Olaf

argggghhh my eyes!

I just dig the open-road journey for these, four-up traveling as a family in my little tractor. The F25's a bit short in the boot for four adults, sadly. The Turbodiesel drivetrain just rocks. As you say, cruising at lower RPM, and the surge of torque whenever you need it dispatches overtakes swiftly. Relaxing to drive, by and large.

Some forward-movement on the audio front, I've ordered the KMM-BT408. This weekend I'll have some time to clean up the cabling I have and potentially bench test all the kit, ahead of install. Hopefully in the next week or two I'll get a front door panel off and figure out best approach to 3D printing speaker adaptors. I mentioned earlier on the thread about the steering wheel control adaptor from the e46 CANBUS to the Kenwood, and saw the Enfig stuff https://shop.enfigcarstereo.com/bmw-3-series-1999-2006-e46-radio-replacement-parts/ I see there are loads of UARTs on Aliexpress for e39 and e46 - does anyone have a clue how these works? Sadly none has "use this one for your steering wheel controls and all will be good, Gweilo" on them... eg https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-BMW-e46-CANBUS-UART.html

IIRC a leaking fuel cap seal can wreak havoc on your emissions and the DME tries to adjust, easy to throw codes. It’s a service item, relatively inexpensive to replace. Best I check ours!

e60's great though at 20 years old... they need care. Lots of love and attention. You've owned a BMW before, you probably know a 5er can't be treated like a Camry. Nor for long, at least. I too would take the msport wheels.... vendor claims well-maintained though funishes no detail of what they've done. Perhaps it was all the previous owner. Had they spent money on maintenance they'll be bursting to tell you about it. So this owner has spent their money on BBS reps, budget tyres, put in a K&N, maybe done the tints - so they've spent $3,500-$4,000... and now they're moving to "something else". Are those dark tints legal? Borderline? Will they be a cop-magnet? When did it last have an alignment? An oil change? Has the IBS been updated? (It's not a recall in NZ, though it will f#ck your day up if it rears it's head if your on holiday with your family on board). It's a sweet colour. Though it's 2 cylinders - or a turbo - short. Go in with your eyes open, download "so you bought an e60" and read the whole lot. Best of luck!

No. you are levied duty and gst on the goods purchased. GST only on the freight. There's an exemption threshold of NZD1000 on goods for personal use. Here's a worked example: However, once you're over the threshold - you'll pay the duty and GST on the goods, GST on the freight, and you'll be charged IETF, BESL: "you have the Full House". And the kicker is - and it's not part NZ Customs website - now the freight company gets to charge you Brokerage - in recognition o how much running around they need to do to clear your shipment on your behalf! It's pretty fair really. If you're a useless tw*t and are unable to furnish the correct info responding quickly, they really do earn their fee in legwork. And of course there's the question of whether you need a Customs Client Code aka Customs Number - if you're doing over a grand in a shipment, time to get practiced at filling in those forms. What's a lad to do? Read the documentation, understand the processes, the laws, the thresholds. Buy smart. Before any lefty claims "but your exploiting a loophole you nasty petrolhead" be clear that you are working within the bounds of the law, importing within the thresholds set. Easy.

It's very clear in the order process that taxes and duties at the receiving end are your responsibility. The NZ Customs website is very helpful if you take the time to consult it. FedEx and DHL are pretty good with Duty (and IEP or whatever it's called), when it's necessary - they have streamlined processes to engage with, and are frequently in touch before it's even reached NZ - giving you opportunity to pay what's necessary and avoid any delays. UPS and NZPost - in contrast - are a complete crap-shoot. One solution is to use a decent aggregator in US to deal with the shipping to NZ. At least you'll get free shipping from FedEx to your nominated address. That is, forget using YouShop.

definitely has trouble with spelling. that plate is supposed to spell ANUS.

who can place the silliest question?😎

Brief question @Neal - speaker cable guage you used that passes through the connector, please? 16g?

thanks for the sanity check Neal! Tight and tuneful is my focus... some of the most fun hifi speakers I've listened to aren't super-acurate (flat) on the f response graph, or even go way-deep... I'd much rather listen to Linn Kans on a pair of Naim 135's than LS3/5a's on any round-earth amp you'd care to mention; Royd Minstrels don't go at all deep (I think about 38Hz is it?), though man can they play a tune and portray the sound of bass convincingly. I think going to a 1 ohm stable amp will require double the amp budget to get something with an iron grip into higher current loads. To my current thinking (hur hur), there's some balance in the equation of 8" driver, my space constraints, lower-budget focus, and preference for higher quality/value for money (I can probably find a reasonable sub mono block at around $400). the counterpoint is trying to do more quantity at the expense of quality within the budget envelope... a 10" needs more space and better control (or a better, more expensive driver as well...), or running 2ohm with the 8" (or 10") will need a bigger (more powerful) amp so I spend less on speaker quality...

with the Alpine R2-W8D2 as an example, the spec sheet seems pretty close to what you've indicated? I'd be looking at running the two nominally 2 ohm coils in series to make a nominal 4 ohm load, so that'd be the left hand column? (1.8ohm+1.8ohm), Fs 42Hz, Qts 0.48, and in a 0.3 cu ft enclosure, Qtc of 0.73.... am I on the right track? I'll need to figure out if it's easy enough to make a 0.3 cu ft (8.5 litres) enclosure - I suspect it is, if these guys can make a 0.5 cu ft (14.6 litres) enclosure for a 10" sub with a little more load area intrusion. Other consideration is the Alpine - unlike the more expensive examples - requires at least 4.6 inches (116mm) from front of baffle to clear the basket and magnet. I guess I can always mount it a little higher in the baffle, with magnet tilted downward and the baffle accounting for the tilt. I'll take a look at those links tonight, cheers.

thanks @Neal very helpful!

Looks like many of the 8" subs look for ~0.3 cu ft in sealed mode, and are available with 4 ohm configuration and power handling for ~350 watts RMS. Alpine R2-W8D2 (around NZD240?) details Audison APS8 D (around NZD350?) details JL Audio 8W3v3-4 (getting up there, ~NZD ) details Focal P20 FSE (around (around NZD375) details More measurement and estimation required, then map T-S parameters and mounting depth constraints, look for the numbers that are important. cheers

Singaporean import. Avoid.