KwS

TuRD

That's rough. You break it, you bought it, buddy. At least that takes care of the couple of small cosmetic issues it had, I guess! It's a cool car and in damn good shape, can't believe no one has bought it. It drives really well too, with some nice punch.

Gosh that's ugly. It's fat and bloated, in the same places the mk4 was, and it does it no favours. You can't expect it to look like a mk4. Remember that the mk4 looked nothing like the mk1/2 or especially, the mk3. It's evolution. I think it's good. The BMW engine will be great, but I do think it priced its self out of the market a bit (lots of competition in that price point). But what did the mk4 cost new? I recall that was bloody expensive too.

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.