qube

This is an absolute score for the spec/options/price. Super well done i am jealous!

https://www.trademe.co.nz/2449844178 https://www.trademe.co.nz/2404083046 + change

maaan great photos once again

its actually pretty crazy. did you check oil levels beforehand? these new engines all tend to burn quite a bit of oil as they run very hot. my old m135 with the N55 used to run at a constant 117-119 degs normal running. i cant imagine what it would be like on the track going hard out. what oil were you running also and how recent was your oil change?

ouch. sorry to hear that hope you can get it sorted

its gone now to hyde the supercharger dude. i miss it too.. even though it was a bit rough on the outside, that engine was in perfect condition, revved so nice and freely..

So awesome. I love this pheonix yellow!

Interesting turn of events! If work japan then worth a pretty penny and worthwhile to refurb. Well done!!

I cant understand the logic to spend $1500 to refurbish wheels which may or may not be brand name. For this kind of price I would hope they are forged wheels not cast but judging from the photos and the chrome look finish I would say these are most likely cast wheels. It doesnt look like flow forged either because this is a relatively newer tech and these wheels are definitely an older style/design from 10+ years ago. You can buy very good quality reputable aftermarket wheels for around $1500 these days btw. wheels are not as expensive as they once were back in the days.

Make sure to do a thorough check for rust all around. Would be a pity to discover new old rust after all the work done

Your car, being a facelift non msport E46, would have come on factory 16" wheels Style 88 out of the factory. The original owner of the car could have requested for the 18's possibly but these do not resemble any of the bmw styles so most likely they are aftermarket. If it is indeed aftermarket and not one from a reputable brand, I personally wouldnt bother to refurbish them because the costs can be significant and might be better off to go for a higher quality wheel but its obviously your choice. You should know pretty quickly with the stamps (or lack of) on the inside of the wheel when they come off the car.

Found out of more information. It was indeed stolen and recovered. Only thing "fixed" was 4 new (aftermarket) wheels and an alignment. +1 @Driftit

Went to see this car today but basically turned around straight away. Regardless of history it was rough as hell and just made me feel like it would be a dangerous purchase. kiwi535 - you can buy the report from aus for $2 to see what the write off was for. (See my first post).

what is the offset of the wheels? is it the e90 m3 wheels? are the wheels straight and balanced? did you do an alignment after fitting them? whats the brand/condition of the tyres and what is the manufacture year on them? Start with the basic questions above before moving onto other things, cuz next thing you know you've got cancer and will die in 3 months.

man that steering wheel looks phat..

the car is out towards your way SJ so i might give you a bell (to your office phone) to make an appointment to bring it in

This is helpful. I had not considered this and looking back at the incident type, seems very much a possibility. My feeling is the first owner would have this information from the dealer, then on-sold it to the current owner without full disclosure. Now I am trying to find out but to be honest, if it was a stolen/recovered car, then its a big no from me. just like you would never buy an ex rental, thrashed to death. seems like a no brainer to me. interesting thing is the car actually has mechanical warranty also with Protecta insurance, im suprised they would insure/warrant a car with potentially dubious history.

exactly, my problem with all of this is the lack of transparency from the compliance centres and or other appropriate bodies that should (imo) be able to provide this kind of information for the informed consumer. Otherwise it I reckon it is a huge loophole for the ex aus import dealers that can just spin any story and rip off unsuspecting car buyers. I am still considering it at this stage. and again, this reinforces my theory that if one wanted to get rid of a car, all you would do is go throw a rock at each of your doors and claim vandalism, get a nice pay out and not bother with the aus version of tardme and the like.

yes carjam: I totally understand all of this but this is why my main point of argument is to try find out the specifics of the damage which is relevant to this vehicle. "minor vandalism" to me sounds like something along the lines of the owner or other keying the outside of the car to basically claim insurance and get a payout. or it could be something worse. I want to know what it is. If it was ANY other write off designation code, (such as Water, Fire, Impact) I wouldnt even think about it purely because of the potential underlying issues it may have. the word on the street is that the insurance tends to write off vehicles a lot easier than in NZ. My best guess is, high premiums and compulsory insurance means they can afford to. Also heard that there is a lack of qualified vehicle repairers but who knows. It is their country their rules. If you think about your own car, if you were involved in a minor accident and the insurance company wanted to write it off, wouldnt you want to buy it back and get it repaired (if feasible)? I agree if it was indeed a "major" repair, then I also believe there will be some compromise. But in this instance I am led to believe that the repair is most probably panel and paint - which I dont mind. I am just trying to figure out if this indeed the case BUT having difficulty to get this information. Also, my biggest reason for considering said vehicle is not purely because of the money savings but because it is well spec'ed. I honestly hate some of the poor spec of the NZ new and japanese examples but I cant complain because Im not in a position to buy new and tick the boxes myself

The saving is potentially about 25% off market value for a highly spec’ed car that is uncommonly seen in nz new or jap import examples. to me this is a pretty good deal for a nice car and as funny as it may sound i am hoping to keep it for a couple of years (long for my standards) and not too worried about the resell value as much purely based on the fact that i couldnt get the same spec car. Car will always depreciate but at least i could enjoy it for the time i own it. driftit makes a good point. What i want to know is what was the actual damage? Keyes paint/panels? Someone smashing the windows in? What is it? I couldnt get these answers. all i am told is that the certification process is stricter for damaged imports and must be repaired to a high standard.. whatever the f that means given that we are talking about people who are dodging all questions and couldnt provide answers to generic questions. its a real shame, as i really like the car and price is very fair. Will see how it pans out. Hoping to get a reply from the first owner to shed some light and maybe take it from there. the learning from all this is, it seems very grey area, i looked at other stat write offs for sale on tm (few dealers specialise in it) and they can spin any story they want - how could i check the validity? I do not know.. e.g apparently an m4 was “near a fire” and was written off as a precaution but there was no damage. Uhh... okay sure.. because insurance companies are actually running a charity apparently now.

I've been through hoops trying to get some more information. Here is my findings: NZTA - when asked about who is the best place to call/ask regarding compliance and checking vehicle history they referred me to carjam and lemoncheck. then told me to do an inspection. VINZ - was able to tell me from their database the car was complied through VTNZ VTNZ - wouldnt tell me much due to privacy laws and couldnt answer any generic questions regarding the process. managed to track down the workshop that serviced the car 3 times during the 2 years its been on the road and told me generic warranty service only so far. also managed to find the original owner through facebook, waiting for a reply.

its a 2014 bmw. the reason for stat write off is definitely not impact or flood or hail. if you go to that link in my original post it has different letter designations for different damages. this one is just a bit vague saying "vandalism" which could be something like being keyed, spray painted on, someone went around and smashed all the windows in maybe.. I am mainly just trying to determine what the actual reason/damage was because as far as I can tell the car is mint, paintwork, interior, etc, all works fine and no record of damage to engine/mechanical side of things.

There is no damage because its all been fixed and sold already in nz. Its being on sold privately in mint condition

Im looking at a ex NSW stat write off import, https://www.ppsr.gov.au/understanding-written-vehicle-codes?fbclid=IwAR1i0P5tZt9pN1rY2nsjwaeBoWFjTqnT9mjEV4MgZxaKtlIqbzawd1tGkP0 NSW, 20 Oct 2017, Statutory Write-off M01K [Malicious/vandalism/stripped | Passenger front | Minor vandalism] M02K [Malicious/vandalism/stripped | Driver front | Minor vandalism] M03K [Malicious/vandalism/stripped | Driver side | Minor vandalism] M04K [Malicious/vandalism/stripped | Driver rear | Minor vandalism] M05K [Malicious/vandalism/stripped | Passenger rear | Minor vandalism] M06K [Malicious/vandalism/stripped | Passenger side | Minor vandalism] M09K [Malicious/vandalism/stripped | Interior | Minor vandalism] I wonder if its a case of someone keying all around the car for insurance claim? what could be considered minor vandalism? the car is being sold not by the original dealer/importer but someone who has bought it from them and is now on-selling. avoid or consider? if it was impact damage or water damage its a definite no but for this, might be worth while?

sometimes 1" makes a big difference