wild_weston

What about the E46? Had an E36 and an E46 - got to say I prefer the E46 and not just because it's a newer car (doesn't mean that I didn't like the E36 though).

Something dodgy about Ultra72 if you ask me. Only one feedback for a fake M3 car badge and now he is bidding $150k on two high powered cars. I reckon it's a kid messing around. Otherwise it's a Manukau milionaire.

I'm thinking of getting this for my car. I have an M3 wheel which has all the buttons but they are not connected, the paddle shifts are hooked up though. In a previous thread I read that you could link up the stereo controls with the missing cables but to have cruise control you need the control modules installed as well. Is this correct? My car didn't have MFW as standard. Cheers

Not as blinging as this one: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-165296860.htm Why would ya do that to a beemer? It's a 99 318 and he's wanting over $20k for it!

No worries. It is launch control. Foudn out what it actually is from wikipedia. Just a computer controlled module that allows you tio accelerate as fast as possible without spinning wheels etc. Been banned now in formula one for cost reasons plus it makes the start off too easy for the drivers. Cheers

I noticed that this is a feature on the car that casualt is looking at. I've seen it before as a feature on M3s (called launch control). Just wondering what it is exactly. Sounds blooming cool. I always think of jeremy clarkson sticking rockets on a reliant robin when I think of power take off. Cheers

I've got the step-tronic set-up, plus the flappy paddles on the M3 steering wheel. Great to use them once in a while for just driving fun but most of the time I leave it in auto (general commuting and girlfirend who gets a bit sick if I take the twisties too fast). Nothing up with the step-tronic in E46s, far improved over the E36 autos. What you've got to consider is that most cars are for commuting not for track use. Auto makes sense as you will not be driving hard 90% of the time. Manuals, while fun at times, just get to be a pain in everyday use, IMO. Step-tronic gives you the ease of auto plus allowing you to have a bit more driver choice, over your gears, if you want it. But, each to their own I suppose.

Not a bad example, plus black is a great colour for the car. Hunted down an expired listing. It was a $1 reserve, these are always good for ascertaining the true value of a car. Closed now but it gives you some idea around price. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-157702768.htm Pretty much exactly like the one you are thinking about but with leather, multifunction wheel and is NZ new.

Realistically you will be looking between 20 and 30k. Anything above this is a bit over-priced. Anything below and you should expect to spend the saving in upcoming items to be repaired/replaced. Have a check on trade me but remember that some of those cars have been on there for a very long time. It's a buyers market right now so price reductions should be attainable. Imports would be lower and manuals tend to be higher (because there are less of them). High mileage not such an issue with these cars as they a very well engineered but keep an eye on the cooling system (which is plastic and is known to fail at times - especially the thermostat). As always try to get a car with a service history. As we all know, buying an unserviced beemer is a very expensive thing to maintain. I picked up a cheap import (malaysia) a few months back for $14k. Few things needed doing but it is a great car to own. High Ks and import didn't put me off. There are a few 330 owners on here and they all seem happy with theirs. Also if you get an import, go for a 2001+. The radio can just be changed to NZ (pre 2001 ones you have to buy a new radio). Cheers

Cheap looking and Fugly.

Yeah, wouldn't have been so bad if I had found the swedish bikini team in there. Oh well, the girlfriend would have made them leave anyway. Seatbelts are all good in mine. I had soggy seatbelt in a car years ago. I think it was being caused by water collecting in the seatbelt winder space. It was getting in from a space under the car (when driving in the wet).

Ta for that. Am getting all my weather seals replaced to make sure this doesn't happen again. Am also replacing the plastic seal around the doors as the mechanic noticed a crack. I have read a few strings on E46 fantics about damp getting into the car. Seems like a pretty common problem but is only really noticable for people who park on hills. How did you go about drying everything out? They recommended taking the carpets out but this is a bit of a big job. I am planning to use a hand dryer and then leave a pot iof the chemical dehumidifyer in the car. Cheers

My money would be on your cam intake sensor. Mine had a slightly different problem of when the car was started from warm then it would stall immediately and then again once you tried to start off. Suffered from a lack of power until it cooled down. The problem was that the cam intake sensor was going faulty and being affected by the heat of the engine. Got a new one put in (plus a new exhaust cam sensor for good luck) and problem went away. Not exactly the same problem as yours but it might be a faulty sensor being affected by engine heat. First thing though, rather than speculation, is to check for any fault codes. The E46 doesn't tell you if there are faults (like the E36) - you have to check for them. Cheers

Yeah, thought about getting some bloke from Botswana to just shoot a hole through the floor (as in Top Gear episode) - That'd fix it.

With the lovely Welly weather at the weekend, I decided that it was sensible to stay in the warmth of home rather than venture out. Left my car standing for around 36 hours hours (angled up on the steep driveway). Got to it this morning and decided to check the rear footwells, as I know I have to put new weather shields in the doors as they have been damp before. However, I wasn't expecting to put my hand into an inch of rain water! Got a bit of a shock as you can expect. Done a quick bit of DIY analysis and , even though the ripped weathershields may have compounded the water seepage, the problem is due to a perforation of the sealant around the rear door part (where it is attached to the body of the car). Couple of small holes were visible and because the water has been coursing over the car, and following the channels over the roof, it then ran down this channel across the rear door. Tiny hole means that a lot of it ran inside and then went down the door frame and pooled at the bottom. Only a matter of time until it started getting into the rear footwell. Bit of a bugger. Just popped it down to the dealers to get fixed. Just raising this for other E46 saloon owners (and maybe coupes) to have a check of the seals. Especially if you park your car at an upwards angle, before it rains heavily again. Cheers

Think they charged me about $60 plus GST. I had it done while I was getting the key initialised. Wouldn't be such bad value if they had given me the list and I had it all set up to the way I wanted it. Would like the air con to not turn on every time but not willing to pay the same again just for that. Oh well, just have to get out of my lazy ways and turn it off each time I start it up

If you are going to get your key settings re-programmed then definately use the checklist. Had mine done to stop the annoying "lock the doors as soon as speed hits 5kms" and they didn't give me a list at all. Still had to pay full price and only found out later that there were various settings you can choose. Bit miffed with the dealer that they didn't have me fill one out.

Pm Elmarco. He had one for sale. It has tape and radio but links up to a CD changer. It's NZ new. Cheers

Yup, mines got the flappy paddles. It's actually had an M3 steering wheel added (not by me). Pic: The paddles work fine. The only prob is that it hasn't had the steering wheel buttons linked up (needs a loom according to Jochen). This is on my list of "to do"s but just had a nasty set back with a broken front tooth which is going to cost me $2k. Won't be doing the button upgrade for a couple of months now.

Yup, very like mine. Apart from the TV in the middle (would love one of those). Wouldn't give up my flappy paddles though as they are instant fun (when you feel like it). Not a bad buy if we are to assume that the reserve is around $18k. His answers to the questions are a bit sarky though.

I'm after a black carbon fibre lower steering wheel cover for an M3 e46 steering wheel. Any chance on a price for this? Might also be interested in a decent set of E46 saloon pre-facelift front indicators. Just need to see what styles are available. Thanks

Ah nothing really. Just had a bit of a rattle upon acceleration (between 1.5 and 2.5k revs). Had a bit of a read and it can be caused by the original vanos design not being suitable for the improved cams in the 330s and M3s. Found a place that adjusted OEM vanos parts and got one from them (US based). Also got some new vanos seals (as the OEM ones seem to deteriorate). Hence, far less rattle and recovered a bit of lost performance. At the same time I also got a new intake cam sensor and exhaust cam sensor installed. Just overkill here, but my car sometime stalled when starting from warm. Best I could find is thta the intake sensor was probably faulty. Tried it last night and the "warm start up stall" problem seems to have gone as well. To round things off I had a new gasket/ sparkplug seal installed while they were in there. Just made sense to get everything done at once rather than doing peicemeal and costing way more. Cheers

Update, went for the powerhaus option. I think they did a great job. Stuck to the three hours they had estimated. They also managed to get a part cheaper through a wholesaler than getting it through the dealership. John was friendly to deal with and was really helpfull with getting quotes for parts. Ended up costing $640 - a saving of $450 over the dealership (nearly half the price)! Got the car back tonight and it's all running fine (little bit more noticable vanos power with the new unit and seals -but nothing majorly different). I do have one complaint though. There is a targa race day in rotorua, this weekend, and there were heaps of porsches there, being prepared for it. While I think my car is generally the smartest looking on any street I park in (and I hate to say this next part) those porsches really outshone my car. One day I'll get me one of those. Other cars there of note were: A very smart looking black E30 M3. A very strange looking little fiat classic car which was about 5 feet long. A ferrari having it's engine rebuilt (after only 60,000ks!). Which is another reason why German cars are better. All in all I give them a big thumbs up. Definately recommended.

Pom confession time. Born in midlands (stoke). Moved to Devon when 10. Moved to London when 20. Took a year in oz when 25 went back to UK and decided to get out as soon as possible again. Took another 5 years to leave (inertia). Been in NZ for the last three years. No plans to go back. Miss the beer though. Cheers

I would usually agree that BMW use quality parts and stake their reputation on this fact. But I've seen a few examples of where this isn't always true: Single vanos seals - inferior quality. Dual vanos seals - inferior quality. e46 regulator - too brittle plastic. Jatco transmissions on e36s - japan - reknowned for deteriorating and being nigh on unrepairable. E46 - certain year of production they had a weld issue on the rear subframe. In all of the above cases BMW never admitted that there was anything wrong. All that they did was bear the cost while the cars were under warranty and that was it. Worse than that - even if you tried to get some of the above replaced the OEM part (used for replacement) would still be the one of known inferior quality. Got most of my info from E46 fanatics website, plus some personal experience,amazing what you can find on there. Good luck with the repair. Regards