Allanw

I somehow read that as MX-5... I have nothing helpful to add

I thought you wanted some NICER than the blue???

They're bascially just a 328i with 200cc more. 240 hp in either 3.0 or 3.2 versions, instead of the 286 and 321 of the "euro" spec cars. Edit: and a lot of the M3 "goodies" missing to.

That one actually looks pretty rough - the rear valance is knackered, front lip missing, pod filter shoved in, converted from auto, south african assembled, no gear knob, hacked off lever - it just looks dicked with. Doesn't have any SE goodies either. Regardless of whether it's been thrashed or not, it LOOKS like it has been! It doesn't look much like anyone cherished it much at all. I can't imagine it looks better in the flesh. They haven't even tried to make it look good. An actual SE, basically as it left the factory is desirable to a certain bunch of people, and those people are usually the ones willing to spend money on a good E30, and often have the money to do so. I think it's a limited market, but they're seemingly often real enthusiasts, or older guys who wanted one in the 80's/90's, and can afford one as a "toy" now. Even just the little goodies on an SE can account fot some of the cost - The SE's look really good with the side skirts, body coloured bumpers and valances, factory shadowline etc - just getting/painting/fitting all that stuff is quite a few dollars gone. The 15" basket weaves (the OP car actually had 14's though!) are worth some good dollars too. I told my folks what the original one in the thread sold for. I thought Mum might say "sell it!", but she's actually keen to send it in for paint touchups to clear the stonechips etc Thier one is one of the ones people will want. If it needs fixing, it gets fixed etc, and not on the cheap. As you say, horses for courses etc

It means the cheap crap they brought wasn't worth the fortune they were selling them for, so they gave up. If they brought decent ones, they couldn't put their several hundred percent markup on it.

That one makes the 10K 325i SE look like a bargain!

Actually, they're the "profile gasket" engine, but most have probably been done by now, I'd guess.

Good enough

Wurth Bumper Dye.

And if it still doesn't work... eat a LOT of pies.

I seem to recall a crash test in the 90's, where a Hyundai Sonata and a VW Polo where crashed into each other. While both had airbags, the Polo afforded FAR more protection than the much larger Hyundai. Potentially, the Polo without airbags may have actually been better than the Hyundai with??? I sold an 96 Legacy wagon (NA) I had to a 16 year old girl touring the country. She was looking at the Legacy, or a Starlet. A week or so after I sold it, the girls aunty phoned to thank me for talking them into a bigger car - the girl was turning across SH1, and pulled across the path of a car, and the front left of the legacy was hit so hard, it spun fast enough for the back corner to hit the same car! An airbag in the steering wheel would have done nothing/little, but luckily, the legacy took the brunt, and only gave her some massive bruising from the seatbelt, and minor cuts from glass and flying plastic. I can't imagine a Starlet/Logo/Mirage etc for similar money, doing anywhere near as well. I'd certainly be looking at crash data etc, if I was concerned about safety.

Cause can be crud in the heater box, corroding it from the outside, having run with out antifreeze corroding it from the inside, but there was a BMW recall MANY years ago about it, but that was just new radiator cap I think - Dads had it done late 90's I seem to recall. By now, most likely corrosion.

Stop running the engine... don't cook it! I wouldn't say easy... no. But a LOT easier than a lot of other cars - The dash doesn't have to come out for one thing! Google E30 heater core repalcement. There are metal pipe versions, and plastic pipe ones, and you need the correct one for your car.

Wrong thread

Heater core has probably burst.

fixed.

Use BIDBUD.co.nz - it IS trademe, but without the crap that doesn't work how you want it to.

What's the chances of the last owner having met his servicing obligations under the warranty? If it's not been serviced, they might tell you to jog on anyway.

Holy sh*t! Dads is tidier, has 15 weaves, instead of those 14's, doesn't have the spraybombed taillights... and it's odometer still works. Maybe he should $1 reserve it?!?!

AWESOME! (now wait till he's 2.5, then see the rant thread )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (for 2 days ago )

Why isn't there some kind of special test you have to pass before you're allowed to drive a car? Our (rural) road is closed at one end for slip repairs. My wife and I, with two boys walking and one in the backpack on my back, went for a walk to see how it was going. On the return trip, we met a man on a horse (A GIANT horse too!) and we heard a car coming, so stepped off the side of the road and waited. Mrs Peoplemoverdriver comes around the corner, sees us all, doesn't slow down, but moved across the centre line on a blind corner to give us space (nice?), but CONTINUED texting the entire time! It's the SAME dumbass that only months ago tried a 3 point turn between two blind corners in a 100 zone, where there is a NO U-TURN sign, on the site where someone died doing just that! Luckily she had her ghey stick on LED daytime running lights on, so she was completely visible and invincible. Surely there must be a certain % of the population who are clearly too stupid to drive, who should be failing driving tests and never be allowed a license? I can start a list right now!

I have bib shorts... stops the chaffing... but hide them with rugby shorts over the top, t shirt and maybe a polar vest if it's cold, sports sandals, a hi-vis vest a helmet with a camera... ... and look like someone to be given a wide berth, because I'm clearly not clever enough to be allowed a car licence.

I'll try to bring the boys over On my bike Ask someone to clean the pathway afterwards this year please Apparently the council isn't smart enough to work out that 100mm of gravel over the concrete path is REALLY hard to walk/run/cycle/skate on Are you passengering? or Driving?

I seem to recall it was 15 or 20mm??? I'm not good with E46, but on the E39, the springs and shocks are different (= more expensive) on the "M technic suspension" option. You might find some new OEM shocks, and bushes might tighten it up a LOT (I went powerflex on the E39, and like it so much, I'm doing some of the Touran with them too!)