gjm

Insurance companies would be ecstatic. The motorist cash cow would be forced to dig even deeper to pay even more to own a car. And prices would rise dramatically: competition currently comes from not needing insurance as well as other policies. Bear in mind that there are two (confirm this?) insurance underwriters in NZ and compulsory insurance would become a rort. The government would implement an insurance tax... If you want insurance, great. Buy it. There are times when it's a good thing.

This. Make insurance compulsory (and it's no coincidence that the biggest campaigners for that are the insurance companies) and the premiums will go up. All the 'competition will make the market stable' claims will mean nothing - exactly this has happened in the UK. New drivers may spend as little as £500 to buy a car, and face £2500-3500 in annual insurance premiums. At present, the voluntary nature of insurance in NZ means that you buy insurance to cover yourself. Make insurance compulsory, and you're buying it to cover everyone else.

The consolidation is one of the pluses of using YouShop, although they can be quite restrictive on the amount of time they'll hold something at their overseas facility. Understandable - they don't want to act as a free storage facility for things. However, you have to be very smart about how you use consolidation. As I've detailed before, the cost of shipping goes up, and up, until you reach a critical mass with your orders at which point it suddenly becomes economic again - the price for shipping 6 items consolidated is significantly less than 5 (for example) because the 5 somehow don't 'qualify' for consolidation. It does work eventually, but as suggested - don't be in a hurry to receive anything. And keep your total shipping value (including all postage and insurance costs) under the threshold for imposition of duties - anything over that, and all bets are off.

We can add my experiences to Geoff's... I have tried a few times to use YouShop, and it's invariably been a tortuous and drawn-out, essentially untracked affair. I think I posted details of a couple of attempts on the 'rant' thread? The biggest SNAFU seems to be around customs and clearance which may not be down to YouPost (NZPost). However, there is absolutely no attempt to track a delivery through that process. Typically, NZPost's tracking shows the item to have left the country of origin but nothing more, while the overseas shipper's tracking shows the item to have landed at (Auckland) airport and be awaiting customs clearance. NZPost seem unaware of the package at this stage. Then there is the matter of actual delivery and tracking in NZ. It takes longer to get from Auckland airport to a point of delivery than it takes to get from Nowheresville, USA (for example) to Auckland Airport. Throw in that the tracking doesn't update in NZ and that items are often delivered days before showing as being out for delivery... Whatever you do, do NOT ask for an expedited delivery from an overseas shipper. It is truly a complete waste of time and money.

Gotta love a turbo M10 !

Hard to say on value, but it's going to be rare. Factory 325 manual with factory-fitted Mtech kit, NZ new... Won't be many of those around. $20k asking price is a lot, but with engine and gearbox-swapped cars being listed with asking prices at $14-16k, it's probably the right asking price. What it sells for is another matter.

I've had similar experiences (although not involving quite so much cost). It's a shame that what could be such a useful service is so badly let down once the parcel arrives in NZ.

Still, or sparkling?

That's before those of us in sticksville have to drive 50km to find a dealer to buy it from!

Fair comment. Applies to iron block/ally head cars too? I'll confess - I'm a bit concerned now! The 500SE has ally heads! I've not had any problems using it in Mercedes, Audi, BMW and others... Doesn't mean I won't.

I've been using 'green' coolant in all our cars. I don't think the E36 (or E46, for that matter) is particularly picky about coolant - just make sure that whatever you buy is a good quality. Most decent coolants will state on the packaging that they are suitable for BMW, Mercedes, VW, etc. I seem to be becoming a bit of a Penrite fanboy these days - I've been using this:

It was possible to drop the doors while driving. Lower the doors, reverse into the seat, swing legs inside.

I don't want to. ?

Excellent point. Technology has moved on and far more can be done. Because it can be done, it is expected to be done. I laud and praise the innovation of out of hours consulting too - radiography, blood tests, and scans of many sorts are now available for far more hours of the day. This does, of course, rack up more $$$ in availability of equipment, staff, maintenance and so on. (I'm not getting started on Pharmac... Grrr...) Much of the issue has been a combination of factors. Throwing money at a problem doesn't always work - sensible use of the money is what is needed, and that is down to the multiple DHBs. The DHBs need to work together, and (in the main) they don't. The Auckland area has something called the 'Northern Region' comprising of DHBs from Northland, Waitemata, Auckland, and Counties Manukau. There's lip service to working together, but the truth is that there is no integrated service provision, and there is a huge amount of back-and-forth budgetary cross-charging. Some areas do work together, but many of these seem to be on the admin and non-patient side. Then there is the issue of patient records. Each DHB is responsible for it's own patient records, records management, records management systems and staff - there is no central repository or even records access, no records correlation, and no access to records held by another DHB. If you live in Auckland and break a leg skiing in Queenstown, your records will not be available to the staff treating you. Allergic reaction to Voltarol (as my wife has)? You'd better now this and be conscious to tell the medical staff on hand. (OK - they'll not use Voltarol, but you get the idea.) What is worse is the complete lack of effort (on the part of the DHBs) to change this. In the Wanganui/Manawatu area, 3 new, different, patient records systems have been implemented in the last 2 years. (There's been prior discussion about PHOs...) There's no forethought, no planning, and consequent huge waste of money and resource. I have the hugest respect for doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. I understand some of what they do and go through. I understand their complaints about pay, too... It's not so long ago that teachers, nurses and politicians were on a comparable level of pay. Not any more.

The M51+4HP22 swap from a RR is the easy solution, and the gearbox is readily upgradeable with heavier duty parts from the 4HP24. That's not a world away from my 'dream' spec. I've been invited to acquire an ex-E46 184hp M57 with a 3000km-old Garrett turbo - apparently that also has 500nm. It'd come with loom, remapped and EWS deleted computers, DMF and SMF, bellhousing and a manual gearbox. Spoilsport!

Fluid and filter - filter is important, too. Does your car have a dipstick/trans filler tube? If not, when under the car, remove the trans filler plug first. It's monumentally frustrating to remove the drain plug, drop the fluid, and then find you can't get the filler plug undone... I really shoulda thoughta that. Just bought 8l of Castrol Dex3...

I was a bit flippant with my earlier response. ☮️ That said, I have driven the Mitsi Shogun (Pajero by another name, I think?) and didn't much like it. Mrs M tried a Shogun Pinin and hated that! It's a better road vehicle than an old Land Rover, but the price is against it - cheapest decent 10-year-old one I've seen was $14k. And I'd not have the fun of building it myself! As Jon suggested, some of the reason for doing it is because it's there to be done.

Let us know how you get on.

?

I don't dispute the increases in funding - it's how it was presented that caused some problems. My perspective is slewed by the role I had and the specific DHB I worked at - they certainly did not see a 'real terms' increase in funding. The population growth in the area, and the demographic of the population meant that cuts of around $30m per year were needed to continue providing the same level of service. Of course, some of that could easily have come from paying senior management a bit less, and not being as extravagant with some areas of spending. In 2016/7, they sold a significant piece of land which had been earmarked for services expansion. This had to be done in order to ensure they didn't go into the red. In 2017/8 they have had to find $45m in cuts in order to stay in the black. And, of course, the problems could easily go back much further than just the recent National tenure - I lack the personal involvement to comment on that.