NZ BMW

Gave it a much needed wash. Will tackle the carpets with my Bissell hopefully tomorrow.

Pretty sure I have LED lights. I have both adaptive (swivel) and auto dip in the car (high/low beam auto). It’s probably about 1/10 cars if that who flash. I’ll look at getting them aligned next service, although this should be check as part of WOF? That being said, if I manipulate the lights manually (with the lever, old school style) no one flashes me.

Hi guys, I’m doing a bit of between city commuting at the moment. First time in 4 years of owning the car I’ve had the chance to use the auto dipping feature on the lights. It appears to work, the lights swivel and when a car approaches they do lower in power and/or swivel to the side of the road. I can see them power up again when the traffic clears. Seems to work really well… except a number of vehicles flash their lights at me, indicating it’s too bright for them. Anyone else have this? I know it’s dipping down but perhaps it appears to oncoming drivers to be something in between full power and what a typical low-beam looks like? Anyone else noticed this? Am I using the system wrong?

Bump - any interest?

Mine’s just clicked over 118k and I had a leak in the rocker cover and they ended up walnut blasting the engine as it was all gummed up - it made a noticeable difference to the diesel rattle and it feels smoother. Oil leak would be covered under your warranty but you might need to bank on doing the blasting which is not too much effort for someone who knows what they’re doing. Guess you would have to read the policy wording.

Hi everyone, We are moving house and I have these - sold the car so of no use. Brembo branded so good quality. These were purchased for a 2007 X5 - looks like the discs are good for models through to 2013 the pads seem to be anything from 2007 but you never know. I think these set me back quite a bit bringing them in. In order to shift them quickly how about $250 to someone on here? Pickup is in Avondale, Auckland. I’ll probably put them on Facebook marketplace but thought someone here might want them.

Whatever…

I always worry that at some point there will be a “smog test” as part of a WOF and you’ll get picked up for that - I guess you could always remap it to stock. I also feel that the logic is like saying if others dump a trailer of rubbish on the side of the road, I can throw a hamburger wrapper out there - I guess it’s how you feel about it. Really though, if you want a fast diesel I would just go for the 330D, that thing is a great driver's car.

I think at a hair over 110km the implication that I’m somehow passing the can is questionable. If you like putting money into depreciating cars as a labour of love because you are keeping them long term, that’s a choice you can make. To spend thousands on a car that you’re not going to see the money back out of or be noticed by the new owner, I can’t come up with a good reason why someone would do that. The way I look at it is this: I’ve picked this car up at 3-years or there abouts, it’s now 6ish years. It’ll be about 8 by the time I move it on. You really think the 3rd owner is likely to maintain it that well, an 8yo 3 Series which will have about 140km on the clock? They’ll probably struggle to get it serviced or put good tyres on it - I’ll see if BMW recommend I change anything - given all the work done on the front end I’m sure they would have said something by now if they were concerned.

This was one of the reasons I ended up with a SE vs M-Sport E70 X5. It meant I could at least rotate the tyres to get some more life out of them without the staggered setup. I got about 25k out of a pair if I recall, rears tended to get more inner wear despite being aligned and checked.

I am surprised at that - my car has most of the front-end bushings done under warranty, I noticed very little difference. I doubt the shocks will get done unless I keep the car really long term, will have to see.

Interested in the comment on shock absorbers - my understanding has always been these are one of the longer-lived items in suspension terms. Are you specifically referring to the touring or is this a general comment? If general, what informs your thinking on this and what did you notice after replacement, did you go OEM or aftermarket?

I have the sedan. I worried if the 2L would be enough but find it very versatile. FWIW - I get about 15k km out of my condition-based servicing indicator so pretty happy with that.

Are you one of these people who thinks BMW has done nothing right for the last 25 years?

You’d have to really want an Alpina to part with that much cash… I often wonder what these things are like to live with and maintain. Are most of the parts common to the standard F31 outside the engine?

I just hope you and your partner are having a toolbox meeting before starting. Also, make sure you both know where the fire exits are.

You won’t be impressed with BMW then either! 😆

The Q&A section…

Why put a description? ”if you know, you know…” 😆

I love the interior - this will clean up nicely, well done!

One picture of the 750i?! - come on, we need more than that! 😆

Facelift E60 530i would be pretty hard to go past as a good all rounder I think. Pick those up for 8-9K all day long and have a bit left over for upkeep.

I could go from 190hp to 230hp on my 320D - that’s quite the improvement. I don’t know much about chip tuning/remapping but I always see this claim of more power with less fuel consumption. How does that work? They seem mutually exclusive…

I just leave mine on auto and adjust the fan speed to my liking.

Haha. Depends who attaches it I guess BMW factory > your mate down the pub 😆