martyyn

Yeah 35k for an x5 might be a bit optimistic but Ive found a couple locally that are asking 40 but prepared to negotiate so Im forever hopefull. Ive thought about Merc's but the reality is that for the money you get a lot less of a car (no tv, no phone, no satnav etc) than the BMW's and I know the BMW's inside out (especially the m62) and there is such a good network of people on here with parts Id be stupid to get anything else really.

Im looking to get one of these instead of the 7, if anyone knows of one outside of trademe, autotrader, turners etc please let me know. Any year of X5 is fine, and the touring needs to be 99 onwards, preferably 2001 onwards. Im not wanting to break the bank so 35k and under please. As many toys as possible and leather is a must. Still waiting to hear from you Alex Cheers Martyn

Chaps, The arrival of a third child means we have to get rid of the 740 and move onto an e39 touring or an X5. I have a policy of not selling cars to friends so the 7 is not going to be available on here, but if we go for an X5 the m-parallels will be for sale. Now I was sold them as being genuine m-parallels for the e38, but after getting them off and giving them a good scrubbing I found hubcentric rings on the inside which means they are an e39 fitment. They are 5x120 and 18x9.5 on the rear and 18x8.5 on the front with dunlop sp sport 01's in fair condition on the front but the rears are touch and go for a wof (something to do with the traction control regularly being off I think). I have no idea what they are worth in NZ but do know what I will let them go for. Its more than a grand so please no offers of 500 notes Ill try and organise some photos later, but I cant guarantee anything at the moment with a two week old baby in the house. Condition is good, with only a couple of marks and one of the front has a slight loss of the clear coat where some muppet at a groomers got a little enthusiastic. These look the absolute nuts on any e38 or e39 especially with sports suspension so if anyone is interested then send me a PM. Cheers Martyn

Not if its the one in the trademe link above its not

I think that cars been for sale for a while now. If your happy to pay 4k then do so. You have to decide just how long your prepared to wait to get something a little cheaper. You certainly wont find anything with the same toys on it for much less. Like Bravo, I have an SA 325 with the same toys but mines only done 95k and I paid 3k for it. Was nearly a year ago, it was in a right state cosmetically but it was all good mechanically and the woman was desperate to get rid of it. So I was in the right place at the right time. Id almost given up looking when it came up too. Do the check Bravo mentioned to see if its sound underneath and go from there. How a car is marketed is always a good indicator of how a car has been treated.

What is this....April 1 ?

Cheers Jock, thats just what Im thinking. Auckland, Coromandel, Rotorua, Napier, Wellington, Taupo, Auckland I just dont know if there are any alternative routes between those places that would be a much nicer drive than just state highways. They probably wouldnt notice much difference though !

Some friends of mine from the UK are coming over for a week in November and they are going to hire a car from Auckland and drive down to Wellington then back up to Auckland. Without trying to see the entire North Island in 7 days with perhaps a maximum of 4/5 hours a day in a car, what sort of suggestions would you guys have for the trip ? A stop in Rotorua is a must (so they say) and they want to see Ruapehu too but everything else is fair game. So get your thinking caps on and suggest some journeys please. Id like them to see as much of 'typical' NZ as they can whilst not just bombing down the main routes.

If it was me I would....your windows are shadowlined and black grills look very nice on grey and silver e30's Clear (or white) lenses are a no-brainer in my opinion....orange is just wrong.

I need a side airbag sensor for the e38 and the part was fitted in pretty much all cars around 98 onwards. Is anyone breaking one of these right now that has side airbags ? Send me a PM if you have one, cause there are four part numbers that they go under. Cheers Martyn

An e39 540 manual for 15k.....what are you on son ?

Nothing more than that Grant, each shipping/courier company will have a 'bonded' area where they have to keep all the non-customs cleared cargo.Doing your own customs clearance is a piece of cake, dont let anyone take your money to do it. Most Customs officers are sweet if you dont try to pull a fast one. Be honest and 9/10 you'll get your goods cleared with no problems whatsoever. I even had one guy fill out the forms for me ! Cheers Martyn

They had no idea about it at all. But after spending the afternoon in it and then getting back into the 7 the difference was remarkable. Ill see what they have to say about it in the next couple of days. Thanks for the suggestions fellas.

repost

The cars done 70k...hardly anything you would think. The thing about the discs is that Ive never felt discs with tiny grooves in the them before. You could see the rings clearly on the disc. But there was no problem with the braking, even an emergency test of the ABS gave no trouble. Ive had stones lodged in the disc on the 7 and your right it was a loud squeel but this was very dull sound and very repetitive and quick. They are going to get it checked out themselves but I like to be armed with details if I can be :-)

Tyres all looked ok (and brand new in fact), this definately felt like more than just tyre problems. Thats why I discounted a wheel balance aswell because the steering wheel was rock solid. It was the body of the car that appeared to be shaking. The passenger side sunvisor was going mad and my wife said she could feel vibrations when she put her feet against the firewall in the footwell. Stones in the brake discs are usually caught by the stone shield and thrown out when you go into reverse arent they ? Like I say, grinding probably isnt the best word but the clicking was repeating so it must have been on something going round !

I took an e39 touring out yesterday, all very nice but there was a dull 'grinding' noise when driving and the whole car seemed to shake when out on the motorway. Grinding probalby isnt the right word but the car was definately nowhere near as smooth as the 7 which felt like a magic carpet in comparison. The noise all stopped when the car stopped and once it had all cooled down I noticed the front discs had very small concentric circles on them and they were far from smooth when rubbing my finger along them. Could the discs be the reason for the shaking and noise ? Some of the noise was like a fast clicking (but very deep noise) almost like the sound a bearing might make on its way out.

Before you paint anything, try covering what you dont want as black with a thin layer of vaseline. I havent tried it myself but I understand you can then just wipe it off once the paint has dried and there is no need for you to sand back the paint youve just put on.

Anybody got one of these floating around, let me know. Shouldve mentioned that I have a tech I that I might be willing to include in part ex or whatever. Cheers Martyn

Am I the only one who keeps getting this thread listed as having new posts (it tells me now that Cain edited it 3pm this arvo) but nothing appears to have changed ?

I fcuking love e39 tourings (and this is no exception) but with the skirt etc on the front it looks a little too mitsi for my liking

Those Alpinas are the 'newer' softline version. The lip is rounded and smooth rather than the old school 'square' lip. Still look the nuts though on an e28 [edit] Where are the Alpinas for sale ? That looks like a genuine wheel rather than a replica.

Macs are pretty good but are massively overpriced, especially for what you want to do Cain. I used to work for Dell and have used Dell laptops for work and at home for over 10 years now without any problems. They often have some good deals on their website, but customer support is a phone line to India so if something does go wrong it can be very frustrating getting it sorted. I dont know if thats a priority for you or not, but worth knowing about. As for broadband Im with telstraclear as part of a phone/tv/dsl package and its 170 (I think) for all three (incl sport) and I have 10Mb connection and a 40Gb cap, I doubt you will find all three together for cheaper. But again that speed and cap is way more than you need.

Its not much use after 11 though is it

I was having a chat about this with the chaps I play football with a few weeks ago. Whilst all those under 35 said 'cut their fcuking balls off' all those 40+ were regalling us with stories about how many times they'd driven home so bladdered that they just abandoned the car in the street and how they were better drivers because they were paying more attention etc. In the process two of the older ones had polished off several beers and were quite happy to drive home. I hadnt had a drop and was beath tested on my home. shame it wasnt one of them.