NZ BMW

15 minutes ago, redz42 said:

Would there be any concerns at that sort of mileage or are they fairly reliable?

You’ll probably be up for suspension components soon. But once you’ve done them you wouldn’t have to do them again for the time you owned the car. 

5 hours ago, Young Thrash Driver said:

John Deere suits the BMW owner demographic quite well, you will get comprehensively screwed come servicing time ? the twin cylinder Kawasaki engined ones seem to be the ones to get, I got mine (not a Kawasaki engine type) as it was cheap, low hours and local

Does JD have an M Division equivalent? 

6 hours ago, Breaker said:

We had about the same space and had a shitty Chinese ride on that was about 2k new. After a year we bought a second hand JD one for about 2k, new price 10k. Difference was black and white. Great piece of kit even though it was substantially older.

What do they say? “Nothing runs like a Deere”

11 hours ago, str8_6 said:

I don’t really see how else he can do it? If he gets close to the right side, scratched wheels! ?. To be fair, the car wash will scratch his paint just as badly.

 

That is one wide car to be sure!

12 hours ago, M3AN said:

Sweet, still awesome with that much covered space and private/secure. ✔️

Yeah, it works pretty well. I use the smaller enclosed garage as my workshop for want of a better term. It’s an older building so I plan to lay carpet ties and line it at some point to tidy it up. That’s the dream at least!

20 minutes ago, M3AN said:

I like the garage/shed, looks like tilt/slide doors on up to 3 sides?

No quite - I wish it was that cool. 
 

It’s a single garage to the right with a large double carport on the front. With the door fitted to the left it basically seals off the whole front of the property with our hedges. I believe that a lesser or different consent applies to a carport so it would have been an easier conversion at the time. 

Had the front windows tinted to more closely match the rears. Still a little lighter but much better. 

On 2/22/2020 at 3:35 PM, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

“You only need a cert for a WoF bro”

”you’ll still get a WoF no-one will notice bro”

”Yeah I had a crash and my insurance didn’t pay out coz of my modz bro”

“Yeah, just put the original springs in for the WOF, bro.”

“Yeah, I got a sweet Monster Energy sticker to go with my hat, bro.”

Wow, that is really worn ? 

6 hours ago, HypedKidz said:

Would not recommend a 528i as the engine is way too underpowered for that particular vehicle. Personally would spend bit more for a 530D if you are thinking of keeping it long term 

Really? It’s 240hp, would have thought that would be fine and relatively well balanced for most people. 

36 minutes ago, KwS said:

What do we reckon it will go for? Almost 200k, minimal preventative work noted (except maybe the clutch, by the previous owner; receipts?), but it is NZDM, black on black. 18-20k?

I was thinking 16-17k.

It’s a lot of car for the $$$ as people like to say. 

I think they should go for more SUVs like in the US. Higher up to see around things, lots of space for all your ‘cop stuff’ and when blacked out look scary. Just what a police force needs ?

My first car was a VH Commodore Royal. I’ll admit it, I’m sad to see the brand go. Although, like many, one they shut down the manufacturing it was pretty much done for me. 

33 minutes ago, KwS said:

It'll be interesting to see what happens with our dealership and the others locally. It's likely ours will become a service center but some others might choose not to take that on. Time will tell. 

Surely a “service centre” is not as sustainable in the long run. They’re not adding more cars to their customer base to keep that side of things ticking over. Also, you don’t need as much space if you’re not parking all the stock outside. 
 

I would think dealers like the Newmarket one will have to close, that lease must cost a bomb and if you can’t put stock on it, what’s the point? 

34 minutes ago, M3AN said:

Tbh I think those articles are rather ambiguous.

Don't they still sell Opel and Vauxhall cars in the UK? In native RHD?

I can see the Holden brand disappearing but I'm not sure I'm reading between the lines that GM are abandoning RHD markets...

Supercars might be a bit fooked though if they can't get in-country factory backing to introduce the Camaro.

 

So according to Vauxhall’s Wiki page it was sold to PSA in 2017. So it’s still around, just not under GM. Here was me thinking “how did I miss them closing down Vauxhall?!”. 
 

I assume they didn’t have manufacturing capacity in Japan, which is dominated by domestic makers so losing the UK leaves pretty much nothing for RHD. 

I didn’t realise they had pulled out of other RHD markets. Guess when you put it in that context, what choice do they have vs focusing on USA and China where most of the growth in the world is. 

I was following a 120i today in the same shape. Did none of these things come with the shark fin? That long antenna looks like something which belongs on a 1993 Golf. Horrible. 

On 2/8/2020 at 12:18 PM, ssbmw said:

Good question. There was a software tune, free flow exhaust, high flow air intakes, clutch, flywheel, engine brace, and suspension. There are 3 tiers. This was entry level Dinan modifications. Dinan s3 in its day was a $40k outlay - and supercharged out to 600 plus bhp. Apparently they were numbered and there were 30–40 made to that spec.

For me personally, my modifications are relatively minor, and can be can be changed back pretty simply. Not sure whether performance is hugely different today. I didn’t buy the car for the Dinan status- I loved the colour, and the condition and price befitted my criteria! ?

Ah, so at least you do get some extra stuff. I wonder if anyone has really compared them in terms of performance relative to the stock M5? 

1 minute ago, coop said:Diesel is not viable thanks to RUC. Currently have one that returns 5.5l/100 and it’s cheaper to run the other half’s 1.8 Corolla that returns 6l/100km. 

If this is your headspace why consider a BMW at all? I’m sure another brand of hybrid will be cheaper to run and service. 
 

The other thing to consider with hybrids is how the battery will age. Sometimes they do fail but at least (assuming the hybrid is like the i3) BMW do not have a totally integrated and sealed pack like some other makes and you can replace that. I believe some aftermarket warranties will cover that too.

So the Dinan upgrade package gives 15-20 bhp more... anything else in terms of how the car revs or performs? I’ll be honest, 12K US for that, what the point of a car like this? 

Nice looking car. However I don’t like the size of the grille. 
 

I saw the current model of 7 Series the other day and even in person, the grille is comically large. I have no problem with large a large grille, so long as it’s in proportion. These ones are clearly not. I think it’s a really lazy design on what is an otherwise stunning car. 

1 hour ago, M3AN said:

Yes, I picked up a trigger bottle of this stuff (from Mitre 10 actually) the other day and it's great. I'd just finished a bottle of Dragon's Breath and couldn't say one was better than the other (I suspect they're the same thing) but this CRC stuff is quite a bit less expensive, even at retail.

My biggest complaint with Dragon’s Breath was that the spray pattern from the trigger bottle is so damn narrow. I ended up using far more than I felt was necessary to clean the wheels. 

My E70 suffered this on the steering wheel. I just removed it all - not as nice but better than peeling.
 

I think if you could do it (or get it done) well by someone a vinyl wrap would look good and be durable. But obviously not inside cup holders. 

5 minutes ago, ryanhorton1973 said:

The only thing that seems to be a common issue is the rear suspension airbags and it doesn't look too hard to replace them. 

Yeah, guy in my office blew out one on his touring coming back to Auckland from Tauranga. Didn’t sound fun. 
 

It’s probably something you might just want to replace before it leaves you on the side of the road. 
 

not so much a comment on the F10 but in my experience BMW suspension components and cooling systems start to show their first signs of failure between 100-120k kms. So you might just want to budget for some of that as they can get a little pricey. 

That looks fantastic. Really. 
 

Hats off to you for doing a DIY. A lot of people (myself included) either wouldn’t know where to start or would chicken out at the first bump in the road during the process. Seeing it through and coming up with something that looks like this, you should be proud. 
 

I have to ask though, are there any remaining bits of the interior which are sort of amplified given that you have done the seats, wheel and other trim? Sort of like painting half your house and then the original bits which have aged are really noticeable.

Sometimes people overfill them during the servicing too. 
 

Just a comment on getting dealers to fix things. I have had a lot of disappointing experiences with this - they operate on such thin margins that most of the fixes they do are the absolute bare minimum. Just be careful and don’t get your hopes up that you won’t end up redoing other parts of the cooling system later on.