Driftit

The car is in the underground parking in Observatory Circle yes. The area I got the car from in Baltimore was ok-ish. But the dudes just staring at me were pretty unsettling. They scuttled away when the owner showed up his Porsche. I made it out with a cheap car though. DMV just has zero leniency. If there is the smallest thing wrong they will send you on your way. I was there before opening and was already about 30th in line. But as I was only after temp tags i was called up quick. Getting my license was slow going though. Took around 3 hours. I had very little input. The test only took me 10-15mins. It could be worse though. I could be going to the state department.. man I hate that place. I ended up polishing it yesterday. I didn't have the right polish or a clay bar so I did my best. Came up OK. But I would like to give it a machine polish at some stage. There is a few areas of paint i think I will get touched up first. I cleaned the leather again and then borrowed some expensive looking leather conditioner which made the leather feel great. Oh and I went with ECS as they listed everything I needed cheaper than FCP (who I used when in NZ). ECS is on the East Coast somewhere too. Stuff arrived already and for free. I still need to get a few items. Like a power steering cap o-ring, some floor mats and the rubber seals at the bottom of the back windows. Then I am happy for a bit. I have a feeling there is a small oil leak though. Which will annoy me to no end. So I will hunt that down. Hopefully it is something like the valve cover gasket or the oil filter to block gasket.

I cleaned it up a bit yesterday. Going to polish it today. I don't think it has been polished since new. So it will take a while. Ordered some new trim and a few other bits and pieces from ecstuning. Just damaged weather stripping etc. Oh and no roadtrip time Stupid DMV is closed on Sunday and Monday. And my insurance didn't start till Sunday. So I couldn't get it registered. So I will just clean it instead. Should be a great little runabout.

I wish people would come back to forums rather than shitty facebook groups. Facebook is near dead to me. If I wasn't in another country and forced to share my holiday photos and activities with family I would have ditched it long ago. But the one thing that I really hate with FB groups is that you can not search for anything. If you were talking about something months/years back that had some good data or links, you need to scroll through the entire f**king history to try and find it. It is just not designed to retain data for the user. Oh and that nothing is anonymous on Facebook. Everything you post or read will be sold and used to push ads at you.

Drove into the depths of Baltimore this afternoon to have a look at this old girl. (Think of the TV Show 'The Wire'). 2005 325ci. Stock standard. US spec (very strange). Pretty well optioned for a 3 series. And what the yanks would call low mileage. 128K miles. 128k miles is nothing here. I have seen E46's with 450k miles. Though I would not touch a car in NZ with this many km's. These vary in price so wildly in the States. From $1000 to $12000. Then the M3's go from about $8000 to $30000. By the time I get this back to DC and sort tax and registration it will prob owe around $4K. Specs: https://www.etkbmw.com/bmw/EN/vin/decoder/PL07660/EN Sorry about the sh*t pics. But less than 1 min later there was a brutal thunder storm and I had to leg it. Roadtrip time!!

Tidy. But that color combo.. I am so sick of seeing it here in the US. They absolutely love Tan interiors here. Makes the car look way older than it is IMO. Other than the steering wheel it looks pretty low spec.

Unless you already have a car it is quite a pain to buy a car from another distant state. DC plates can be changed from your current car to your new one temporary. But if you need temp tags it is the biggest pain in the ass. Especially for non citizens. Trying to buy in VA. Close enough that I can get the metro to it. Looking at a couple of E46's this weekend. 04 330ix - $3000 03 330i - $3200 Both top spec with buying room as I am paying cash and they are at a 2nd hand dealer. SMG one is still for sale. If I had the time and space I would pick it up. This is it BTW. https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/cto/d/bmw-ci-smg-update/6210551415.html

Yeah I think I will give it a miss. Will prob just pick up another similar vehicle with an auto. It is a pain finding E46's here. There are so many manuals. And I don't want a manual as the traffic is like Auckland in DC.

So I have been looking at a cheap 04 E46 325ci with an SMG box as a runabout in the US. The one I am looking at has an issue with the hydraulic pump controller for the box. Im thinking a little DIY and a replacement pump from ECS tuning ($500USD) would get me a cheap low mileage car. Has anyone had experience replacing these pumps. It looks like I could run into trouble trying to remove the hydraulic lines from the alloy block. With salted roads up here they are likely to be at least tough to get undone. TBH I did not know you could get the SMG box on any other model other than the M3.

I like someone who can review a product with the same level of critique each time. He doesn't often. He has some interesting topics. But most of his headlines are purely to get you to click that link.

Ah Jalopnik. Click bait bullshit 90% of the time. And it works. I'm pretty sure Doug DeMuro only writes half assed click bait. All he does is pick a common topic to complain about. Just look at these headlines. https://dougdemuro.kinja.com/ "The main problem, as I see it, is that the Germans are just too obsessed with stuffing all sorts of newfangled gizmos into their cars." I see he hasn't driven anything American in the last couple of years... Packed full of "New" equipment that struggles to function. Whilst still driving like something from the 90's. Don't ever bring up MX5's around him. He bum tongues the hell out of them. Best car in the world blah blah blah.

Turn it on its side, tap up. The screw lid should have a good rubber seal and won't leak. I have purchased my oil in 20ltr packs since I got into racing. If you have the garage space you should def buy it this way. Just don't let your mates see it.

And can tow a crappy hirepool trailer with a full weight (minus rust) E30 on it and still make 9.7L-10.5L/100kms

Yikes. I had a similar experience with a caliper coming loose on the motorway in an old 2000's Mitsi VR4 I had. Same thing caused it. Loose bolts. More scary than complete brake fade at the race track. The track at least has some sort of run off. Was it a "BMW" mechanic? Only reason I ask is so that people only go to their trusted mechanics whilst you sort it out.

I got just over 1100kms out of a tank in my old 530d. From just North of Chch via Kaikora, Wellington, Masterton, Palmy, Taupo bypass, Auckland. I think we filled up just past Matamata somewhere. By that stage I had forgotten it needed fuel. I do wonder how far you could get on these roads in the US though. Flat and straight. Though you are going faster. If the limit is 65mph. Everyone does 80mph.

NZ ones are just replicas. Has been a few genuine ones come up for sale in the UK over the last few years.

Sadly the only yank muscle you get in RHD is the Mustang. Which in NZ is not the affordable "muscle" it should be. They are very cheap here. And the 0% interest deals and very low monthly lease programs allow anyone to own one.

There are still quite a few nice American cars that are N/A. And now they go around corners better than most. Models of the Corvette and Camaro have great engines. The top models are supercharged though.

It's an amazing track. The vehicles that turn up there for standard track days are jaw dropping. The International part of its name would be due to the quality of the facility. It is of a very high standard. Hosts some very big races here. Lots of international names.

Every BMW I have driven with that motor has issues with valve stem seals. But when it is not smoking at the lights it suites the motor well.

Have a look at Revshift.com Or else Powerflex.

You could almost buy a manual E39 in the US and ship it to NZ. Only issue would be the pedal box. No doubt different. They are pretty common here. And not worth much.

Oh wow. $13K for a 525i huh. Not digging those rear lights. Sure it will sell quick though.

Every time one of these threads pops up on a car forum it seems the majority are on the hate train for one show or the other. I prefer Roadkill as an entertainment show over both of them. I can't handle the accents in Might Car Mods though.

Thought you were talking about the Donald for a moment there. Runaway Toyota's were the handful that had stuck accelerators. It was barely believable. I just heard on the radio this morning that some research found that 50% of vehicle incidents in the US involved a cellphone as a distraction. And just this afternoon I was nearly hit by a girl on her phone. Twice.. I changed lanes. But I am sure it was just her stuck accelerator....

Would it come with a chain so you could secure it to a building or tree to stop the drunks tipping you over all the time?