - the individual dravit grey paint is so much better over brooklyn grey (there was a M440i beside it on with this color), this is probably the best color for a i4, M4, M3 or 4 series. The big kidney livable with this color. - hans zimmer sound on the i4 for me actually makes it better, unlike other EVs which has no sound or very cheesy sound. But I guess it's no substitute for ICE sound, especially from a V10 NA - the driving assistance is good, or I like it as it seems to be less intrusive. btw the AEB got tested, a ute cut us off and slowed down aggressively. Not sure why, because we on an EV or BMW... or both. I think i4 e40 is a great choice if you want a drivers car EV, the e40 is also very efficient close to a Tesla Model 3. However it's very costly, at almost $120k for the example we tested. For $120k, you can get a M5 ($40k) and Tesla Model Y ($80k - $9 subsidy) plus some change. If you had $120k, which would you pick? P.S. Thank you to G. Yang of Continental cars BMW, he is great to chat with.

The audio commentary is a crack up.

Got a few missions ticked off on the daily 330. Ditched the old clutch and AC fans for an electric one and wired up the fog lights that the PO had cut off. Retrofit a multifunction steering wheel panel I'd gotten a few months back, all working and functional. Handy having cruise control in time for a local club outing next weekend. Never going to be a show car this thing but great to finally get it to where I want it - all major oil leaks taken care of, no obvious bits missing and overall clean and functional. Also hooked up and tried out the old laptop I'd set up for INPA, NCS etc. Reading all the data as it should so will be a suitable setup for when I'll need to code and flash the touring post the engine-gearbox swap.

Just some updates. M5 developed a small leak on the diff, I had a look and diagnosed the leak is from the pinion seal. Bought some parts from FCP Euro, they where actually very cheap. Decided for the upgraded Corteco seal as its advertised to be better and fixes the design flaw of the original BMW seal. Since Auto 38 has closed, we decided to use Powerhaus as Mike Page is too far away. We have used Powerhaus for our Cayenne before, they are very good although long wait times and they are on the expensive side. However their work is always top-notch and always give you the honest diagnosis. We also asked them to replace the SMG hydraulic, gear oil, diff oil and brake fluid. Diff oil was replaced with Liqui Moly, however even though this advertised to be in spec with the LSD diff. Some LSD BMW diff may need more friction modifiers, TSB: SIB330102 which required the fluid that had more FM. Our car seems to have this binding issue, so we decided to add some RedLine Friction Modifiers, which worked really well. Pretty much all fluids are now replaced, all consumables on the car are almost new.

PFL 323i and 328i. LCI 320i, 325i, 330i. Fond memories driving a colleague’s near-new e46 323i on the M40 into London in ‘99 in torrential rain. I thought ‘this chassis is as Top Gear and the motoring comics described it at launch. What a sorted car.’

Haha - its a little dedicated work from home office

Spotted a few months back in Christchurch

2.93 suits the 5 speed for me, maybe the 3.15 is the ideal compromise but hard to find. I'm sure it starts to become a trade off after that under normal road usage.

Courtesy of Instagram...