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I think it will depend a lot on the car itself. I lived in SG for a little while. A taxi driver once said to me, "hey you know Singapore, its either hot, too hot, or about to rain". That about sums it up. Run about cars are often used as Grab taxis (think pretty much every mini-van and station wagon you've ever heard of, luxury and not so luxury and those weird Honda CR-V things and the odd-looking Toyota mini Rav4 hybrid thing too). They are taxis. You also get Grab premium which is often a nice Audi or a long Merc. Usually though it is a Toyota Alphard. The best car for getting around Singapore is a van with 4 la-z-boys in the back driven by someone else! Ultimate Drivers Car is not really needed although a bloke at work had a Smurf blue m4. For reference, an m4 comp is the better part of $450k SG ++ so you're probably gunna look after it. You can get a membership to Sentosa golf club for that, I know which I'd go for and probably use more. Ha. Anyhoo, I digress, but if you're buying a run about from SG, you can be pretty sure it has been run about. A nicer, bigger, faster, more expensive motor, probably not so much. You can get a special Sunday only drivers permit in SG. That means most of the proper driver's cars go out on Sundays only. Cars in SG are owned for (in practise) max 10 years and they are driven, a lot. A small place it may be but there is lots of motorways and with limits on the numbers of cars on the roads, you can actually drive around - hence the popularity of Grab (SE Asia version of Uber). Most expats, if they buy a car at all, get a car that has a few years to run on its certificate from the govt, then chuck it when they leave SG. So basically, you buy the right to drive the car for the last few years (of its 10) that it is (practically) allowed on the roads. After that it has to be (in reality) scrapped or exported around the world - did you know that SG is the second largest exporter of used cars after Japan. There's a pub quiz answer right there. An incentive for maintenance this is not as you can imagine. So, if you are buying an SG car, IMHO try and get one that is more top end (because it cost shed loads to start with and hopefully someone used the warranty to get it serviced properly) and is more towards the younger age, ie. less than 8 years old at time of import. Also, a more expensive car will have been kept in an underground carpark at a condo / apartment block. They are as dry as it can get in Singapore and typically have areas set aside for car washing. Logic being more expensive car = people can afford to live in a nicer condo that has underground parking.

A competent mechanic should be able to have the rocker cover off and check the cam timing in 2hrs. With the N47 having a track record of chain issues, it would be high on my list of things to check.

Interesting indeed, added to my watch list and I feel a roadie to the BoP coming up. I think I need to join the cool kids club sooner rather than later!

Picked up yet another blue bmw to add to the stables. I'll be keeping the engine but seeing if there was anyone interested in the rest? If not I'll part it out. It has an air suspension control fault. It has a new ride height sensor, and height control module but fault still remains. Compressor works but there is a CANBUS network error. I gave up as i only bought this for the engine. Gearbox shifts well. Test drives welcome and viewing recommended. Paint is below par. Looking for $2000 otherwise will strip for parts. Will need time to pull the engine Now parting - almost all interior is gone. Still have all the control units etc - $50 each Towbar kit - $200 Doors $50 Lights $50 each Bumpers $100 Wheels - $800

The guy offering 2.5k.... 🤓

Sold.

Have had another chat with the workshop. Getting pretty frustrated to put it lightly. I asked what was the compression on the other cylinders. "have only checked #1 and #2, #1 is 250psi and #2 is 150". Compression significantly picked up with abit of oil in the cylinders and then faded again. No air can be heard/felt from tge intake/exhaust manifolds. Apparently to check cylinders 3 & 4 "would be around 3 to 4 hours labour due to access". I asked if they had a boroscope to check inside the bore, "oh yea we might do, I'd have to ask around". I asked if the timing had been checked, "yea that could be another step". He said if the timing was off, he'd expect error codes. They can't see any codes, like i couldn't with ISTA. He's going to get back to me with a full job card of what they've done. I don't know how I'm already $1k+ in the hole for a code readout and for compression testing two cylinders. I've been watching alot of m539 lately and old Streten has definitely given me some motivation. The madman puts himself through alot of pain. I'm considering collecting the vehicle and doing my own analysis. I'd find a leakdown kit and really make sure what was happening on all 4 cylinders. I'd buy a boroscope and check to see what the bores/pistons look like. Then most likely pull the engine, split the block and go from there. Options would be rebuild (if the cylinder walls aren't too damaged) or find an engine to swap out. The N47 is looking hard to find. Either of these options gives me tge chance to replace tge timing gear too. First lemon I've bought. Frustrating, but worse things have happened. Let me know if you have the scoop on an engine!