Grant

I agree, I think that Mark has the best approach here, and if I were in your shoes would follow this course of action too.

That's a fantastic looking car, and a pretty good price too.

^ I see you have deleted the signature now, so I take it all back.

.You are right, I don't care, I just find it very amusing that you have gone to such lengths to actually make it your signature, and even bold some words. (which makes it appear as though you are proud - if you weren't, why would he even feature as an avatar, or even worse make a signature specific to it). But hey, you have a tough guy internet image to keep up, so if this makes you feel like a big tough guy, then go for your life, go to town.

I still don't get it.Who is he? Why is he relevant? Should we care? (for the record, being proud of knowing him just sounds pathetic to me).

A 535i engine, turbo charged, and put into an E30?

I just saw your sig. Who the f**k is Mark Read?Edit: I just looked him up. You have a small time, Australian thug as your avatar, and talk about him in your signature. Congratulations.

I'm not going to lie, it looks to be a piece of crap

I think you did exactly the right thing under the circumstances, although it probably doesn't seem so at the moment. Just be honest, apologetic and sincere, and admit what you did was stupid and I'm sure you will get off as lightly as possible.

When I sold one of My E36's beofre leaving NZ, Jeff's transported it to Wellington for the new owner. Very professional on the pick up end.

You think?

I hadn't washed/cleaned my Passat in the two years I had owned it, and it had performed like a swiss watch. I cleaned it two weeks ago, and two days later the starter motor quits. There is a lesson in that somewhere.

^ on that note, as far as the price difference in concerned, there seems to be about US10c a gallon difference between the grades. 91 currently costs around US$3.30 - US$3.50 a gallon (about NZ$1.20 a litre) 89 - $3.20 - $3.30 a gallon 87 - $3.10 - $3.20 a gallon This is in California. In other states it is significantly cheaper again. California has the highest cost by some margin in the USA (for most things).

I was going to say that, We get three octane ratings here (the US) 87, 89 and 91 but a different method of measurement. See below (from Wikipedia) Research Octane Number (RON) The most common type of octane rating worldwide is the Research Octane Number (RON). RON is determined by running the fuel in a test engine with a variable compression ratio under controlled conditions, and comparing the results with those for mixtures of iso-octane and n-heptane. Motor Octane Number (MON) There is another type of octane rating, called Motor Octane Number (MON), or the aviation lean octane rating, which is a better measure of how the fuel behaves when under load, as it is determined at 900 rpm engine speed, instead of the 600 rpm for RON.[2][3] MON testing uses a similar test engine to that used in RON testing, but with a preheated fuel mixture, higher engine speed, and variable ignition timing to further stress the fuel's knock resistance. Depending on the composition of the fuel, the MON of a modern gasoline will be about 8 to 10 points lower than the RON, however there is no direct link between RON and MON. Normally, fuel specifications require both a minimum RON and a minimum MON Anti-Knock Index (AKI) In most countries, including all of those of Australia and Europe the "headline" octane rating shown on the pump is the RON, but in Canada, the United States and some other countries, like Brazil, the headline number is the average of the RON and the MON, called the Anti-Knock Index (AKI, and often written on pumps as (R+M)/2). It may also sometimes be called the Road Octane Number (RdON) or Pump Octane Number (PON). Difference between RON and AKI Because of the 8 to 10 point difference noted above, the octane rating shown in the United States is 4 to 5 points lower than the rating shown elsewhere in the world for the same fuel.

I would say that an H1 Hummer would take some beating! A horrible monstrocity, and highly unpractical on NZ roads, but I would guess they would be pretty safe in almost any accident (unless you were the other car). I had that head on between Thames and Pauanui those few years ago in my E30. I was amazed how well the E30 stood up to the accident, and how much better off I was than the other twit. I was also amazed how I was almost completely uninjured.

I like it, especially the front on view. It looks aggressive and evil. It looks like it is has an evil grin, the grin of a sadistic serial killer just before they attack. If I saw that coming up the road behind me, I'd want to get out of its way.

Good luck, I have always thought that yours was one of the best looking E30's around.

That is a pretty good looking car.

These are my thoughts as well.

That is a good/interesting point.Greg, what are the oldest cars you get into the dealership for work? Do you get many E30/E34 era cars in for work? What about older (notwithstanding the fact that most of this era are no longer on the road)? What do you prefer to work on, a newer car or an older car?

I agree, a modern car is a significantly better car in nearly every way, especially safety.What if they dropped the brand new engine out of a 1991 Corolla into a 2011 Corolla, and all of the additional safety and comfort features worked. (I know that I am being overly simplistic in this example - and it probably isn't even possible)? I'm not even sure why I am that interested in this topic. I put it down to my overly analytic nature, and that these types of things interest me.

I think it is more the case that what I am thinking in my head, and trying to articulate through the keyboard, is not what is read the other end. It is also easy to get off the original point because a car is much more than it was say 20 years ago, they advanced in many ways (safety, features, accessories etc).

I do think that these are nice cars, but everytime I see one I imagine it is driven by either a real life pimp, or an overweight italian-american mobster wearing a tracksuit, and covered in large jewelry

Ahhh, of course. I should have guessed that.Thanks.

Greg, what is a PDI?