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It’s not been 9 months with my E34 540i, so I thought since its lock down and what not, its time for an update. In the last 3 months I haven’t done a heap. I had predominately just been going out and enjoying the car, as well as going to a bunch of car meets to put some decent kms on her. In the 9 months I’ve had the car, I have put around 5000km on it, which I think is rather impressive given that it’s a third car, gets stored at a place that is 20 minutes from my house, so I actually have to plan when I take the car out. Things done in the last three months: I managed to source a new resistor sword for the blower motor meaning I now have control over my fan speed, and it isn’t simply just full blast or nothing, which is rather nice. I also did a few cosmetic things like replace the badges, re-glue the rear door cards, polishing paint, deal with paint transfer and further source the bits required to complete my tool kit (if anyone has a spare screwdriver or tow hook let me know lol) In July it was also the much-dreaded WOF time. Seeing as it had failed on a couple things last time, I had a quiet confidence it might pass first time or fail on a couple easy things, especially since the place I was taking it was hardly VTNZ. SPOILER ALERT: It failed on 4 things that were neither easy nor cheap to rectify. My car failed on: - Rusty Tow Bar - Play in the right front wheel (lower control arm related) - Play in the left front wheel - Power Steering Leak. The easiest to deal with was the tow bar as I could do it myself. I dropped the rear bumper and removed the tow bar which had rather shockingly completely rusted away (after a lot of swearing and what felt like many litres of WD40 due to the 20-year-old seized and cross threaded bolts). I then sent the car to my mechanic who is known to be a legendary BMW mechanic, especially with E34s. Power steering leak was luckily just a hose clip. The play in the right wheel just required adjustment of the lower control arm. However, the play in the left front wheel required the replacement of a rod connected to the steering box, which of course was not cheap. But hey, it's only money, right? My car also developed a pressure related coolant leak in June. In typical BMW fashion it was leaking in two places which meant it required the replacement of the heater control valve, and an octopus looking pipe which had a pin sized hole in it which is connected to the control valve. Once again my mechanic was superb as he had good used parts available in his workshop. With the heater control valve replaced, my car now doesn’t blast hot air at your feet when you turn the AC on which is also another bonus. I now [almost] have functioning climate controls which do what you want… what a luxury!! Next on the list is to get my replacement sunroof painted body colour, as its starting to really annoy me. I also want to get a nice stainless muffler to replace the stock one to make the V8 sound like a V8. Included are some before and after photos from the day I picked the car up compared with how it is looking now. Also included is the difference between the good resistor sword and the bad one, and a photo showing how badly corroded the tow bar was. She is looking quite a lot better I reckon.

It's literally a five minute job to modify it - doesn't even need to be done nicely as the plate hides any F ups

It's not a hedge, it's like a climber on a block wall.

Certainly not fast by today standards but still adequate for everyday usage. Most F10 550's will be standing still in the wreckers yard in the near future so i wouldn't worry too much about it. Least you got the only reliable V8 BMW has or ever will make.

perfect car to buy and wrap Fiji Green...

Love this shot. Who does your hedges?

Comparable to its competition and the X5 pricing it’s not what I’d call overpriced. It’s a technology showcase as well so will lead a heap on new innovations that will flow across the brand. Spec sounds really high as well. Range is very strong. Direct competition eTron 55, EQC is to small and a ix3 competitor, Model X and iPace. Similar eTron spec and power and ipace are both $190k mark. Model X can’t get currently. While the styling is polarising and not what I would class as pretty, I remember the same conversation around the E60 some time back ……. I kinda like it But not as much as an iPace from Jaguar 🐆

Meanwhile, in LaLa Land… https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-3236522882.htm

Thats not just modern BMW ugly, thats proper U.G.L.Y ugly.

Jesus, expensive? And ugly. Poor thing lol but people will still buy it

SOLD

Jesus there is some mind numbing chat in this thread... does it actually matter what the cost of a battery is? It has a 7 year warranty I assume so it's a non issue what it costs now, ask again in 7 years. New vehicle parts always cost a stupid amount when under warranty and drop down afterwards. Not to mention it's not like you will ever buy an iX, you've made that clear so does it matter?

SJ, drop me a message

The Audi battery pack being priced so high will be to comply with right to repair laws and places where it’s mandatory to have replacement parts available for a minimum number of years past the sale of the item. Audi don’t expect to sell any of them, they don’t want to sell any of them, insurances companies won’t want to be on the hook for them, but there’s nothing in the legislation as it’s written that says the pricing has to be fair. Samsung also do the same thing.

Don’t know about the iX batteries but the battery pack in my e-tron is…wait for it…$136k. Yup, thats the official latest Audi price.

Current estimations are that “useable” battery life will be on average over double the warranty period. It’s still growing though as the data being used for the calculations is from the BMW batteries already in use, mostly i3s of which the oldest is only just over 9 years. On top of that the BMW battery design consists of multiple smaller battery packs, so should there be an issue with one pack it can be replaced rather than having to swap the whole battery out - making a more economical fix.

Doesn’t even come with the roof racks for $15k!! I guess Tech II Spoiler + Tech I Steering Wheel = +$10k on price.

lol - I thought the same thing when the pics were posted. 😂

Nice looking car, I still remember driving a demonstrator when they were first launched, seemed unbelievably quick, which it probably was for the day.

I don't want to clutter your thread, but happy to drop some pics during my ownership and from the ad when I bought it, if you're interested?

I've not watched it, but like anything mechanical it's not that difficult. I've built around half a dozen engines over the years - mostly rotaries but I digress. What you really want to get right though is the clearancing. If everything is within the correct tolerance then you will have an engine that lasts.

I have had regular servicing and have had many parts replaced. Probably the biggest was this lot. Unfortunately I ordered the wrong struts, ordering front when I needed back 😞 So if anybody wants a pair of front (new) for a good price let me know 🙂 https://www.bimmerworld.com/Suspension-Steering/BMW-Bilstein-Shocks-Struts/Bilstein-B4-OE-Replacement-Front-Strut-21-031199.html The other part I had replaced which was tricky was the Hydraulic Brake Booster/Servo. Could not find a part locally so I ended up going to this guy in the US who sells refurbished ones. https://bigcoupe.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=28245 and this page for my model https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNAMHXPczNFUw41FkEwn-Nbowp9BRanHNZwwsl4XES68QWOgM5Y94CIKBMgPW0Nlg?key=YW9ZWnZRVWY5eURHR2YzVld0dXNpZDRQVHlGal9n I then had my mechanic remove the servo, I mailed it to the guy and he cross-mailed me a refurbished unit and held a deposit until he had got mine. Then once he got it, he refunded me and my mechanic installed his refurbished unit and it's still going fine.

Back up for $139, jump in, I just picked up a second. https://www.repco.co.nz/en/globes-batteries-electrical/battery-chargers-jump-starters-leads/battery-chargers/ctek-battery-charger-with-bonus-power-bank-and-accessories-40-358/p/A6115831

Also" Expensive, ugly AND no extra storage lol

Ha yeah I brought a sh*t E34 525td to commute to work in. It's comfy as. Though I have been watching M539 Restorations and I am getting the itch for something a little quicker. Buy the old stuff for sure. But get in there before the prices get silly like with E30's. E.g. E34's. They are better.

I'm in my mid 40s. Sold my 130i to get back into an E36

It appears as if the change was 09/2009 and the newer units are not a direct swap: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part?id=UD52-EUR-10-2010-E87N-BMW-130i&mg=51&sg=07&diagId=51_7667&q=51167282089 But that could just be a coding issue. Older mirrors are a dime-a-dozen so it probably wouldn't be an expensive exercise to try out. You can probably also get aftermarket replacement mirror caps for the new ones, as I have for the old ones.

Some energetic early bidding on this one: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/3234749686?bof=fISwBgxI Looks like it would be hard to find one much better than this example!

Something happened when I started with the front shocks..... a toothbrush came out to clean them, then came the realisation I need to clean everything with a tooth brush and replace just about everything of a perishable nature. I'm probably going overboard, but I think it's a nice change to do a really fastidious project. The only BMW I wanted was an E34 540i so it all makes sense to go for it and do it to the best I can.

Plot twist, "Michael" is in fact Sreten and he lives in Germany.

Just my purchase… and I blame some of it on 🍷

But on the positive side, they're sports seats and don't have rips in the middle of them.

Looks like a very nice car indeed but there's another (not as nice) Auto 325i vert that's been sitting on Facebook Market place for months failing at $20K. As nice as it is, the ceiling for an Auto PFL vert with 200+ kms on reps can't be more than $25k.

Pretty car but he’s basically asking the market to pay as much as an M-Tech. More even.

I have one of those, well two actually...

Starting to remove the black and the Japanese. Front and rear euro sections arrived last week and am waiting for the bodyshop to paint them. Original grills bought last week from a wreck as original are ridiculously expensive and the euro plates arrived today. Just have to decide whether I use the euro front and drill holes in the plate or get another set of euro plate holders. I think I'm leaning towards the first, paint the holder, drill holes in the plate and get covers for the screws.

Could be keen for the 17s... but I"m located in Auckland though

240kW/630Nm iX xDrive40 Sport - $163,900 385kW/765Nm iX xDrive50 Sport - $197,900. Bottom line though - it's ugly as sin. https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/evs/126176084/bmw-prices-allelectric-ix-suv-for-new-zealand