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Yes absolutely. But in my opinion, that market is slightly different in how it is presently compared with the Euro market. Because prices jumped up so severely and so quickly on almost every turbo manual or fast & furious featuring JDM car (Skylines, Supras, Silvias, Evos, STIs etc), that trickled down to almost anything "JDM" with people feeling "FOMO", and that if they didn't get a JDM car right now, they would miss the boat, and ALL JDM cars would be unobtainium!! Coupled with cheap money + easy finance, and the social media "hype" around almost anything JDM, dealers had the best market to buy undesirable cars in Japan, and flip them to idiots in New Zealand under the guise of it being a "JDM investment". People saw the "desirable" turbo, manual stuff like Skylines & Silvias go from sub 10K, to "$30K, $40K, $50K" cars, and then expect their slow slush box N/A Toyota Chaser to do the same. The business model was simple but effective: buy something less desriable in Japan, like a naturally aspirated Toyota Chaser, for a couple grand, , ship to NZ -> Lower it, "New Mags & Tyres" + easy finance and put it up for $19,999, and have people lining up to buy. This created almost a perfect storm, where people thought they could buy a presently overpriced JDM car in the present, and it would be worth more in 6 months time. And for lots of people, this worked. If you bought a manual Silvia at the start of 2021, you would have made money selling it at the start of 2022. However, that time has now come to a close. What I feel this means is that the JDM market currently still looks somewhat strong, with prices not really seeming to drop. But barely anything is actually selling and there is SO MUCH supply. It seems people are being hopeful trying to get out of a boring car they paid WAY too much for at the start of 2022, and are not willing to take a big loss. Just look at how many WRX STIs are for sale for example..... The Euro market by contrast I feel that sellers, like me, are more willing, and more used to losing some money on their car, and are realistically dropping their prices to actually sell their car. I also feel maybe it's because for a lot of niche Euro cars, particularly ones that avoided the "investment" hype, my 987 Boxster for example, aren't really a car you'd find in a classic "Easy Finance" car yard, and appeal to a vastly different demographic to a Toyota Aristo. As a result, I think sellers can actually afford to take a bit of a loss on their car, and that is reflected with seller's realistically pricing their cars in a market with few buyers. It is on this "allusion of investment" premise that I think cars like an E46 M3 have such a wide price range now. I think a lot of people bought them as an investment. I remember when that Laguna Seca blue NZ New manual one, sold for $51K in early 2021, which at the time seemed like a strong result. By the end of the year people were asking north of $50K & $60K for SMG cars... If you look right now, there's dealers still asking $60K for SMG cars, and a dealer also asking $60K for a LHD manual. Realistically, who would be buying these? I don't think there's buyers even at $45K, proven by the fact that there are SMG cars available for $45K!! However, as a final point, I do think lots of cars, like E46 M3s have appreciated in value. BUT, the idea that cars supposedly "doubling" or "tripling" in value in the span of 18 months was/is ridiculous imo. Essentially I think that any car that was zoned as an “investment” (GT Porsches are another example) have huge price disparities, and people trying to get out what they were told it would be worth… Anyway, that was a far bigger write-up and brain dump than I anticipated. That's just my 2 cents worth and my opinion on what's been happening and what will continue to happen.

Weitz has just listed one

Finally got round to working on the car again, decided to do something about the rather warm oil temps, especially if im going to take this thing to the track. Got my new bumper and started cutting pieces of it out to let more air through the vents. Bought a pair of 19row aeroflow oil coolers and made some brackets to mount them in the wheel wells, positioning them as best as possible behind the 1m style bumpers vents for best airflow. Will make some better ducting at a later stage to force feed them. Bumper off to paint next week. Before After Coolers mounted With bumper Horn mounts added, will have one horn each side considering keeping the stock oil cooler and converting it into a transmission cooler. Just not sure about removing the stock heat exchanger yet as it does help warm up the transmission. Possibly would still warm up quick enough if i used an inline 80deg thermostat. Project for another day...

I was umming and ahing back and forth deciding if I wanted to buy this one. Had just messaged the seller to come check it out the day you bought it I believe, I've been looking for a 4 door as well and that colour is something else... Looks ace man

Appreciate your advice Gaz. Completely correct and all sorted. Cheers

My one was significantly less than F80 money, but yes looking at the rest of the E9X stock on the market they are priced around that level. Don’t think many would be changing hands at those levels in this market.

Timely thread - I picked up this LCI Interlagos Blue E90 M3 last week. I specifically wanted a sedan over the coupe - the E46 isn't going anywhere, I wanted four doors for the practicality, and I actually prefer the look of the sedan over the coupe for the E9X generation. @lbo99 would the E46 make way for an E90 or would you keep both? I don't believe there are significant differences pre-LCI vs LCI - depending on the service history, the car may be on original software and I understand this makes a slight difference to the way the DCT performs. I just had all the modules and software updated at the dealership as this is an ex-UK car with limited NZ dealership service history.

Have not seen it in the flesh yet but its out of the mold and looking good

Got the resin infused today !! There were a couple of microscopic leaks identified during the infusion process which were sealed with mastic, crossing fingers there is no air against the mold side.