NZ BMW

Pretty much every E70 suffers from the peeling of the matte finish on the wheel spokes. The standard wheel like my one tends to get it a bit worse than some of the Motorsport ones by the looks of it. I agree, it shouldn't happen on a car like a BMW.

22k and the finish is peeling on the steering wheel... I got so angry with mine I just peeled it all off, it was shagged at 70k

Why does this never happen to me?! Nice to see a good news story on here with regards to maintenance for once.

I'm lucky, I walk a few blocks to my office, so most of my driving is open road where I can return down to 9L per 100km on flat motorway, if I really try. Photos below, it's the standard vanilla without the Motorsport, but it suits my needs. Personally I found the MS setup very harsh, so I'm happy with my 19's and normal tyres. It also seemed to have most of the options in terms of comfort and heated/cooled seats.

The economy relative to the power is why I ended up with the 4.8. The 3.0 didn't feel underpowered really but given the small on paper difference... what's the point in not?

This. I got the X5 because I needed an SUV, not because I was particularly hankering for one. It's great and I have no regreats but it's still a SUV. That being said, I like the seating position (more like an office chair for my long legs and arms) and the extra visibility being up high gives me.

I had this when buying a house, realestate agents would leave up listings of stuff they sold weeks ago, was very frustrating. I assume a dealer would allow you to put a deposit on, that's what I did to at least hold my X5 until I'd sorted my stuff.

I think the BMW dealerships can do them for you. Otherwise I've been told good things about BM Workshop. Im interested to hear how you get on as I'm sure mine is due soon as well.

Well then you should be able to buy those Bridgestones in the two sizes you need, it's that wider back size which is the harder to find one...

That's pretty incredible longevity, is that mainly open road driving?

Are you saying you want them all to be the same size or the same tread pattern? Because tyres can be difference sizes but have the same pattern.

When I had an E39 I ran the 235 45 17 all round. Tyres are always such a fraught topic on all forums with everyone preferring their own setup. For what it's worth across all my cars I've always had good luck with Goodyear, Dunlop and Hankook. I tended to prefer a touring tyre over hardcore performance as I felt it suited the driving we have here in NZ whilst still retaining good performance in the corners. Given the age of the E39 now the best thing you can do is make sure all the suspension bushes are in good shape for handling.

Maybe, although you would think having the professionals do a smoke test previously would find this. Im really more interested to hear if anyone has had a lean issue that only throws a code in city driving, it's really weird.

Hi Team, I've had quite an annoying lean running issue for a little while. I state up front that I cannot remember the exact code the car is throwing but suffice to say I've been advised that it's 'out by about 2%' on the lean side which is triggering the CEL, according to the live data. There are no apparent physical symptoms in how the car drives. So far I have had my mechanic do the standard smoke test which has not shown anything obvious and we've replaced both the oil separator valves/diaphragms which are a common point of failure. The most confusing issue is that the CEL is not consistent. It comes and goes. What is even more confusing is that just before Christmas when I had the oil separator work done and everything reset I then immediately took the car for a 4000km road trip to the bottom of the South Island and back, with zero CEL across lots of long, hot runs. Then, as soon as I'm back in the city a few hundred kms later, it's back. I know it's pretty futile trying to diagnose this kind of stuff from a keyboard but can anyone point me in the direction of where to go from here given that it seems to be more prevalent in city driving based on past experience? I'm leaning towards a slightly lazy O2 sensor, which I can probably bring in and have changed relatively cheaply. Thanks in advance!

"Some repairs carried out, including engine replacement."

Looks really nice, that colour combo on your 130i is great too!

Not to turn this thread into a general whinge, but the cooling system issues BMW seems to be plagued with really annoy me. How long has it taken to get that right?! Maybe not unreliable but certainly not durable.

I think the price is okay given the kms, there are NZ new examples on Trademe with more kms. You will get more service history with all of those. To put it in perspective I got my X5 ex Japan with about 70,000 on the clock and I am chasing a constant lean running issue so low kms don't always mean trouble free. I always anticipate any BMW to be problematic, I've owned two BMWs and two Mercs, the BMWs have always been the more fiddly but more enjoyable to drive. Sample of one I know but that's my experience anyway.

In that case there are plenty of options which replace the CD stackers in these cars with Bluetooth, unless you're particularly wedded to your CD collection. :-)

I bought a Blackberry branded Bluetooth dongle and plugged it into the Aux port and have audio that way, only draw back is that you have to control the music selection from the phone.

In my mind the direct comparison for the E31 is the C140 coupe with the same V12 as the R129. Both of those are GT cars, whereas the SL is more of a roadster. For what it's worth, in this case I'd take the BMW but would take the CL600 coupe over the 850i. That M120 V12 is just a fantastic engine.

Really, all of them? I thought that was more common in the 1980s and was born out of a lot of stuff like the early AMGs and the likes just not being made available in anything but, therefore the majority of them came in as grey market imports via dealers or individuals.

For one owner and all the paperwork, I think this car would be worth it. To the right type of buyer. It will be interesting to see what comes out of Japan when these things hit 20 years old. What always puts me off is how the plastics and leathers fare after years in the NZ sun.

My X5 has the same engine as this car. There are guys in the US and UK who have had them tuned or chipped and reckon they are getting close to 390hp out of them. Personally I doubt it....

When you say you ran your first tank I'm assuming you mean fuel with a blend?