E30 325i Rag-Top

As Clarkson says Boxster = couldnt afford the 911 then??

Even though I have dumped the PoS Mitsi I still seem to have travelling dramas. Had this happen on the twiddly bit of the Desert Road last night about ten o'clock in the freezing rain.. Bugger can't upload photo from phone! Basically tyre wore through on the inside shoulder and popped! Need to get back to Aucks today as well, grrr! On the plus side no-one got injured and it could have been a lot, lot worse!!

Kudos for a really well executed build, and something a little different. Would love to throw an E30 M3 and a big pile of cash at those guys!

I've got a 325i (medium case?) diff in Palmy, I think the ratio is 3.64 or there abouts. Let me know if you're interested as it's moving to Auckland on Thursday!

To me it looks like the Lexus jumped up over the keening and kind of landed in through the door and window of the Pontiac(?) which would be a real weak spot in that design. She would still have been moving at a fair pace to get over the kerb and do that much damage! Probably more idiots tried to blame their similarly stupid accidents on imaginary throttle problems than admit they were texting!

Which is not necessarily a BAD thing.

Wouldn't the scrappy strip the parts off it before crushing it?

Wonder if it's a Nissan or a Honda?

Ha ha, harsh......but fair

The eight speed sports auto in the new F30 is a nice box, IMHO, 1st to 6th are pretty close for good acceleration, then the 7th and 8th are "over-drive" type ratios to improve the economy when cruising. It doesn't change up and down all over the place as you might expect either, plus there is a manual mode for when you want to have a bit of a hoon. Getting back to the original post, I am surprised by the quoted source of the information, quoting that kind of information before the official release date is a rather large no-no, especially for a fairly senior exec. Whatever the engine configuration, gearbox, size, weight, power, etc. two things are certain about the new M3 / M4 models 1) it will be a masterpiece 2) I will want one

I was speaking from my experience of two E36 M3 engines I worked directly on in the Uk that had this problem and one here in NZ that I know of first hand. Great thing about cars, engines, gearboxes, DMFs, there are plenty of well qualified and experienced people who will all have wildly differing opinions. It's part of what makes life interesting IMHO.

Enjoy your day - go mad!!

^^ bloody scalpers, should be shot!

^^ What he said, certainly on the S50 / S52 motors this was the case and unless ALL the reciprocating mass together is balanced extremely well by the engine builder it could have a tendency to fly apart. Probably only really applies to race / track cars - on a DD it shouldn't really be a problem, but then the benefits maybe not their for a DD either.

Do you still have the front bumper Allan or has it gone? Pics and a price if you still have it. Cheers.

Hats off to the fella for such an amazing set-up and collection. I wonder if he would let me wander around his amazing garage for an hour or two... Could easily spend days in that place just going through the parts bin. I doubt he would be looking to sell anything though..

Yes, it's in the road code but most people don't know it and that was before all the changes confused people even more! They have had to put extra signs on the turns in Wellington to try and get people to do this properly, as most don't know what to do and slow the traffic at junctions.

Don't worry there are more than enough buttons and iDrive menus to p*ss about with for many, many hours to keep you interested before you have to spray perfume about .IMHO it looks better in the flesh, certainly in colours like the Mineral Grey and Metallic Black and with the right wheels. M-sport kitted versions look even better. The long, low bonnet line is a result of the increasingly tough pedestrian impact regulations compromising any styling ideas at the front end. It won't be long and we'll have to have bonnets made out of matress material with pillows on just in case some person wants to jump out into the road.

Don't worry, the smelly stuff is totally seperate from the car, just another product being tried in the article. Although if there are enough enquiries I'm sure they will make it onto the option list. I might suggest some Male orientated fragrances as well, so everyone is catered for, something along the lines of beer, diff oil and napalm in the morning?

Good luck in your new role!

Have a good one fella. - paint the town red!

Oh Geoff, Geoff, Geoff, how we missed you at the dinner!

The ultimate hair-Dressers car in the Uk. XR3i wasn't a bad car overall but got a terrible reputation from the type of drivers it attracted. Pretty simple mechanically, the CVH engines were pretty reliable if not overly powerful only issue I can remember on mine was the hydraulic lifters failing. Fairly simple to fix. What's the hood like? Tended to get tatty quite easily and the electric ones used to play up a lot (if they were ever used that is!). Looks a pretty tidy example and very rare over here, this wasn't sitting under a sheet in Tuakau up until recently was it?

I have worked in the automotive industry in some shape or form for most of my 20+ years of working life, and during that time I have always found it interesting how the vast majority of people believe that car companies are making huge profits. It may have been reported that BMW has just announced record first quarter profits, but when you consider the amount of capital employed to make that profit the return is miniscule, you would be better off putting your money in a bank! Yes cars are expensive items to buy, probably second only to a house for most people, but the profit margins involved are much, much lower than most other industries, even in the Premium Brand / Luxury markets. The cost of developing new models or even new technologies (which are then copied with no contribution by the lower end of the market) is astronomical and is often overlooked in the equation. If Holden spent over AU$1 BILLION on the VE Commodore, how much do you think a new 3-series or 5-series would cost? Then try and recover the costs of that development over the smaller production volumes... Or you could try speaking to a dealer about the huge profits they are making on new cars and see what kind of reaction you get.

HB El Presidente! Organising the track day for you Birthday - genius!!