Olaf

use the force, not the farce! indeed, Subaru - for all their positive points - are still a japanese car... there are points of difference from other japanese cars, but hey.... they're just not the dynamic drive that the cars that Kelvin's talking about are known for. The similarity is that Subarus are a relatively high-cost maintenance commitment, like our BM's. Be patient Kelvin, bide your time. winter's coming, folks will be quitting their toys...

sounds good to me Graham. We could have reduced a number of waiting lists for cancer ops around the country, in addition to the rail link. NZ no longer has a left and a right, only the outdated notion of such #8 )

agreed. I've not seen normally intelligent people confusing the question of a new flag with one 'side' or the 'other' of our two main centrist parties! How people get "left" or "right" out of two parties so closely aligned with the middle, is beyond me. #8 ) Most folks I know were concerned about the state of the logos proposed not offering a genuine alternative to our existing flag. It was an interesting exercise; how differently could we have used that $26M eh? Hey ho, at least the final referendum question was clear and unambiguous; that in itself should be celebrated. #8 )

welcome, Chris. I've noticed - and admired - your touring around the traps #8 )

so it's really a rebuilt write-off? If so, that's outrageous! Car Jam Link I'm particularly impressed with the seller's photography of local foliage, with his touring obscured in the background. Who got a 50 f1.8 for their birthday, then? Anyway, the alpinweiss looks nice and shiny. With a bit more use it might catch up with Graham's 320d in the mega-mileage stakes #8 )

looks nice, and I should think the purchaser is happy with acquisition at close to $20k. All things considered, it's a 9 year old BMW performance 3 series coupe, that should be about top dollar for them now in terms of depreciation vs maintenance.

yep, the fuel guage is similar. 'E' is for 'Enough'. F is for Fark-all.

thanks Kyu and Dave, I've sent Ollie a PM with a link to this thread. He was online earlier today, so hasn't gone dormant... here's hoping we can get some laser-cut vinyl love. ooooh, that sounded a bit dodgy eh

what did I do to my BMW (yester)day? Got the Style 194's on with new RE-003s (225/45/17 & 245/40/17). If Toyota australia might allow: "what a feeling". First rain this morning in wellington for a goodly while. First impressions are very positive.

still keen too. who's Ollie? I don't mean that to sound disrespectful; just not sure what the forum name is.

woohoo, I've just got my Amazon Prime working, both on puter and on my Amazon FireTV. So I now have a front-row seat.... when's the show starting?

I'm rather taken with that idea.

Dave, the ad reads: Breyton Magic wheels off BMW E46 3 series but would also suit E36. Some curbing as shown in photos. ET44 offset. PCD 5x120. Toyo C1S 225/40 tyres. 3x with 2-3mm even tread, 1x with 1-1.5mm tread worn on inside (may or may not pass WOF)

don't give up CJ, talk to Ray! He'll build you one to order, or bring your own tired 316Ti along and blammo, 325/330Ti!

c'mon you guys, take the hint. Ray makes these to order! I love the epic fail of this auction - forget the Olaf 'rules of how to win at TradeMe'. Prospective buyer: "Do you have any more photo's? (never mind the unnecessary apostrophe - this guy wants to see more skin before he gets into bed) Vendor GOLD answer: a few but they are basically the same. A 325ti is a 325ti (that's right, I'm too lazy to actually help the sale, and I don't care if I'm sounding a little bit evasive/dodgy!) let's extrapolate that. "oh, I need some oil. Hmmm - well, oil is oil, here's some 30/40 from 1970". "what's that mister garage, I need some brake pads? Sure, brakes are brakes". "oh, you want pictures to get a better idea of condition? who cares about condition, you'll buy this like a blind man. come to Bruce's car sales, my cars are just cars as you'd expect". I won't go on...

ooooooooooooooh! new season of Banshee starts next month. A 4th season of madness - cool!

sh*t Kyu, this means you're going to have to sell me your e46 330i!

I saw it today too, out near hutt park raceway at lunchtime.

I think local bodies in NZ have long forgotten who they are here to serve, and who funds them.

mate, if you're still wondering, I'm happy to look while I'm up there. If indications are good, you then arrange a PPI (there's Jeff Gray or an Independent down there(, and then fly down and eyeball yourself before signing off on the deal. Much as it would pain me to drive a 335i! Last time I remote inspected a car for a friend was in Auckland, after I'd worked a long shift, and grabbed a couple of hours kip in my hotel room. Arranged for another friend to pick me up, and we errr brisky put the car in question through its paces. He subsequently purchased the car, a great VW R32 manual. I've sinces asked 'how come you didn't have me test drive your fiancé before you married her?'

heh heh. back in the 80's, there was a full page ad, black text on white: ethusiasm is no substitute for experience. and down in the bottom right hand corner of the page, the Durex logo. Applying that metric to your example, I'm conflicted. #; )

my $0.02 aligns pretty tidly with Nick G's, above. you'll pay the premium for the 50kms car, and although you avoid the cost of the 100kms service in 3-4 years at 15k per year, after 3-4 years your car is now approaching 100k's and everyone knows it's going to need a big service... so now your premium has vanished, you've compounded higher depreciation, and you field just as much loss as you'd have done buying the 110km car (at a lower price) that's had the big service. there's no 'right' answer, really. I can recommend that if you're really down to the $2-3k in worrying between case a and case b over 2-3 years, you might consider simply not buying either car. IME life's not like that (accountancy or actuarial tables), and predictions don't materialise in full benefit. eg despite your best plan, you get a girlfriend in another town and spend 2.5 years commuting on weekends, adding 10k kms to your projected use; or your car gets stolen; or suddenly you have a company car; or arrive at a family and have to sell that spiffy coupe - and subsequently take the loss. The observation I'll make, that I would place the greatest value in: they're not investments, they're liabilities. Sure, we love cars - that's why we're here on this forum. And naturally, we plan a little and try and minimise the downsides. I'm a planner, though I temper this with the addage "if you play, you pay". The 2-4 year case may work out well for you; if it costs you an extra few grand, hopefully you get the benefits of experiences/stories for the grand kids or retirement home! #8 ) Hopefully this alternate perspective is useful. Cheers!

thanks Brock, I should have (and meant to) add that someone with the actual experience will be along shortly

Barry, I was able to get to your website with ease over the weekend.

mate, that's superb. You'll be ready for a WoF in no time. And then tyres! Or have you sorted that already?