E34

I'm a fan of the older Jeeps, can pick up a decent one for 3 grand these days. They are pretty hard to kill and will deal to most things off road with decent tyres. Only down fall is parts are a bit hard to come by, and usually expensive. They are pretty thirsty (not as bad as my old disco) but will out tow anything this side of an F series diesel. I'd be keen to give the newer model Range Rovers a go but not too sure how the bank balance would hold up with traction contol and air suspension on a 15 year old car (not to mention British). As for the Jappas, can't go past a Nissan Patrol. Just avoid n/a diesel. Too gutless.

ouch.

Cheers, I hope for you it goes for a decent price too, as a low price would hurt other 540is on the market. Yeah I took it for a drive out to the Shore on Friday, first time I've driven it since listing it for sale, and thought shes a f**king bargain if it goes for anything less than 5 grand. Great cars to drive, especially on long distance, just needs cruise control (or a 6 speed!).

Yes the 560SEC, I used to have one of them, Mercedes back in those day were built A LOT better than the crap we get now.

Looks nice, always liked the E32, will be in touch if I get semi decent $$$ for my $1 reserve 540i haha. Do you ha e the original 15" wheels? Does it leak water at all (into the cabin?). Does the diff whine? Cheers.

Yep I've pretty much had no interest in mine, bidding is at $1600 after nearly one week on $1 reserve haha.

Yeah I've got a Cherokee that I'm wrecking for parts, I thrashed it off road for 6 months before I decided I didn't want to spend money on it for WOF. For the record it shat all over Terranos, Surfs, Pajeros, comparable Jap (over rated) 4wds. With 1.6 tonne and 190 hp, decent tyres and a small lift sees them walking away from Land Cruisers and Patrols. I'd challenge you on a Surf or Paj being more reliable too. Well E34 540i on trade me seem to be around the 6-8 grand mark so I'd hope to get some where in there. Didn't try to sell it before hand, couldn't be f**ked sticking a price on it in a listing with little movement, at least I know that there should be a sale within two weeks.

Is that the blown big block? Was looking under the bonnet in it, a guy came over and said it was pulling 1500hp lol.One of my favourites would have been the fully original silver 59 Cadillac, and all the MOPARS.

Yeah thats my one, farking nice car, too nice for what I want it for, hence why I am getting a Cherokee for my daily and off road thrash, and if theres enough change an E32 740/50il for a weekend car.

Very nice interior. I will be putting mine on $1 dollar reserve tomorrow night for a quick sale, so you can see what sorta prices they go for (all of the ones on TM have been on there for a while, bugger all movement), I did the contol arms myself, retail the four arms were about $600, cheaper for the bushes but might as well get the whole arm. A lot of car for the money.

I'm there, meeting my mates who have a 49 Buick with a 455cu in it (around 7.6 litres?). Will be embarssing turning up on my 250cc motorbike but it would be a sin to take the car over the bike on those roads.

And manual too! Back when they made real cars. Mercedes were also looking at a V16 for their upcoming S Class, but due to the economic times decided against it.

Well I'm going to Wellington this weekend, and coming back on Monday, if bekker cannot do it for you, let me know, as I will most probably go out there for a look. Cheers.

I used to be in the Navy... A mate I went through training with was going to get put on his van 'VANGNA' with the message 'full of seamen' underneath.

No where did I mention those with older or less valuable cars should be treated differently to those with newer stuff. What goes around come around, one reason why Toyota are the best selling brand on both sides of the Tasman is because of their customer service (especially compared to Holden and Ford). Maybe some people get more satisfaction from going to a dealer and being around cars 10 to 20 times the value of theirs. True, a dealer might have service tools etc, but I'd take a good guess that any garage dealing with older (and popular) European models can do the same job. What my occupation has got to do with it, I don't know, but I'm a diesel mechanic and truck driver, comes in handy... Means I don't feel warm and fuzzy after blowing $600 for a BMW service when i can do it myself in about 3 hours. If I did need to use dealer tools, I'd fork out and take it to an independent garage.

Nice car, I'm glad you rate it over the jappas. I'm very impressed with my 540i, which is essentiall a 21 year old car. One of the best models of cars on the road imo. We need to have a 540/5 series cruise (bugger those E30s)

Oh you lucky bugger, my mate just bought a new YZ450, awesome fun, will probably look into a two stroke 250 dirt bike over the next few months.

Why take an 11 year old car to a dealer in the first place?

Theres a bloke down in Tirau that deals with the older mercs, so give him a go, about 5km north overlooking SH1. Can't remember the name, good guy tho. Just did a search on trademe, http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=485437

I've got a CBR250RR too. Will probably buy a CBR Fireblade or Daytona 675 when I get my 6 full. Would have already done it but I'm on 85 points, so one more ticket and I'm farked. BMW bikes don't really interest me, although the newer spoprts ones look good, except for the price.

Gday there, just wanting to know the minimum thickness of the front rotors of the E34 540i. I gave em a quick skim today as a last minute decision at work, took away the horrible brake shudder but have a feeling I might have to replace em before the sh*t hits the fan. Also, I'm going to do the trans fluid and filter next week. chucked the car on the hoist today to check the oil level for the weekend, but couldn't find the bloody filler hole?!?! Is it next to the ID tag? (5 spd ZF Auto). Priced up a g/box filter from BMW, nearly shat myself when he said $110. Then I went to BNT... $180odd!!. Even tho I get a 45% trade discount thru work it would probably be worth it to go genuine lol. I've searched the net, suprisingly there is not much info floating around on the 540s. bmwe34.net was a good website but now seems to have gone? The poms seem to love their gutless 520s and the yanks the 535s, but the 540 a bit of a one off. Cheers.

This really hits home for most kiwis. Some of the pictures floating around made me sick to the stomach, especially images of burnt out cars where the occupants were trying to flee, but either crash into other cars or toppled trees etc. Visibilty much have been next to nothing. It looks like a bloody war zone, wouldn't even want to think about what was going thru their minds at that point in time. Heres hoping they made it out ok.

Lol, is that in the Mt Vic Tunnell?, Wellington. Gotta love the overpriced 250s, means I don't have to lay too much down when I get my full later this year.

Just ticked over 203k. I'm the fourth owner, NZ new with full history. I know the 6 cylinders can do big miles but I'm not too sure about these, will know sooner or later haha. Will be keen to take it to drag wars when they start up again.

Sure the specs aren't in a different unit? Lol. As for the bushes, they might wear out faster if they have been tightened wrong. Such as with no weight on them, as when you let the car on the ground, the weight will constantly be twisting or acting on the bushes, as oppsoed to them being tightened in their natural state?