elmarco

What do you mean struggles to start? Does it crank OK but not fire? Or does it not crank? I think you need to get it looked at by a BMW specialist - it could be any number of things. Could be battery related, or it could also be a failing starter motor, poor connection to the battery or another electrical gremlin (like the reverse interlock). Not sure if these needed the computer being reset for a new battery or not - that 'function' might have been introduced on the later models.

They also require studded tyres in winter in Finland which makes life a hell of a lot safer - unless you get run over... Studded tyres are gruesome on the road surface though - they (the road that is) just get torn to pieces.

I have had that rattle in the past on a Golf. It was just the spring clip allowing the pad to rattle up and down in the caliper.

Old school alarm? Is it only on the drivers door?

This is truly epic... The breakfast of champions.

Easy fix - turn off the U-Boat mode. It's a feature that BMW installed in case they had to take the North Atlantic by stealth...

Sell it to Aslan - he seems to be looking for a project like this...

There isn't a leak somewhere is there? I've seen a 50% reduction in fuel consumption when the hole in the gas tank was plugged....

Whoaback - this is only slightly better than the other one you looked at. The brakes and A/C alone could run you $1500 let alone the cooling problems. I wouldn't touch it with yours... I would be looking at a different finance company, upping the budget or different cars in that case.

Yes washers are required under the ECE rules for lighting (which is what the most of the worlds vehicle regs are based on). You might have got away with it for SAE marked lamps as their regulations don't require washers - but then they don't have the correct dip profile for RHD cars. What about speaking to someone like Ray at HellBM for some used genuine parts?

Yeah I would expect there is someone in NZ as well. If Transdiesel don't know who does it, I would try other heavy equipment maintenance (like Stevenson's or Gough, Gough & Hamer).

Insert credit card and await contact from the Nigerian royalty? Wonder where you would put the card? Is there a card slot somewhere?

The thing that really winds me up is people zipping down the outside of a long queue and cutting into the queue at the last second. Makes me wish I drove an H1 Hummer.

WTF? They have taken the best looking car available and made it ugly. Then again, they were never going to improve it....

Yep interested in the tyres... What length is the rear shock & what is it?

The last lot I got from Team McMillan was around $14 for 2 litres I think.

Tried Dale Auto Electrical on Harris Road? There is also a guy next to Tyrepower in Harris Road that does auto electrics.

I'm just surprised where they found him - I always assumed he would be found living on the outskirts of Tijuana...

Should be behind the passenger side front fog lamp if I remember correctly.

Not quite the same - everyone (or almost everyone) has a TV so the market large. The market for new BMW's in NZ is somewhat smaller... So what is different about our TV system? Are we on the bleeding edge, or have our decision makers f**ked us yet again and gone with a non standard standard?

Been a while since I rode a 250, but I rode a Kwak KR-1 2 stroke race rep for a number of years. It had plenty more poke than my mates on 4 cyl 250's too. Although it was pretty reliable it was a 2 stroke race rep so wasn't an ideal commuter machine for anyone larger than a jockey... A mate had a Hyosung 250 4 stroke for a couple of years - he reckoned it was OK. Didn't look offensive and seemed to hold together but was pretty gutless. Having owned sport bikes my suggestion is to get something a little more relaxed if you are commuting on it - race reps are killers on your wrists. I would also be holding out for a 600 under the new rules.

A Cigarette Top Gun, a DB9 and an island in the tropics. Oh that's right, I don't buy lotto tickets. sh*t.

Pretty sure they don't have them - everything is controlled by the computer (LCM)....

Get it checked by an expert. A dead battery can take an alternator with it and cause all sorts of havoc with the electronics. And an audible alarm is normally a sign that something is wrong....

Good old Summernats. Brings back memories.... Mainly of strip shows, bogans, mullets and trying to sleep in the front seat of a rental car.