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Excellent, thanks folks. That gives me something to work with, especially that some were officially imported. They go for £32,000 to £38,000 or so in the UK currently so probably not too far different by the time I factor in import taxes. It may be a driver to just sell all the cars before we leave and not have the hassle of importing. Is Trademe a better place to look than Autotrader? Anywhere else to keep an eye on for cars for sale?

I just spent the weekend at the Nurburgring with a few friends and one of them took me out in the M3 CSL he bought about 2 weeks ago. It was so good I'm seriously tempted to sell all my cars and buy one, but as my wife snd I are planning to move to NZ later this year there are concerns over the inport taxes. Are there any CSLs in NZ and if so do they ever come up for sale (and what are they worth)? If not would it be a really bad idea to bring one in or would dealers or specialists be willing to work with me on getting parts from Europe if I needed any? It would be a pain if it was off the road waiting for bits, but I would have something else as well so it wouldn't be my only car. If I imported one and wanted to sell it would there be buyers or would people be scared to take something on so rare?

I have a pair of those exact wheels for the rear of my 944. I don't use them anymore though as they are too heavy and too wide even for 360bhp.

In the UK there was an e34 525TDS, and in fact an e39 of the same as I was behind one a couple of days ago, it caught my eye as I didn't realise they were made before the 530d. I think the e36 was a 325TDS. There was a LHD e30 diesel though I'm sure - poverty spec and horrible old technology diesel, I want to say a 2.0 litre.

I don't think there was an e30 diesel officially sold in the UK. Earliest I remember is the e36 tds model. They probably were relatively common in places like France where they have been into diesels for years, but in the UK they didn't take off until they were actually developed to the point they weren't complete purgatory to drive.

Still trying to get my head round the differences there will be with life in NZ I'm surprised insurance is not compulsory - it has been in the UK for as long as I can remember. How does it work if you choose not to insure, and more importantly what happens if you're hit by someone who has no insurance? Something else that occurred to me as missing is job - in the UK what you do for a living makes a huge difference to what you pay (along with what you drive, where you live, where you park, what your driving record is like and how old you are). I guess it all goes to help judge the risk against a profile of claims the insurers build up. Even in the UK insurers make a loss on car insurance. It's mainly because of people driving without insurance (illegally) and getting involved in accidents (something that is more common now we use dumb cameras to monitor speed rather than proper police with brains and judgement) and also because we are riddled with ambulance chasers offering to sue the guilty party on a no-win no-fee basis and getting loads of money out of them that inflates claims. At least in NZ that seemed to be thankfully absent from every ad-break on satellite TV. In the UK parts for things like BMW, Audi, VW etc. are more expensive than Ford, Vauxhall (GM in the UK) or the Jap brands. German and French are the most expensive for parts here, just like they probably are in NZ. Dunno why that is for French as French cars need so many parts all the time to keep them running you'd think they'd be really cheap and they aren't close to worth it. I think the real reason is that Ford and Vauxhall are big players in company car and rental fleets and fleet managers like to see cheap running and repair costs, so they keep the cost of parts down. That said the biggest selling car in the UK for the last couple of years is the 3-series - seriously.

Jeez - just reading through this to get a handle on what I can expect in NZ compared with Blighty. As a contrast for you all (using about $2.75 = £1): Age: 38 Location: Devon, UK Car Year/Model: 2002/530d Touring Insured value: Market ($25000) Driving Record: Clean (at the time I started the policy anyway ) Insurance company: Elephant Insurance type (3rd party or full): Full Additional features of insurance (road side rescue, windscreen): glass cover, NCD protection, 80,000km per year including "Class 1" business use (no commercial samples to be carried basically) Yearly premium (inc GST): $1700 (includes 60% no claims bonus discount) Excess: $1300 Comments on customer service: not had to use it really. Consider factory nav and factory optional 17" wheels as declarable mods

Excellent, I'm a lot more encouraged if there are a decent number of cars with the 2.9 diesel already in country. I hopefully winter is over now and I can give it a good jet wash at the weekend. Thanks for the offer of advice on the pitfalls - look out for a PM!

Thanks for the suggestion - I sort of like the diesel engine and auto 'box combo (and I'll be bringing my other cars for non-diesel/manual fun), plus I have spent a bit of time getting the car as I want it: titanium trims, Schnitzer pedals, M3 SMG wheel with working paddle shift, Mk4 Nav with integrated iPod on the screen etc. If I did change it would have to be to another E39 Touring (don't want to pay E61 money yet), and I didn't see many of them around when I was over. Also it would have to have widescreen nav, leather, auto, xenons etc. before I'd be happy, and my car is worth only about NZ$25k to sell in the UK. Could I replace it with something like a 540i at that spec without it costing me a lot more? As I understand it because I have owned it for over a year in the UK and provided I keep it for 2 years after we arrive I don't pay GST to import it, so it's just shipping costs. I guess I could drive a 540i over here to see if I think it suits the auto as well as the diesel does.

Hi folks, I just joined the forum and wanted to say hello. I'm in the UK just now, but hopefully my wife and I will have visas to come and live in NZ sometime later this year. When we do make the move I am unsure if I should bring my 530d or not. I know it's quite an unusual model in NZ (especially as it's a touring) so it would be hard to replace, but I am also worried that that might make it difficult to get it maintained and get parts for - does anyone know much about running a 6 cylinder diesel model in NZ. Also can anyone explain how the tax works for diesel? A friend in Wellington tells me there is a charge per thousand km driven on top of the price of diesel, but he didn't know how much it is. I have already read that I can get a map disk for my Mk4 nav computer, that RDS works (wasn't sure about that as the horrible Corolla hire car we had when we visited in January didn't have RDS) and I think the TV module will work also. I also have a DAB tuner, but I don't know that there is DAB in NZ? Any advice appreciated as I love my car, but I don't want to regret bringing it with me if I do.