E30 325i Rag-Top

The E91 320i wagon in your list of possibles is certainly the best looking of the options you have there. However, even my biased viewpoint would probably have to admit the Golfs would have better performance and look to have a better level of interior spec (which is probably more important to your Mrs) for the same money.I would suggest you look at a 320d E91 if you can find one for similar money, the 2.0ltr petrol engine is bit of a slug in the E9x models and the diesel is a strong all rounder in terms of grunt and economy. My 2c.

The great thing about databases and computer systems is that all the information is in there - it's just a case of knowing where to look and how to find it. It's quite amazing the amount of info that can be stored and tracked, especially with the newer vehicles. Latest developments are in the field of doing it wirelessly - drive past your local BMW dealer and the car will "talk" to the servicing computers and it will work out if it needs a service or got a problem!! Big brother stuff??

Is the first aid kit all complete, has it been opened at all or still sealed in the original plastic wrapping? I guess you're selling the ash-tray thing that goes in the cubby-hole in the back of the arm-rest / console thingy as part of the whole thing? I seem to be missing the lift out bit.??

Engine is out of the car, only ID to go by is engine number. Would like to know the general condition of engine before pulling it to bits, just in case it doesn't need it to save time and money. Simples.

Bad. Very, very, bad.

The good news is the 323i did leave the factory as an M-Sport car, with the 337 M-sport pack built on it. This would by why it has the M door trims, etc. they weren't added. It would have had a 2.5ltr detuned M52 in it, the previous owner may have got a bit confused about the M-Power engine?? Again, this is still a pretty good specced car, for an E36. With the E34, it left the factory as a 520i. Whilst Schnitzer are a post-production "tuner" and add their bits on outside of BMW, I believe that they would tend to start with a fairly potent model, ie 540i and add their parts onto that, so it's unlikely they would have started with a 2.0ltr to build on. Plus it looks like it was a car that went to Japan where they have a fondness for sticking Alpina / AC Scnitzer / Hartge / Racing Dynamics badges on anything with four wheels.

It is very easy to get the rego sticker to "lie" about what the car is, you can write any old crap down on the car details sheet and that's what goes on the sticker.There were a lot of E36 models produced as "M-Sport" versions which had a very similar body kit to the M3s and "M" badges in the trims, etc. There was a 323i M-Sport in the UK for a while. Not M3s, but still nice cars. Quickest way to tell is the first three letters of the VIN number Hybrid mentioned, is it "WBA...." or "WBS....."

I would suggest you get these things clarified before people do the "trial", you could be leaving yourself open to all sorts of problems if it is not clear of the arrangement beforehand. Something in writing would be a good idea. You can pay a "training rate" which is less than the minimum wage per hour, but you would have to pay all the hours worked at that rate. This would require a clear training plan which includes tasks to be learnt, how it can be shown the task can be carried out correctly, etc. Could be worth talking to an employment law expert, or failing that check out the Department of Labout web-site, it's full of good and well written information.

Your best bet is probably to nicely ask someone who works for BMW ?

Agree 100%, well done that man.Now I am having an internal battle with myself about whether or not to buy it off you John, thank god I am not in Palmy any more and I'm further away, otherwise I would have been round already!! GLWS.. someone from BS please buy & restore this before I do.

This +1

Always wanted a 325i Tech 1... wish i had some cash at the moment. Nice score there, looks tatty but pretty straight from those pictures. As you say, all the important bits are there. Provided the bodywork isn't riddled with rust it should be very saveable, mechanicals are pretty straight forward. Please let me know if you are at the stage of wrecking it.. would be shame for it to be broken into parts.

VIN long WBAAB320X00859106 Type code AB32 Type 325I (EUR) Dev. series E30 () Line 3 Body type LIM Steering RL Door count 2 Engine M20 Cubical capacity 2.50 Power 0 Transmision HECK Gearbox MECH Colour DELPHIN METALLIC (184) Upholstery SCHWARZ LEDER (0203) Prod. date 1987-04-21 Order options No. Description 206 FUENF-GANG-SPORTGETRIEBE 209 LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL (25%) 215 POWER STEERING,DEPENDING ON ENGINE SPEED 288 LT/ALY WHEELS 300 ZENTRALVERRIEGELUNG ELEKTRISCH 314 HEATED WINDSCREEN WASHER NOZZLES 333 M TECHNIC SPORTPAKET 339 SATIN CHROME 350 WAERMESCHUTZGLAS GRUEN, RUNDUM 401 SLIDING/VENT ROOF, ELECTRIC 410 WINDOW LIFTS, ELECTRIC AT FRONT 464 SKIBAG 481 SPORT SEATS F DRIVER/FRONT PASSENGER 510 HEADLIGHT BEAM-THROW CONTR. F LOW BEAM 562 MAP READING LIGHT 704 M SPORT SUSPENSION 708 M-SPORT LEATHER STEERING WHEEL II 812 ENGLAND VERSION 845 Aggr. untersch., vorn 850 ADD FUEL TANK FILLING FOR EXPORT Has all the right option codes selected, the black headliner would be part of the 333 M Technic pack. I can't find model codes going back this far right now, and not sure if the M325 was a different model code to a normal 325. Looks pretty kosher to me though.

Most of these collection agents will have to be at least half decent and abide by a set of rules and the law of the land. There are other types of collection agents that don't operate within these confines, and are much less fun to deal with... a couple of friends from school ended up dealing with these types thanks to some very risky borrowing, didn't end well for either of them.

Are you doing requests for hi-res images???

Sorry, but this is incorrect, the M5 is loaded with options because that is the spec that we, BMW NZ, have set as the NZ standard. This is NOT the same for all markets, the factory spec for an M5 doesn't even have sat nav in it! We had a case today where a potential customer was comparing an NZ new against an import, which he had been told by the seller was "identical to NZ spec", whereas in fact it was missing $14,000 worth of options which are included in the NZ spec. This wonderful importer had also given a list of approx 15 "additional features" on his import that all apart from one were standard on an NZ new. I wonder what else he was overstating? We are constantly analysing our prices against all the competition in the market, and the grey imports is at the forefront of that, importing cars yourselves won't change that. However, once all the branded dealers have closed and BMW NZ is no more, where are you going to go for back-up? Those would be the same Jap imports that so many people have nightmare stories about due to the less honest dealers that brought in many of those cars. Activities that factory branded dealers would never consider due to the risk of losing their franchise. The idea is to react long before there is any market share lost, as I said before we constantly look at pricing, sales, etc. As for cruz control, I wish that was the case, even though we are performing well at the moment, the level of activity in our office is far from cruisy, and only going to get more frantic in the future.It is easy to bring in a grey import as a used car dealer and make a few bucks, when you don't offer any other part of the service, sales support, technical back up, servicing, repairs, etc. But someone still has to foot the bill for those services...

Yes... after Jamez gets out there with his shovel!!Will make a good track even betterer.. looking forward to it being finished.

That lovely 6er belongs to one of the BMWCC main men, and part time member on here (can't remember the login though) pretty sure it's not been bought and sold recently, just come out of hibernation for the summer. It is a lovely example of a very fine car, and I believe it has an M88 M5/M635 motor in it as well! If he's lurking I'm sure he'll tell us all about it...

Quite right, but so many 'facts' that are posted on this thread are incorrect that I need to put them straight. All this car dealers are robbing bastards and BMW are rolling in cash gets my back up.Just spent about an hour on a post and the my laptop lost the session, time for a lie down in a dark room...

I take it what you are saying is it's all one and the same? As it's all part of the same company? Unfortunately it's not that simple with large corporate organisations that have shareholders to keep happy. The whole is split into divisions so it is clearer as to what areas are performing well and which aren't, the 'who cares where the money is made it's all the same' approach doesn't come into it. Each section has to stand on it's own two feet and perform in it's own right and fight for it's own share of the ever-decreasing pie. GM was very nearly pulled under 10 years ago by the performance and legacies of a couple of it's tier one and tier two manufacturing divisions, in the end it had to spin 90% of its manufacturing off into a new company to simply survive at the loss of 1000s of jobs and billions of dollars. And even then it still wasn't in a healthy position as shown by the issues just a couple of years back. Not suggesting that BMW NZ could cripple the whole empire, but it is monitored just as closely as the rest of the company against the same targets. And sorry Clinton, but you are a long way off with that figure, but you are right about the fact the margin has to go towards the overheads of running the business, and as such cannot be considered as 'profit'.

Quite right, we are a wholesales & marketing organisation, as is Ford Of Europe (or whatever they call it these days) which will be where most of the cuts will be as they will be from salary staff, not the direct labour in the factories (which I believe are still in a seperate division).Wherever you sit in the automotive supply chain you get squeezed from every direction, by all sorts of issues, there is no respite and it's not a new phenomenon. As a business proposition, very few car companies stack up, especially when you look at the ROI and cost of capital employed!

Nice find! Steve Soper = living legend!

Why'd that? Too low? Possibly, depends on the exchange rate to a certain extent I would love to put up the exact numbers of what we have brought in so far, and what we have committed to over the next couple of years, but as I've just completed the Confidentiality training i'd better not ! Very good Westy, see what you did there! I love this perpetual belief that car companies are rolling in money, even after 20+ years in the business it still surprises me. I see from the UK news this morning that Ford are laying off 100s of employees in Europe due to a predicted $1bn loss this year..

On all models? Before or after over allowance on the trade in? or any discount of RRP?

Well, where to start? Biggest factor first - exchange rates, prices are locked in at the start of a model life-cycle, these cannot be adjusted every time there is a shift in the NZ v Euro exchange rate. Remember when everything came from Japan due to the Yen, now it's the UK due to the pound being in the poo.Yes, BMW USA (or whatever they are called) can get a better price from the factory due to their buying 10,000 M5s against BMW NZ buying 100, not a huge factor though. Specification is another factor, we add a number of high-end options onto the models as standard for NZ over and above most other markets, better to try and sell a high spec vehicle for slightly more than a "poverty pack" of the same car. Interesting point, how is this being done? BMW NZ is in the business of selling cars, treating people as muppets won't achieve that aim. Difference in cost of shipping for the volumes of cars BMW move wouldn't be anywhere near your figure, but as above that is not a main factor in the difference. If you're buying a car ex-UK then you will be limited to the colour / combo / specs that the dealers haven't been able to shift, it won't be the desirable cars that are being sold off. Used demos / approved cars would be limited in number. Buying new in NZ you have access to the full options list and can order the car in exactly the colour, interior and options you want and can choose, not have to take what is available. Personally I prefer to buy exactly what I want rather than buy somthing "close" as it's available slightly cheaper.As for NZ New cars having lower specifications, you should do a full comparison on some of these cars sometime and see the real story.