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Just bought my first BMW, a Japanese import 323i. It was looked after really well, until it wasn't. Under the rubbish, parts of the carpet were immaculate. The headliner is sagging and the door skins, no surprise (I went into this with full knowledge and denial of what I getting myself into). However the rest of the interior is in fairly good nick and the stereo is bluetooth integrated. The boot lining and plastic panels beneath had been destroyed by the weight of the old transmission in the boot and the black oil leaking from it. It only needs two tyres, they are bald (massive understatement) as for the running gear I haven't had a close look yet but it seems goodish. The engine idles rough but is otherwise good, I will find out more after I figure out why the Transmission is in limp mode. I've put a new battery in the remote and replaced the fuse that got the central locking working and now I can programme the remote. Reading all this I feel like I paid too much, but I'm stoked every time I see it and hear the doors close and figure out something new on it and I spend most of my spare time watching YouTube videos on e36s and all associated repairs (its cold outside). I've bought a user manual and I'm ready to get my hands dirty. Wish me well on my journey

It's been a while since I wrote a post on here - I actually have two cars to introduce, but I'll start with the Brabus.... By now a few of you may be familiar with the fact I am generally drawn towards the whacky, weird and sometimes wonderful European cars…. Or the ones no one else has the balls to buy. This has included; 3x W8 Passats, 2x 5.2L V10 Audis (S8 & S6), high ks 130i, a high ks 987 manual Boxster, and then of course my very high ks E34 540i. Anyway, back at the start of the year I was doing my generic trawling through Trademe and Turners when I came across a Smart ForFour Brabus. Smart as a brand has always intrigued me. I’ve been obsessed with the Smart Roadster since I was about 7, and want one very much. The robotised manual gearbox is just very off putting, and I think they are hard to justify with most sellers wanting 12-15K for them. My Mum’s daily run around is a Smart ForTwo, so I am familiar with the gearbox, and it is everything the reviews say and more. It’s actually not too bad once you get used to it, but to have in a dedicated roadster… no thanks, especially having had the manual 987 which genuinely is driving pleasure in its finest form for under $20K. However, I digress. I had seen the Brabus ForFour that now sits in my driveway at Turners sometime at the start of the year. A very neat car I thought - I should bid on that! I then promptly forgot about the auction, and saw it pop up on Trademe at a dealer for around $12,995. The car sat for a while (as did basically everything on the market at the start of the year), but eventually sold. It then got returned to the dealer as it had an intermittent issue. The dealer decided to $1 reserve the Brabus which is when a friend of mine sent it to me with the tag line "This screams Kees"... As I flogged my 987 and 130i off under the guise I wanted to have just two fun(ish) cars I was desperately trying to resist the urge to buy it. The listing stated it likely had some form of ECU issue where the car would sometimes run, but other times have huge power loss, misfire, or refuse to start. Smart cars are notorious for funky electrics due to their less than ideal placing of the ECU and SAM unit, particularly on the Roadster and ForTwo models, so it seemed a complex fix. However, I did come to a figure of what I would be prepared to pay for the Brabus, if I were to buy it. Because I now identify as an old, wise man who sticks to his own word, on the day of the auction I did not bid, even though the car went for less than what I would have hypothetically paid for it. I even had a mild rant to a mate of mine on how I should have pulled the trigger on it. That night I went to sleep a troubled man, and it sounds ridiculous but I had a dream about the car, and how I should have bought it. When I woke up the next day I was lying in bed pondering my decision when I got a notification on Trademe saying the car was being offered at a fixed price. Clearly the deal had fallen through. 30 seconds later my mate rings me telling me to buy it. 20 minutes of being indecisive followed, before I accepted the fixed price offer, and then went off to collect my Brabus! I pick the car up, and it makes it all of 10 minutes before it decided to be the most undriveable vehicle I have experienced so far. It would cut in and out, stall, flash random warnings for coolant temp, barely accelerate and then refused to run full stop. At this point I was questioning my decision. I decided to abandon it and pick it up later that day. I drove it from Penrose back to the North Shore, with 3 breaks where the car decided to be like a stubborn dog and not move, but eventually I made it home. I then started doing research on what the issue could be. One thing that kept coming up was ignition related issues - particularly coils. So the following day I lift the engine cover off - and sure enough one of the coils is clearly different from the rest. I take it out, run the part number, and it was completely incorrect. So a quick trip to Jap spares for a $40 ignition coil, and by a stroke of luck I now have one of the most fun cars I've ever driven. I should mention at this point, the Brabus ForFour uses the 4G15T from the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart, and the same 5 speed manual gearbox too. The only difference to the engine aside from the plethora of Brabus and Mercedes branding on the engine cover and boost pipes is the Brabus engine has no blow off valve, as from what I've read too much pressure was lost through the stock Colt Ralliart BOV setup. And of course the boost is turned up a bit to bump power from around 150hp/210nm to 177hp/238nm.... I am unsure how accurate this is - but a friend's OBD reader was indicating my Brabus was making 21psi on full boost which is a fair bit. To say the car is quick for a stock vehicle from 2006 is an understatement. It's undriveable in the rain - spins in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, sometimes 4th. It also understeers like NOTHING I have ever experienced. It's genuinely scary in the wet. An LSD would do it a great deal of good, and something I would like to get. The thing surprises a lot of cars by how quick it is - even my friend who has a tuned Peugeot 207 GTI with $15K in receipts (its meant to be 220hp), got walked in one of those convenient scenarios where we both accelerated at the same time So as a brief summary. It's got a Japanese drivetrain, that's been breathed on by the Germans, and then its put into a four door Smart car. It's of course factory lowered, has awesome deep dish staggered Brabus alloys, a panoramic roof, leather Brabus embossed seats (which are heated!), and it says SMART ARSE on the back. They also only made around 1200 total for the world! Can you see why I have fallen for this thing? It only weighs 1090kg as well so it feels nice and light footed. The best way I can describe it - is its how I imagine an AMG hatchback would be - great in a straight line, slightly above average going around corners in the dry, and absolutely undriveable in the rain! I can also understand why my one might be the only one in NZ - they are the size of a VW Polo, but were Golf GTI money in 2006! I would also love to know who had my car from new as its NZ New, so I'm guessing was some form of special order? So what now? Well after doing over 2000km in the car, I realised that it was most likely on its original cambelt.... and since its done a 183,000km, I thought it best I do not drive it until thats sorted. So its been sitting in my driveaway awaiting a bunch of parts as its going to be getting quite the birthday, and then following its birthday it is likely to have another birthday which addresses the paint fade on the bonnet, stone chips on the front lip, and curbed wheels. So with the cr out of action likely for a while, ignoring the fact I have the 540i and W8, I had to buy another car to drive in the interim.... of course! More on that another time. So as another brief summary - it’s an exclusive and interesting European car with some huge quirks, but has Japanese consistency/reliability? in the way it pulls (reminds me a lot of my mate’s old WRX). And then on top of all that, it feels like a factory modified car - that’s the best way to describe it. It creates a hybrid medium between a factory and an aftermarket feeling… if that makes any sense at all.

If you bought it from a dealer only a few months ago, look up the Consumer Guarantees Act, understand it and then take it back to the dealer. The problems won’t have “just suddenly” developed. There’s also the MVDI disputes process, although I wouldn’t out too much faith in that.

In all honesty.. Itll cost you more than the car is worth to fix it unless you DIY and shop smart for parts.

Other work to date; EV6/USCAR injector harness made and installed 1M front carbon bumper extension/lip whatever they are called. Work to finalise the oil cooler mounts to lock them in well. Needed the front crash bar removed to install the LHS oil cooler bracket that isnt a 135i item, but a 335is OEM piece, fits fine. Hard to find tho. Also the little plastic retaining nut that sits inside the chassis frame rail. RHS oil cooler finished, apart from sealing in the air gaps to force air through the cooler, will get some seals and foam to close that up later. The LHS top mount needs to be fabricated to mount back to the frame rail, likewise the new oil bracket off the front crashbar/frame rail needs to be modified to mount the vertical plane of the cooler on. Ill prob rivnut x 3 into the steel bracket and bolt back to the cooler shroud. Moving to heavier duty territory with the coils, going R35 GTR using the PRP coil bracket. Lastly, brakes are almost cerakoted and done, colour sample here;

@Palazzo, I have flicked an email to the dealer and will ring him up tomorrow to see what he has to say. If he shows any sort of attitude or ignores, I'll start compiling all the evidence and will lodge a complaint via MVDI. Meanwhile, I'll follow @TonyT's suggestions and continue driving it while I look for other temporary options.

@bimmerguy that may be the least painful option in the long term. or alternatively keep filling it with oil and drive it til it dies

Great stuff!!! Very cool 😎

Got the PoC running nicely and have validated it against the head unit now Next up I will take a look at the cruise control side again and work out the wiring setup + where I will stash the Arduino to deal with the radio controls.

Maxx ECU N54 adapter arrived. You have to pay to play sheesh... This allows the use of the OEM engine harness to plug between the Maxx ECU race and the harness. Minor looms aside like coils and injectors. Pretty happy with the quality.

Anthracite Metallic E39 M5 currently listed on Trade Me. Tidy looking car but I personally think $68,999 is a bit steep. Was previously for sale on this form in 2014 for $26,500 and in 2017 for $28,000. How times have changed. Current Trade Me listing: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m5/listing/4214379173 2014 form post: https://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/48221-2000-bmw-m5-e39-sold/ 2017 form post: https://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/57754-and-another-e39-m5-comes-up/?ct=1688733834

Heck, I remember paying close to $1800 for a standard "Inspection II" on the M3 20 odd years ago, lord knows what something like that costs today. And I bet it's simply crushing when something that's only 5.01 years old, and now out of warranty, on a car that should last 15+ years, needs replacing... especially if it's electronic.

Two more windscreens down. 1 on the AMG and 1 on the E87. Would love to see the insurance stats for windscreens claimed in NZ.