gjm

Bl**dy Americans and their big engines in their cars! Looking for parts for Miss Ms 318i, or a Merc 190E 2.0 I have here... Weren't typically sold new in the US, so parts often aren't available on the 'big' sites. Usual German car parts price premium applies in NZ, especially for the Merc! Actually, that extends to cookware... Looking for a nice set of pans for Mrs M and the ex-Germany price (not shipping worldwide at present) is way less than half the price of the identical item in NZ!

Lot of money spent. Zero chance of recouping any significant percentage of the outlay. As mentioned, suspension is looking tired, and if that's the case, what is the status of everything else? Could be great. Could be...

Not had a problem with the service! I always give them a call, and things proceed the way you describe.

Call them. The personal touch is almost always a good thing.

Not a 130 (anyone else think of old Fiat's when they see that?) but we missed a 120d that sold for under $3k. Wrong island, again.

Understood. The distance and the ferry make quite a difference to collection costs.

Yup - that'd be the dark blue 320? Looks to be a good buy at the price, provided rust hasn't got hold of it.

The E30 Classifieds NZ page is pretty good too. (I may be biased!) The Facebook pages do support each other pretty well. Patience. There are good cars at sensible prices, but as Sammo said, also some unrealistic listings.

$1.53 for 91 in Waipukurau...

I was casting my mind back over BMWs I've owned, and tbh, I don't think there are any that I shouldn't have sold. I've owned many cars that do fall into that category - a low mileage Jensen Interceptor Mk3, for instance - but the BMWs have come and gone at the right time. Even the M635CSi and the early 840Ci. The turbo M10 E30, the E21 323i (my first BMW), Mrs M's E30 320i, and even the early 80s 5-series Thundersaloon (5.7 SBC, 5-speed manual). They were all great, all the right car at the time, and all sold for a good reason.

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.

BMW Z1 with a Weismann hardtop.

Gavin at EuroItalian, or Paul at MillAnd for fast turnaround on locally sourced parts. FCP Euro in the US are good too, but tend (in my experience) to have less parts available for any 4-cylinder engines.

The 4 biggest banks in NZ aren't NZ banks; that makes much of this an Australian problem. (We'll leave aside the $0000 per hour those banks take out of NZ... ?) Approaching the actual Kiwi banks - Kiwibank, TSB, Co-op etc - does sometimes work. When I've done this, professionally and privately, they seem more flexible and open to suggestions.