E30 325i Rag-Top

How many of those 300 Mannheim rentals actually had bids on them or even sold? I take it you are referring to one of the Mannheim dealer only auctions, not public auctions? Not many used car dealers out there feeling flush and buying up cars at the moment that’s for sure. One ex-rental auction in the recent past sold one car, with very few bids on anything. It’s one thing to try and sell but another to find a buyer that will meet the reserve. The fact that these cars pass through a number of sets of hands before ending up with someone driving it away also delays the supply into the market, and every one is trying to make a dollar on the way through. Longer the cars sit, with money tied up in them, then the asking price will slowly drop as people want them shifted, but takes time. The area of the market trying to move cars on right now are the direct importers from Japan, as they had cars on the yard and on the way when lockdown hit, so they are well over stocked. Lots of “Sales” and offers in this part of the market.

Yes, the rental fleets in NZ are now very much over stocked for the level of demand (unless you are Jucy...) but that won't necessarily result in a massive flood of dirt cheap cars hitting the market. The rental company will have worked out a price it needs for the sale of the cars when they are no longer required, whist they might let them go for slightly under that value due to corona, etc. they are not going to drop their pants and lose heaps on each one. they have other options to either keep them on for a longer period or other places they can sell them, i.e. the top level (new car) rental companies will pass them on to the second level (not quite so new) fleets, and so on.

^^This. It's not as if the distance has suddenly jumped back 80,000kms and then stayed there. Looks very much to me like it's a mis-read of the odo or the form when it's been typed in, which is the most usual reason.

Can vouch for the fact your dog looks the part! As you say very brave or desperate person to do that. Totally sucks to have your privacy invaded like that and your peace of mind destroyed, that can’t be replaced by insurance company.

Yes, he certainly knew his stuff with turbos. He disappeared completely for a while, not even answering his phone from what I understand. He was on a lot of other forums and facebook groups that I visit and disappeared from those as well. Whilst bimmersport can get a little unruly from time to time (see above...) some of the Facebook groups are just brain damage, for every half intelligent post on there you get a hundred posts of "nah g, my cuzzie did it for half that price and it's all gudz" or some rubbish. I think it was that kind of thing that really got to Steve, and in the end he said, and even posted somewhere I think, "I've got more than enough business to keep me busy, so I don't need to keep arguing with Facebook experts" which is fair enough. The word of mouth reputation for Steve and his existing customer base will keep him more than busy, but as you say its a shame his advice that he was happy to give free of charge is no longer available.

From what I understand with Steve the issue was a general one with other posters disagreeing with him, rather than the admins. Might be wrong as I was not directly involved. 3pedals is not banned or blocked from what I can see, pretty sure he did storm off in a huff.

The tongue load isn’t that great on the factory swing away due to the design unfortunately.

As a general point it is worth mentioning what constitutes being “offensive”. It is not a case of whether the person posting finds it offensive, but whether others reading the same post might do so. To avoid issues it is better to err on the side of safety and set a slightly lower bar. Hell, if I used my own personal standards of what’s offensive then there would be hardly any members. The chances of a small Kiwi web-site being involved in legal action over what is posted is pretty remote I would suggest. However, there is still a moral obligation to prevent offence being caused, whether intentional or accidental.

You seem to forget that I tried to do that very thing, but you then responded with an abusive rant. At that point it was clear that there was no reasoning with you. The fact that other members had both called you out on your comments and raised reports on them would suggest that action was necessary. After numerous posts had been edited, not just yours, gentle reminders and general warnings had been put in the thread you still carried on. Was always a slippery slope when the thread moved from how lockdown was affecting peoples lives into politics. FWIW I didn’t touch any account settings, wouldn’t even know how to tbh. Thought you’d packed a sad and taken your ball home with you.

A point to watch out for, not all X5 are rated for 3.5t towing, car needs to have option “Increased Towing Capacity” code 223 or 233 I think it was. Usually combined with 3AC the factory tow bar. Beefs up a few areas of the car, especially the cooling systems.

That used to be the case Matt, but South Africa is now X3 production not 3-Series due to the changes in demand. It will upset the purists, but there is now more demand for the SUVs than the passenger car models. South Africa has produced a couple of different body shapes, since the end of Apartheid I'm talking, I know they made some 3 Series Coupes as well as the sedans in the E46, including some CSLs. Not sure about wagons though. New factories seem to be popping up all over the place, so more characters being added to the list all the time. The last 7 digits of the VIN that have been used to identify vehicles up to now, have to be all 17 characters as all the combinations of the last 7 have now been used up.

Didn’t include the Snifter.. Fiji Green E36 4 Door race car.

Would strongly suggest a hoist...

I believe he sold the B7S Dan, went overseas I think.

Great set-up on an E30, works really well and doesn't need massive wheels to fit. Highly recommended! Did you refurb the calipers or were they done before you bought them? I am looking for a rebuild kit for mine.

I would say it is more Simmons tax than E30 tax, quite sought after in NZ / AU and real premium wheels. Tbh BBS RS on an E30 are over-done and too many reps around now. These are a bit different, although not my cup of tea. I’m on the hunt for some retro JPS style gold Simmons for the race car if anyone spots some let me know!!

Things to look out for... - Buying cars that can’t be complied in NZ ( happens a lot, plus new ESC rule just come in) - Additional costs at compliance. It’s not just a WoF check so likely to get a few things to replace - on later cars GPS and Nav updates will need to be done. Other than that it could be a good time to buy, low demand in Japan should give some low sale prices. Not sure what the exchange rate is doing. I’ll leave the Jap Import Bingo for the others... and go!

If you don't want to change the fluid and take the cover off then Glenn (B.M.W. Ltd)'s method above is spot on, not too hard a way to check your ratio and pretty reliable. Might not tell you if it's definately an LSD as wheels will turn together for an open case diff in the same way if there is nothing binding in the diff or axles, but will definately give you an accurate measure of your ratio. Tags on diffs often get changed or lost, so it's not always 100% that the tag reflects whats inside the diff housing. Seen some sneaky ones where "S" tags have been put on open case LSDs to sell them, never the other way around though.

I think it all depends on your definition of fun... the way you describe the M135i you want to build and that you mention the word drift would suggest to me you are better off looking at an M135i to build up how you want it. The M3 would probably be a more capable car in most situations, however with the 135i being smaller and lighter it would feel more "fun" to drive I would suggest. Both good cars, and a great balance between a daily driver and a track car.

Model code from the VIN is KS42, which is a normal xDrive30d, not a Blue Performance version. Interstingly the car is listed (and registered) as a 35d, which it's not - first picture on the listing is the xDrive30d badge on the side. That, plus 2* trader with a $1 reserve auction smells a bit fishy to me.

Not allowed to call it “champagne” any more, the French complained - unbelievable!!

Yup, the joys of used imports, can write any old bollocks on the form and the person at the counter just types it into the MVR. Hence the “318i M3” Regos. The best / most accurate way I think is to filter by key features, such as engine size, age, body style / number of doors, etc then see what’s left that roughly resembles 635. One thing to note is that the CarJam numbers only include cars where the owners have not made details “private”, so it’s not all cars in NZ.

The mix between petrol and diesel changed a lot during the lifecycle of the F31. xDrive was not available from launch so the early cars were 318d, 328i and 335i models. When xDrive came in the 320d xDrive and 330d xDrive models were offered as well as the original petrols. These were then the majority of sales for quite a while, to the point where the other three were dropped from the offer. In the final year a 320i model was brought in as an entry level and a 340i with local fit M Performance kit. When I get chance I will pull the figures for each across the whole life span for comparison.

Thanks for the details. With that engine and brakes it’s not eligible for the BMW Race Series E30 Class, but it can enter the 2.0ltr Championship which is very popular, more cars than E30s at some meetings. Being suitable for a popular class helps with demand, no point having a race car with nobody to race against. Would it be worth more if you got it re-registered, possibly but not more than the costs of the rego process I would suggest. In normal circumstances I would have said $8k asking was a good price, comparing with the other E30 race cars for sale. However with Covid it’s all a whole new world, so who knows..?

Well spotted Sherlock! The E36 M3, even the Evo still only had the single piston sliding calliper arrangement so that could be correct. However, they did have the floating rotor on the Evo for heat dissipation, plus the rotors on this one look a bit undersized to me. Wheels look to be 17”s for my reference. Might be cheaper replacement single piece rotors, but should still be same sized... odd.