318Touring

I purposedly went home at 4 pm today! I was also extra careful when crossing the road, keeping an eye for blue BMWs

Oh was that 180 degrees? More like 1 or 2 degrees to the left to the curb. Blocking the driveway as well!! You were there again about 5.20 tonight?

shadowninja .... I was trying to cross the road to my 5 when this blue BMW almost ran me over . My office is the red-brick building next to the Chinese restaurant.

shadowninja, saw you picking up your partner from Tory St just after 5.30 pm this evening.

BMW original part, take a look at Trademe, from my old E36 touring that was swapped for an E39. Still in good condition. I think new is about $150.

BTW, this is my old car for sale at Shelly BMW. '96 318 touring At least I can vouch that it's been carefully maintained for the last 3 years!!

I really hate that everytime I call State Ins. they always ask for fullname, dob and address or home ph #. Geez, if someone really want to screw me up, won't they already have that information?

How true! I never tell my co-workers that I have a BMW.

So c'mon tell us about the tips and tricks of getting insurance to pay up. Which company are you with? Any problems when claiming, being delayed etc.?

Hmmm, with today's costs it is fairly easy to run a large bill on panelbeating (certainly more than $300!!). For example, my '86 Suzuki Alto was hit from behind. Caused a large dent on the boot, the metal on the spare tyre area had rippled a little bit, broken (a small area) plastic bumper. Nothing else broken, so no new lights etc. Total bill came at $800 + GST!!! The other party paid for it.

Ouch, that hurts! Mine is only approx. $500/yr (I'm not THAT old!), and excess still $300. With that kind of excess ($3500) is not worth claim any fender-bender type accidents, is it? I was also told by State that there's this 1%($380) excess policy, which is still a way off from $1000. The call-centre woman stammered when I told her that 1% equates to $380 and not $1000.

Yeash, I think that's the standard ///M kits

It does not have recirculating ... State changed my 318's windscreen with original bmw screen, I think they were billed for about $300 (I saw the invoice). I really need to get rubber floor mats as with the current weather condition my light colour interior is getting filthy really quick. More pics:

check this out at Jerry Clayton BMW E46 kits

Thank you. Since nothing opens anyway, long drives are in the book for this weekend. Stain should be manageable, however wear on BMW leather is another matter. I think it also depends on care and maintenance on the leather. My driver's seat doesn't look like somebody had been sitting on it for 90,000 odd kms. While if you go through Tory's inventory, a 30,000 kms example is showing cracking, stain on the leather. Yours black isn't it? All BMWs. They said more expensive to repair. It's just their way trying to squirm out of responsibility while taking our money.

Here it is at last. I can't get better pictures as we all know that it'd been quite wet all day yesterday. I just managed a quick snap outside the garage which the car barely fits. Impressions: very nice, very composed. Takes bumps, road irregularities like they weren't there. The cruise control is a godsend especially with the "anytime, anywhere" crap. It's better than GS300 or E240 (previous model) I'd had driven before. It's happy to be thrown around like a sport car, but in style and comfort. Love the beige leather, but will be a hell to keep clean. First mod? Rubber floor mats!!! When arranging insurance for the car I was told that because of this is a high risk car, my excess is therefore going to be $1000 (from $300). I told them (State) bluntly that either I keep my excess or I'll take all my business elsewhere. Obviously they suddenly said that $300 is OK. Bastards.

Yup, collecting it tomorrow. I'll get some pics taken, however the weather looks preety bad for taking car pics.

LOL I should try changing my name after this. I hope I'll remember to bring my DV camera on Thursday.

I'd paid a deposit on the 5er at lunch time today. Interestingly my trade-in is worth more now than last year . No depreciation?? Taking delivery on Thursday pm, I now have to dismantle my clear lights and sell them. Also need to change my name here....

LOL, it's quite expensive to change cars every few months or so. I'm guesing Shelly would offer $10k less than what you paid them? Test drove a silver '00 318 from Shelly on Sunday just to compare it with the 5er. Felt almost like driving my E36, I even think that I like my E36 better than this E46. I'll probably go ahead with the 5er, my touring's warranty runs out on 5th May, also needs Insp. II and new brakes (arrghh).

shadow, yeah, didn't see that. I just saw on the DomPost that BMW Approved Used cars have 0% interest for April. Guess the previous promotion didn't go too well .... Are you still looking to get a coupe?

shadow... Which calculator is that? Those finance offers are all oh sound very attractive. $1 deposit, 48 months (WHAT!!!), $64.01 per week for a $7,999, clocked speedo, abused family sedan, twin a/bags, bald mixed tyres, barely passed WOF brakes. I pity those people that didn't understand these traps, and there are people out there that are like that.

Pimpin'? This is the "Ultimate Pimp Mobile" Oh yeah baby Just imagine one of this bad boy with blacked out windows, bling-bling wheels and loud stereo. Who's your Daddy!!!! I just need to get some big guys to be my bodyguard. Uh, for the 5 er? It'll be used mainly for school and supermarket runs, with the occasional travel to Napier or Masterton.

Hi, thanks for the feedback. I am wary of cars without service history as with those 540s that start turning up on our shore right now. Obviously there are NZ new ones, at $70k plus each, I'd rather not .... Then the matter of being rather thirsty 4.4L engine, ouch. This particular one's just arrived at Shelly, at $37900 it's not bad considering the interior looks just like new. Add to that 2 yrs full maintenance and warranty, it's hard to ignore. There's a black NZ new one at independent dealer, 68000kms, '99 528, for $41000 add your own warranty and servicing. Gus, got the CDs yet?

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