vtgts300kw

It's also a couple hundred kilograms lighter, and $100k more expensive.

At 3.5k, I'm assuming that's what it cost him after selling/ trading the BMW.

Is it a diesel? If so, check if the particulate filter has been replaced, they are ruinously expensive to do.

I'm using a combination of 30 years experience working on cars and info gleaned from internet research. There is a .pdf of the VW Polo Haynes manual around, but it's not great. Pages are in the wrong order, and reproduction quality is OK rather than good. There's a manual referring to the older cars, but they didn't (I don't think) get the multi-point injection.

It's a fairly basic engine which somehow seems to have been poorly implemented. The problems I'm having are less severe than some described on various forums, but many agree it is the throttle body (design) that causes problems. VW are no help - typical dealer response is to replace, replace, replace, rather than diagnose correctly and fix.

Of course, the car is now 16 years old, but the issues we're having now are described as being fairly commonplace even 10 years ago. Take that with a pinch of salt - VW produced hundreds of thousands of these cars and variants or derivatives, and reports of a few dozen problems could be giving a false perspective.

Ours has been pretty good considering, nothing terribly major, most things have just been due to it's age. It leaks oil like a sieve, but it's easier to just top it up when needed.

Do you have a workshop manual for the Polo? Or you doing things through experience on other cars?

I've been looking online for one and can't find anything. And the Yanks never got this model, so there is an absence of good online "tutorials".

I've heard from various sources the E60 M5 is not a particular nice car off the track... Guess this is further confirmation. I'm with on comfort whilst driving but I do love power too. Hence my interest in big, fast sedans and now the semi-ridiculous E31.

Good luck with the Merc.

It's not happy going slowly. It's like a dog on a leash at the park watching other dogs playing.

Yea she's a pretty good car, Took that phoenix yellow 46 M3 for a drive from marcs cars, its a pretty good car, good history etc etc but something just didn't feel right with it, Felt flat compared to others iv driven.

Drive as many as you can, they vary wildly.

Only gripe i have is they constantly take the lowest bid. They save 10% but need it resealed twice as often because it falls apart. Poor economics but looks better on todays budget. At the expense of next years

Roading contracts are a complete and utter rort.

To be honest a lot of the Ferrari owners and events are not nearly as bad as you would expect.

I'm sure they're not. But I've dealt with enough of them to not want to risk it!

Also, whoever designed that "exclusive" invite should be shot.

That is one event I wouldn't want to go to. I can just imagine the guests now.

But there is no current models racing. So other than parts and brand love they may not get much out of the series other than a ton of exposure which they may not really need as there is already plenty.

That's the crux. What's in it for them? Nothing I would suggest.

How about they invite some of their die hard BMW fans. People from the race series. That you know. Is for BMW's only.

Spend thousands through them every year.

Not really just a skid session though.

It's fundamentally about selling cars.

So what goes on at an event like this?

Do a bunch of shiny heads sip lattes and talk shop, then get let out for a real fang? Or do you have to crawl around the track with an instructor?

For the E92 it was: Have morning tea, get shown an overall presentation on the car, go and see the car and get another presentation with more specific details, sit in the car etc. Get split into groups which then rotate through different activities on the track. Full speed laps behind an instructor ( 2 guests per car ) in various cars ( couple of M3's, M5, M6, Z4M and something else like a 550 ), slalom course and a high speed swerving thing between cones. The first car behind the instructor ( driving a 330 I think ) was the M3 and I only ever had to back of the throttle once because I was catching him on the fastest bit. But the other 2 laps he was far enough ahead.

That was at Taupo where they could split the track up. But at Hampton Downs you can use the skid pad whilst the track is being used. Plus the car park?

And if they had invited you initially with the correct name would have you definitely brought a M4?

Also does this thread even need to be on the internet? its not really what this forum is for or about in my opinion..... correct me if I’m wrong i thought we were here to talk about maintaining, breaking, fixing, modifying, cleaning and taking photos of our BMW's. Not personal opinion attacks on a very commendable dealership, who were not personally spiting you. Just a paper work mistake i would have thought. They have inventory’s of thousands of names to sort through and these things can happen.

Uh, this is the internets, and this isn't the maintaining, breaking, fixing, modifying, cleaning and taking photos of our BMW's part of the board. So i'd suggest this is exactly what this part of the board is for.

And no, they wouldn't have 1000's of names to sort through. It doesn't take a genius to work out which clients you should be inviting to an event to launch a pretty niche car in the M3 ( at a racetrack ).

Would your dealership invite guests to the launch of the GT3 who only have a history or purchasing ( unrelated ) parts through your parts department, or who have no history of owning a GT3? I'd suggest they would look at who have bought similar product in the past, and fill the rest of the spots with loyal customers and people who they are hoping to bring in from other brands.

I didn't deserve an invite at all. Not sure why I got one, all I've done is spend a few grand on servicing costs, have never bought a car from them new or anything.

But in saying that, I very promptly accepted their invite... I'm very excited and looking forward to it! Never been to one of these days.

It's a shame it's not at Taupo like last time, they chartered a plane down.

Not sure how the event was run this time. But for the E92 launch, each dealer handled the invites themselves and had their own day/s for their customers.

As I said in another thread, I know a few people ( including my father ) who didn't get invites this time and who have owned new and used M3's ( plus M5's and M6's ), and who would be in the market for the car.

And then it's odd that DaveO gets an invite when I dont think he's purchased a new M model recently? Or would be in the market for one.

It's a complete crapshot.

Drugdealers?

The Duke?

Thanks mate I'll give that a go.

Hopefully it's a blocked pipe in the trunk. A fault in the heater unit requires a dash removal afaik.

edit: The "trunk" rotates off, it doesn't lever off. And mine basically disintegrated in my hand due to age, so be careful if you want to reuse it.

It would appear my E30 has started leaking a bit into the drivers foot well. Its started recently as we've had heavy rain here in Auckland. It seems to be dripping down from somewhere onto the brake pedal. Its getting a bit bad and I wanna nip it in the bud before it gets rusty. Has anyone had leaking issues on the drivers side before? Common problem?

Will post a picture later on.

I had the problem last year ( althought mine seeped down behind the carpet, didn't "drip" onto anything ). It seemed to be from a backed up "elephants trunk" drain in the engine bay. Take that off and see if it's blocked.

Or else it could be your heater unit that's leaking. But I don't think that would drip onto your brake pedal?

Pipe looks like this, and is on the drivers side firewall in the engine bay.

It was a media/press only event, I am sure there will be something similar very shortly for dedicated M owners.

I'd assume they would have already organized the "public" event. I know the E92 launch was arrange months and months in advance.

Yeah .... after so many years I no longer give a sh*t for the brand.

You are crazy for coming over to BMW as they know nothing about retaining loyal customers. Go back to Audi where they actually know what that means.

If they gave me one I'd drive it off a cliff.

Did they give you an invitation to this event? I know a couple of people ( father included ) who didn't get an invite, and who have had numerous full fat M models.

Out of sheer curiosity I wonder if the new M4 and it's pricing comes near the pricing of say the Porsche 991 Turbo as such?? That would definitely be quite detrimental to the M4 as Porsche have always made amazing cars, and the turbo is legendary.

Would be a brilliant comparison for Top Gear or one of these review artists to do also taking into account the new RS4 and who knows the monster that AMG may reveal, knowing those brilliant nutters it'd be some twin turbo V8..and you can never forget the GTR.. just watched a video of their latest creation, quite impressive.

lol wut? The 991 Turbo has got to be $370k +. M4 starts at $170K I think. M3 a little cheaper.

The new M3 is very, very close in size to the E39 series. The cabins feel pretty similar.

The early Turbos without the intercooler are such nice looking cars.

Has anyone seen an Imola Red E46 M3 with 19inch BBS CH rims around anywhere lately? Just wondering if it's still "alive".

Congrats on it winning best BMW at Automania. Just basing my statement on personal experience with the car (and now previous owner), i guess peoples standards of 'mint' vary alot. Just not ideal When i spend $$$ on one way plane tickets and its not what its meant to be upon arrival. You can sell your car to anyone, including BS members, don't judge all members to be the same from my attitude towards this individual ride. A car can still be old and not have "gremlins". Moving on...

Ignore what she said. You were mislead about the car which cost you money, i'd be pissed too.