Apex

Racing in Rally Wairarapa this weekend and I am leaving for Masterton from Auckland tomorrow at mid day to make documentation, 6 hours via Napier and back roads, then its reconnaissance Friday 600km and the rally on Saturday that is another 600km... then home on Sunday, 600km.. so 2400km.. Can anyone recommend any good roads on rout to Masterton, have never been there before.

Ah, I Googled "limited run super cars" and funnily enough the BMW 8 Serried didn't come up on page 1, or page 23,0000, just bunch of crappy Ferrari's and Lambo's and other average cars. Then I went down a rabbit hole and found this interesting link for tragic car nerd anoraks like myself... Kiss good buy to an hour on a Tuesday afternoon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_superlatives

Is 30,000 a small production run?

These are no "supercar" they are a stylized over-engineered luxury barge. I genuinely never realized they were worth more than 5k and had thought they had bottomed out the E38. These are not in the same class as a Porsche. Would recommend people take a proper look at running costs when buying a new car for sure.

Agreed. The listing does state service history and it is NZ and clean looking. Would think 7k would be a fair price for one o these.

I don't know, fast and furious Tokyo drift was quite good. haha

Or you could just not brake! I took my E60 545i M to Taupo for a laugh and after realizing it was not cut out for it I simply resorted to going slow into corners and drifting out, could drift the 545i from turn one through to turn 5, needed new tyres afterwards though and the people in Audi's got scared.

Good. If you have track experience you will quickly discover the 540i is not a track car and the M badge may as well represent some sort of discount at Mc Donald's drive through... this will become apparent after two hard laps when the brakes fade and you realize that Honda Civics are lapping you. As stated a general maintenance check would be advised, at the most I would upgrade the brake fluid, but even then it will still be awful if you try and push it and ultimately you could wreck the brakes (warp/eat disks and pads) as they are just not made for the track. In all honesty you would need to spend more like $15k on a 540i to have it tolerable on track and thrashing it on a track could only be bad for it...maybe save the money in-case you break something! I don't mean to be so negative but some cars are simply not cut out for track work, taking the 540i to a track is like a entering Sumo in a marathon.

I think he had a lot to do with the movie so no surprises there. Really enjoyed it myself, the wife not so much, I tricked her into going and told her it was a murder mystery so that didn't help.

I am embarrassed to say I thought the 8 series cars were like 7 series and worth $1-5k, never realized people payed money for them! Have they recently gone up in value?

I don't think you are supposed to stop on the road unless it is safe, would you want to park up only to have another noob take you out?

Love that interior! Nice work. Love the tape deck and old TV too haha.

Well done Dylan, very nice car. Hope to see you at a trackday soon, uncles club season has just started BTW.

If it's your first time on track I would say keep the money and just go out and have fun, learn the track and better your driving skills.

Interesting, why do you think that is? Some manufacturers are honest when it comes to claims. We average 9.1L/100 in our car in Auckland, would say equal mix city/highway/open road, factory claim is 8.2L/100 so that's not bad considering I drive fast without a massive concern for saving fuel and could match that easy if I drove like normal people. That's with only 190kw from a 2.0L Turbo petrol, conventional injection and proper manual gearbox.

Looks like an amazing car, lots of new technoligy to help it hold its crown as best in class, most impressive part for me is the weight reduction, its not confirmed but looks to be lighter than a lot of "hot hatches" on the market, that is remarkable for a car the size of a 90's 5 Series. Well done BMW, looks to be the best M3 yet! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzfvHHjaEck

Efficiency technology has been implemented in a massive way the last 5 years and cars have come a very long way, its the technology difference between a 1980 MY car and a 2000 MY car. The way things are evolving a car that is only 5 years old now is dramatically outdated in every way. A lot of the efficiency is in the direct injection control from the ECU and the new gearboxes that are very smart at putting the car in the most efficient gear, tyre technology also plays a role as does weight reduction. Just think this car is faster than a Mitsubishi EVO from five years ago and drinks half as much fuel. Personally I am a bit sad that we are loosing the manual gearbox in the quest for numbers and efficiency, after driving a new double clutch car the last few weeks I could not wait to get back into my manual car, and TBH I do not mind if the car uses an extra 1L/100 if it means I can have a proper gearbox.

I wonder if one in a million Americans even realize there is a boat race on? I think we invest way to much financially and emotionally in our sports in NZ, its pathetic. How about we invest the 50 million tax payer dollars this sh*t cost in other things that are a lot less bourgeois?

I think its increments of 5kph, so will be the same.

They need to look more like this as far as I am concerned. Would take 3.

People seem to freak out about 95 vs 98, it really does make next to no difference on an OEM car, both are well within range. Could be worth visiting Glen at Botany Motor Worx for a chat, he sells ELF products, notably the ELF TRX gearbox oil, cant remember off the top of my head but I was recommended this stuff for my race car when I complained about the gear box being notchy when cold, I was told it was recommend as OEM replacement for BMW's and is popular as it works from cold. It worked in my car, shifting has improved from cold. Might be worth a look into

It must be a vary scary car... no one wants it! Would make for a great race car.

Nice one Hans. Think it needs a crazy turbo and manual conversion!

Hmm. Now what else circa 90k could you cross shop it with that is classy? A new one of these, its definitely a bit more understated in a kind of way: http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-587864403.htm I think I would take the Merc. Or the new Golf R that is due soon.

Cant see why the E39 M5 would need to run 98, they are factory tuned for 95 and that is what it says to run them on in the owners manual. Guaranty there would be no difference running it on either