Herbmiester

If you are not running catless downpipes off the turbos I would stick with Stage 1 Plus. I had an in depth conversation with a guy on the E90 forums in the US and he felt that by running Stage 2 with stock downpipes he stressed his turbos to the point that the back one failed. His opinion after a lot of research was that stage 2 tune puts just too much pressure unless you have replacement downpipes to allow the turbos to spool up efficiently.

I Wil take them.

even when not broken they can leak and this was the cause of my check engine light issues.

I have an upgraded intercooler and chargepipe and run the stage1 plus 95 tune. It's a big difference. Your next purchase should be a limited slip differential. The tune really exposes how easy it is to break traction with the extra torque.

I had the opportunity to drive a modified e92 335i in the US a couple of years ago. It had m3 suspension components and upgraded shocks of some type. It also had an LSD. The engine was a custom tuned JB4 according to the owner. Anyway the upshot was a 335i with m3 suspension and just over 400hp, but a shed load of torque. Was it an m3 beater? Hard to say but compared to the M3 I had driven in Wellington a few weeks before it had to be at least as fast. Handling wise I thought the 335i was very buttoned down, perhaps more so that the M3. That said it's hard to make a fair judgement as the cars were in different countries, different conditions etc. The conclusion for me was that for under 30k I could have a car that was M3 like for half the price and without the engine reliability issues. Not that 335is don't have there own issue's but it seems like the engine itself is pretty solid. That 335i in Las Vegas was my inspiration for what I am doing now, goal was 400hp, good daily driver, track day capable handling in a car with modern features, safety and style. All for less than 30k. Looks like I will get there for 26k.

Looks like Alfa have kept some of their heritage intact. http://jalopnik.com/the-alfa-romeo-giulia-is-the-perfect-unreliable-italian-1796883384

It to was around $500, mostly labour.

I can't really disagree, I am an auto Electrian by trade and I am on my 5th BMW. I think they are great to drive, they make me feel good when I am in them and they have style and performance, but they are not reliable in comparison to say a Japanese car. Part of it is the amount of plastic used in the engine and it's ancillaries and perhaps some of it is German obsession with achieving an engineering goal that ignores engine or engine ancillary longetivity.

I run 98 but use a 95 map for no other reason than having a buffer just in case.

Yes I have just had a look, lots of good people on Bimmersport keeping an eye on this for me.

With regard to replacing the cats with aftermarket downpipes is it a straightforward car on jacks job or do you really need a hoist?

My 335i had a rocker cover leak at 75,000kms.

Car looks great Hans.

Cant answer questions 1 and 3 but based on what people have posted the Bridgestone RE003 seems to hit the sweet spot for performance vs price. Buy them when BS has a a 3 for 4 or buy one get next 1/2 price deal.

Yeah watched his videos hes a realist not much into the fun part of car ownership more the practicalities. BMW is one of the few Euro manufacturers who dont get chewed up too often.

Oops sorry, have to make sure I do it properly next time. Decent test driver though.

To be fair the track is probably a bit short for a few of these cars to show thier real ability but interesting all the same. 4WD would of course be the answer to the power down issue.

My wifes Skoda needs new front pads and rotors. Gazely quoted $750. I looked around for a set which happen to be the same as a Golf Mkv and came across Micks Garage in Ireland. Now I know a few of you have bought parts there before but when I looked at parts for my 335i they didn't have what i wanted. Anyway I found a set of Mintex rotors and pads, price including freight to NZ was $160 NZD. They arrived today 5 days after ordering them. Now Mintex isn't top of the tree but my research showed that they make good mid range products so interested to see how they last and what performance is like. Its a commuter car so no likelihood of press on driving.

Just about in 335i territory. http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1348443064.htm

I am pretty set on an R1 now, will pick one up in the US in September.

Here are some Lap times from Motoring.co.au during the "Australias Best Drivers Car event. HSV GTSR W1 Porsche Cayman S Alfa Romeo Giulia QV BMW M3 Competition Pack Luke Youlden: 58.061 LY: 58.227 LY: 58.728 LY: 58.802 Greg Crick: 59.364 GC: 59.542 GC: 1:00.504 GC: 1:00.446 Nissan GT-R Ford Focus RS Audi S5 Mercedes-AMG C 43 4Matic LY: 59.098 LY: 1:01.113 LY: 1:01.327 LY: 1:01.558 GC: 59.868 GC: 1:02.268 GC: 1:02.210 GC: 1:02.271 BMW M140i Performance Edition Volkswagen Golf GTI Abarth 124 Spider LY: 1:02.099 LY: 1:03.604 LY: 1:05.572 GC: 1:03.510 GC: 1:06.014 GC: 1:06.999 Interesting how many cars beat the Nissan GTR.

That's always the challenge get the power in a light chassis

My experience with 003's would say they have reasonable wear life.

It would be good if some of those came in RHD.

E60 M5 is nice and the E92 M3 is still desirable but after that generation it's all F/I