E30 325i Rag-Top

The workshops’ main functions were for training of technicians and service staff, plus the preparation and maintenance of the head office fleet of vehicles. Thanks There was also a bit of “homework” done after hours, but H&S put a stop to that.. The circle car park with the blue and white fountain was a great feature, displaying the vehicles wonderfully. Not sure about the naming rights sorry, but will find out soon enough. Have heard lots about the coffee, but being a Pom I prefer a cup of tea and am too tight to pay when there’s a perfectly good coffee machine 💰!!

After a number of decades for the company, and over a single decade for me personally, today is the last day for BMW Group NZ operating out of the “BMW building” in Pacific Rise, Mount Wellington. From next week BMW NZ HQ will be out of smart new offices in the Mercury Building in Newmarket. Mixed feelings moving out of such an iconic building, synonymous with BMW, but onwards and upwards into the next phase.

When it’s the 8-speed auto-magic in a road car (even a weekend fun drive car) then no problem. And, whilst beauty is always in the eye of the beer-holder, the E87 isn’t exactly a timeless looker is it.?

You would find yourself very surprised if you were selling LWB 7 Series in NZ then (Jacinda’s Povo spec taxi fleet aside).

If you had all the parts already just laying around then it could be worthwhile. Especially if you want something different, or “built not bought” as the homies say. Otherwise you’d just buy an F20 M135i wouldn’t you..? Better chassis, better engine, easy to tune or modify…

I think you are referring to the Adaptive Lights if it is swivelling and moving the lit area, much more advanced than high-beam assist which is just auto dipping of high beam. With hi-beam assist it works pretty quickly 9 times out of 10, with the 10th time being cars coming from around a corner or bend in the road then it takes time to react. This can result in being flashed. Never had a problem with the Adaptive Lights - either following someone else or on-coming vehicles. Are your lights Xenon’s or LEDs or even Laserlights? Had a lot of people flash me when in an X3/X5/X7 with LEDs on low beam, as they are WAAAY brighter than most other lights and high up. I just flash them back to show that I was not on high beam…

sh*t, yeah, no idea what that video is supposed to be all about, very cringeworthy. Unfortunately, the proper “Motorsport” department is now only a small part of the overall M division. However, if things like that sell more M cars and keep the Motorsport side funded then I’ll take it as a necessary evil. In terms of those weights, was that what you saw from putting yours over some scales?

How much lighter was the E46 version than the standard M3..? 110kg seems to be the quoted figure. So that extra 10kg difference makes it a “L” ..? Ok, I look forward to the final kerb weights being confirmed.

Aren’t there two big cables under the Cook Straight already? I’m not saying send the power from Tiwai to Auckland, but it’s a supply grid, use that capacity for SI and then any spare can move north until it gets to Auckland (simplistic and very non-scientific explanation, sorry). Yes, they arrive home after 5pm but most chargers have a timer function for when you want it to start and stop so you can choose low rate periods. Agree, home charging doesn’t work for everyone (here’s a tip don’t use an extension lead!!) that is where workplaces or possibly public chargers enter the equation. It is worth pointing out that not EVERY EV needs to be charged EVERY night. Traffic stats show very few people travel more than 100kms in a day. With 600km range that’s a charge once a week. Yes, there are new factors to be considered and some clever solutions to be found, but I’m afraid it is not a joke it is very real and it’s already happening. There have been over 5,500 NEW electric vehicles put on the roads in NZ this year already. Not including all the used Japanese import Leafs (Leaves?) coming in.

Rules on RUCs on EVs have been in place for a long time. EVs are subject to RUC, there has been an “exemption” in place for a number of years and was until either a set date or the total number of EVs on the road reached a certain percentage. The end date has been moved out a couple of times but it has now been stated it won’t move again, iirc it’s some time in 2023. Cost of electricity + RUC will still be way cheaper per km than petrol or diesel. As for the supply grid, a lot rests on the closure of the smelting plant down south freeing up a lot of capacity. With the vast majority of charging done at home the flexibility is there to use “off-peak” periods.

In the case of the CSL it’s the safety stuff that still weighs in, most of the luxury is gone - manual front seats, no rear seat, very few Driving Assistance features. The best direct comparison the “cooking” M4 Comp RWD and the CSL is about 100kgs lighter. Which should be noticeable, same as having a reasonably large passenger jump in/out.

There’s been a real bad harvest in Brazil I believe, which has pushed the price of beans through the roof as Qube mentioned above. Luckily I’m a Pom and drink tea mostly and whether it’s batch roasted barista or home made Nespresso tastes much the same to me 😳. If it were the price of batch brewed Hazy IPAs going up, then I would be in a whole world of hurt..

Box of goodies arrived from Vink Motorsport for the race car, so that is nice. Also came with the added extras of a bit more enthusiasm and determination to crack on and get it finished.

That may be the case for yourself, and a few others on Bimmersport. However, in terms of the BMW buying public then it’s a very different story, order bank is out into next year and growing. Most of the orders I have seen are trading a fairly new BMW so they are BMW owners as well. The “BMW owner” group in NZ is vast and wide, Bimmersport, Simply BMW NZ, E30 club, BMWCC all cater for various sub-sets but there are still lots out there that are outside of these communities.

Most customers are aware of the situation, but there are some really entitled twats out there as well. “You want to know exactly when it will arrive Sir? Certainly, I’ll just phone the people in Ukraine that we are waiting on and see if they can hurry it along”

There’s probably a reason the items weren’t in stock and probably the same reason they are still not in stock. Parts supply worldwide is still absolutely stuffed, from raw material shortages, production delays and transport issues. They probably haven’t replied as they have no idea when they will be getting the parts in, as the supplier cannot say when they will be ready.

“I am trying to sell the car dear, it’s on TradeMe and everything, just not getting any interest”..?

Because you all know Tech I > Tech II

Great question - a few have been sitting in there for some time, I see the flipped M325I Tech 1 is back on again for silly money. Of those which sell its impossible to tell which have sold for asking or near the ask price.

There’s always two sides to every story, and that’s one side. The other side of the story reads quite differently, but no point re-hashing that now. And as the saying goes “the truth is somewhere in the middle”. As someone said above there are no winners in all off this.

The good news is that after measuring up with the trusty eye-crometer it looks like the bolt holes are the same for both the Tech 1 and the lip, so if I’m not happy with the result it’s easy to swap over. My only concern is the Tech 1 will look a bit much without the matching rear skirt - which I also really want but that’s another issue..

I think it went for under $7k in the end, I would put that firmly in the “bargain” category..

Could be great news that it’s been found, fingers crossed for you that there is minimal damage, and it’s covered by insurance. Sucks that no car insurance wants to cover consequential losses for all the stuffing around you have to do to get things sorted. Any word on how they managed to take it? Anything from the CCTV?

Actually got to do some work on the race car today, for the first time in ages! Have cleared a number of other jobs off the to-do list, so the race car is back to the (near) top. First jobs were to move the pile of bits off the top of it, so I could actually get to work on it, and then too vacuum all the dust and sh*t off - it’s amazing how much crap gets under the bonnet, even with it down!

What are your current tyre set-up, how old are they how much tread on them etc? Also, what are all the bushes, etc like in the suspension? Shocks and springs good? I’d be looking at stuff like that before throwing new wheels and tyres at it, and the things M3AN listed above?