DR1FTMONKEY

Yeah I wouldn't have gone for an E46 if it wasn't somewhat low ks, although I've always liked them. $8.5k from a dealer and he took care of a rocker cover gasket, service etc. Not overly cheap I suppose but I think that was pretty fair from a dealer and much less than what I was thinking of spending on a newer one.

Hey all, Relatively new around here, but have utilized your knowledge multiple times in past .. mainly for my troublesome E36, so thanks for that. Thought I'd share some photos of my E46. It's nothing special and the photos are terrible but absolutely love the car. Originally was looking at E60s and E90s but this popped up for half the price and caught my eye. Just ticked over 100ks, 330ci, factory Motorsport. Standard other than the exhaust to my knowledge, and a previous owner painted the wheels (they're a bit dirty at the moment but they're actually painted to a pretty good standard). Had the car shipped from Auckland to CHCH, perhaps somebody knows a previous owner or has seen it in the past, has BMworkshop stickers and plate surrounds on it. Have just fitted the black grilles as the clips on the standard chrome ones broke the other day.

That's a bargain mate, hope you get a good price, certainly won't take long to sell near that price range.

Hi All, Decided to close my bonnet today by holding on to the grill - bad idea, clips were brittle and broke. I'm after a passenger side grill for an E46 coupe (pre facelift), good condition but doesn't need to be new. I can get a new set for $100 odd, but not sure if I'd go black or not so just after a quick fix for now. Preferably CHCH so I can pick up. Let me know if anybody has anything. Cheers.

Story of my life, our last flatties were my and my girlfriend's best friends who happened to be a couple - terrible idea living with them in the first place, but there general cooking time was about 3 hours each night, and they'd bring up how often we would get takeaways.. wonder why haha. But your never going to have the perfect situation I guess, I'm sure I'm not perfect to live with. With the washing situation, maybe just say your doing your washing every Saturday or Sunday (and another day if needed) or whatever, they can use it any other day, that way you know that your sorted.

Saw this on the New Zealand subreddit last week, thought it was pretty good, wish I did this with a few people we've had in the past: Care of pelirrojo on Reddit (link to post https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/3emcr2/looking_for_advice_on_setting_up_a_flat/ ): I've been running flats for years now, and I've got it down to a fine art now. I'll address the 'keeping things smooth' part. First, make sure you have a written agreement with every non-tenant flatmate. Here is an agreement provided by the tenancy.govt.nz website - without this, they have no rights, and you have no legal basis for taking a bond, requiring regular rent payments or anything. With this, you have a formal arrangement whereby you specify notice period, payment amounts, due dates etc. Essential. Two weeks notice, two weeks bond, rent paid one week in advance is the minimum you should require; even in that situation someone can still leave you out of pocket if they disappear on rent; you'll still have to cover up to a month's worth of bills on top of the two weeks! Consider charging a flat rate for bills - you don't need to chase people up as it's paid every week; it is included in the two weeks bond; you have much less paperwork overhead; on the downside, bills get more expensive in winter and cheaper in summer so you'll have to manage that. If you do this, then you can also budget for cleaning products, toilet paper, rubbish bags etc out of this amount. Create a bank account exclusively for the flat; I'd suggest you make two - a current account for rent, and a savings account for people's bonds. The last thing you want is to go borrow money to pay someone's bond back because you've spent it. In terms of house culture - be picky with who you have move in. Better to wait for a couple of weeks and get a good flatmate than just get the first person who knocks on the door. Imagine if you had a good flatmate who moved out because you let in a bad flatmate - then you've got an empty room AND a bad flatmate. Be consistent & reliable. Lead by example. Don't be picky. Avoid passive-aggressive behaviour; if you have to bring anything up make sure you speak to them in person. You might like to come up with some house rules; they don't have to be strict, they can be very reasonable. They are a great way to communicate to new flatmates what the boundaries and expectations of the people living there are, without people needing to test each others boundaries. An example - one of the classic flatmate issues is: Steve's new girlfriend has been staying more and more frequently; she's pretty much living in the house, paying no rent and contributing nothing to expenses. Your house rules could state that "guests are welcome to stay, but if they stay longer than 3 nights a week then a contribution of $10/night is required." Make sure you get some emergency contact information from the flatmates in case you need to get in touch with someone if something goes wrong (accident, hospital, sick, etc). I make a document up for the new flatmate specifying move-in date, first rent due date, rent amount, and what days the rent covers (i.e. rent is due on Fridays. Rent period is weekly starting every Sunday) - this is really really useful when it comes to the flatmate moving out - this document lets you know exactly when their last payment is due, if they're one or two weeks in advance etc. The rent period is useful because it means they can move out on Saturday allowing the new flatmate to move in on Sunday. That's all I have for now; any questions welcome.

I believe it's "high beam assist". Auto dims your lights at night when traffic is close and switches back to high beam when clear. My mates E60 has it and we were very puzzled too. No idea why there is what appears to be a memory card slot, but pro tip - My mate thought his cameras memory card would fit.. it didn't, very difficult to get back out. Hopefully somebody can elaborate, or correct me if need be.

I bought a 2001 330ci M Sport a few weeks ago, Jap import, should I be contacting BMW? I got it sent down from Auckland and it has BM Workshop stickers and number plate surrounds which would perhaps suggest it probably hasn't been to the actual dealer recently.

It just says "226 sports suspension settings". I assume it's fairly similar to the M Sport set up.

I wouldn't pay $18k for it, especially since it isn't a genuine M Sport. Its hard to find 330s though, usually $20K+ for an M Sport based off what I have seen over the last few months. There's a 530i M for $16.5K which is closer to what I am happy to spend and I like the E60s.

Thanks for the link. Definitely prefer a 330i M, but on a budget so if a 325i M comes up at the right price with the right options I would go that route. That one looks good, how difficult is the importing process and compliance?

Hey Guys, Some of you may recognise my username from another thread I started recently about E60s and E90s as I'm currently in the process of trying to find my new car. Many of you may be aware of this, but thought I would share something I have come across through all of my research. If you go to www.bmwvin.com, you can enter the last 7 digits of a BMW's VIN you are looking at to see exactly what was ordered when the car was new. I cannot view my E36's details, however all E90s and E60s I have tried so far have worked. In my case, this was very helpful as there is a 330I I have been looking at but something was off. Didn't have M Sport wheels (Has other E90 BMW factory wheels), and although the steering wheel looked correct, it did not have the thumb grips or "M" emblem. Obviously the M Sports have the M tray on the door sill too, but as the car is not in Christchurch, I haven't been able to view in person. At first I thought this was probably due to it being a 2005 and perhaps the early builds had some differences. My investigation led me to that site and I can now see the car was built 6 months before the M Sport option was released, and it, obviously, doesn't have any M Sport options. In this case, it did have a Sport suspension option, sport multifunction steering wheel and few others, so at the time of build it was as close to an M Sport as possible, but end of the day somebody has changed the bumpers and skirts to make it look like an M Sport. If you do want to use the site but do not have the VIN number, you can go to carjam.co.nz and enter the number plate which will give you the VIN, if its a fresh import often the dealer will have the VIN on the window card which they often take a photo of for Trademe - otherwise you can always ask them for the VIN. Question: I still have some interest in the car, however can somebody please explain what difference there is between the "Sport suspension option" and the M Sports suspension - am I likely to notice a difference? I'm a little concerned about the car as although I am mostly okay with the fact the car isn't an actual M Sport, when it comes time to sell it I don't want to mislead people, and it may put people off. If you guys have any opinions about whether you would buy the car, that'd be great. Heres the car: www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=890444162 {I wasn't able to paste the link, so sorry if not allowed to link Trademe, I scanned the rules but just saw that's links can be removed at Mods discretion}

Yeah you are right, I can always change in the future if for some reason I feel the need.

Thanks driftit, I will drive one if get a chance, they do tend to have a higher purchase price in most cases however. My concern with the engine is that I have general knowledge of petrol engines and how to do maintenance myself, but I haven't dealt with a diesel before, but I have seen how popular they are overseas so perhaps I shouldn't dismiss them quite so quickly. Cheers for the tip.

Yeah, this is my predicament. I'm nearly 25, and am still wanting something fun to drive, but want to avoid the hassle of turbo cars and have frankly grown out of that scene, I want something respectable. I really like the E60 and the fact they are so cheap now is what really brings it to my attention. I will hopefully get some time to drive my buddies 540i this weekend which I am sure will help my decision.

Thanks FrancoisPV, yeah looks as though a 530 or 540 will be what I aim for considering the margional price difference from a 3 series, will definately be going for an M Sport, not a fan of the aesthetics without those options personally.

I certainly can't afford a M5 at the moment, and this is also partially why I am hesitant about a v8 5 series as I expect it would be harder to source parts than it would for the common 6 cylinder engines. The additional electronics in the 5 series also makes me wonder whether they are more prone to issues, not sure if anybody knows any electrical issues which are common with the E60s? I certainly understand the additional cost associated with maintaining a BMW over a common Japanese car, but would also like to do my best to avoid a troublesome model.. if there is one, I expect the best bet is to aim for a car which is not the first or second year of that models production cycle, and aim for the common models.

I've heard the diesels are fantastic, I would need to drive one to see if that would be for me, I don't know much about diesel engines which puts me off a little. I'll definately be opting for a Motorsport.

Thanks Breaker, that's a great looking E61 you have there. The extra space would be beneficial as we do take trips to Queenstown and Nelson fairly regularly when we get a chance and I'm sure the passengers would appreciate the space too, so thanks for that.

Thanks kiwi535, there is very little price difference between similar 3 and 5 series in the age range I'm looking at. Fuel consumption is a consideration, but not at the top of my list, however the price tag for an M5 is a little high for me at the moment, sadly. Fuel consumption more comes into the equation for me if the performance difference does not justify the increased running costs.

Hey all, I'm new here other than some researching for my E36's faults in the past (cheers for that btw). It's time to upgrade from the E36 as it has sadly deteriorated over the past few years. I am considering either an E90 6 cylinder M (Preferably 325 or 330) or a 5 series M. I was set on an E90 but my buddy turned up to my work last week in a 540i M he has just bought and I fell in love with it pretty quickly, I had always thought they would be too big for my liking but I found that not to be the case. I have always liked to look of the M Sport E60s. I was also surprised to learn a 330 and 530 are fairly similar in weight .. at least closer than I expected. It seemed the interior was a step up from the E90s and it still felt fairly sporty. I'm interested in opinions and reasons why I may be better considering one over the other, also common faults and tips for checking them out would be appreciated (I intend to get a check done professionally but don't want to do that for every car I look at). I'd love a 550i (or an M5 for that matter) but realistically it will be 525i-540i or 325i-330i. Would also appreciate some advice on what engine I'm better to focus on as I want some power but also want to do my best to avoid any troublesome engines, not spend a fortune on gas etc. I have seen that the difference between a 07+ 530 and a 540 is not a whole lot different when weight is taken into account, other info like this would be fantastic, I'm interested to know how a 325i goes as I haven't had a chance to drive one. I'm asking a lot for a newbie, but if you've got any advice or opinions I'd love to hear them.