Gabe79

I spend a lot of money with FCP Euro, and honestly have never had a problem. If you're in a local business and waving about none of the postage rubbish with your shop, can you drop your prices so it's actually competitive? At the moment one can save upwards of 75% (or more sometimes) buying from overseas, paying shipping, paying customs fees, and paying GST. Relying on NZ Post being rubbish (They aren't, try USPS sometime...) your business model is failing!

Thanks! Hadn't seen that. I'm fairly sure I've been in this car. It's been for sale for a looong time. Nigh on a year now. They might have fixed the massive oil leak it had when I saw it. It left a nice little puddle in the parking lot when I saw it. Curious what other work they might have done.

So uh... drove by the E65 today with my wife in the car, and mentioned the idea to her... "What? That?! No, it's ugly. Looks like a bad Honda!" (I don't know where this sudden hatred of Honda comes from...) but there goes that idea. E39/61 Touring might be the ticket, although some plans afoot and if all goes well, I will simultaneously have a large garage, and a lack of need for two cars.

I'm trying hard not to judge but... it's so ugly!

Looking at the US sites, $1k NZD landed including GST is better than what you could get anywhere else online.

Please say you didn’t get a Mini! ?

Nice wheels (and car too!)

Hey, you know your links don't work? You have the thread url as the url, and the link destination as the text. You probably want link destination for both.

They show up on trademe every once in awhile for $100-200.

When I started this thread, I had some assumptions in place, some seem to be correct, some not so much. I had thought that a MBI would mean I wouldn't be able to maintain the car myself. - Reading the autosure brochure, this seems to be correct. They want repairs to be conducted by an "Authorized Repair Facility" which they define as "Authorised Repair Facility: Repairs must be undertaken by an Autosure approved repairer." They do proceed to discuss this further: I had thought the E65 would be more mechanically complex than the E39 to work on. Perhaps that isn't entirely correct. I had thought the E65 would be electronically more complex. This seems to be correct, however, perhaps not relevant, since this isn't the thing that goes bad on these. I'm left with the impression these might actually be quite decent cars for hauling the family around over longer distances. I am not a 'spirited driver' and in some ways, the 530i Msport is wasted on me. Maybe the E65 would be nicer, I might go test drive a couple and see how they feel. I am still left wondering about the boot/storage space. Will it be markedly different than the E39 sedan? Seems like not so much, but I'd have to check. The alternative here being an E39 Touring, or maybe an E61? EDIT: Am I correct in assuming that this same discussion applies to the E61? Or is that a whole different kettle of fish?

$20/L is quite expensive eh. You can usually find 20L for under $200. If you wait for Repco/SCA to have sales, you can get the good high end Penrite stuff for ~$175/20L.

This doesn't add up. Not enough bling. Them rims need to be gold plated to be truly Ghetto!

I have the software for the E39/46/38(? never tried E38, I assume same software) and I have software that purports to support newer cars too, I just have never tried. I do have a laptop just for car software stuff. Makes me wonder what additional software I might need for the E65, if any.

I seem to be very poor at communication in writing. I was saying one of the things that puts me off the E65 is that it seems more complex to work on (as compare to my M54b30 e39.) I could go the route of the MBI, and drop wrenching on my car altogether and just take it to an authorized garage (as I was under the impression this is what I had to do to maintain the MBI...) but to me, that is a major put off, as I like wrenching on my car. Some other folks have suggested that I could still wrench, and just get a certified mechanic to sign off that the work had been done. Keeping my parts receipts from FCP Euro as evidence I actually replaced parts, etc... I am going to just go spend some time reading the Autosure website and see what their fine print says about wrenching on my own car... I do read American forums. I also happen to be American. It's a hood. You're just wrong. There is also a trunk.

Thank you for clarifying that. I do have a good friend who's MTA certified and runs his own shop. I should be able to work something out with him for stamps if I go that route. Thank you for your perspective. I agree that whilst things may not pay off all the time, the long tail sometimes catches up and years of 'wasted' insurance can pay for itself in a day...

Fair point. My reference point is the M54b30 engine, on the E39 530i I have. Thus far, I have all the tools I'd want to do anything to it at a reasonable cost, including BMW Scanner/INPA/etc... What else might the e65 require beyond what I have? One more piece of info is this is basically the only car I know. I have oodles of resources for it, I can picture the process of removing bits down around the engine in my head. I know it sounds gimpy, I'm ok with that. So to clarify what appears to be my misconception... Can I still wrench on my car and have the MBI still apply? I thought there was a criteria that it be regularly serviced by a licensed mechanic, for example...

That's not what I meant, but I agree with you. What I meant was this: If I get a MBI, then I won't do maintenance myself. I am under the impression I couldn't do maintenance myself i i wanted to as a condition of the MBI anyway... No MBI > I do all the work myself. This is my preferred choice. The question was, and the point that keeps coming up is that the e65/e30/e90 are not really DIY friendly. Lots of electronics and such.

Do you not use that expression in this country? You know what I mean, right? https://www.jaycar.co.nz/isopropyl-alcohol-99-8-spray-250ml/p/NA1066 Like this. They make from 70% upwards. All works fine. EDIT: Be careful with the magic eraser. That will stain your dash if it spills and dries. Put a cloth underneath it when using it, and wipe any spills right away.

I find the trick to be a magic eraser, followed by rubbing alcohol on a microfibre cloth works really well.

I think my MBI comment was misunderstood. I see MBI, or 'doing work on it myself' as mutually exclusive. I have made a conscious choice that I will do all the work on my BMW. That's the point of the car for me to some extent. (The car has to also work, so it can't be a full on project car style.) So, having a MBI would mean to me, if I understand its requirements correctly, that I can't work on my own car, and whilst I suppose I'd be ok with that, I rather not give up my wrenching.

I actually thought MBIs had clauses that only certified mechanics could do the work on them... Same for servicing. Am I dreaming?

Thank you for the feedback. I need to do some serious wife-convincing to go this route. She thinks it's too big! I don't mind the prices on the E65, although I do share the sentiment they seem to be old enough for things to break, and new enough to have complex systems. From reading/watching, seems like they tested a lot of the systems that went into the e60 and e90 on the e65. I do like the driving experience. I am wondering if I'm not just making a lot of fuss over nothing, and should just stick to my e39, or maybe swap for a touring and be done with it. I love that car, and the idea of that car. I even like the idea of the MBI, but it conflicts so hard with my self-imposed goal of working on my own car(s). For the e39, I have done everything it's needed so far, apart from wheel alignments. It's such a nice satisfying feeling... The e60, and the MBI, sort of put that out of my hands, and I'd have to get certified mechanics, and servicing to keep the MBI. It just feels more grown up than I think I am in my wrenching hobby right now.

PM me your VIN, or your registration, and I'd be happy to summarize your options... EDIT: Apologies, I misread this. You're screwed, call a locksmith. My comment above relates to making more keys. Apologies.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1548581019.htm As it turns out, it's this one. See, that's the thing I can't sell to the wife. It has to get there. I've considered this. The 530i is really exclusively used for longer drives, which I would welcome the comfort for... I don't have these garage issues. See, the problem you're having, is your garage is too short... I have no such problem, by virtue of not having a garage! (I do technically, but it's basically a large-ish storage shed!) I can't really decide what to do with my e39. Every time I use it, I enjoy it... but for perspective, my sister-in-law, and her husband borrowed it for a week, and drove more than I've driven it in a year... I'm thinking something more spacious, maybe a Touring e39/e46? Maybe an e38, or as is the case in this thread, an e65? I don't mind fuel consumption, because it's so seldom used. What I want are two things, I think... comfort for the family, and the ability to do whatever it needs myself. I get all this with the e39 for medium range, but if we want to do an extended stay in Wellington, for example, we'd struggle due to lack of cargo space, this the Touring idea. Maybe I should just go for a X5?

There's a nice looking 2002 735i for sale on the way out of the Penninsula. Low-ish miles, etc... I've read/watched a bit about the E65 and how ugly, and unpopular it is. How is it for reliability, and DIY-ness? Or does it belong to that slightly-newer-than-the-e39/e46 where I can't really plausibly do my own maintenance?