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130i vs 135i Comparison vid. My car was de-tuned for this vid, at his request

Don't see these that often, either in the e53 or e70 platforms, with this type of color combination! https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/x5/listing/4624292608 Pics for prosperity:

Hi all, Longtime lurker and first time contributor. I'm an automotive enthusiast with deep interests across all areas and eras. I often research and embark on deep-dives into manufacturers, models and automotive history. My favourite BMW is the E60 M5. I truly believe it's the greatest super/sports saloon ever built, and the S85 one of the greatest engines of all-time along with the S70/2. In my opinion it's a historic high-water-mark and represents the pinnacle of BMW, saloons, q-cars and Germany's engineering & industrial-base. So around two-years ago I started the search for finding my perfect E60. Whenever I purchase, I try to find the best possible example with the intention to hold it forever (I've never sold a car and hopefully never will). As you all know it's incredibly difficult to find a good-condition, low-milage, well-maintained E60. After scouring all RHD markets for the perfect example, I finally found 'the one' in an October auction on Collecting Cars UK. One-owner, 52k-kms, high-spec, meticulous history/records, only dealer serviced, completely factory spec (unmodified), UK-new. No expenses spared and kept in a supercar storage facility for the past few years. 2006, Silverstone, Full-Indianapolis, Olive Carrara, clear glass, Silver 166s, active heated front & rear seats, Logic7, etc... Essentially every box ticked, except for blinds & cooled seats (thankfully). Full old-money geezer spec. Hopefully it comes across well in the photos. The car landed in January and is now compliant, registered, emissions approved (ffs...), and is out on the road. This is my first BMW. Loving every kilometer. I'm excited to have joined the club. Will likely meet a few of you at club meets/events. Cheers

We have used Jon at Auto38 before for our M5. Since he has moved we have used Powehaus, we have our old Cayenne done there as well. I do some repair and maintenance myself. My tools and skills are limited. I have also used A1 auto electrical as Aaron is good for electrical issues. I have used C. Moore motors for our Skyline and Prado, he is good if you are not too dear with your car. Premiair for aircon is very good. All my batteries are done by Luke at Battery town in lower hutt. I have visited Mike Page once just to check our M5 after we purchased it, he is too far for me. There are good mechanics out there just need to find them, not all are perfect. Even the best has made mistakes, I either fix it, let them redo or occasionally get a 2nd opinion.

Yep... The next glut of E30 M3's to market will be estate sales... There could be an argument to be made for market saturation, where everyone who had their rose tinted nostalgia goggles on has already gone out and imported an M3. Case in point - there's some 30% more M3's in NZ than there are MT2's now... Looking at it objectively: colour / interior / period correct mods will all factor into a potential purchasers decision making process, and that's even before you get into the weeds about US spec / Japan CR/OD gearbox spec etc etc. If you've got that much money to spend then you can also probably afford to wait for the spec you want to come up for sale. And for those sorts of buyers, RHD is a no-no word. Suspect there is also a fair few off books transactions taking place, so true market pricing might be slightly different to what people are asking.

The M5 ownership has never a dull moment. Last week I have another misfire, this time it’s the opposite symptoms. Misfire on cold start, no misfire when the engine is proper temp. Sure enough the other ionic current control unit was the issue. I didn’t bother to swap the units anymore just bought the part and replaced it. This is about $500 USD / $750 NZD each, well at least the labor was free. This is easy to replace yourself if you are careful. 2 test drives today, no more misfires. Ok I hope the rest of 2024 will be boring.

I don’t remember one this tidy looking. Thought about one for a while and read the maintenance log from (Termipete?) Wellington and thought “yeah, nah.” $14.5k seems like a lot.

Cars back from BMWorkshop, which was a hilarious exercise after I asked for the low tone horn to be replaced. Who knew that an M5 had a bespoke horn set, FFS BMW. BMW NZ had nothing in stock, eventually a second hand one was found and couriered to BMWorkshop - just the wrong branch. Eventually hours later it arrived, but was stone dead! So another one was found and after many hours of waiting it was still "on the way"...... an executive decision was made to grab a loan car and come back in the morning. Eventually at 5:30 the urgent courier arrived after the horn fiasco had started around 10:30am. Had the insurance assessor come out to my place the following day, all I can say is fantastic service by Classic Cover insurance and the assessors they use. I was expecting an uphill battle to even get the repairs checked over, couldn't have been further from the truth and within 24 hours of me calling them they were looking the car over. Assessor was totally unimpressed with the repair and as shocked as I have been, so now we move onto the fun of having the car go back to the panel shop for rework. I still (stupidly) have faith that this will be fixed properly by the same shop that has done a few jobs for me with great results. On another note, while I was a BMWorkshop an E60 M5 was dropped off on a flatbed. As I haven't been on the forum for while others may already know this car, but it has been manual swapped. By the sounds of it this was manual swapped by the owner, with a US 6 speed box and all the associated bits as an alternative to doing the SMG clutch replacement. The car was in to have the final coding done and some wiring cleanup, the cat back system was off the car and it was a tad loud - cold start was epic.

I’ve been using Peter from All European Service for my E36 since Jon left Wellington. Really good service - no complaints.

Finally had a spare moment to fill the diff and refit the exhaust on the m3 last night. Also fitted my new intake. Now need to redo that hose to the booster round the back to make it look a bit nicer.

Less than an M5…😁 Would I buy one over an M5, probably not. However, the more I drive fully electric vehicles, the more I am liking them! Will probably go electric for my next company car. I must be getting too old.

Not sure if you are referring to the cybertruck or the i5 there, but in terms of the i5 then I would argue that it depends on your definition of enjoyment. If throwing it through the twisties with the engine roaring is your idea of enjoyable, then yeah the i5 is not for you. However, if driving from Auckland to Napier in serene comfort at not inconsiderable speed (once over the ooh how many kms range can I get moment) with wife, kids and a bootfull of week-end stuff and getting out at the other end four and a half hours later not feeling it is more up your street then I would suggest you give it a try. It also performed pretty well driving over the lumps and bumps of coarse chip in South Island as well.

There's a lot more going on under the surface on the cyber truck. Structural body panels, battery tech, steer by wire, etc. Euros are the cars crammed with gimmicks. China knows what's up, make high commodity, affordable, practical, and efficient ev boxes on wheels.

Long time, no update! Not a Heck of alot to tell on the E30 front. Had a dyno day Aug '21 that was great fun. Was interesting to see what power the M52 put out with 200,000kms on the clock. 122rwkw or 163hp at the wheels. We've recently moved south, so in the mean time the E30 has been put on the back burner (modification wise at least). Recently bought an E87 120d and it's turned out to be a lemon. So the e30 has come to the rescue! Happily carrying out the daily commute around Central Otago. Making some friends at work. And some more E30 goodness (or maybe sadness?) at a museum down here. Cars look to be in a pretty bad way. I don't think the owners realise the fairly recent rise in value of these cars over the last couple of years. Bought a replica Mtech1 spoiler from Mr Bodykits as I have always like the shape. Technically not correct being on a FL E30, but I like it! Only mocked up in the pictures. Need to colour code the forward portion and find a rubber like paint for the rear portion. And then mount it. Probably this weekends job.