E30 325i Rag-Top

Well, it's obviously not as good as an E30 325i vert... And apart from the fact it's not my cup of tea what do you want to know? I'll see what's in the records..

Have seen issues with how much the engine and box move around in a race car running standard mounts. Not sure it would be worthwhile in a road car though?

MPI check is not an issue on newer cars, unless it is from some high-risk area. It does seem to be bit of a rort though, I've been charged for steam cleaning and removal of trims that clearly never happened. Don't under estimate the cost of work required to meet compliance either, if it's an older car. Check the excess on your insurance as well, some shippers aren't interested if the car is damaged and just refer you to your insurer.

Yeah, the pictures are poor. Blue colour makes it interesting, especially if it is Macao Blue (can't quite tell from potato photos). sh*t pod filter is a warning sign though..

Depends what is covered in the "shipping" fee, is it a door to door price or purely the sea freight? All sorts of charges, MPI, port handling, etc. On top of the sea freight cost. Check what is included.

Wow, that is a serious peice of plate you have put in there Rich!!

VIsual is the only way really, short of taking them off and getting them put on a shock / spring tester which is a PITA. Have you used the boot of the car for storage of some heavy parts for a long time? Can cause sagging of the back end? The rear E30 King Spring is designed so that the end coils can compress up inside the main coils, giving extra length of compression and avoiding getting coil-binding. This does give more travel on the back end before it comes to a physical stop, not sure if that should give the symptoms you are describing though? Even with my rears set to fully soft I have never (that I can remember) noticed a big problem with squat, but then as a race car it has absolutely bugger all weight in the back end compared to a road car with seats, spare tyre, jack, etc, even before you load in a couple of big mates. That could be the difference possibly, the race spring is set up for a lighter rear than for a road car??

^^The original question you posed, very dismissive of the Chinese market IMHO. Response: Factual response about size of Chinese market, also giving examples of the influence of this market can have on manufacturers and their product, including BMW. Develops into philosophical discussion about wealth, greed and money - somehow. I'll have some of what you're on Ron, it would appear to be some of the best hallucinogens on the market today. Peace out homies. FYI, cut and paste from e-mail sig: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft Vorstand: Harald Krüger (Vorsitzender), Milagros Caiña Carreiro-Andree, Klaus Draeger, Friedrich Eichiner, Klaus Fröhlich, Ian Robertson, Peter Schwarzenbauer, Oliver Zipse. Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: Norbert Reithofer Sitz und Registergericht: München HRB 42243 --------------------------------------------------------------------

It's like trying to punch fog.

So tempted to buy these wheels, just a little bit worried about tyre size availability for a 16" rim, as opposed to the wide range of sizes available on 17" I would be looking to run these on the race car when I go to 5-Stud, does anyone have knowledge of the 16" rim sizes of semi-slicks / slicks and price comparison with 17s? sorry just being lazy and asking rather than looking. Ideally I would be looking for a width greater than 205 as that is what am running on my 15" rims, so at least 215 if not 225? I do / will have the flared M3 guards to give extra clearance for the wider tyres and wheels.

Thanks for clarifying impugn, but it was the other errrors in the statement that were confusing. BMW Gmbh ? and "appraisel" ? BMW is an "AG" not a "Gmbh" although M Division is Gmbh which is where your confusion may be coming from?

Que..?

Hmm, something doesn't seem quite right there. Have you checked your shocks and the springs to see if they are ok and not overly tired?

Are we into a philosophical debate now... this reply is not a reply to your post? So is this reply to your reply an actual reply or not as your reply isn't either? Why else does any company exist than to make money, the only thing that differs is the way they do it. From what I have seen it is always a good idea to invest in products that the buyers want, rather than what internet experts tell them that they should make. Even if they do already make it... or not.

It was a great car when Kerry built it up, it's been through a few sets of hands now from what I have seen on TardMe, so not sure how good it is now. It has sold at around that price before.

4 sh*t photos to try and sell such a great car..??

Based on... being the largest car market in the world (by a considerable margin) and the largest luxury car market now as well. The car volumes involved in China are mind blowing. Audi have put many of their eggs in to the China basket and rely heavily on that for their volume growth, hence there is a desire to meet the needs of this market. There are also many, many models produced by BMW and their Chinese partner that you will never see in NZ, or outside of China at all for that matter, all driven by the particular needs of the Chinese market. One single market that has enough sales volume to justify the build, of not one or two but very, very many specific models. Doesn't matter how old their driving culture is, it is much more significant how many Chinese are going to their dealer and buying a car, at the end of the day in any industry or business it is the money that talks and those spending it are the people that matter, not the internet critics (unless it's Clarkson of course).

Unlikely, the list of affected cars is only showing for the passenger air bag are the E46. If in doubt, give your local dealer a shout.

Oh how I wish the factory would build another M5 wagon to take it to the RS6! Strong signs the new M5 is going to be in xDrive format only (and no manual - sorry Ron!), but with the power figures getting huge putting it down on the ground becomes the issue. With an xDrive M5 platform available a touring wouldn't be that hard to justify surely?? Please, pretty please...

A cheap M5 is like cheap Motorsport, an oxy-moron.

Does it do mean skids bro? Free bump for a GC!

As we drive on a different side of the car to the americans, then it is quite possible we do get different air bags to them, especially in the case of the passenger airbag with the dashboard being a different shape / handed to the car. All recalls and quality issues are always handled on a batch traceability process, so a faulty air bag is traced back to the batch it was made in, then the rest of that batch is traced through to the actual cars that they went into. In some cases it can be a handful of cars only, with these air bags it is a wider issue. Once the VINs of the cars are known, then that information is sent out to the BMW companies around the world, and from the local records the owners are contacted. This obviously requires the owners and their cars to be known to BMW, and their details up to date. Many of the imports have never been near a BMW dealership so there is no information. In extreme cases the NZTA will release drivers details for a recall, but due to people running scared of privacy laws this hardly ever happens.

I think you are getting a bit confused here Ron, there is no such thing as "sports line" suspension, there are only: standard, M-Sport and adaptive. M-Sport suspension can be changed back to standard if required, which again, is what most customers do want. Plenty of M-Sport suspension cars out there to drive though.

Rotors work fine well below minimum thickness as well, unless you take it on the track regularly or drive everywhere flat out like a rally driver!