E30 325i Rag-Top

Yup, agree, tends to be the day after it’s been foggy, forget to turn them off. not sure if some other brands have only one switch to turn on fogs, so when they put the fronts onto look cool they also turn on rears?

Please stop putting the previous post in as a quote. You only need to add a quote if you are referring back up the thread. Thanks.

Idiots driving in fog, with NO lights on. I'm not even asking for you to be lit up light a Christmas tree with every single bulb possible lit up, all I would like is just some small inkling of brightness so I can see your silver econobox coming for a little bit further than 20metres away from the intersection. Even a side light would be a start - or an interior light, I don't care, just something, please. Luckily it's the school holidays at the moment, so there is much reduced traffic around in the mornings and as a result there was not the usual chaos caused by these dumbasses having an accident on a crowded road network. Did make it seem even weirder in the fog though, was like some post-apocalyptic dystopian future.

Yup, the 318is would certainly fit into the collectors category and would be well up there in terms of desirability. With the NZ New, low kms combo, and great condition I would think your estimate is in the right place - might take a while to find the right buyer, but certainly do-able.

Yeah, that really sucks. I guess they took the whole car to take the rims off somewhere else and then torched it to get rid of any fingerprints, etc. That really is a scumbag thing to do, you never mess with a man's wheels. All that pain and aggravtion through destroying someone's pride and joy to take a couple of grands worth of wheels and tyres so you can sell them for a couple of hundred. Should be a death penalty for that kind of sh*t.

Which takes us into another part of this subject - the modfied E30s, whilst there are collectors of M3s, M325is, Alpinas, etc. I am not so sure the very low Kms poverty spec 318i Autos that come up can be advertised for very high prices as they are "collectors cars", on the other hand does an engine swap or other mods increase the value of an E30 over factory? A lot would depend on the quality of the work done, and how well it has been finished off, but everything else on the car being equal, would an E30 with a 2.5 24v swap be worth more / less than a factory 325i?

Ahh, right, gotcha. I must remember this saying when I am about to start counting the rivets on something.... in my defence it is usually when someone says "totally original" or "un-modified collectors car" when it has clearly been changed. if that helps.

Just makes me think “if they don’t care about something as obvious as the seats, what about all the unseen stuff..”? Also I have a thing about tyres, if they fit cheap shitty tyres, then what else do they scrimp on? (Not saying this car has this, just saying).

I would have a real problem paying anywhere near that money for an E30 with a ripped & worn driver’s seat that doesn’t even match the rest of the interior. *Disclaimer - M3, M325i, Alpina, etc. excepted. Pluses: Coupe, manual, 15” weaves, preventative maintenance but still does not come close.

Insurance companies are very quick to go for the “illegal modifications” or “undeclared modifications” get outs for paying up on claims. Whether it is related to or caused the accident / claim or not.

As above, easy enough to get a dodgy WoF, if you really want to. However, the Insurance Assessors are much more clued up should you be involved in an accident, and if it's serious the Accident Investigation team, who will pick it up and then you are in a whole world of pain.

Yup, you can tell there's a heatwave... it's raining but people are wearing t-shirts.

I know what a flat-cap is, but I'm not so sure about the "rivet counter" part. Intrigued to know what one of those is..??

You can’t mix RFT and non-runflat on whole car NOT just per axle. It’s different to tread pattern and construction, check the VIRM.

I know what you mean about the noise from the Potenzas, the coarse chip (or should that be cheap chip) that is getting more and more prevalent on North Island roads is very noisy to drive over. That said to compare with the M cars on the Michelins I would say that the noise from the Michelins is WORSE on the same stretch of road than the Potenzas. Now, some of that could be due to a slightly lower profile in some situations - but not always. Grip wise I have very rarely got to the limits of the Potenza, and only on track for the Michelin. So yes, you would get a bit more grip right at the limit, but I would suggest there may not be much of an improvement in noise, if any. Any one got a car with the right size Michelins on it for a back to back test?

Slave would be my guess, water pools in there and rusts the bore when not in use. Then when you start using it the hardended seal gets ripped on the rusted bit. Look for fluid dripping from the bottom of the gearbox bellhousing. Easy enough and cheap enough to replace.

That is very cool. ** starts browsing the web for E21s for sale... aargh!!

No, you should sell it to me, now, as the market is at peak E30. But seriously, that is very much a keeper even if it needs work. To Graham’s point above, I find it very hard to see an E30 being north of $10k value when it has ripped seats, a cracked dash, and missing or broken trims. Which I see quite a lot. Hence my question on this post.

325i manual for $15k https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2212985628&rsqid=8fa76d71f17b4fb29e50e2b9a1ba1711-003 Or a SA built 325i Auto for $9.5k https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-2212057356.htm?rsqid=5a4c0d075cb545519602894040040ce5-003 I know there has been an E30 tax for a long time, and M3s and M325i have been above this level for a long time, but is this really the price level of 4-door 325i now? OK they are listed at these prices but have not sold yet. I've been amazed at some of the prices I am seeing on E30s on Facebook groups, etc. and these were a couple of the highest asking prices. Hopefully this is actually a true reflection and I should be increasing the insurance on my E30s, and horde of junk valuable spare parts.

Each to their own, taste is always a matter of personal opinion. Whilst neither car is to my cup of tea, I can understand the desire to modify. The fact that the X5 is painted not wrapped is outstanding!!

Ahem, LCI please!

M140i has always come with "performance" tyres for NZ, all the way back to M135i they have had sports tyres, usually the Michelins. Were you looking at overseas information or NZ stuff?

As with a lot of the NZTA information, the data is very messy and trying to pull info this specific is not easy. The only Z4s with an engine larger than 2.5ltr recorded as manuals are M Roadsters, however, there are a lot of vehicles with "not recorded" against the transmission type, so some of those could be manuals. Lots of Z4s do not specify whether they are the Roadster or the Coupe - some are Roadstar some are Convertable (?) and the recorded body style of "Sports Car" combines all variety of Z4s, so taking out what is definately not a coupe first registered from 2006 to 2009 gives a total of 108 cars that COULD be Coupes and COULD be manuals. I highly doubt that even a fraction of them are both Coupe and Manual though, sorry it cannot be more specific. This is what happens when used cars, and used imports in particular can be registered as whatever you want to write on the form and half the information can be left off the sheet. The best one in the list was listed as "Z4 A GREEN ONE" - genius!

Filled a few more fibreglass holes, sanded filler, opened up a few more holes, which I filled then sanded.... repeat ad nauseum. Now trying to convince my inner perfectionist that this is supposed to be a RACE car, and not a SHOW car and to stop trying to produce an A-Class surface finish out of cheap FRP panels. Need to win this argument soon, for the sake of my sanity!

All NZ new 3-Series sedans from that era through to the end of 2018 would be SA built (with the odd exception). No difference to the Munich assembled versions, you would not be able to tell without checking the VIN information. The SA factory is a "full" BMW assembly plant, and a lot of components are locally sourced. Not like the CKD (Completely Knocked Down, ie kit assembly factories) that exist in other markets like Thailand, Malaysia, etc.