RobD

I just imported a car from the UK in October. It is entirely accurate. What is your basis for claiming it isn't true?

The petrol tank needs to be completely drained. Not all fluids. If you have owned the car for 12 months or more in the UK then you don't need to pay GST. Expect around £1,500 for shipping via container (recommended if you want to minimise chances of damage) plus £300-£400 agents' fees in the UK and NZ. Compliance is $500 plus any repairs required. Take those costs and add on around 10% for miscellaneous costs which I guarantee you will arise! Oh and marine insurance which depends on value of course but bargain on around £250.

How about 255/35/18 x 2 and 225/40/18 x 2? Anything Y Rated?

I agree but I guess my point is exactly that. £8K is $16K. Not $24K. I was simply trying to say that here, you pay over the odds, car for car, irrespective of shipping.

NZ has the same marine environment and salty air that any island has - UK or otherwise, so our cars should theoretically suffer the same fate. I really don't get the whole concept that UK cars are more rusty than those from any other country that exports cars to NZ. Japan receives plenty of snow too - and has gritted roads, but no one comments on rust affecting Japanese imports. The South Island receives plenty of snow too, and also gets gritted in parts. So do cars from those areas also suffer the same issue? Honestly, this really seems to be one of those old arguments where people are just repeating what they've heard with no anecdotal evidence to back it up. Much of the US, most of Europe, Korea, Japan - they get snow, and people import cars from all those places, but for some bizarre reason people focus on the UK. But that said, if you'd rather have a NZ car then by all means go for it. There are less to choose from, they are often poorly specified, and have often been serviced and maintained by people who don't specialise in Euros. The owners then sell at crazy prices because of low supply here. It's just a bugbear. A 2002 M5 is fundamentally the same car whether here or in the UK, but people here have to pay way over the odds because they feel they have to.

I'm not sure what you mean by querying how big the southern half of England is either. It is where most people live in England, and where most cars are. In my 10 years in London I never saw any roads get treated with grit or salt. The same applies throughout all the home counties and the south and south west, which is where the bulk of the population and cars are based. You can tell through DVLA where a car has spent most of its life, if you happen to look at importing. Saying things like "riddled" with rust is just silly.

I guarantee that most 14 year old cars will have some form of rust. Metal oxidises no matter where in the world it is unless humidity is near zero. I lived there for quite some time. Really, the way people speak here it is as though all cars in the UK are rust heaps at the age of 10, which is rubbish. Cars there are, by and large, in a better state of repair than most of the stuff here. I for one can say that through experience. Not through what I read on a forum, of which I have read plenty. Remember that forum are a place for people to talk about problems as much as they are to talk positives. For every rust story you read about there are 20 stories out there that would suggest the opposite.

I really don't see the risk. The southern half of England doesn't get gritted or salted roads, and, believe it or not most of the UK gets a lot less rain that the bulk of NZ. UK roads are also a lot better than they are here. I lived there for 10 years and the difference is night and day. The concept that UK cars are all rust addled is just nuts. M5s and the like here are under specced and over priced and have been subjected to years of driving of nasty roads. No comparison in my book.

The UK rust thing is a bit exaggerated in many respects. It's a way of non UK car owners to justify higher prices. Not all of the UK grits its roads - that is more an issue in the north. The UK cars are usually higher specified and often more well maintained as there are more specialist workshops there too.

Frustrating that you can buy one of these in the UK for £8,000.

The car will have all its underbody panels removed and its underside completely inspected for any signs of rust, including superficial surface corrosion. All suspension and steering parts will be tested, including bushes, ball joints etc. Brakes will be tested for pad wear and rotor wear, and lines are checked for wear too. General chassis check for damage too. Emissions levels are tested. Interior is stripped and checked for signs of repairs to the body. Usual seatbelt checks etc. Must meet Euro 4 emissions standards to be even looked at. It is basically an extremely thorough warrant. Because the compliance centre doing the job is also issuing the car's first warrant in NZ they are extremely thorough.

It's the Kiwi way. Take other people down at the knees for no apparent reason. The tyranny of distance.....

Unless there are F1 or WRC drivers on here masquerading as average everyday enthusiasts, I doubt anyone has the right to consider themselves great drivers. It's all relative. Perhaps when compared to a stay at home mum/dad who drives 15 km once a fortnight to visit family there are people here who are better. But that's about it.

Bit passive aggressive there. All the guy was doing was sharing a pic of his new family hack. I didn't read that as an invitation for you to spout a diatribe on your own wagon which won't fall off the road at 80kph like a Hyundai will at 60. Awesome.

I don't think a car that has 348x30 mm front rotors as standard and huge calipers needs much in the way of upgrades.

Hi guys, Anyone on here had their higher mileage engines dyno tested and been pleasantly surprised by the results? I'm curious to get your thoughts on how time and mileage affects an engine's power output, assuming the engine has been serviced frequently with the right products, and been well taken care of - i.e. driven gently most of the time with the odd clear-out now and then. My N54 is on around 145,000 kms now, has always been serviced (had new turbos and injectors at 100,000 km too) and still feels great - but I do wonder whether it would have felt noticeably better 50,000 kms ago, and whether it will feel noticeably weaker in another 30,000 km. Odd question I know, but I am curious to hear of your experiences - especially with dyno figures on older engines remaining pretty close to the original output! Cheers, Rob

On a modern BMW you are going to pay a grand a visit any time you drive in to get a repair done. Parts are expensive and so is labour. And then there's GST. Your part only needs to cost you $500 before labour and GST will push it out to 4 figures. This is from experience. If you want cheap fixes then yes you can so some things yourself but some times it is easier just to go to an indy.

Yes you can replace just one. I had one replaced by Burgers Motor Works late last year. I had a horrible misfire on cylinder 6. Basically the injector wasn't closing and was therefore overfuelling the cylinder and the mixture wasn't combusting. They can test the open/close cycle on the spot with their diagnostics. They just take it out, replace it, code it and its done.

Duff fuel injector. I had the same symptoms on cylinder 6. Plugs were fine. Fuel pump fine. Coil fine. Leaves one likely culprit. Get the injector duty cycle checked on a scanner.

Ha, true, but $10K is I guess a realistic figure in a world of rent, mortgages and endless bills!

Everybody's chance to dream a little. Add your car and your dream list of mods if you had $10K to spend on your pride and joy. Mine: 2007 E90 335i M Sport manual sedan in Sapphire black with 18" style 193 alloys. Wish list: 19" OZ Superleggera alloys in anthracite and wrapped in Pilot Supersports, H&R Cup springs and dampers with a full bush kit, lowered 25 mm. DMS reflash to 380 bhp and 400 lb ft torque, stage 1 uprated clutch. Maybe a short shift kit. To me, that would be the perfect road car. Anyone got a spare 10 grand burning a hole in their pocket?

I think around 55 cents a litre is excise tax. The Government then charges GST on that tax, at the usual 15%. The proceeds of that GST then go in to the Govt's general account. So basically 8 or 9 cents a litre goes to the general ledger for use elsewhere. If you fill your 60 litre tank up, that amounts to about $5 per fill. There are 3.2 million cars on the road in NZ, so even half of them filling up once a week creates excess revenue of between $400 and $500 million per year. That's quite a lot that could be spent on roads but isn't. A rough calculation I know, but indicative of what a tax on a tax can create in additional income for the Govt.

For starters they could apply the GST they charge on the fuel excise to the roads. Tax on a tax.

That pair of 'highways' is appalling, and more akin to a UK 'C' road in terms of grade. They're kind of more like country lanes, except that they link major towns. I guess it's something we'll just have to deal with, but it does feel like we get short changed in the roading department. In some ways, we have a decent network of roads given our geography and size, but equally, there are countries in Europe with similar populations to that that of NZ which not only have an amazing road network - but one that is smooth and light years ahead of ours in terms of quality. Places like Denmark for instance. Challenging climate - but wonderful roads - and more of them too relative to size. NZ will probably always push the use of this dreadful coarse chip and the false economy that it entails. Governments here have never known how to do something once and do it right. It's always been a case of do it on the cheap and make it last as long as possible.

I think everyone should carry a can of bright yellow roadmarking spraypaint in their car. Every time you see a chassis cracking pothole, stop, and leave a polite message for the NZ Transport Authority sprayed all over the road. I'll leave it to everyone's imagination as to what those messages might say.