GorGasm

Weekend away to Taupo/Mt Ruapehu in the 535i. 8.8L/100km for the trip including up/down the mountain and cruising around Taupo. It was into the 7.x range on the way down from Hamilton. Pretty damn good for a large 3.0 turbo station wagon.

Pass, get a M135i instead.

Ah I remember putting a pod filter on my old twin cam 91 Maxima, it was good times, sounded great. Funny car as it had as much go as a lot of performance cars in the early 00s. Aftermarket filters make zero or negative performance difference, but sound so good!

Had PS4S, found they were a bit noisy and harsh. Great grip wet and dry though. Swapped to Atturo AZ850s for less than half the price of PS4S and they are just what I need. They aren't as grippy at all, but have enough grip and are comfortable. Won't be 130i sizes though as they're meant for big rigs. My BMW is running LK03 and they are great, even better considering the price. Good all round grip, quiet and comfortable. As mentioned the only downside is they appear to be wearing quite quickly. I'm finding you actively have to search out the cheapest, shittest, tyre to have a bad time these days. Even some of the Chinese tyres are decent now.

Yeah I remember a TV show where they mangled the headers and dynoed the same or better. In the case of my E55 one of the pipes needed a bash to clear the steering column. Probably dropped from 500hp to 499hp or something. Thing was making like 800NM so I was far too busy managing traction to notice any power difference.

Had to dent my e55 headers for RHD. Made SFA difference to the headers.

What a piece of junk. Ain't no barn find, it's scrap metal.

Not sure where 2592P comes from, suspect that's an M52/M54 part number not N52. Catalog only references R2673, BMW part 11427566327 for N52. It also pays to order a few from ECS or TMS or somewhere. Much cheaper.

IS, GS, or LS.

Get a Lexus!

Haha that's a sweet package right there. Downpipe, LSD, and tune and you got a pretty darn good package. Creeping to M235i money but that would need an LSD too.

Had the same on my M5. Replacing the regulator on those is done blind by feel as the alternator is down the bottom of the engine and the regular is on top of the alternator.. Seems to be a common theme on the S85.

I reckon Sedona red probably looks better in the flesh. Here's 156 photos of a Sedona red one https://carsandbids.com/auctions/KYobMJ5w/2011-bmw-135i-coupe Same with white leather as well probably.

N55s apparently had a manual option but I'd expect that to be super rare. A 135i manual is gonna blow a 130i away. I had a 130i auto and it was pretty boring. Cool stuff costs more money. On Trademe the white one in Timaru or red one in Wellington are my picks.

Lots of nice N55 DCTs, which could be a good trade off between Auto/Manual? Have had an N55 for 4+ years now and only had basic maintenance required. The market is flooding at the moment due to increasing interest rates/increased cost of living, so you may be able to talk people down. It's certainly much harder to ask top dollar when there's 3+ more of the same car at the same price. Earlier in the year there were hardly any Maserati GTs for sale and no 4.7s below $65k. Now there's heaps and a few below $65k.

I couldn't figure out how they would get 621 hp out of an already highly strung 500hp engine. Turns out it's a 5.5 litre version.

Still prefer the 540i touring x drive on TM. All the benefits, less than half the price. Although it's got mileage on it. Have seen some low km ones though.

Those seats are so sweet Would love something like that in my car.

Only cost a few bob to change the wheels on the first one, and it has enough power too.

Yep definitely a beautiful colour combo. Shame about the wheel design. In fact wheel design in general is pretty poor these days I feel.

Coffee: The Sunbeam Barista Max EM5300 is legit. I bought one after trying it at my brothers. My inlaws then bought one, my sister in law bought one, her parents bought one, etc. It comes with built in adjustable grinder so you can tune to the batch of beans. Couple it with decent fresh beans and you get coffee that beats 9/10 coffee places. I don't remember the last time I purchased a coffee that tastes better than what this machine can make. There's also some very important, basic, rules to get a decent cup. Fresh beans. Old beans will make flat black coffee with little flavour. Fresh will get you golden and delicious. Right grind. Too coarse and you get weaker, sour coffee. Shop around to find a good bean that suits you. I currently go to Raglan roast as it's local. Allpress ART blend is a good one to try. $488, can be had a tiny bit cheaper if Harvey Norman or someone puts it on super special. https://www.heathcotes.co.nz/products/em5300s-sunbeam-barista-max-espresso-machine-em5300

Lol I get all the time, sadly I can't actually do a skid. Not enough power, too much rubber.

Sorry to hear about your dad man . That car was probably why I bought mine as well. Cool of you to keep it running in the family. Tried to find a photo of it from our wedding but must have lost them :o.

Give the tyres a try in the wet, they may not be too bad. I wanted to hate on the brand new triangle th201's that came on my 535i but they turned out perfectly fine for a family car. No they aren't Michelin PS4S but the car also isn't a 911 turbo. Very nice looking wagon though. GG.

For a good condition car I think there might be better options as I mainly used it to hide the paint damage on my car. Turtle is still easy to apply and no white residue though.