Young Thrash Driver

Why don't you really try and do something unique and fit some 14s?

So how long does a modern 98 last, before all the goodies volatilise and it "goes off"?

Finding out a Cherry diesel engine, air filter fits E36 and E39 perfectly. Useless piece of information for the day!

Interesting, I have always followed the reasoning you use Graham- 98 not worth the significant margin over 95, where 95 is available. Being rural also, 98 is often quite expensive relative to the other offerings. I have been (so far) unable to find a significant difference in my own cars in terms of fuel consumption between 95 and 98. All of which would be redundant, if only I could find a manual diesel...

New front struts, spring pads, bump stops, shock mounts and a few other bits on the touring yesterday. Damn, what a difference!!! Also replaced the front discs and pads on the 520 this morning.

^yeah totally not interested if it doesn't come with them

Went for a bit of a road trip to buy this car today, ended up running extremely fast in the other direction. Under the bonnet is an unmitigated disaster: *Oil everywhere, and heaps of it. Rocker cover gasket is gone, others are suspect. *Coolant stains all over the show- like, really majorly bad- needs a total cooling system replace. Rust to the pipes heading off to the heater- so who knows what the inside of that system looks like too *Most tellingly for me though, was the tiny copper particles merrily swirling about in the coolant (I say coolant- it is more a kind of dirty water). That's right, bright clean copper, not rust. Oil was clean, so maybe some other kind of leak not just a dodgy head gasket fix. Made an offer which they accepted, but decided it really needs a new engine and cooling system, so not really worth the effort when combined with the hideous blue interior- alas, no manual E39 for me.

Crikey. That'd get you half a thrashed to death Delica

BMW don't help themselves by continually churning out a succession of increasingly sh*t 4 cylinder engines. Who knows what gremlins lurk in their new 3 cylinder unit.

Heyyyy... You're after an E9x, right???

Olaf, a guy on the BMW For sale/ swap NZ Facebook page periodically tries to flog a spacesaver and jack to suit E90 for around $90. Probably still has it (not exactly a high demand item )

So where to from here... Z5, or is the bewildering plethora of 1/2/3/4 series coupe and various convertibles supposed to keep us simple folk satisfied rumors abound of a 7er coupe, maybe they'll take the top off that too?

You will worry it will break- just be careful. If you are missing your shields under the car you may be able to reach in and push it out.

What does it mean if VTNZ puts a WOF on a car with a cracked hub carrier? Is there someone I can whinge to/ put a rocket up their bum?

Yes deferred maintenance is the problem- have not owned either car for long so I am effectively paying the previous owners bills May pay to just replace all coils? They do have a habit of going "phut"

Just to be super nosy and to perve at the sexy RKs... could we please have a side on pic? Thanks

I also have two BMWs which delight in taking turns in being pulled to bits, one after the other. Its like a big merry go round, the wife never knows which car she will be taking to work Those poor stupid other people in their reliable Corollas, how boring their lives must be!

Quick wheel off to throw in a new ABS wheel sensor- hello! Seems the touring requires new front struts, oil everywhere

Don't feel bad Olaf, the Gulf is now cleaner than it was before their little accident I find the extra margin on BP 98 makes it less attractive than 95- where 95 can be found.

Anyway... not much new revealed here. Those of us who want manuals will still want 'em, and those who don't care/ live in the city and find it impractical (the mind boggles, my old manual 325 was superb in traffic) will continue to carry on without all the extra control and that difficult to quantify sense of one-ness with a machine that a manual delivers I understand an E60 M5 will be faster in auto, but an extra 5% quicker isn't worth that much less involvement- to me. Ho hum- back on the John Deere- manual gearbox with clutchless splitter and hydrostatic forward/reverse shuttle

It's already too late.

Your symptoms sound similar to my old 325, the valve stem seals were gone.

Is the towbar still available? Assume the wiring is identical between facelift/prefacelift

Get the car scanned by someone with a decent scanner, not just OBD2. Replacing sensors is likely a wild goose chase, be prepared to replace ABS module and possibly wheel sensors. I got wheel sensors recently through FCPEuro, genuine parts much cheaper than the dealer. There is a helpful recent-ish thread on this website. Have only heard good things about DCH Motorsport in CHCH but unsure if they have the neccesary software to solve your specific issue.

Would almost be happy to see Top Gear crash and burn, the PC fools who run the Beeb have killed the golden goose by sacking Clarkson. They had a clean slate, and look what they managed to produce. Pathetic.