balancerider

Pretty excited about this. Hard to say whether I'd rather one of these or a G21 B3 Touring.

Spotted an iX (black on black on black) heading south on SH1 this morning. Didn't look quite as awful as the photos of the white ones I've seen...I guess people say black is slimming🤪

Suspect the 'BMW743' plate might be available shortly 🙃

This is the key for the 30d/35d engines. They aren't amazingly frugal if you compare to something like the 1.4TSI in the VW Golf, but you can cane them in big cars and still see single figure L/100k figures, if you did that to a V8 you might be looking at double the consumption

@Eagle Nissan Tiida (Versa in the US) is a strong contender for least safe car on sale. They are absolutely the shittiest car I have ever had the misfortune of driving. Even an E110 / E120 Corolla would be far preferable. Jazz / Fit is a good shout.

Non SUV BMW 2.0d will comfortably do 5.5L/100k in mixed driving and probably <5 if all open road so shifts the equation favourably. No doubt in my mind a small capacity diesel is more economical than a petrol in the same vehicle (if you’re doing open road km), especially with any use of the throttle.

We already have RUC's for diesel vehicles (although the per km rate is pretty brutal for light vehicles <2t) - wouldn't be hard to expand this to all vehicles which would make the taxation very transparent. I foresee a combination of RUC's and congestion charging in the future.

Well-used (front bumper appears to have been used for target practice) manual E46 M3 in Kaiteriteri

god works in mysterious ways 🤭

Seems my low tone horn has died - last time I hit it, it was decidedly squeaky. Apparently a known failure mode for these cars. Anyway, would I expect a code to show on OBD app if relay had failed? Guessing the horn wouldn't work at all if it were a fuse. Suppose a multimeter would be able to tell me if circuit to horn was intact.

@E28E30 (I think) heading north on SH2 in 'THE325'

They had a bunch of nice cars in Chch - 3 M340i sedans and a couple of X3 M40i’s as well as the Stingers. sadly I was consigned to a POS Vitara

@MilesP risk is that WOF will start checking/enforcing emissions - if your car isn't stock you're gonna have a big bill to get a pass. Also the performance benefits in a 320d are likely to be marginal

N47TU as seen in LCI E9x/ PFL F3x 320d is a solid engine, I would say on balance better than most of BMW's petrols for reliability. Certainly better than the 4cyl non turbos. Problems with chains could be a result of the 32k/2 yr service interval - so not an issue for the car you mention. Timing chain is on the back of the engine and I don't think it can be changed with engine in place - so suspect you'd be comfortably north of 2k for replacement. Dad's E91 320d is now at 265k km on standard service intervals. They like hot running and it sounds as though the one you're looking at may not have done much of that with consequent potential for carbon build up / EGR valve issues - PPI and interrogation of any codes likely to be worthwhile.

Bonkers - 700% appreciation in 5 years. Makes house prices look sane. Does look nice but $175k buys you something pretty special even if you're set on a BMW - E39 M5 or E30 M3 + considerable spare change

Do like where this is going. Interestingly my first E46 touring (also Jap import) had rust in exactly the same place - under the scuff plate on R rear door. Took it to a paint/panel place - they dealt with it for <$100, although that was 8-9 years ago...

Hi team - need to replace a door on GF's Corolla and there is a donor body with matching paint at Pick a Part in the Hutt. However I tried to retrieve it with hand tools and turns out that wasn't going to work. Would anyone with suitable tools (I guess an impact wrench) be able to give me a hand? - happy to pay in cash or bevvies. Cheers

Sounds like the classic UK spec @Sammo - big wheels, big engine and bugger all else... (as opposed to most of the rest of Europe where your 318i has individual paint / full leather and Adaptive LED's)

Classic E46 failure mode

Tidy Oxford green E34 525ix Touring on Glenmore St...lovely! (Plate was UN....) Also a rather extreme brake kit on this X3 30d (note the original rear caliper at bottom left)

good choice @gjm - the 3.0d is quite a bit rarer but i think worth holding out for especially as you're mainly doing long runs. Plenty of LCI E9x 320d's around at your budget but suspect the facelift 325d (has the N57 rather than the 2L diesel of the F3x) might be the sweetspot if you can find one. M57 is an old engine now. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/320d/listing/3378943297 This also might be close to budget - good k's and will ride a lot better than the E9x series, my E91 was way worse on SE suspension/17's than my F31 is on 19's

1. Should be able to do this with BimmerCode and Bluetooth OBD dongle. 2 may be a bit more challenging

Wingback sports seats for E36 M3 (I don't think the seats in the the car the OP posted are these)

Looks lovely @Cammsport - rescuing an E39 touring is doing the Lord's work...