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M5 wagon? That's nice... But I want to get somewhere quickly...! BMW will be releasing an all-wheel-drive version of the M5 in due course, with ~600hp, but alpina have got fed up with waiting and have released a G30-derived version - the B5 BiTurbo. 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8, 600bhp and 590lb ft of torque, permanent 4WD but with the ability to redistribute more power and torque to the rear wheels if you wish. 0-100km/h in 3.5s (3.6 for the wagon) and a top speed in excess of 320km/h. It'll be unveiled at the Frankfurt show in September.

So I guess I haven't really posted up much about what has happened in the past few months! A lot of the small annoying things have been fixed up (Passengers door car clips.... 4 weekends in a row trying to get it perfect, now the drivers door is starting to come off slightly.........) I decided I wanted to actually use some of the audio gear I had lying about from when I was in high school and thought better than gathering dust why not install it into my car again, however this time in a much more professional and clean way. I had already put in a JVC Bluetooth head-unit and 6" speakers up front long ago, and I had 6" round speakers in the parcel tray. I thought I can do better than that.... So I had a Blaupunkt 500w amp, a sony 350w amp, Carbon cone Kenwood 1400w Shallow mount sub-woofer and a pair of sony 6x9's. I decided to go full out and install some pioneer 4" speakers into the rear factory mounts so I can still have 4 speakers should I ever take my parcel tray out! I wanted to still have usable space in the boot so a standard sub box wasn't going to cut it for me, so I decided to make a custom sub box that would mount into the side where the wheel arch was. I started by making up a MDF front and top to mount the sub into and amps onto, this was then wrapped in some carpet that was lying around. Next up was the ugly task of molding the back to sit in with the car. I removed the carpet from the side of the boot (Luckily it holds its shape extremely well and is quite rigid. I then used a sheet of plastic to cover it in and then proceeded to fiberglass the shape of the carpet, using the plastic as a mold release. As you can see from the photos it fits in well and means that the usable space within the boot isnt compromised as much as a normal sub box! I also used molex connectors for the 6x9's so that I can quickly unplug them if I want to remove the parcel tray for any reason! This week a special shipment also arrived from Europe! My high rise LTW wing! I am extremly impressed with the quality of the wing and cant wait to finally fit it to the car! I test fitted it as a high rise and as a low rise, I think I prefer the high rise look over the low rise option at the moment! The wing does need a little trimming down to fit around the rear window but it isnt a huge amount of work. Fitting the bolts and finding where they will pop through when drilling through the boot might be a little more problematic however. From the pic below you can see how it will need trimmed down. The back of the wing however fits perfectly with the curve in the boot. Also while running with the spacers the wing will clear the rear wiper so no need to delete it! I actually like having it because its handy when reversing if there is water all over the rear window (that is if I will be able to see out the rear window much now )! This weekend I have a track day on Saturday so that should be good fun, first time out with the new engine, suspension, gearbox and diff since the last track day! While away boat racing last weekend I thought the LTW didnt quite add enough downforce to the rear of the Ti so decided to add the boat on the back too! Who said adding a tow bar was a bad idea! My daily driver also got a fresh coat of paint so its no longer multi coloured! It will also be getting some new wheels in a weeks time when the semi slick tires get taken off the Style 97's. I should have my LTW back from being painted in about a weeks time so I will try to post a small update with some pictures of the fitment and how I bolted it all down when I get it all on!

Just bought this. http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1391643 sh*t just got exciting! Ill push the clone over to Dan Slater @ Slater Fabrication for the manifold, he does great work, when you can ever book some time in... Thread from where the kit has come from; http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1291848

Had a good little home project tonight, retro-fit an M Performance shifter & boot to my e46. The brackets from the M2 are quite different to the e46, so it took some fiddling but I got there in the end. Here's a pic & a vid (I have a BMW Performance short shift kit installed now too). Untitled by Christian Taylor, on Flickr

far enough to test the range of a 530d.I will shut up now

Took my recently acquired 2004 530d for a trip from Hamilton to Wellington today. Travelled 505.8 kms, and used not quite half a tank of diesel. Had cruise on as much as possible. Open road speed was set at 100 km/ph. The trip computer ended up sitting on 6.4 ltrs per 100 kms. Was a very comfortable trip too, and the 'comfort spec' seats certainly proved their worth. I particularly like the extendable thigh support squab. I am very happy with my car. Graeme

Hi All, Just joined althouigh I have read a few posts here from time to time before, especially when I was considereing buying my BMW. Just got a 530i Wagon and very happy with it. Now I am considering some modes... Japanese Nav - to NZ, Angel eyes, roof rack, interior matts... I am totally confused about the angel eyes, I'd love to stick in some RGB eyes as my kids would love it! Just can;t figure out which ones. Anyone suggest a good site for info? CHeers, Damo.

As bought. Has Coomes Johnston BMW number plate frames now. Was sold by them New in Hamilton.

Hi guys and girls , as per title. Its for an E46ti 2002 Auto, Air conditioning [VIN KN41882]. Not looking for a new one , just a good 2nd hand one. .thanks in advance

about this far...https://youtu.be/5W4YT3CcoWU Looking forward to seeing images of your e60 Diesel, Graeme!

Good work. I'd be interested to hear if you got much more than 300km from the second 'half' of the tank?

After a twice round Nth Island in a month with the car, it performed perfectly. Amazingly. Great to get on the open roads and mix it up with the locals and other fast Euro cars, new RS6's, new M4s and give them a taste of the 1M. While moving away from E85 stations, I tried octane boosters in the fuel tank. While it worked for the engine, it was bad on my health, the stench and irritation with fumes coming back into the car with windows down was surprisingly bad. Anyways, car cleaned, LED lights installed into the cabin, external LEDs installed and coded and Blackline tail lights installed. The rear 275's wear showing minimal tread depth, time to try something a more chunky. Enter 295/30/19 Conti Sport Contacts. 2.3% less circumference, meaning it'll be like changing the diff ratio from the 3.15 it is now to a 3.22. The tire fits, but its getting tight. Could potentially do a 305. Its on a 10" wide rear rim, so fits the rim better than the 275 did for sure. The extra width should help with grip. Still waiting impatiently for some other parts to turn up for the fuelling upgrades, but not a show stopper for now.