RvT

Definitely the viscous fan coupling. Happened to me in Europe when I was bringing an e34 back home. Not much fun when you are stuck in traffic jams in middle of Paris and watching the temp gauge rising then the alarm gongs !!!

Bugger - you should have posted last week as I was in Sydney for the day last Thursday with no baggage - could have taken it back free to NZ for you ... sorry ... Mainfreight could be an option as they ship part containers over all the time.

Hi Clinton & $toffz If you are looking to import a car that is under $NZ15k in the yards here, then I would suggest that Trademe is a better option. If you are looking at cars over this then importing should be looked at more seriously. If you take any car that is on a yard for say $20k and is a fresh import, you should be able to negotiate the cash purchase price to say $18k from the dealer. On that basis, the dealer probably imported the car for around $14 to 15k. This is the price you would be importing the car for ex Japan, if you did it yourself. My theory, which I follow, is that cars depreciate (obviously) over time. My method is to buy a car at say $15k ex Japan, use it for say 6 months then sell it on Trademe for $17k. After a while you reduce the price and maybe after a year, you finally sell it for $15k. Then you back to Japan and repeat the exercise and again buy it a later model car for again $15k and then do it again. What happens is that you end up updating your car continuously without depreciation having an effect on your original stake money - $15k. One thing I do like about the process is that you can be sure your car has no accident damage in Japan as you have the history of the vehicle plus you know the condition of the car in Japan. In a dealer, you rely on the honesty of the salesman to tell the truth about a car which is another subject. The Kadoco company is the company to buy the car from and I usually ask prices and get auction data from the guys there by email rather than looking on their web site. The web site is painful as it doesn't show pricing. I use another company for looking online as they have a better web site showing prices. Sign up and use them for info only (do the actual bidding with Kadoco is my advise). On the IBC web site, they have some cars for sale but the real data is on the 'auction' tab as this looks at 35,000 cars a week and is like looking at the NZ version of 'Turners'. We can't bid directly at the 'Turners' auctions which is why you have to have a Japanese agent bidding on your behalf. http://www.ibcjapan.co.jp/login.asp?destin...=%2Fmy_home.asp Yell out if you need anything else....

Hi & Welcome Andy I am more of an expert on e60s rather than e90s so I am making some assumptions that they are similar. In my e60 jap import, there is a menu option to change language to English. If you want to reprogram sat nav or radio in the iDrive then there are complications. Question is what do you want to reprogram ??? With bringing a car from Japan, I am not familiar with Carwebs.co.nz. I am assuming they are a middle man that clip the ticket. I have imported 15+ cars personally ex Japan. I recommend this company .... http://www.kadoco.co.jp/auction/home.htm Basically car importing is a DIY and you don't need a middleman. I have mentored several friends through the process for a carton of Steiny Pures Feel free to PM me for more info. Ron

The biggest skill that you need to learn is people skills. You can't buy it, learn about it at school or even read about it. It is the skill that will allow you to build a business or even an empire. Knowledge is important but if you want to get have a real business some day, you will need to employ people to work for you and for that reason only, you need to have people skills to teach them and eventually they will respect your position. Everyone has there own pathway, but at your age I thought I wanted to work in hospital labs (think it was the attraction of nurses at the time lol). Anyway that feel through and saw an advert for being a trainee manager in a supermarket chain. In hindsight, it was the best career move I could have made as I was working for someone else, made lots of mistakes in people skills but learned from them, got sent to different branches to work and made sure I didn't repeat the mistakes and built up a huge understanding about motivating staff and how to set the culture of the workplace. At your age, you think it is about getting rich as quickly as possible (& I was the same at your age). There is nothing wrong with that. The reality is that you will be a lot richer if you take the long position and focus at this time in your life, to gain people skills. Don't flame me but one company that will take young people and then promote them quickly is McDonalds. Forget about what they make or sell and focus on the skills they will teach you. If you can handle the work and set your goals on being a shift manager, then you will embark on a proven training system designed by corporates. You will quickly learn those 'people skills' and at age 20, have a skill set that will be respected by employers everywhere. On the otherhand, stay with them long enough and you could own your own store and become very rich. Sorry for the speech but I mentor a lot of people and businesses. Hope this helps

Not a job offer but an idea .... Most kiwis act like sheep and don't want to be different from the rest. It is a pity but that is reality. What young people can't understand or rather don't want to understand is that in this world, is that you don't look at the problem from the other side - the employers side. Effectively your time is free as you are unemployed. Have a think what your dream job is or what industry you would like to work in. Identify up to 5 companies you would like to work for and go see the HR person in those companies. Instead of asking if there is a job, ask if you can do some work experience and offer to work for free. Say you want to see if this is the career you want to be and rather than wait for something to come up, you would like to donate your time for a 2 week period to learn and try the industry before you pursue a career in it. If your pitch is good, the HR person will engage in your story and open the door for you. You try it for 2 weeks and if you like it, things may develop. If you hate the job, then at least you will know without staining your career record. Obviously it won't work in some trades like brain surgery etc but having some face time in front of a possible employer, will help you to try before you buy and the employer may offer you some work after the period if you are any good. I have employed many 'work experience' kids in my business mainly because they showed initiative and demonstrated they wanted to be there rather than 'needing a job' and in today's world of generation Y, showing genuine interest is what we employers are looking at when you walk in the door. Something to think about ....

I was at a BP function recently and the new Diesel has basically an additive added to it to make the engine run 'cleaner'. No change in performance to speak of but the additive is suppose to clean the spray nozzles so the spray into the engine has smaller droplets = a better igniting at compression. They said it would be rolled out to most sites in NZ except Invercargill and New Plymouth from memory. They were marketing it at the Euro car drivers like BMW. Pugs etc

Best brand to go for IMO is the Scheppach. They are German made and come up on Trademe occasionally http://www.scheppach.com/en/home.html

For the last 12 years, we have been buying Dells for work & home. We now have about 30+ units in the workplace and they run 24 /7. In that time we have only ever had one that failed on us and was covered by warranty - power supply. You can have your opinions on what is best or fastest but for me it is reliability and value for money.... It cleans up on both counts.

In theory, it should be the same as importing from Japan. I know that the Kiwi Carriers used to stop in Brisbane before or after visiting NZ so the roll on roll off ferry is a cheaper option - send them an inquiry email re costs. If you use a container, then costs would be about $NZ 3500 There would be MAF costs here upon unloading and usual $1k of compliance & rego. As for tax ex Oz, if you are buying from a registered company with ABN (ie not private), in theory they can export the car to you without sales tax added. Whether they want to is the issue as it will involve some paperwork. You couldn't drive on road in Oz and they would need to arrange transport to port. If you collected and drove off lot in person then you have to pay sales tax. You could claim it back but only if you have a company ABN number and that is not a simple process (I am applying for one for work and it involves hoops). When the car lands here, you will have to pay GST at 15% on the car and shipping costs. Hope that helps Ron

Don't quote me as it was a while ago but remember having irregular idle and motor cutting out on me on a 2000 e39 540. I did some searching and found that it was the MAF (do a google search on e39 + MAF) was dirty. You can replace at a huge cost or do a DIY clean yourself with a aerosol cleaner - again search will tell you what to use. I found a step by step web site with images so I just followed the instructions. It fixed it on my car. MAF is the sensor that sits in the air intake line. Hope this helps

I am importing a lot of things for my business ex Europe from full containers ex Belgium to part containers (LCL) from Germany & France. The company to use is Mainfreight International as they consolidate various company's stuff like ours, into one mixed container. It is a lot cheaper than DHL or any postal service but takes 8 weeks to get to NZ. My suggestion is to pull the gear together, with Quinn's help on the ground there if required, and then arrange it to be collected by Mainfreight from a given address or have it shipped ex buyer to the Mainfreight's partner in Germany's depot. It is easy to organise and simple to pay when the goods arrive in NZ. At an estimate, a pallet of "stuff" would cost about $800 to $1000 to land here. A full container is about Euro 2500 to transport plus a further $NZ 1200 in fees when it arrives here + GST payable on the goods. Hope this helps

Hi Quinn Enjoy the Bratwurst in the central Marketplas !!! I will be at Octoberfest again next year, 2011, with a trade show so if you are homesick by then, give me your shopping list One highly recommended thing to do in Munich is to go online and book a tour through the BMW 5 series plant in Dingolfing (sp). It is 1 hour train ride south of Munich but after doing the English speaking tour, it would be one of the highlights of my bucket list so far. To see the 5 series roll down the line in no particular order is an engineering feat. Anyway, book a tour and do it then tell everyone here about it !!!!

Debadging , from what I see, is more common on lower cc cars where the owner wants to have a new BMW but doesn't want 316 or 318 badged on the back so their friends will think they have a larger cc car than they really have. In Singapore, the road tax is on an tiered system where the larger the cc, the higher the cost of a years rego. Not sure if it has changed since a few years ago but a $80k new BMW would cost an additional $80k for a 7 year licence (total $160k to get it on the road !!!). It was SQ's way of limiting the number of cars on the road and it worked. After 7 years, they would sell off the cars as the cost to buy another licence was too expensive. Anyway, it was very common to see 5 series BMWs on the road there, debadged to save embarrassment as they usually had a 518 or a 520 motor in them. If you had a large 535 or a 540, you wouldn't debadge it as a rule as you want to show off.

The M5 has a 70l tank ... Highest km out of a tank so far ....365km Average km out of a tank ..... 265km Worst is Track day .... 138km Have shares in a service station before buying the M5

Didn't know that. My architect bought the 530i while I had the 540. He took mine for a ride and said the hp was different and that he wished he had gone 540 in the end but he still has the 530 and still loves it I had the e34 535 before the e39 540 .... there is no comparison unless you like expensive repairs. The e39 is such a step up IMO Re the original poster, M530i, being 18yo makes logical sense to buy the 530i. At least you are not looking at the entry level 528 model. Good luck and you will enjoy the 530. One option to look for that is really worth getting is the push through rear seats. Ended up using it multi times for things that were just a tad too long to fit in the boot.

Can I ask the curious question & please don't take any offence for it but ... why the "obsession" with the 530i and not the 540i ? Both lovely cars but if I had a 530i, I would be always asking myself why I didn't go for the bigger brother ... If it is budget related, then total respect and go after the 530 to experience the style and ride.

Why not set up a specific web site called "Bimmer Brake Pads" or bimmerbrakepads.com if that is what you are selling. If that works well, you can start another one with a different product line. If you were to stock Pagid Brake Pads, I would be expecting you to stock all 3 colours for my beast, not just yellow ones for example. Having a narrow product line also makes you appear to be an expert in the field of brake pads and buyers like me want to have confidence in what you are selling. Sometimes it pays to focus on a specific market initially rather than taking a shotgun approach to trying have a bit of everything. Start small and specific until you build up a customer base.

In today's marketplace, I would be carving out a niche on either product (like kits, panels) or model e30 etc. Too many people try to be all things to all players and therefore miss the mark due to shallow product range and trying to cover too many bases. With this in mind, I think you should identify exactly what you are targetting whether it be panel or car model specific and the brand should reflect exactly that ... ie BMW Kits or BMW e30 Performance Parts etc The name "schnellspec" would mean to me, things to make your car go fast like add-on turbos or replacement carbs or fast cams. I wouldn't identify panels or kits as being "schnell". I see them more as image products. Just my 5c worth but a very experienced 5c worth

Baker - people have to eat

Sorry if this is a repost or others are aware of it. Someone sent me the link and we followed the steps. Now when we open Trademe, we see all the images on the listing page regardless of whether the seller has paid the 25c or 75c in the listing. Nice work whoever wrote this software !!! You will need to have Mozilla as your web browser though ... http://hospitalcafeteria.blogspot.com/2010...ademe-with.html

I have used Jeffs a lot. Also Pacifica Shipping had a roll on roll off service which I have used twice as cheaper. Not sure if is still happening. NZ Rail still worries me with their handling of goods ....

Tom Tom 920 ... Bought new off eBay US with all the maps of Europe, America, Oz & NZ preloaded on its hard drive for the same price as you have just paid ... I have used it in every continent and have had no issue with it. Just plug & play for updates on line.

Brilliant & now I understand where the screen is - I was thinking it would be part of the "Imput Time" screen but now I see where you mean. Question is - 3 minute fix or a few beers fix ? Are the bulbs specialised or repco available ?

That makes sense. The display shows "1:40" on the radio. I assume this time is linked to the OBC? Next question - how easy is it to replace light bulb and are they are special BMW bulb or is availablke ex Repco ? Cheers