KwS

Oh and can also 100% confirm what I said, that the ambient temp sensor doesn't do anything. Fitted one, temp on obc good, idle still rough.

Fixed the speakers today. Since removing the subs and amp I had no power wiring to the speaker amp (piggybacked from sub amp). Ran new power and ground wires direct to battery, with a fuse in the +12 line, which the original install was missing, just in case. Turns out the speaker wiring at the amp was all on the piss too. The front speakers are daisy chained so only use one output on the amp, so what's the other "front speaker" wire? Well, seems its only purpose in life was to make a cracking noise through the speakers. Without the subs, and having the speakers wired properly, I could finally have a go at tuning the amp. Now I have decent sound without distortion. Not perfect, but good enough. Better than listening to my leather vaders squeak on the leather armrest... The epic failures of the previous owner still keep haunting me.

I wonder if its related to this, http://response.bmw.co.nz/battery-terminal-recall or the other (overseas) recall for the battery cable.

It's pretty out there, for sure, but it's also a little spastic toy car that is made to be fun to drive. It's not ugly like the Kona, it's just a bit rice (some of the bits are also functional, like the rear wing). Either way, it is what it is. I think it's one of the ugliest cars on the road, but I guess the Kona does what it needs to do (including stopping some asshat killing you).

Golly they ain't an attractive car are they? There just, bits, everywhere. Nice colour though, I'll give it that.

That's the one I spotted a couple of weeks back. Bloody stunning in person! I haven't checked the codes but you could get M5 with the comfort seats, maybe it's that? Still, with the current climate how it is, it'll sell quick.

I had average shifting in my 335i (150,000km, Stage 3 and then 2 xHP tunes), with flaring on shifts and thumping on some shifts (usually 3-4) but not 2-1. Did the bridge and tube seals, new filter, and used Caltex Synthetic Multi-Vehicle ATF (dex 6). Reset Adaptions in xHP. Shifting got better but it still wasn't great. Apparently it takes a few hundred KM to relearn everything, and the car was out of my hands by then, but I was never happy with the trans. I suspect the zip kit would have fixed it, but I didn't want to invest that much into it. Before servicing the trans manually shifting down the gears to a stop would almost throw you through the windscreen with its lurch (had to downgrade from stage 3 trans flash as the rev matching was too harsh when downshifting). Wasnt good. The fluid was dark enough that I believe it was original.

Lifeguard 6 is the best fluid to use but hard to get. The bridge and tube seals may improve it, but the most common fix is a sonnax zip kit for the valve body. Pretty common issue and lots of info if you Google it.

If you haven't already, check the condition of the drive shaft giubo.

Do these run spring pads like older models do? Could run a thicker pad to increase height. I'd look into the legality of those strut shims too, I know "lift kits" that use strut spacers need a cert now.

You seem well sorted, but ill ask anyway, did you fill the trans, run it to temp and then fill it again when running at temp? If you filled it with the engine off, it'll be low by a couple of litres. I hate to say it but it sounds like something you have done isnt working right and its leaking off pressure in the trans (especially since it didnt happen beforehand). Might be worth catching the fluid, dropping the pan and valvebody and making sure everything is how it should be?

Or the NZ built Speed Science ITR with NSX engine mid mounted

For anyone else, like me, that had never heard of this model, check it out. Pretty cool for a 4 banger! https://www.bmwblog.com/2009/10/28/bmw-320si-a-real-drivers-car/

The packaging would be terrible. Would need a massive trans tunnel and high boot floor to fit diff. Oh wait, maybe that's why they want to go FWD....

Eww, who wants a car without an OBC? Peasants.

haha sh*t, and i've even owned one ? Still a very niche brand though.

They still build cars to meet the needs of the market. I suspect the only reason they dont make a FWD econobox like everyone else, is because of VWAG. VW and Audi already have the FWD market covered. BMW doesn't have any other brands under its hat, so of course it's lumped with econoboxes in its own lineup. BMW wont stop making "fun" ///M cars, even if they are AWD. The only thing a RWD car does better than modern AWD cars is skids/drifts, and whoop de do.

Honda reliability > Renault reliability. Honda also knows how too make damn good fwd cars. Anyway, potato tomato, if it's not what you want, fair enough. The point is that not all fwd/AWD cars are bad, especially for the daily A-B commuter, which is what the majority of cars sold are. Drive line is insignificant to most.

Sorted.

Reviewers were certainly impressed with how they drive though, and isn't that what matters? It's not a luxury car, and never pretended to be.

I'd rock it, as long as it's honda reliable and not BMW reliable

No, they really haven't. They're still a good drive, and a cheap way into classic motoring. The Chinese ones though, I agree, brain-dead to buy.

Its been a couple of years now, how has this held up, Dave?

Well, the time has come. I'm keeping the BMW for the foreseeable future, so the only logical next step was to drop some dead weight, and pull out the subs. The decision to keep the BMW wasn't one I took lightly, but I'm not sad or disappointed to be stuck with it. I actually quite like the car. There are a few things that didn't suit me about the car though, and having a bunch of useless weight sitting over the rear axle is one of those things. The boot install looked nice, but it really killed my enjoyment of the car. It sounded bad, and had been hastily thrown into the car. The main issue was that the capacitor on the driver's side wasn't actually secured by anything and was just sitting on top of the battery. This meant that every time I cornered hard (like an M3 should), the damn thing would fall over and go for a scoot along the boot floor, until the power wires restrained it. It was sitting on a block of wood So out it all comes. I'll tell you what, getting the sub box out was a mission. First out comes the floor panel and amp from the spare wheel well. Then the side amp, and capacitor come out. This gives enough room to shoehorn the rest of the trim and the box out of the boot opening. Turns out the box wasn't secured at all and was held in with hopes and dreams. It's a big box, that's for sure. I forgot how big a coupe boot actually is! In goes the carpet from Pick A Part, after a quick vacuum Even though this spare wheel doesn't hold air (buckled and leaks at the bead), I still put it in the boot as it helps to hold the carpet up, and also helps with weight balance. I need to find another wheel at some point. The wheel and tire weigh about the same as the amp that was in there, it was a beast. The previous owner butchered all the standard wiring for the speakers, so unless I want to run a whole lot of new wiring, I'm stuck with running the speaker amp. Thankfully I actually like this one as it looks cool, and doesn't take up too much space. Even the wiring going to this is a mess though. Yes, that is the pair of RCA connectors (usually used as one pair for front, and one pair for rear), split out to fill all four channels, front and rear. I'll rejig the RCA cables that went to the sub amp, and use them for the rear speakers so fronts and rears are split properly. The final result isn't perfect. The carpet needs some fettling to tidy it up, and the battery is the wrong size so the plastic cover on it doesn't quite fit properly, but otherwise, it's now a fully functional boot. Driving the car to work yesterday and the lack of weight is noticeable. It's not major, but it doesn't feel like you're dragging the backside around anymore. I would've pulled a good 20-30kg out. The next steps for the car are in motion. I have a set of BC Gold adjustable coilovers to go in, and a nice Purple Tag E46 steering rack to replace the horrible 3.0 M3 rack, which is the dumpster fire of steering racks. I'll also be rebuilding the vanos, since I already have the parts to do it, just need the time.

Its bloody gorgeous as it is. Im not even usually an E30 fan, but damn what a looker.