Buklemaschu

more or less, correct translation is... "The most successful touring car of all time." ever, end of, so ner!!!!

Thought i spotted a black M5 with that new BMW Ice paint this morning walking to work.... on closer inspection it was just a lot of dew/frost

Damn commie bastards

I love the 3.0L in my Z3. I test drove the 2.2 and they are great, but the bigger engine just has that feeling of effortless power. pics?

"The curves on this thing are eye-locking and will leave you looking back at every opportunity"

I don't have any Motorsport history, and as i mentioned above I've pretty much only ever driven family wagons and such. So take this for what its worth. My Z3 is the best handling car I have ever driven. The way i look at it is, when under normal or even "safe but spirited" driving on NZ roads will i ever even get to within 80% of the limit of this cars handling. Yes i know if things ever do go really pear shaped id be glad for every sliver of extra performance, but as is its already significantly better than anything else I've driven, so I'm already significantly ahead of the game compared to other cars in my driving history. A lot of the Z3 "naysayers" tend to focus on the rear's trailing arm suspension. which was apparently a bit dated when the Z3 came out. But its the same rear suspension as the E30 which gets a lot of love. So go figure. I do intend to make all of the changes that Murray mentions above. They are recommended consistently across a lot of Forums. Another "Serious Issue" is the rigidity, or lack thereof. its a roadster, so yes its never going to be as rigid as the coupe. There are stiffening kits you can get (including butt and body braces), but unless you looking at a serious track car, I'm not sure if they are necessary, Some even dispute their effectiveness, and it seems a lot of the benefit can be achieved by replacing some of the bushes in the rear. I tend to think that the perception of poor handling was affected by a sense of disappointment in some of the press / reviewers etc at the time of release, I think some people had really high expectations, and what they got initially was a good car (if slightly under powered with those initial 1.9's) but not the amazing car that they were hoping for. So yes it might not be first choice as a race car, but is it a great little roadster that will make you smile? At the end of the day, the Z3 is now a 20 year old car, I don't expect it to perform like a modern sports car, Its perfectly fine too me if it performs like a good car of its time period. Its still one hell of a fun car to drive, and IMHO the retro styling is aging really really well.

wait what? you mean I've been doing it wrong all these years... no wonder it hasn't been as successful as i was lead to believe.

Photo thanks to @adro at the WLG BMW Car Club Coffee meet.

I dunno, i kinda like this one https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1607703825.htm

Gave Betty's convertible top a proper wash with a (shoe) brush and convertible top shampoo ready for application of weather treatment. Rest of Sunday was spent with son sanding and filling his "opsies" on the Mazda.... better in that than in Betty though i suppose.

My Son has recently obtained his restricted license. The whole process sparked several discussions, comparisons to what i had to go through, what my parents did etc. It should be clear to anyone that getting a drivers licence today is harder and more convoluted than it has ever been. That being said, once you have a license its pretty difficult to get rid of it, and there is almost no 'control' over your standard of driving. I know that i would be hard pressed to pass the theory section of the tests if i sat one tomorrow, and I'm not arrogant enough to assume that i would simply fly through the practical tests either. I think it would be good if every licensed driver had to take both a theoretical and a practical driving test every five years. I would have it more frequent for under 25's and over 60's. A failure should require completion of some additional driver training. I also think that drivers on a foreign license applying for a NZ license should have to go through the same process. Not a lot we can do about tourists, but allowing them into a "truck' sized camper on a car license does seem a recipe for disaster.

Come on... everyone knows putting an M badge on anything adds a good 15-20 bhp ... seems totally legit!

There really is no fix-all for reducing the road toll. But they could start with a look at the root cause of fatal accidents and then actually publish the results. But i'm guessing that wouldn't actually sit well with the various lobby groups out there that push their own particular "solution' But my pet peeve: Few months back, i drove from Akl to Wgtn, significant stretches we were trucking along at 80-90... until we hit the passing lanes, then miraculously those car's at the front of the queue that didn't seem capable of breaking 85 up a hill were suddenly able to do 110+ WTF ?!?! Now i took it mostly in my stride, but i saw a few road warriors letting loose to get past so they could catch up to the next queue 5 mins further down the road.