KwS

Not very hard, obviously. A boost leak test or smoke test would show a leaking charge pipe. Looking at the first post it looks like they just went full scattergun and didnt know what they were doing. Glad its sorted.

Wow, that thing is mega poverty pack. Would be good for a manual swap on a 530i though...

Would lose the OG two letter plate then and end up with a gross modern plate. Only way to remake it and keep it is to get it changed to a personalised/euro plate. Car is looking amazing though.

Time stopped for the dealer. Time hasn't stopped for the car 😥

Decodes fine on Bimmer.work. Its no surprise that NZTA data is buggered, the system has always been flawed when relying on human input. wbsbg92090ea88129-bimmer.work.pdf

Until people started to realise they are good cars and the prices started to go up, they were widely slammed as being just another E36 with a good engine and nothing else going for it and werent "special" because they didnt get any bespoke bodywork other than mirrors. it didnt help people had a hard time separating the poxy US "M3" from the euro ones. I've had two, i know they're good, but you cant deny the E30/E46 were and still are preferred over the E36. The E90 was preferred over it for a while but i think the E36 has over taken them now as a more "pure drivers car".

They also have this one, which has been discussed a few times. Been there for eons, and is really suffering from exposure to the elements last time it was discussed. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/540i/listing/240089175?bof=FEqTAclI

It's interesting to see the least loved M3 climbing in price. Guess it tracks with the E46 M3 rocketing up too.

Im sure that would've been a 30-40K car a couple of years ago. Madness. I do quite like them in Topaz. At that price the least they could do is throw a ZHP knob on it. This one is minging.

That ones is infinitely nicer. The only "advantage" the modded one has is that its NZ new. Havent checked the options list of either though.

Only thoughts would be the sunroof roof drains and maybe cowl drains

Regular changes and not following the BMW super long intervals is more important than what brand 10W60 to use. Half the problem with modern car engines are due to the long intervals.

Hope he secures it better and they dont come back for a second go.

Is it a case of grabbing all the keys and turning each car on one by one until you find one without a CEL, and drive that for the day?

Uh, thats bit of a stretch. Nice enough car, but would be better without all the mods.

Auto bidding can do this. If it werent a user with shitty feedback it would be fine.

Did you take a Grumpy Cat meme seriously? 😂

Never really liked that style ACS, the spokes were too narrow for my liking. Those chunky 5 spokes look awesome though. Hope your wheel wax is good, white wheels are an a**hole to keep clean 🤣

How the car was used in Japan will also factor into how the trans fares. I suspect my first E36 was used in a lot of start stop traffic in Japan, as it had 80 odd thousand KM when it came into NZ, but the trans flared like a bitch between 1st and 2nd. Got to the point i couldnt trust it to change gears when I needed it to, so manual swapped it. I wish i did more research into Jatco jerk before i bought it, as i should have picked up on it on the test drive. Cars that were previously assembled in NZ (or Aus and sold new in NZ) had to have a certain amount of local content, so they usually differed from JDM models in things like seats and trim. My old Corolla was a good example; being late 90s NZ built the seats were rubbish with little to no bolstering and thin cheap fabric that split at the seams. The same car, of the same year was also sold NZ New, but built in Japan. Those had much better quality seats (to the point i bought some from Pick A Part and swapped them in).

Wouldnt be surprised. 2shitcars are well known for importing low grade rubbish, giving it a clean (or a rattle can touchup/underseal to hide sins) and selling it on. There is a reason its cheap.

I know what i've seen, and it's not all rosy. Buyer beware and all that.

Im very suspicious of that trader tbh, have seen a fair bit of discussion online about other cars he has been selling and hasnt been completely upfront with the history and condition. Wouldnt be surprised if there was shill bidding too. A trader with no feedback for buying or selling, and been on TM since 2019.... hmmm.

Same can be said for selling cars in NZ too. People, what a bunch of bastards.

i remember that for sale a while back, it had some weird maf-less piggyback tune or something. Will be a good car with some love. E: the Carjam photos show it a bit more realistically.