gjm

E31s are great cars. I forgot earlier to mention I had an E34 M635CSi - the 8-series was a good successor, in my opinion. Neither is something I'd want to consider, from an economy perspective, for a daily 250km round trip, though! I've managed to get my W201 Mercedes down to 9l per 100km, but it'd be incredibly hard to better that, in that car. Having spoken to a former owner of an E46 320d (saloon) I'm likely to better 5l per 100km; maybe it was a tall story, but he claimed he had once seen below 4l per 100km. That'd be nice, but I'm not holding my breath! Regardless - many thanks for the welcome.

Aye... Seemed like a good idea at the time! It's the little things that cause problems. Y'know, rent, petrol, food, electricity... Fingers crossed that's all behind us now.

If anyone would like it looked at, let me know. It's nearly opposite where I work. They have another BMW in there that I'd not touch. It must be the 320i but I thought it was a brownish colour; it' s advertised as gunmetal. Sounded like a bag of nails when I walked past earlier. Many of their cars are ex-Japan imports. Obviously not the object of the OP, though.

Just walked up to Greg Hantz - he's maybe 10 minutes alk from work. He was very helpful. Several BMWs of different ages around including an E23, couple of E36s, and an E34 (might have been an E39 - I didn't look closely enough) Touring. Other cars including a Mk 5 or 6 Golf, and a Japanese SUV. So, a BMW specialist, but not exclusively BMW. Makes sense. Happily spent a few minutes chatting and giving me some pointers.

I pass SD twice a day... Definitely an option. Servicing and similar in Hamilton has benefits as I'm here all day, every day. However, I've no plans to sell the Merc so it could be used if a BMW is 'in' somewhere in Auckland. (Mrs M has seen a 318i Touring that she rather fancies - we'll need to get some money saved first, though.) On the Hamilton end, I found details of European Specialists Ltd at 7B Tasman Road, Hillcrest Auto Services at 50 Riverlea Road, and Greg Hantz Autos at 36 King Street. I've not gone looking for Auckland-based specialists yet.

Hi all, We arrived in NZ at the end of June last year, staying at a friends house for a few weeks before renting near Clevedon, south-east of Auckland. We're long-term German car fans having had many Mercedes, BMWs, VWs and Audis. My first BMW was an E21 323i, followed later by a 840Ci. (My brother had the 850 - interesting comparison.) My wife drove an E30 320i coupe for several years. Work for me was very slow to be sorted. We didn't want to jump into daily life straight away but after a few months here, we decided it was time. And Telecom laid off 140 or so IT Project Managers... My field. That didn't help at all, and marked the start of a long slog, and money worries, before I found work in Hamilton. It's a nice drive south, but quite a distance, and my Merc really isn't suitably economical! I've been looking for cheap (try living for 14 months with no income!), economical, sensible, practical yet fun wheels for a while and have found a 2002 E46 320d Touring which would suit. (A 520d might be better, but beggars can't be choosers.) I'm aware that there can be a number of issues with the M47TUD engine, but also that it is a good engine provided it is looked after. So, it's an older car. It will doubtless need some attention. So the first of (doubtless) many questions is: who are the good guys for looking after 10-15 year old BMW diesels? I've been on many forums in the past, especially while in the UK, so 'normal' rules apply - let me know the good'uns here perhaps, but PM (in confidence) details of anyone to avoid! Long term I may look to make some minor changes to the car and engine, but these will be more around maintaining reliability and power, and increasing economy. I know it could be tuned and tweaked, but 120km each way to work means this isn't really a car to 'play' with too much. Thanks folks. Graham