Allanw

WASTED??? Did he pay the fines? If it's all outstanding... he hasn't lost much. They'll probably wipe them. That seems to be a standard "consequence". edit: pictures don't show at work . I can see them now!

Did I post this before??? http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/55302-here-i...dye#entry573653

The V8's aren't actually very hungary, maybe 15% more than a 6 around town, and pretty close on the open road (in my experience anyway).

Sweet! Wierdly, I was in Dads today, and it has a weird almost-miss/vibraton at idle His valve adjustment is very due, but we're doing the cambelt soon, so will do it all then. Glad it's better, hope it STAYS that way!!!

Hmmm... not my experience - I seemed to find South African ones with bubbles in the door corners and even under the mirrors on the top edge of the door. I'm not sure you can beat the German rustproofing. Dads E30 still seeps wax out of the doors and bonnet sometimes and the entire underside is stonegaurded under the paintm the undersealed over the top, then the sheilds and stuff fixed on.

Pfffffffffffft! TUI AD. Heaps of NZ cars were leased. Why pay for extra kms when you can unplug the speed sensor? Real estate agents were a classic for it - more than one agents late model car we travelled in during the 90's had no speedo reading. It's as common here as anywhere.

They don't need to be super tight - the engine tries to tighten them all the time. I only do them up like you tried - then give the spanner a dong with a hammer. Never had one come off!

I'd plan on spending 3K on ANY E39 after purchase, more on one I doubted. Even with a "Full Service History", the dealer only does what the owner approves, so they can still need craploads done to them, and they are a complicated car. The suspension is GREAT, but it wears, because of the work it does. The cooling system will need an overhaul, unless it has been specified as being done, and ALL done. Vanos seals will need doing too.

You should have mentioned that earlier..... You could change your user name to Jeffbeebee

For E30 specificly, I'd worry more about the condition, and where it was made. You'll get a lot of varying opinions and not all will be based on facts! German assembled is usually preferred and avoid ex UK cars, as the rust bug has usually taken hold by now. SA cars don't seem terribly well rust proofed (which I have also found true for VW's) and may have more issues here than over there in the dry climate, but not a real issue on a well looked after car. Really, each car needs to be looked at on it's own set of merits - Unless it's a collectible model, what difference will it make later? There are a lot of crap E30's out there, but still a surprising number of good ones (Like dads 2 owner, manual 325i SE that he's had for the last 14 years!).

Only the auto which will be fine for hairdressers. The manual seems to be a full 2 seconds faster.

Oooooh... the vote could go either way! starting to change! It would match your dog nicely! and not look old manish in cinnamon.

Hmmm... can't really hear anything much. When did it last have a valve adjustment? If it's only when it heats up, it could have a tight valve, and not running properly on all cylinders once hot? That video sounds very ticky.

Obviously this is all very subjective, as YOU have to like it! I LOVE our grey leather with the aluminium looking trim, but I'd pick you'd HATE it based on what you say you like. Of the two choices above, I'd go cinnamon too. The burgundy one looks a bit washed out or something. It needs more red, or more depth or something. I'd take the cinnamon over the "normal" tan - that tan looks wrong in a dark E39 (especially black exterior ones!) and feels old man-ish. The cinnamon looks luxurious, not sporty, but not granpa and his pipe either. It's a nice strong colour, without being frightening like some "individual" interiors are! Go Cinnamon!

try Ebay UK. A lot of them will ship here, even if they don't have it listed.

The pixel repair in them is pretty easy to do. I did mine but I do repair stuff for a job. Not as easy as a replacement though!

Good luck! They don't pop up often! There was a place that had them for about $250 wasn't there? nearly: See here

It's probably cheaper to repair it, than buy another car which is likely to require work at some point too. I always find it strange when people choose to spend more buying a newer car, than it would cost to maintian the old one, and justify it using cost. (not saying that about you, it just happens though). Unless you are moving up to brand new, or close to it, you have a used car that WILL require maintainance/repairs. Maybe less of it, but it could still throw a transmission or similar. At least you'll have a car you know. People seem to be loath to spend money on old cars, because the car isn't worth the money spent on it. It's not the way it works though. If you maintain the old car properly, it can be kept longer before you need to "upgrade". Very rare that repairs and maintainance cost more than buying a newer car. Dads E30 has cost about $8000 over the 14 years he's had it. I don't think for a minute that that $8K would been better spent on a newer car. He'd have spent the $8K to "upgrade" AND the same amount on repairs and maintainance, probably.

Yep, that's why they're interesting It's not a corolla with a pointy front and a low roof. It was a "joint" collaborataion with Subaru and Toyota. RWD too 147kw from a 2.0 NA isn't too bad, and the manual version claims 0-100 in 6.1 seconds. I'd imagine there's a lack of mid range torque. I'd be more inclined to go for the Subaru version. Especially when a turbo version becomes available.

Well done dude! Probably more to your Mrs to be honest though! What's his name? Something German?

Crap! I think my Mrs just read that! $$$

Have you had the auto fluid changed? Or has it been done previous? The "correct" fluid is REALLY expensive, but it does last a long time. The "correct" filter (genuine BMW ONLY, if it were me!) isn't too bad, but I can't recall the price... maybe 100 to 120?? - Apparently an incorrect filter can cause whines and issues if it clogs. Perhaps it's worth having it serviced with the "correct" stuff, might help, but certainly good for peice of mind. A poked 540i trans is probably an expensive propostion to fix..... Your power issue could actually be an engine fault, which could be quite simple. Like Glenn says - if you have it scanned, it may show some intermittant faults. The reason he suggested someone with a brain, is that a lot of people see the say says a particular part has "failed" or is "out of range" and replace that part, when it can very easily (and often is) something else in the system and the fault is noticed by the sensor mentioned. You're not alone in buying a car and then spending buttloads on it! I'm quite pedantic, but luckily haven't had any failures or breakdowns, but a few bits that were part worn or just tired (mostly suspension) and I always do stuff in sets (I can't be arsed doing jobs twice!). Any E39 I buy (or a mate buys) I'd say allow minimum $1500 to make things right, but easily more - $3K wouldn't be unreasonable - even a car with a "full service history" will have only had done what the owner wanted done. BMW full history does NOT gaurantee a perfectly maintained car. I've probably spent $2500 on replacement suspension parts, but the car is super tight and smooth now

Nobody has picked style 38 yet.... If you do, I vote you get banned! For everything else, it depends entirely on the car for me I REALLY like the 2 piece style 42's on our E39: Love 22's From E36 M3: And, don't tell anyone, but I really like style 60's on an E38:

I got an email about it last night. I can forward it from my deleted mail folder if you like

and... IF it only needs a starter motor, if you were the seller, wouldn't you pay a couple of hundred to fix it and sell it as a going car? If they can't afford fix that, the maintainance will be crap - there'll be heaps of other stuff that probably needs attention, OR it's a much bigger problem than they lead you to believe.