Haitoman

That's true...

I can tell you right now that anything that costs under GBP10k will be marginal whether it will be worth it or not. Once you get up to 15K or 20k plus it is definitely worth it.

1. It only costs a few hundred dollars to register yourself as a dealer. 2. Then do this http://www.buyukcars.com/authentication.php?reg=1 3. Then do this http://www.autohub.co.nz

What specifically do you want?

I can do that for you in Paekakariki? Tuatara Pilsner?

I asked about that quite a while ago and they said they could do it but as M is trademark they were being a bit careful.

This is the one I know about. http://moman.pl/eu/bmw-e46-m3---replacement-dial---converted-from-mph-to-km-h,4,252050.html

I'm a bit biased as I brought a 2004 M3 home with me when I returned to NZ a few years ago. You really can't make assumptions without having a look first as mine actually cleaned up very nicely. Don't forget many components are aluminium on an M3 and most salt washes away with a marine salt remover. Some components get a bit rusty but a scrub with a wire brush is all it takes to make it look reasonable. I'm not saying they are anywhere near as clean as a NZ car but they can be made to look quite good. The other thing you have to remember with UK cars is everyone over there demands a FBMWSH and they get it. The upshot - most UK cars have been serviced regularly as per the book, unlike many cars here which most people tend to skimp on after a few years. It is easy to code the odometer from miles to km with winkfp and a new mylar km dash insert (identical to the M original) is available from Poland for 50 Euros if you really don't want miles on the outside ring on the speedo. Slight risk removing the needle to fit it but it only takes 10 minutes on a good day.

That would be great for practice shifting but only if you are left-handed...

At the risk of alienating many people I would like to say something about people and manual cars. First though, I acknowledge that there are some people that genuinely want a manual car. However, many others just want a manual gearbox because 'everyone says manual is best'. The whole anti-auto thing started in the UK in the 70's when automatics were unreliable and expensive to repair. That caught on here in NZ too for a while until we saw sense. The poms never did however, and to this day nobody wants an automatic gearbox in the UK in case it costs them money. Why would someone want a manual car, especially a 335i? It makes no sense at all as you can't hold a coffee or eat a pie while changing gear.

^this

Neither...keep it stock.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Don't waste your money. It is a well known fact that the value is less than 250 bucks so it is in the dealer's interest to flog it and keep the change. It adds nothing to resale value - I have an absolutely immaculate 2012 535i with 6000km on it that would have been over 150k new and if someone offerred me 60 for it, I would take it. The moral of the story, it's value will drop through the floor with or without snakeoil on it. Maybe you are interested in an F10 5-series instead?

What about a leather seat repair in Wellington? Any recommendations?

This is what I would do; First do a dash lights test. Key to pos 2 - press left knob on gauge cluster and hold until TEST displayed - press left knob and hold until 2.0 displayed - click again. You can't hurt anything. If the airbag lamp doesn't go then it has been disconnected probably due to a faulty seat sensor making the lamp stay on. Fix sensor and reconnect to get it working again.

Yeh, but don't you dare look at or touch your phone while in charge of a motor vehicle :-O

They are a bit click click turn push click click but get you to where you want to go.

I think you answered this yourself. Do this first. Also consider carefully pulling out the fuel pump and strainer assembly (make sure tank is not full) and checking the strainer is not fouled. If it is then get your tank cleaned as you will have loosened the poo and will possibly happened again.

Catalytic converter

The top quality BMW mats are about 15-20mm. How many mm thick are these?

Keep us informed...I'm interested in the quality.

There is no way a new M3 sits at a dealership for two years. It doesn't happen.

...yeh right.

I have over 100GB of every BMW diagnostics and coding/programming package there is available for every model, all up and running. However, I have no real use for 90% of it as I have no clue what it all does. So, what I want to know is...what software packages are the important ones to have, and which ones do basically the same thing as these?