Apex

That interior is an easy 10k job at least. Looks bloody nice though. A cheaper option may be to buy a full tan leather interior and have it re colored, wont be overly durable but will get the same effect. Arrow wheels for mag wheel repairs.

Cant say I buy tyres that meet what you are after so cant offer much advice. Everyone will generally tell you whatever they have fitted to their car is best. I have been reading the reviews online and normally choose a tyre based on scores in multiple tests, user reviews, price and now UTQG ratings, have a brand new set going on today so its all quite fresh. Tirerack have links to some good reviews, its best to read multiple reviews to get a good idea, one thing tyre testers don't account for is tyre wear so keep that in mind. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testSearch.jsp One thing to look out for on new generation performance Asymmetric's is the UTQG ratting, I have got quite familiar with this lately after just fitting the third set of tyres to my car in one year, it seems a lot of the latest tyres are so soft and compromised in the pursuit of performance they are not economical choices unless you you have 1 million dollars, some are not far off a semi slick compound without the stiff sidewalls. The Bridgestone RE Asymmetric for example are good, very good, they are fitted to some of the top ratted cars in the world, they are as good as road tyre gets sub $1000 and not motorsport focused... but they have a UTQG of 140 so will last sub 10,000km on NZ roads if driven reasonably enthusiastically.

500SEC rules my face. Was easily in the top 10 Matchbox cars I owned growing up. Still have X2, one boxed one un-boxed. The 500SEC is IMHO the coolest German Muscle car of the 80's and I would rock one wearing my full 80's style tracksuit and some Blublockers cranking Europe from its 4x14w Tape Deck with Graphic Equalizer. Don't know too much about them outside of dreamworld but I do know they can be quite taxing on the Visa when it comes to diagnosing faults and buying parts overnight from Japan.

Some nice realistic choices, the HSV is good, Magnetic Ride Control is awful as is the gearshift but they are still fast if you can drive... but its fast in a brutish uncouth way. I think it helps to be realistic with the cars you would trade your BMW for "I would trade my $10,000 BMW for a $300,000 car" No f**king sh*t! Have driven the IS250 and an E46 back to back and even the old E46 was a nicer drive than the Lexus, I think what Lexus miss or what is lost in translation when copying BMW is the weighting in the controls, especially the steering, if its one thing BMW normally get spot on is steering weighting. Would not trade a BMW of equal caliber for a Lexus, I would however trade a $5,000 90's BMW on a $100,000 Lexus

As a focused driver that likes driving and fast cars that are fast out of the box, for now,or until I can afford a decent modern M car, at this point there is nothing from BMW that interests short of the 1M and I cant afford one.. I would love a BMW E30 M325i as weekend car but cant justify a useless object nor could I afford to do what I would like with it thanks to expensive hobbies. Years ago I would have told you FWD's are crap BMW all the way but I have been enlightened and now look at performance major factor in a car, particularly well engineered performance from the factory that needs no mods or weekend's fixing things that should have been good from the start... enter Renault Sport. Lots of fun, very fast and I like its looks, in a time where most cars look the same this stood out, its also great to over take a GT3 Porsche on a Targa stage in a funny looking hatchback. NZ Performance Car of the year. This car is unreal, so much fun and silly fast on a back-road, its ridiculous. Makes me smile and yell swear words at how good it is when you are out having a fun. From all accounts I would love a 911 GT3-RS of some sort but my dream car at the moment and one I keep coming back to is the Corvette C6 Z06, especially the one with Clubsport pack, I think this would be a car to teach anyone how to drive and I like the idea of a challenge, GTR's are fast as are Porches and Ferrari's but they also look quite easy to tame, this could be fast and also be a real hoon at the same time. Winner:

I would think 2-2.5k looking at other cars on the market. Agree E30's are getting a bit expensive and in some cases its just laughable, there are still bargains to be had though.

I only ask as it is an open ended question when you are talking old cars like that. From experience all I can say when buying an old BMW is buy NZ new with as much known history as possible, if a car has always been garaged and has been serviced on time and looks to have been driven easy it will do you well, buy a cheap Jap import with no history and you may well end up spending what you save and more fixing it. Keep in mind any car with 150,000km will require parts sooner or later be it a Toyota or a Peugeot, the truth is they are only designed to last 100,000km on basic maintenance when driven easy and looked after and you are essntially buying something that is past its use by date.

Are you buying a brand new car?

Car has sold, thanks for looking. Good to see it has gone to a good home of a Bimmersport member. Will miss the car after having it around for so long.

X2. Was looking at a green machine yesterday by the show grounds. Cool car.

Thanks. Its a classy car, even though its getting on in the years it still has a nice premium look to it, not sure if its the wheels and chrome accents and the light interior with dark body but it still gets a lot of attention when driving around and holds its own next to more modern cars.

Thanks for that. Will see how it runs and maybe relist it at 9ish.

Not rude at all, thanks for the feedback and I agree with you. I am selling it for my mother so need to at least try and sell it for what she wants, she brought it near new so you can imagine what it cost her. Over all it is in good condition, it is NZ new and has been looked after, I hope this means something to someone who may be looking for a non Jap import with a known history and good options. Took it for a drive last night and even though its not a sports model it still handles and goes very nicely, well balanced chassis for sure. It is very quite though, I had to drop the windows to try and her the engine. Open to offers.

Seems the original price was too high.. Have re-listed but get the feeling these are not worth as much as I though as we have had not one call. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=494535844 Let me know if you are interested or make an offer as it is taking up space in my garage

The wife has been to court this morning over a black euro. Not worth the hassle IMHO, all it takes is one cop and it turns into 25 demerit points and a whole heap of f**king around. Did I mention 25 demerit points?

That's a nice time! Would be happy with 1.18's Hope to get out in my car at some point when its fixed and see what it can do. More because I'm sick of people asking how fast it is and I have no idea. Road legal car in the 1.15's would be fast.. slicks on a well set up E46 would maybe get there.

Was scary what people spent on them too. I remember a mate of a mate had some mega Celica and he spent well over 100k making it more useless. Was all about bigger wheels, bigger sounds and bigger dyno results. They must look back now and cringe at how much they wasted... the guy I know of still lives at home with his mum and is probably still paying his 18's off that cost 10k in 2000.

Dash doubles as a sleeping bag if it breaks down. Do not want.

They are incredible road cars yes. But I think the credibility of the "motorsports" name badge was at question from that guy... what they don't get is that apart from touring car wins in the 80's and 90's they have not done very well at all in any real "motorsports". Would they even make the top ten manufactures list for success in motorsport? Its marketing at its best. If you can sell a 2.5 ton SUV as a motorsport model you are clever, just as clever as the guy that sell razor blades with Turbo on them, I know they are not turbochargers but I will buy the, just as I will buy a burger from MacDonald's named after Sydney.

BMW have not build road cars that are anything like what is used in motorsports for a very long time so this is all hardly new. They market a brilliant car very well... we buy plenty of products with bullshit names and nearly all manufacturers I can think of other than a few small companies have very little actual "motorsport" technology in their road cars these days or even compete in motorsports at all. I do have to laugh at a lot of these special models though, often they remove 30kg and call it a "racing car" and charge you 30k more for it when you could go out and buy a lesser model, spend a day in the garage and remove 100kg and go the track and thrash them.

You think that's where the link is? I can see that working out quite well for BMW then. They should just run a 2JZ.

Who cares pop the hand brake and get the hell out of dodge before car "B" looks up from sipping his Mochacino. I apply this to most situations and it seems to be working out well.

Need to buy one of these today but don't know who sells them. Its this type that locks in and then screws and pushes at the same time. Hope Repco have one. Cheers

http://www.magandtyredirect.com/wheeldetail.php?rc=3410

Thought this sounded interesting. Never knew BMW and Toyota had a technical relationship, interesting that BMW are providing diesel engines for Toyota.. I wonder what BMW get back out of it, maybe assistance on how to build boring cars to take on VAG? http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/bmw-toy...0630-2190i.html