E30 325i Rag-Top

What a remarkable achievement - spending $20k on an M20, even the guys that have got really tricked up race M20s in the Race Series have struggled to get up to $20k for a build, so someone must have seen him coming when they charged him for this job - $7,500 in labour for an M20... really?

Do you want to drive it as a road car? Need to check the emissions level for the M3, not sure if it is Euro4 which you would need in order to get it complied.

The stripes I could live with, but those side skirts...? No way. Makes the rear overhang look all wrong, low sill line flowing into a high as arse end. Needs a rear skirt to balance it up.

Fark!! What brakes is it running if they fit under 14" rims...

There were hardly any options to choose on an NZ New 1M, everything was included in the base price. The Valencia (?) orange paint was a new colour for the 1M but cost the same as black / grey / white, etc. This may not have been the case in other markets. If you are getting your info from the net, check which country it refers to when they call these features "options".

Didn't the M1 have an M88 engine in it...? Not an M car.. Car has to be "engineered" by BMW M GmbH to gain the "WBS...." vin stamp. Agree about the M140i, M50d, etc M-Performance stuff, great cars but just too confusing to most of the customers.

Changing the drive settings to RWD doesn't change the traction control necessarily, however, pressing the M1 button that is configured to turn it off will do... Then giving it full beans away from the lights in the damp & cold will catch out the unwary, allegedly. Didn't cost much per km as it was covered by insurance, so just the excess. As they broke the expensive end as well as the good end it was declared a write off. Lots of expensive bits in that front quarter need to be replaced and I doubt you will find them in Zebra for a while. Might come back to life though if someone has the $$$ and the skills.

The white one was the DTM Edition GTS, which made it four GTS in total.

There was something else that was bugging me about the car, and I have finally managed to realise what it is.. the wheels have been changed from the factory GTS rims that it had originally, and the ones that have been added don't look as good to me. I wonder 1) why were they changed and 2) if the dealer has them to include in the sale. Personally I would think this reduces the value of the car as it's no longer "stock" in terms of it's overall collectability as they were a GTS specific wheel. Maybe I could use that as a negotiating tactic to get the car down to a price I can afford?

None of the NZ New cars were used as demos or track cars, all went straight to customers. This one has been through quite a few pairs of hands already, traded against other high-performance cars. The original Sport Cup tyres would have been pretty well gone after 6,000kms of moderate driving. Don't know much about the Nexen range (I'm sure it varies a lot from budget to performance) but not putting the original rubber on would look like a penny pinching excercise. Something to check further on a car like this.

I think the rental companies BMW deal with a lot are Sixt and Europcar, maybe try those two if you really want a bimmer. M240i is a great car, if Sam hasn't got much luggage, I hope you aren't looking for a 2 Series Active Tourer, or I will have to disown you as a friend!!

There are quite a few specialists that do luxury / performance models - all the way up to Ferrari and Lamborgini models if you have the coin. For my wedding I hired a (new at the time) E36 328i convertible to match my god mother's E36 325i convertible, from an outfit near Euston station was a few moons ago though so I am not sure if they are still in business. Not sure about P2P rental, but I do believe some of the larger BMW dealerships do rental services.

No manuals brought in or ordered through official channels, I haven't even seen an import in manual. With the DCT being such a great gearbox why would you want to have a rowing boat? Plenty of Competition Pack cars, over 40 in total - been around for a while. Even a few of the limited "CS" version in country now.

Tom (m3_power) is the man for CSL info and parts, he had an intake in the For Sale section not long ago, might still be available..?

Head unit in the 116d look to be the Business CD player, but it looks to have a different shaped faceplate. Question is, will the handsfree work with the Business CD, and is the faceplate shape an issue with swapping over the head units?

X6 M also just crept over reserve, at just north of $100k IIRC. I wasn't overly interested in the Aston Martin tbh, not even sure if that got to reserve?

sorry, I don't know, I wasn't watching the bidders IDs. This CS is very easy to spot as it's a one off, will be interesting to see see where or if the others pop up.

There is only one in NZ in that colour, so yup it's the one and the same. I wonder what they did to justify the $50 price hike? That's one expensive spit and polish to put it on the yard.

I don't think the M2 met reserve, but it was very close so a deal was trying to be struck behind the scenes. The reserve price slips my memory at the moment...

You have pm

i'm keen on the handsfree kit, and will check to see what headunit is in the wife's new car. would take the head unit as well if I don't have the professional already.

M4 CS just made it over reserve at $130k ouch. $115k depreciation over 455kms, over $230 per km.

All sounds a bit odd, if you found the engine and gearbox, wouldn't you buy it and put it in the car? If not why not? And is it THE engine and gearbox that the car left the factory with, right engine number (the old "numbers matching" thing) or just the right series engine and gearbox? Makes all the difference on these type of collectors cars. The Q&A section is a bit of a giggle if you can be bothered to read all the comments!

Just need a bloody big cable to get the power from the bottom of South Island all the way up to Auckland where are the EVs will be plugged in! There is actually a pretty good document on Transpower's web-site documenting the network planning for the next few years which does include a factor for EVs. It's a bit out of date, published in 2015, but at least there is some sort of demand forecast and plan to meet it - which makes a change!!

Isn't there a power station by the smelter to supply its juice? Not ideal to then try and distribute that power all over the country for EVs. However I do get your point, how many cars on charge = 1 smelting line I wonder?