balancerider

Concur - interesting that UK/NZ market cars almost all have black carpet / mats regardless of upholstery colour, whereas the Jap / US market are often a festival in beige. Lots of beemers have brown interiors here in Canada too.

looking good - find some sports seats and remove the aftermarket screen?

Why only petrol?

This! otherwise hard to top a titansilber E91. Shadowline rear lights would also improve the look

M54 transplant? A manual e36 touring as a great starting point for a project

Not a BMW but a rather tasty wagon nonetheless

It’s all give and take with the specs, JDM 3 series rarely have leather interior (at least in m sport) but always big screen nav and good headlights. GB market cars always have manual seats but leather standard and alcantara an option, the alarm makes their insurance premiums cheaper so it’s standard fit. NZ new cars have almost everything - hence why they’re expensive!

yep definitely the co.nz configurator

I see the G21 has made it onto the BMW NZ configurator now - interesting that both models are diesel and xdrive (presumably that was where most of the f31 sales were as well). Electric tailgate now an extra cost option though!

I imagine those roads out the back of Whangarei are ideal for seeing what it can do!

a rather menacing looking F80 M3 - had aftermarket yellow Brembo brakes.

Are you wanting runflats? If so - the Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 3's are probably best. If not Michelin PS4S

The stop-start won’t run if the engine is cold or there is high electrical drain (aircon on etc), but often suggests a battery on the way out (or disabled by previous owner) if it never works. CTek chargers have a good reputation

mdecoder is usually spot on, some of the pre-production cars (which are generally only sold in NZ) have extra or odd options not specified

Heading in the right direction - next step, take off the Jap plate supports!

Personally I'd rather have the E39 as well. (or maybe an E34 touring)

These aren't near the bottom of their depreciation curve yet. E39's definitely on the way back up, bork potential from the V8 probably less as well. I wonder if the fact there seem to be very few Japanese imported E39 M5's (as compared to the majority of E60's being from Japan) is a contributor.

phew - NZ new 525ix, can't be many of those left! good colour too.

is that a problem? much better selection of diesel wagons there than NZ new, BMW NZ I believe only sold the 530d wagon until 2013 anyway

That’s a well priced F11, especially with N57 and m sport. Good colour combo too

Fuel consumption will be a dream in that compared to your other two Pete! Lovely colour for an E46

I'm moving overseas for 12 months and have arranged the car to be stored inside with smart battery tender. Will pump tires up (to ~50psi). Thought I might leave some desiccant sachets inside the car to try to minimise condensation. Planning for oil change immediately before I leave. Car is going to be started / run intermittently while I'm away. Any other tips? Also - seems to be conflicting advice as to whether the car should be stored with full or empty tank of diesel? (condensation in tank vs fuel going 'off' / algal contamination)

Oh well, at least if BMW NZ stop offering them our lax import rules will allow me to import something from the UK.

I think we can assume that one of these sources is wrong. I can actually imagine per capita better sales of wagons here c.f. Australia (which is basically like a mini US) i.e. SUV's everywhere.

I do get the impression that VAG have gone diesel on the Audi S4/5/6 to use up their stock of 3.0 V6 diesel engines after the knee-jerk decision by Porsche not to make diesel engined cars any more.