Allanw

I see not a single motorsport item on it.... Not even the suspension. There is a chance that a dodgy salesman sold it to them as a motorsport based entirely on the wheels alone. It's happened before! VIN WBAAN16080NE11250 Type code AN16 Type 320I (EUR) E series E46 (4) Series 3 Type LIM Steering RL Doors 4 Engine M54 Displacement 2.20 Power 125 Drive HECK Transmission AUT Colour TITANSILBER METALLIC (354) Upholstery STOFF FLOCK RAUTE/ANTHRAZIT (E3AT) Prod.date 2000-11-09 S204A ANTRIEBSAUSLEGUNG EXPORT Shorter final drive ratio S205A AUTOMATIC GETRIEBE Automatic transmission S240A LEDERLENKRAD Leather steering wheel S313A AUSSENSPIEGELPAKET Fold-in outside mirror S354A GRUENKEIL-FRONTSCHEIBE Green windscreen, green shade band S411A FENSTERHEBER,ELEKTRISCH VORN/HINTEN Window lifts,electric,front/rear S423A FUSSMATTEN IN VELOURS Floor mats, velours S428A WARNDREIECK Warning triangle and first aid kit S434A INTERIEURLEISTEN Interior surface aluminium S441A RAUCHERPAKET Smoker package S465A DURCHLADESYSTEM Through-loading system S470A KINDERSITZBEFESTIGUNG ISOFIX Isofix-System S473A ARMAUFLAGE VORN Armrest front S534A KLIMAAUTOMATIK Automatic air conditioning S548A KILOMETERTACHO Kilometer-calibrated speedometer S661A RADIO BMW BUSINESS Radio BMW Business (C43) S692A CD WECHSLER I-BUS VORBEREITUNG Preparation, BMW 6-CD changer I-bus L807A JAPAN-AUSFUEHRUNG NATIONAL VERSION JAPAN S818A BATTERIEHAUPTSCHALTER Battery master switch S823A HEISSLAND-AUSFUEHRUNG Hot-climate version S845A AKUSTISCHE GURTWARNUNG Acoustic belt warning S875A INFRAROTFERNBEDIENUNG Infrared remote control S925A VERSANDSCHUTZPAKET Transport protection package S992A STEUERUNG KENNZEICHENBEFESTIGUNG Control of number-plate attachment

Nice A mate of mine just brought an early E36 318is - I should really show him this I'm worried his Mrs will find out it was me though

Yeah... it would take a LOOOOOOONG time to recoup the $13,000-ish premium in the fuel savings... but then that's never stopped people before!

Did Whangarei to Kawakawa, to play trains. Used 7.2L/100kms on the way up. but managed to change the average to 7.9 coming back due to having a kidney stone and rushing a bit..... Plus we followed an E92 M3 with the plate GO4IT2

Ours is just the standard one. Anyone know if the Jap ones have the same exhaust as Euros? I know some of the other models didn't.

The worn area is much weaker and can lead to a door coming off in an accident. In Theory. It's a common failure point on old cars. I just got new ins and a reamer for my VW, as it had a small amount of play.

Pretty sure the motorsport ones are just a different tip in effect. I'm not sure that much would be gained in performance from an exhaust? The one on our 525i is HUGE and non of it seems terribly restrictive, although I have no facts or info to back that up

At least there was no more face burning! Well done! My secong engine swap was a 1.8 auto Impreza to 2.0 manual - had to split and merge the two car looms... my wife was PISSED when she saw what I'd done It went back together OK though.

I think perhaps that is what happened to my mate - ended up as a $7k bill.

Do lots of Googling! Some of the Engines have issues (N42 I think) Personally, I'd find a well looked after 328i/330i Manual. Fuel consumption isn't bad at all (hauling similar weight to the smaller engines anyway) and the manual trans really wakes them up - any of them!

+1 Quite possibly a sensor - you need to scan it to know which one, otherwise you'll spend craploads of money chasing it. Get someone like Glenn who knows what they are doing too.

Hmmm...some of them do - about 2002 to 2006 - the early 3rd gen ones. Some are Jaguar or Ford powered! Get the right one! (or an X5 ) GLWS!

Apparently so!

A buttload of his "skill" seems to involve other drivers paying attention and getting out of his way... His car placement in nothing like Ken Blocks, in his "safe" videos (which I realise have multiple takes sometimes. This is WAY better to watch: but isn't a BMW of course

OH yeah! I had a big but simple tubular rack on my VW van. I was doing a manky 80's look for a show..... It is all small diameter tube, no flat areas or panel/mesh areas. It increased fuel consumption 30% on a 700km trip!!! What is the actual fuel consumption? The Galant may hold 20L more, so half a tank means nothing. I had a car that only got 450 km to a tank.... but it only took 25L to fill it back up If it's really hungry, it may need a really good check over - there is a lot of possibilities. Putting it on a sniffer to check fuelling/mixture/emmisions etc might help

Yup - or US$24K for a 1970 VW Beetle, in the 90's

Oh sh*t... Someone just started up my calculator... Who wrote that story??? Wouldn't you try to format the drive or steal some bank account logins to show how much of a threat it was??? I mean it might have been nearly as dangerous as Windows

Report him to trademe for dealing outside of trademe. He contacted you, and you went along, not thinking about it. HE initiated the deal outside of trademe.

while doing the manual conversion

The Jap 525i was the same as the 523i everywhere else. You can also hunt for 323i upgrades. They weren't a particularly grunty motor though. Most cheap ad ons don't acheive much, although they have quite a restrictive intake (the plenum and runners, NOT the pipes and filters), which you can swap, but it sounds like most people report a low down torque loss to acheive more top end. My sisters old 525i used to go ok, but it was low down that it suffered a bit - It always needed a fair few revs on board to get anywhere. I'm not sure what could realistically be acheived to help that for not too much money. If I wanted to improve performance, I'd seriously look at a manual conversion - not super cheap, but you will make the car a lot more fun to drive AND get rid of a potentially expensive auto repair. Our manual 525i is the later M54 engine, but it is actually pretty quick.

Wierdly, it could easily end up registered as a 2006 - Perhaps it was first registered in Japan in 2006 - that's what it's registered as. There is a 2001 528i motorsport on trademe too. The 528i stopped production when the 530i came out in August 2000, so it certainly wasn't produced in 2001. BMW starts production of August in the year prior. and yet, My car was registered in Singapore in 2001, but was actually made in november 2000, as a 2001 model year (M54 engine). By the rules above, it would be registered as a 2001 (which would be correct according to BMW). But it's a 2000 on the sticker There is nothing consistant about the years the cars get registered as, it seems!

Car with poked engine calculation: Take approximate value before engine failure, halve it. deduct cost of replacement engine and labour. Then halve it again. That's about it's value

Pretty much any E39 or E46 you buy probably needs 3 grand spent on it to makes things "right". Most owners drive around on poked suspension and don't even realise it, plus most low milage cars won't have had the "cooling system rebuild" done yet, and WILL need it doing at some point before it pops and ruins an engine. Vanos seal, transmission service (both autos and manuals are supposedly "lifetime filled"), cabin filters, proer service, air filters etc, dash pixel repairs, etc etc. Just because a car is BMW serviced, it doesn't mean that everything that needs doing has been done - they only do what the owners are willing to pay for, and Kiwi's are notorious for doing stuff on the cheap! That's why most of our old cars are poked! Particularly lease cars only get the absolute minimum done (the 4 I had all were anyway). Look at each cars on it's merits really.

Ok I assume the vanos seals were done too... Are you sure it's pinking, not a heat sheild vibration or some kind of valve train rattle?