NZ BMW

Quite a nice old beige 6 Series (The 1980's one) pulled up behind me at the intersection of Manukau, Great South and Broadway this morning. Had a personalised Euro plate, was very nice.

If you don't get caught it is... I regularly carry multiple tablets phones etc via the airport as I have ones for both business and personal use and have never even been questioned. My understanding is that the $400 limit applied to gifts too, so pretty much anything that is new. I know some people remove laptop, iPads etc from their boxes and claim they're not new/purchased outside NZ but I don't know if that would wash for a bag full of iPhones.

I used them once (Grey Lynn) - no complaints, excellent service and very professional.

Before you spend you time DIY'ing why not just send it to a reputable mechanic? For me to have my car serviced which is oil, oil filter and air filter is about $350 which includes an inspection of sorts and all the stupid stuff like topping up fluids and lubing door catches etc. No offence but as to why anyone would have an older BMW serviced at the dealer is beyond me. It's not like there is a bunch of proprietary software or tools that are needed. That goes for my E39 too.

If you don't want to waste your time on opening the bonnet, I'm pretty sure the VIN comes up on CarJam when you enter your number plate.

If you know a car dealer get them to do an official valuation and include the wheels in the valuation?

The flat tyre might be an indication as to overall condition... Who do they let take pictures of their cars for sale?! FFS people who don't give a sh*t about their job drive me nuts.

Actually I think they were distracted with some police brutality on the side of the road when I passed.

I'm in LA for work at the moment. Over the last week I've seen quite a few E30's, all of the 325i's which is interesting. Some in excellent condition, others close to the scrap heap. Also lots of nice E38's E39's and a very nice E32 along with all the newer BMWs. Saw this on the motorway the other day, carbon fiber wrapped and weighed down by the mass of three huge bodies... I especially like how it appears to have more camber on one side than the other.

I've purchased cooling parts outside of Trademe, didn't have any issues and they were German made which was good. You can contact them via their website if you have any questions.

I would imagine it's the same for the E36, on my E39 you can't drain all of the fluid from the torque converter so they've drained and refilled and I will go back and have it drained and refilled again after about 1500km's to make sure we've got all the oil fluid out.

Bit late for that, it's already been purchased. Doing some reading on common problems they don't seem to be any worse than a 3 series and a lot cheaper to buy. BTW does anyone have a good source of new parts for them here in NZ?

Is that based on city or open road driving? When I check my "average speed" in the computer it is about 34km/h, and that includes some open road driving.

I estimate that I would get anywhere from 450-500km a tank max in city driving. That's based on a 15-20 minute commute on suburban streets when I drive to work. I think that sounds similar to what you're getting I was convinced that my Vanos and O2 sensors need changing but that might just be me being paranoid as on the open road I get excellent mileage.

FULL SERVICE HISTORY FROM NEW > Import. In my opinion - at least you know what has and has not been done to the car.

There are a number of different proposals (5 I think). I would just keep as is personally. According to the MTA propaganda site "hands off the WOF" 1/3 of cars fair a WOF when inspected. IMO that means you can't trust people to know when they need to fix things. And if you consider that the most common defects are tyres and lights (the two things that are so obvious to check)... Twice a year is not really a hassle for me, I do it when I service the car so it takes no extra time out of my life.

Probably Vanos?

Let me guess, the E34 is the last of the BMW's before everything went too electrical and was too difficult to DIY? Because that's what everyone in the E39 forum says about the E60/61.

Haha, joined VWVortex - I'm also over on Bimmerfest but obviously in the E39 forum, where the E39 is the only car that is any good and anyone who posts otherwise needs to STFU lol. So I've not seen VWVortex mentioned. I'm interested to see how this car goes - there seem to be so many Golfs of both the MK3 and MK4 model around Auckland and there seems to be ample supplies of second hand parts if needed. I'm giving it a good clean on Saturday morning before finally dropping it off.

What makes a 5 series so unsuitable for daily driving? I usually train to work but if I'm working longer hours in the office I'll drive.

Well, just to update this thread the car when in for an inspection and there were some items which needed fixing. Most of it was really just a need of a good service as the oil change interval had been exceeded by about 2000kms. It did however need: Front strut mounts New HT leads Oil cooler leak Minor VCG oil leak Front pads On top of this we've given the engine an oil and filter change, new plugs, air filter, front brake job, transmission filter and fluid. Nice thing was that we were able to negotiate a reduction in price. BTW does anyone know a decent VW forum? I joined VWforums.org but there does not seem to be much activity.

Everything else being equal (condition) I would go for the E46 coupe over the 525i.

Thanks for the offer bit too far to drive, I'll just stick to burning cds for now.

Will the CD changer play mp3 discs and would it fit me E39? Thanks.

Thanks for the advice guys, it needs to be an auto and she is keen on this one in particular as it will do a lot of open road driving. Personally I would prob go for the 2L or the 1.8 as well. One thing that did worry me was when started the idle would rise (like when any car starts) then dip under the resting idle before settling. It was not hunting like some cars with a busted MAF or throttle body will do but just seemed weird as it was quite pronounced.?? If she decides to take it further it will likely go in next week to be inspected prior to purchase.