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Thought I would write a little piece about my latest toy. I've been wanting a Porsche for many, many years. However, even before I got my learner license back in the day I would watch the prices of basically anything Porsche climb. First it was older 911s, then nice 928 S4s and 944 S2s and then it was just everything else. Currently there is a 20K 924.... umm wtf. Anyway, over the last year I came to the realisation that the best way for me to get a decent first taste of the Porsche life was going to be through a manual Boxster. I narrowly missed a bargain (for the time) 987 Manual at the start of the year when the market was still quite hot, but since then prices have come back a little bit. Although that said, I am rather grateful I sold my D3 Audi S8 when I did, as I saw a really tidy looking NZ New example similar to mine go for 9.7K recently... I got double that for mine in March this year. Anyway I digress. I was torn between 986 and 987 Boxster. 986 has the bonus of the detachable hardtop, but the regular 2.5s are apparently a bit gutless, and the S variants or 986.2 2.7s are hard to find at a half sensible price in manual. Plus, the interior is a bit uninspiring and while I actually don't mind the fried egg headlights on a 996, I'm not completely sold on them on a Boxster, especially pre-facelift. Then a month of two ago a high ks 987 rolled across my screen. I'm sure a few of you will recognise it. Seller had it listed as an auction, and had some excellent photos of it in the rain with the interior absolutely filthy. Furthermore, it had faded headlights, stickers on the doors and plasti-dipped wheels which generally just made it look a bit tired, BUT had a NEW Soft Top (which cost $8K apparently). Unsurprisingly no one bid on it, and I was the highest bidder some $8K below what he wanted for the car. Car was re-listed two more times and while the final bid increased from the first auction, it was not hitting reserve. As I was the highest bidder every time I eventually negotiated with the seller to a price I thought was fair. I then made the trip to pick it up. Of course I generally do not have normal car buying experiences. Whether its my Subaru Legacy E-Tune blowing up on the way home, the clutch packing up in my Manual W8 on the test drive, or getting a flat tyre in my newly acquired Boxster at 10pm on a Sunday night in rural Hamilton, there's generally something. So yes, flat tyre.... 10pm at night.... rural Hamilton. Obviously the car does not have a spare and is missing its stud key, excellent! The letter box at the driveway I pulled into was 1126 from memory - just to put into perspective how I had absolutely no idea where I was. Only reason I was on that road in the first place was because the motorway had been closed 😕 Went to two nearby houses to ask if they had an air compressor I could borrow (as the car's one is rubbish and slow) just to try get the car somewhere safer such as a petrol station, but of course: young, Aucklander, driving a Porsche - Do you think I got any help? First house I went to I was ridiculed for not buying a ute, and then ridiculed for buying a girl's car. Second house I went to I was asked if I go to spastics school for being younger with a Porsche. Anyway, luckily the lady at the AA centre had done a good job upselling me to be a premium member with extended towing allowance so I waited with the car for a couple hours and got the tow truck to flat bed the car to a tyre shop on the North Shore in Auckland. Great 19 hour day that was. The next day I set about sorting the tyre. Of course the Pirelli DragonSport it had on it was apparently out of stock nationwide, so naturally I put on a new set of Bridgestone RE003s for $1.3K. Would have preferred Michelin PS4s but the RE003s were ready to go at the shop it was at so its whatever. So finally I got the car home and set about its deep clean. I don't think the interior had been cleaned since the previous owner bought it. It was super dusty and full of rubbish and food crums. Luckily not the hardest to clean, just a little time consuming. Then I set about removing the hideous aftermarket "Porsche" script from the bootlid (to be replaced by a Boxster badge when I find one), and also stripped off the stickers and the plastidip on the wheels. Headlights had a tidy up at Renew Car and already the car looks alot tidier. So anyway, how does it drive? The previous owner upgraded the rotors and put performance pads on it so when you get on the brakes hard it stops like nothing I have ever driven - its SUPER impressive. I think it may have a different intake on it - sounds incredible, like a baby GT3. Has that intoxicating Porsche flat 6 howl when you rev it out. Gearbox is lovely, clutch weighting is nice, steering is awesome - probably the best car I've driven. (I actually think it sounds better than my Mum's 997.2 C2S) The previous owner asked me when I was paying for it - "Is this your first Porsche?", "Yes" I replied. "Well you're screwed then, all you will want to drive from now on will be these". And so far he's been right. I've driven it everyday. Drove my W8 on the weekend and hated how light the clutch was and how high up the car felt. But of course, after excitedly telling everyone I got my first Porsche, someone from my extended family has offered me their manual 987 Cayman S for essentially trade in value so this 987 will probably go up for sale within the month (as passing that deal up is insanity) because there isn't much point having two and under 25 insurance is already an unpleasant experience with the 540i, Manual W8 and the Boxster. P.S: The car has a silly Hikeit throttle controller in it which I hate - a Boxster is obviously not a diesel Mitsubishi Triton, and surprisingly Porsche know a thing or two about making a nice, reactive throttle. Who would have guessed? Anyway, if anyone wants the Hikeit, if you know what you are doing and can remove it from the car you can just have it. Anyway, here's a couple photos of how it's looking now.

Anyone else see an ad for a Nissan Tiidious, or Toyota Wish-I-was-a-proper-car, extolling the virtues of cheap japanese transport and how wonderful it is, how comfy, what a great little runabout, so good for popping to the shops, always cared for, never thrashed, crashed or bashed... And feel like screaming "It's a horrible piece of SH!T!" Right hand lane on the way to a roundabout, going straight on, got to stop and check three times that nothing is approaching from the right (heaven forbid we look ahead), and don't - whatever you do - push the pedal on the right because you saw Back to the Future and who knows - it might happen? You might (unlikely, bud!) find yourself alongside another vehicle when the 200m to single carriageway sign is passed so you brake - HARD! - and cannot understand why the 40-ton truck behind you is so p!ssed off, leaning on the horn... Can't be because that tractor and trailer in the inside lane that you're now tucking in beind has nowhere to pull over for the next several km...

Hey guys - recently picked up an m325i which I’m sure most would be familiar with.. Post the latest auction on trademe I had gotten in touch with the seller to organise a deal and here we are! Have come from a long line of silvia’s, ae86’s and the like so being my first E30, wanting to get an idea of the best sources for new replacement and used OEM parts, local workshops in Auckland etc etc. Cheers - and hope to catch you all soon.

Looks like all of “Emma’s” vehicle related listings have been pulled by tm….. the thick plottens

That's him here ain't it?

Swapped my springs out - looking for a slightly more age-appropriate (myself and the car) stance and comfort level. Replaced the ST Springs (50mm/40mm) with the popular H&R Sport 29664-1 springs (35mm/35mm). Really happy with them - have gained a very useful 10-15mm height all-round but car still looks great and sporty - ride quality is significantly improved as well (and I didn't feel the ST's were harsh). Possibly a slightly less performance orientated spring (?) but I already have larger sway bars and sticky tyres for fun stuff anyway.

Looks like a parts car

Quoted as 1180kg. I suspect not too many fluids were involved in the weighing.

Id recommend Spareto.com over FCP. Whilst they dont have the genuine specific parts selection (just more common wear items ie suspension, engine parts etc) they are usually way cheaper with EUR\NZD and more reliable freight (Spareto DHL vs FCP who dont actually specify anymore) Rockauto.com is another one that are similar to Spareto. They probably have the fastest processing times and usually the cheapest shipping via Fedex (seen as low as $25 NZD). They collect GST but this is can be offset with cheap shipping depending on the item. If you are buying lots of parts id recommend pricing it and ordering from multiple sources as it usually ends up cheaper. There is some big variation in part prices for specially for genuine only BMW parts ie Schmeidmann vs FCP

Tempted to become a hairdresser looking at that. Looking mint, good buy.

Congrats! The 987 is a great car! Especially in manual

Awesome man, live the dream.

That's a big accusation, every story has two sides. What's yours?

"Restomod" 😂

Wow, its pretty thrown together for the asking price. That shifter and temp gauge alone would put me off.

A few of us have been watching that listing, it’s pretty much my cars twin 😁 Congrats and welcome to the forum, heaps of E30 nuts on this page!

My old (UK) 1984 E30 with the M10 turbo was tuned back to 435whp for the road, and weighed just under 1000kg. I'm proud to say I drove it every day (in part, a reason for the detune) for over 6 months. Without a rebuild. (If we can exclude clutches....) Edit: the 1984 318 E30 was quoted as being 1030kg ex-factory.

No just stating facts, reasoning behind the airbag recall has no link to whether the airbag light is present on the dash. Your anti dealer tirade is getting pretty tiresome

See this most mornings at the gym now. Can't be too many of them in the country..cool looking barge

Spotted this tasty M3 in New Market the other night when I was out for a drive in my most newly acquired toy.

New brakes, intake pipe (034 motorsports), and wheels Need to replace the dog bone bushing too, axle hop when smashing out the DSG farts is annoying, then Im going to leave it alone.... Interesting comparing the engineering whilst spannering this thing. That is one big f**k off single pot caliper out of the VW parts bin (GTI performance option unit), everything been definitely effecting by the accounts department. All the subframes and control arms in it (same as mk7 GTI) are all stamped steel and welded tubes. BMW on other hand are all aluminium forgings etc, and even the stamped steel parts BMW spit out are done less agriculturally... VW/Skoda are definitely built to a price. VW must make a killing on GTIs, as they are more expensive than the Skoda for the same conglomerate of parts.

No name Chinese reps, lots on tardme/etc/etc, cheese based.