martyyn

Fella

TradeMe - As title Open to sensible offers from BS members

Site seems to be having a problem, I keep getting a 'database error' from the main page.

Is an Alpina S not the same as a Z4 apart from a few choice goodies ? I seem to remember when I brought mine over that I couldve bypassed the whole compliance thing by providing the "ECP-number" from a sticker in the engine bay. I didnt follow it up because I was already through the process thinking I had no choice. The Alpina UK info is interesting, they tell you its too expensive to comply to NZ standards and then tell you they know nothing of NZ law. Im not surprised but the BMW NZ response though. When I brought mine they had no idea whatsoever of how to get it into the country and were about as much use as t*ts on a bull for help with getting it complied. In the end the guy doing the work on mine ended up calling in a favour to get it complied because BMW wouldnt help him at all.

Stick it on Trademe and let the market decide if you truely dont know its worth. Dont let these guys hassle you into selling it cheap !

Why do they say you cant bring it in ?

Mate, just ring the dealers and find out !!!!

I dont know its there for sure, it all depends on what car you have. If you fill out the ride section on your profile then it would show up just under your name on the left and we could all do a search on the web then

I agree with these guys, the 275's on the rear will be too much for a 528 IMO. Do the business nicely on my 740 though

Isnt the Aux connection in the glovebox ?

You can get DSP on 7's with no tv or nav. You get a funky little screen next to the tape deck instead of the snazzy coin holder that I have.

Will, the gearbox is sitting nicely waiting for the time to get put in Richard, some people just have too much money. I dont see the m325's selling at their exhorbatant prices even though you keep saying they are worth the money. There must be only a small handfull of people in the country willing to pay these kinds of prices and once they all have one, who's left ? Even the 6-8k ones havent sold recently.

When you can buy a decent SA built 325i with ALL the toys and extras for a poxy couple of grand who in their right mind is going to pay 8k for a 325iSE ? Im sorry but I just dont get it. Mine has everything you mention Will (bar the SE side skirts and is lip) has done only 95k klms and needs only minor work and money to make it every bit as good as the one you describe. The car cost me 3k and I sure as hell wont need to spend another 5k....and I include the cost of the Alpinas in that too ! As for the price of the m325's.....havent three recently failed to sell for 8k ?

A 728 will defiantely get you around town very nicely indeed, but you'll always be wondering....'what if ?'

Hmmm the first one doesnt tell you much other than it was from 1994. In the UK in particular the e38 was brand new, much more techincal advanced from anything that had gone before and was using a Nikasil engine which had lots of problems early on. You wont have that problem. And the second one tells you even less ! Honestly I wouldnt put anything in either of those reports. They dont give any stats and they tell you virtually nothing about how they arrived at those conclusions. The best advice I can give is to take your time, get to know about the cars and pick the right one. You will not be disappointed.

There should be a sticker inside the drivers door that tells you all the factory sizings for the car.

Inspection means its due for a service, yellow and red lights means its getting close, red light only means do it now. Oil means its due for an oil service and not an Inspection I or II and the clock means you are also due for the annual service which is the renew your coolant and check your washer bottles etc. As for what you should do its simple. You go to the dealers remove your arm with the sharp instrument they provide and thank them for it not being an inspection II which would mean a leg

You might want to be a bit more specific mate ! Costs.... I get about 325 miles on a full tank which costs about 125 dollars to fill up. But then the car is only used to get up and down the Wellington hills so fuel ecomony is going to be bad. Overall mpg is 17, on the open road its 30. Unfortunately there is no crystal ball to work out repair costs. I dont consider that Ive had too many problems but of those I have its regularly in the 1000+ bracket. Be prepard to let your mechanic do some learning on the car if they havent seen too many before. Ive been surprised recently with even Page European in Wellington (used by alot of us) not knowing as much as I would expect. They are still not a common car and you may have that problem in the South. Electrics do go wrong but your thinking of buying a facelift model and most of the gremlins will have been sorted. Dont buy an ex Singapore car, the humidity wrecks the rubbers and electrics. Make sure all the toys work and make sure you know what toys are available so you make sure you get the car you want. These cars are heavy so the suspension can take a bit of a hammering, but thats less likely over here and dont be frightened of high mileages. NZ'ders seem to sh!t themselves when a car hits 100k klms, in the UK its hits 100k miles, these things can do intergalatic milages as long as they are looked after. Mine is now 10 years old and has done 115k miles and it still looks newer that cars half its age. Power from the V8 is phenominal, mine has sports suspension and 18 m-parallels and it blows away pretty much everything with its torque alone. 4k revs, in fourth gear is 200kph for example and its desperate to pull even more. The old adage is probably true....if you have to ask how expensive they are to run then you probably cant afford it !! Put your research in beforehand and dont buy the first thing you see and you will have a absolutely stunning motor for a bargain price. Get onto e38.org and read some of the posts on there for commom issues. In general the price of parts here is treble what they pay. If I had my choice again, Id go for the V12 again. Around town it just 'wafts' but get it up to 4k rev-wise and the noise it makes and the power available is just sex on wheels.

Well, where do I start ! Ive had an 32 750iL for two years and nothing at all happened and I sold it for 200 pounds less than I paid for it ! Ive had a 96 740 e38 for three years now and its had a couple of issues that comes with the car hitting 100k miles but I nothing that couldnt be fixed without a little effort on my part. If you pay NZ dealer prices then you WILL pay a fortune if anything goes wrong, but I find out what I need and do my shopping on ebay. Recently I needed an airbag sensor, 850 was the price in NZ but I got it delivered to my door for 100 from Germany I honestly cant believe that they are in the top 10 least reliable cars. Its like anything else, if you dont look after it it will give you trouble. They have dropped in price dramtically over the last three years and now are priced at what I would consider to be an absolute bargain. Cheaper than the equivalent e39 and a whole lot better. My wife drives our 740 on the school run and it gets an awful lot of comments against the bevy of 4x4's and suv's Anything specific that your worried about ?

Insurance costs in England are VERY dependant on age, but most importantly on where you live and park the car. Once you get to a decent age, having an e30 on classic insurance would cost me no more than a couple of hundred pounds. From memory my 750iL was 350 a year, fully comp.

I dont think you'll have a problem. Alpina is listed as a manufacturer by the LTSA (from memory) and the rego docs over here can state whatever you want them to ! The LTSA website should answer all your questions though.

How much for the facelift fogs and what about some facelift rear mudflaps ?

Well its coming out this weekend so I shall be able to work out whether its the tap or the power.Thanks for your help fellas.

I think thats the piece that Im trying to replace :-)Ive no idea what its called but it looks like a bit like a snorkel and your description certainly sounds like what Im after. Stupid question time, but is there a way to test it without taking it out ? Should I be able to hear anything when it opens and closes for example ?

Flow test..... If you mean stick a hose on one end and watch it come out the other then yes. It took a good 15 mins of filling the matrix with water and shaking it out before it started to come out the same colour as it went in, but eventually it was cleaned out. Heater Tap.... Not sure what you mean. Plugs.... Ive had hot air from the heater before now, it just stopped working a few weeks ago and the engine overheated pretty badly with air locks all through the hoses. What we did on the weekend was remove and back flush all the hoses to completely clean out any mess (the car had been left sitting for 12 months before I bought it) so initially it was all pretty nasty. There are no blocks in the hoses and so the only thing left is the solenoid that adjusts to the temp you put on the dial. We have hot water going into the heater matrix (pipe leading into cabin at firewall) but cold water coming out. My understanding is that this solenoid will block all hot water going through the matrix if I have the dial set to cold. Once I set it to hot then hot water goes through the matrix and should end up returning hot (or at least warm) back through the firewall into the engine bay. Im willing to try other things if people have suggestions.