gjm

? I had forgotten rust. Cool. The question was for her young self, Miss M. I think she has inherited her father's itchy car gene - the desire to try something else. I'll try to persuade her that as a student the funds aren't avaialble to do that. Besides, I've just bought new brake pads for her car...

Because fewer cylinders, less complexity and maintenance cost, simpler, newer car?

Real quick one. Given the choice, which is a better car to own? Taking into account reliability, comfort, running cost, suitability for home maintenance... (Performance and purchase price are not a consideration.) 2001 BMW E46 318i (M43B19) 1994 BMW E34 520i (M52B20)

Built by Bimmerworld for Pikes Peak racing. Body E36 M3 GTR (ALMS) carbon widebody, modified for additional cooling and downforce Full body underwing meshes a modified Lola BK240 front splitter, custom floor and undertray, and Argo JM19 Camel Lights downforce tunnels. Estimated 3,000+ lbs of downforce - 2000lbs front, 1800lbs rear at 150mph Chassis E36 unibody basis with partial tube frame Custom double A-arm front Factory BMW E46 M3 trailing arm with BimmerWorld tubular aluminum rear arms MCS 4-way dampers DCE power steering Brakes Performance Friction GT-spec endurance package Bosch Motorsport ABS Wheels & Tires Forgeline GS1R 18x12" Continental/Hoosier racing slick Engine BMW Motorsport P63 (M6 GT3) twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 Twin Weistec Garrett GTX3076 turbos Built and tuned by Roush Engines using ported heads, forged rods & pistons Bosch Motorsport ECU Motec dash and PDM OPTIMA YellowTop battery Over 1,000hp with E85 fuel Driveline Hollinger 6-speed transaxle (rear mounted) Paddle-actuated air-shift More pics here: https://www.bimmerworld.com/E36-Hillclimb-Car/

I've bought hubs from Gavin at Euro Italian (a forum sponsor). He's north of Auckland and we're in Central Hawke's Bay but delivery has always been next day. Not quite so helpful if ordering on a Friday. ? Try Jon at Auto38 - see if he can help?

Trying to search too many times within a prescribed period does give that result. Not had an issue once waiting for the time it says, though.

Mortgage rates. Not satisfied with NZ mortgage rates seemingly being higher (proportionately, compared to official cash rate) than anywhere else I've seen, the exact same banks choose to charge NZ borrowers significantly higher rates than their Oz cousins. ANZ: Best NZ rate currently advertised available - 3.45%, fixed for 1 year. Best Oz rate currently advertised available - 2.68% fixed for 2 years. (2 years in NZ is 3.65%.) Why the virtually 1% disparity? The official cash rate is different - Oz is running at 0.5% while NZ are tenuously holding on to 1%. Very, very strong indicators that the NZ rate will have to fall, and soon. Which may be why ANZ have just started pushing their 3.45% again...

Anyone in the area able to have a look at a project for me?

They're all very, very quick. In a real world situation the driver would make more difference than the car. Still - bragging rights to the M5.

The R65 we briefly discussed would be fun, but it is a modified bike. For something stock, Suzuki's GS500 will be under $4k, possibly under $3k depending on spec, and is a simple, reliable and strong bike that handles far better than almost anyone would expect.

"It's stock. It was like that when I bought it, bro."

@eliongater ?

I think they are. To be honest, if you can't readily find a s/h source (try Brent at BM World, etc) you may as well go to a man dealer. There may be a delay in ordering but I can't imagine they cost much, and you will have brand new bushes.

Facebook is a PITA. Always the same questions, over and over... And while the keyboard warriors (living at home with Mum and Dad, all too often) love to say "do a search, noob", Facebook really doesn't lend itself to that. Which is why I like forums. Facebook is 'quick fix' and keep in touch with distant friends and relatives - forums are useful sources for information, reference and discussion.

New rules are that GST is charged on everything, but Duty may not apply: Not a huge saving but every little bit helps.

Quite, quite mad.

I don't like silver on a car, but somehow it works on this. Easy to see why you've not felt any urgency to sell.

I think Nick is being pessimistic. (Managing expectations - that sort of thing.) Miss M has a slightly newer, M43-powered E46 4-door. 8v vs 16v, but a bigger and heavier (about 60kg) car. Her car typically uses less than 10l/100km for normal running about, and will easily dip into 6l/100km on a run.