Olaf

There's a reason these cars end up at pokey little car yards. I reckon your wife will be over Audi very shortly. Words are useless; just get her a few test drives of what *she'd* like.

Simple. If the cheaper one hasn't had the work put in - ie a ton of deferred maintenance, you're easily up for $1,800 in parts. The 81,000km one will need a lot of those parts in the next 20k kms, but is lower mileage with FSH (which you've continued of course) so is easier to sell in 2 years and might be worth $500-$1000 more than the cheaper one will be in two years. If in doubt, get a quality PPI from a BMW Independent or Dealership. Not AA, not VTNZ, not Car Inspection Services.

great perseverance, it's looking good. I'm sure you're at the point where the results are overshadowing any frustrations you may have encountered!

1. Kyu, why the dread of AGM? Yes, with coding, you can run other types. But why, AGM saves weight. And those clever engineers specc'd them. 2. Why not replace the IBS? It's a common fault. There's even a recall abroad that isnt fully covered here.

As @Haggisman said: you snooze, you lose. Make it so!

Driving south from Christchurch down the coast to Dunedin wasn't particularly exciting, you can reward yourself with the Steampunk Museum in Oamaru, and Moeraki if you choose that route. I enjoyed the drive across from Dunedin to Invercargill in Spring, for the scenery. Though I should have taken the twisty coastal option. You might as well take a look at Bluff while you're down there (extraordinarily desolate), and enjoy Bill Richardson's Transport World in Invercargill... and of course a look at https://www.ehayes.co.nz @Autoglym will tell you about other attractions. The Crown Range is worth a drive. As Paul mentions, Tekapo/Lake Pukaki is superb. Can't help you out on the west coast, haven't been there yet! PS - take 14 days. it's stunning. Be warned, though... half of New Zealand will probably be down there! PPS - TAKAKA is brilliant, if you make it up there and the Golden Bay region you must enjoy a meal and the ales at The Mussell Inn.

Or: take it to Auto 38 in Newtown.

weed-whacker line. gently does it.

Welcome! Why 500hp? Is it for the bragging rights, or are you addressing a usability issue? You're currently rocking what, 315hp, and a nicely-balanced turbo six in a very elegant chassis? You may need some bigger brakes and brake cooling, possibly suspension mods to help keep it in a straight line when you acheive an additional 185hp. Have you considered an M5 or M6 instead? Even starting with a 650i Gran Coupe you're starting at 442hp, much closer to your goal of 500hp, and probably spend less than the engineering to increase your 640i's output by ~66%. You'll probably need certing for the 640i as well. Hope that helps

at a guess, check sunroof drains, tail light gaskets, boot and window seals... then test to see if its your side vents. I'd not be sealing them, they're engineered that way for a reason... could be door vapour barriers if car facing uphill in rain.... plenty of possibilities

I wouldn't say "it'll cure all your ills", but I am free of all the odd niggles that used to bug me from time to time since replacing batty. I don't use AA Battery Service anymore, waste of oxygen (AA member for decades). Mine idles smooth as butter and rock-solid at just 500rpm (at operating temp), but V8. Changing the engine and trans mounts was a very worthwhile maintenance job, made the whole experience so much smoother. My e46 and e30 have also been much better for new mounts. The e60 V8 (not sure if theyre different for 6 cyl) are large fluid-filled jobs.

I got a decent AGM High Capacity batty for around $400 (from memory?), Koba SA59520 95AH (20HR), 850A (EN), 180MIN (RC) recommended as excellent VFM. Mine's been in since Oct 2019 and only ~5000kms (because Covid), and there's be ZERO issues in that time.

What's "not the case"? If you want another hobby, by all means build custom PCs. If you want to execute everyday tasks without worry - such as processing images or video, designing web pages, surfing the web, etc - you have more time to do it, for longer, with a Mac. The PC is a project car. The Mac is a new BMW with three year's servicing. Sure, you may prefer the project car and the tinkering, but you can't argue it'll give you more time to drive. The Mac you pay once; you don't need to apply more money, though the PC's modular raison de etre is to provide opportunity to 'upgrade'.

RE003s are superb in the wet. Rather good in the dry. I've not tried anything better at the price point. Sticky enough yet still wear well, nice stiff sidewall, very communicative.

It won't last. Tony's Tyres throughout Welly (many branches) are essentially sh*t, they'll race anyone to the bottom on price, and the service follows. They do seem to usually manage to fit black circles on wheels most of the time.

The stahlgrau was great. But this Arctic Race Blue is the one. Do it!

yeah - $25k for a non-certed uber-modified unfinished e30 4-door. On this occasion I'd need to say "better your money than mine". Any certifier is going to be calling for a sh#t-ton of work before that gets a plate (or insurance).

I'm not biased. Orientblau is the best non-///M colour for e46 ?

I completely missed this one too! Wow. Great score Nathan!

Will that net you difficulties at WoF time, with a 110k increase in odo? And what about your RUC? Is our local transport beauracracy equipped to deal with this kind of seismic change?

BMW owner starts forum thread rather than telephoning local service department. ?

I gave this away nearly 12 years ago, it was interesting but now I have time for my family, photography, and even cars and DIY. You can laugh; I went mac. No more worrying about numbers - be they benchmarks, temperatures, incremental improvements, bios revisions, settings, driver versions, or how much that next upgrade part is going to cost. ?

tui billboard!

And you're recommending we... buy your cursed ex-car?!

Wow I hadn’t even looked at the price. The only e46 currently above $30k is M3.