318Touring

There are quite a few NZ New ones in the market now with quite unbelievable prices, that is if you avoid BMW dealers.

Yup. It has that indicator on the outside of the tachometer which moves down as the engine's temp gets closer to operating temp. Apart from the M cars I don't think oil temp was ever a feature?

Well got the Compact oil serviced with JG on March (132196 kms), today and today at 133812 kms I only have two (2) of the green lights left! The car is used as per usual, no change on usage or driving pattern at all from previous years. Usually it gets serviced once a year on March and then when it gets to two green lights. Has anyone see/heard about this?

CarFax info on one Surprisingly, it only gets 4 stars out of 6. My E60 gets 3.5 out of 6, and later models gets better than that.

Great to see that this great product (E60) is used by the British police. Let's hope it'll catch up in NZ TheTimes

P, meth, party pills, coke, high-end call girls etc. etc.

It's amazing, I thought the mileage is below 50000kms. I thought you don't buy cars from dealers? This is them right? The prices are typical of dealers prices....

Nice. Has it done 106000kms? Who did you use again?

LOL, thanks for the replies. My biggest beef is the ride, pointed it to the corner and ... whoa ... even my '96 Compact performed better. Mind you it was Mini One. It hunted for gears coming up the Gorge, up and down, up and down (through the gears). I don't know, the missus likes it for its cool factor. My pick is 118d, in M guise. Wonder whether they can bring the diesel Mini to NZ?

What's the good, the bad, which one to go for etc. etc. The wife is smitten with the Mini while I prefer 1 series. FWD vs RWD, I know which one I'll go for. Anyone has tried importing one from Japan? Any experience, firm to use etc.? And WTH with the speedo being in the centre? It's hard work trying to monitor my speed, unless it comes with HUD, which it doesn't.

If 540 is small, then 1 series is 'tiny'... Alfa's trying hard to be on the same par as BMW, styling and flair all good, still have to catch up on quality though. Yep work pays for FBT as well.

I'm guessing you need the space in the Passat? Otherwise why not 120d, or 118d? I've driven both Passat and 118d, I'm more impressed with the 118d. FBT should also come put cheaper with the 118d, unless you start piling up the options

Great to hear it's nothing major. I also found Jeff Gray to be very good although expensive ....

I went with the AA which I found to be the cheapest with no excess applied. However you will need to get your car inspected by AA which costs hundred odd dollars. Also AA's service requirement is either every 15000kms or 12 months or according to manufacturer's requirements which is different to Protecta who requires the car to be serviced to the above schedule.

Errr, why don't you spend about a grand giving your E60 mechanical warranty (3rd party). Assuming you buy an X5, it'll still be covered/you have go get it covered by 3rd party warranty anyway. Unless you're planning to spend your money at the dealer.....

Did you read your other thread where I put in the link to scanned BMWCar X5 article? It's chain driven. Will be the same issues all over for BMW v8 of that engine type.

Go here scanned X5 article

Well .... it wasn't one of thing that supposed to fail at a low mileage car like this one. Note the key word 'supposed'. Is the AS issue just requires simple re-programming? The steering rack in E60 does fail at an alarming rate too.

Bleh, where's your commitment man? What's more important, stealing Alpinas or studying? Prioritise!!

Hmmm, you should've parked at the corner space at the top of your picture there. My wife used to complain when we parked far far away from the entrance, but now she doesn't mind the walk. Otherwise we park near the entrance but she can do the shopping by herself while I'm sitting in the car eye-balling everyone who comes near the car.

Have a look inside your armrest to see whether the car used to come with a phone. Although with Bluetooth it doesn't need any of that.... I've never seen anything like that before. Learning new thing everyday, eh?

+1 on the '01 530

Thanks!

Has anyone tried the 118d yet? Better fuel economy, and will be miles ahead of the VW in driving dynamics. I know there aren't any luggage or leg room for rear passengers, but it ain't for taxi service so why give a toss? I drove it more aggressively than usual, and couldn't get it past 6l/100km overall.

And ...... do provide some pointers if you don't mind. I have a laptop, and I'm supposedly providing technical lead on a number of software at work, so kinda qualified....