Allanw

+1!

No TV at my house, so no ads. We've got a LOT of DVD's though - they're way cheaper on Amazon UK, than the warehouse etc. Strangely enough, when we visit people, we watch the ads and not usually the TV

It doesn't have that weird bit where the headlight links to the grille, and doesn't look quite as droopy, but that may be the angle. It doesn't have the tacked on busy looking bits in the lower ar intakes either.

Euro, 100% The Jap/US one does look weird, especially with a NZ plate jammed in it. It always reminds me of those Jap plate metal plate holders that get left under the plates on some cars (like E30's). It looks like an afterthough, where the euro one looks like the "proper" design.

Saw this 850CSi on Thursday, just leaving Kawakawa. Apparently he was in a hurry! Pulled out where I would normally think someone was stupid to even think about passing... except he's in an 850 CSi, so he was past with craploads of room to spare..... I was in a Mitsi Outlander, so only got one more glance of the car a moment later, as he disappeared, never to be seen again. Sounded awesome. Lucky I took the piccie when I did!

Looks a metric-buttload better than the 3, though I think I need to reverse final judgement until there's more pics :-)

Well done! I'm sure you'll like the 8 :-) They're not that hungry either.

Result!

Buy the new one - they don't actually last all that long - a used one could fail anytime.

Always a good move! They are known to fall apart and lunch engines - the little pin falls out and gets munched up. Mine had a holey diaphragm, and wasn't doing anything I don't think. It was probably like it for a REALLY long time, as the mechanism wasn't worn at all! Fixing up the hole made a massive difference. probably as much as the Vanos seals did.

Pick a colour, and paint the whole lot, including the rear console. That way you don't have wood. A mate of mine painted his body colour (Orient Blue? Montreal Blue?) and it looks really smart - wouldn't work for all colours though.

And I thought my mortgage payments were high! That covers it though! My parents know some people that have a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE house. I seem to recall it being over 3000m2! Don't think I accidentally added a 0 there either - I really Mean 3000! We would have a Rumpus Room - they have a "function" room - it's over 200m2. We have a lounge, with a nice big window for taking in the view. They have a "viewing room" as it's on a peninsula mostly surrounded by water, which is floor to ceiling glass 270 degrees around the round walls of the room, with massive high celings. We have a guest bedroom. They have a guest wing. It's slightly bigger than my house - 250M2 We have Alpacas, they have Alpacas, Guanacos, Ostriches (awesome eggs for Pavs BTW!) and donkeys. How many live there??? 2 people! They have an elevator for when they get old (plus he has a bad leg, from a motorcycle accident). They don't do functions or anything, but do have a couple of baches they rent out when they can be bothered. They also have an art studio for "her", which is a 3 bedroom house! Funnily enough, they aren't pretentious and don't give a crap what anyone thinks. They can afford anything they want, but they drive a Nissan Murano It's nice to see how the other half live!

A mate of mine owns a shop that does repairs, and a lot of repairs under warranty (pretty sure he does LG - he can get me a new LG TV). More often than not, it is big expensive parts that need replacing. For some reason, the companies do replace the parts... which are often only a few hundred dollars less than a new TV! Plus they're paying for labour. He MAY have parts around, but doesn't keep much. Chances are, the seller has had it looked at, and the tech said it was something more (perhaps why they say it's the PDP - it's not uncommon for them to crap out, and they're usually the most expensive part - sometimes more than the TV cost new!). I can ask him, if you PM me model numbers and the bits you want to try.

My Suzuki Cappuccino was 660cc and 67 BHP (claimed - some guys dynoed their stock cars, and got close to that... at the wheels!). It was fairly easy to get 120 BHP from them with just a turbo/injector upgrade and a decent exhaust :-) though I think it's actually bored to 720cc

Holy crap that's rough! You'd think someone would look after all cars, but especially an M3. Can you send me the front and rear lights, so I can burn them please. I like Daytona Violet, but looks like there's no point in saving any of the existing paint - may as well do what you want!

I thought I already replied to this thread and said this - If it's a 2.0 auto, they are slow!

I'd do the timing belt, and check it's on right. They need to be done every 4-5 years, regardless of milage, and the milage varies, but I wouldn't leave it to 100K.

I did a group buy a year ago, for genuine Hella lights for $640 a pair of halogens from Clarke at Hella NZ. I actually ended up selling mine on, and buying a genuine BMW xenon retrofit kit, with everything to fit them, including new lights and self levelling sensor and looms etc for about $900 (they made it in without customs being charged!). You can also fit the facelift grilles, they are much bigger, but actually fit the same hole in the bonnet, they just overlap it more.

Writing sucks. Talking is way easier!

E39 suspension doesn't last long anyway, so with that milage, it's probably either really poked, or it's had work already. Watch for mushroomed front strut towers, particularly on M-Tech II suspension equiped cars.

Nah, they use a special epoxy for that nowadays!

Probably the wattage issue. The factory system monitiors the load, it expects a current peak upon xenon ignition, then a drop to a certain level which eventually settles and remains quite stable. The higher wattage ones may upset the measurements.

Uh-huh. Or you could read what I actually wrote. I never claimed I thought it was any different to the 5 series scenario. You have no idea of my understanding of a "Type R" variant. What I actually said was "They may see a Civic Type R as a Civic model variant" which as far as rego papers go, it is. I'm not talking about what *I* think, I'm saying what NZTA might think. Anything technical about the cars is irellevant, I'm theorising about the NZTA systems and a possible shortcoming leading to the discrepancy that a lot of this thread is about. A car registered as "Honda Civic Type R" is a Civic on it's rego - it's written there plain as day, that could be their "reason" for lumping it in with all civics. The Make is Honda, the Model is Civic Type R. To a pleb, it's a Civic. A car registered as "BMW M5" is NOT a "5 series" on it's rego. The Make is BMW, the model is M5. It may be considered a stand alone model, as that's what it is on paper. A car registered as a BMW 525i is a different model on it's rego, only the Make is common.

I got a genuine one for our E39 through Milland.co.nz, quite a lot cheaper than the dealer.

Nah, Took me about 3 hours, but doing it again would probably only be 2 hours max.