BlackrazorNZ

Here's a vid of the new M135i - exhaust noise and track handling sample. Little bit of understeer but nothing too bad. Definitely saddened to see little/no rear end wiggle tho

BimmerCode and a Kiwi3 will get you 90% of what most people want to achieve safely and relatively simply.

Have you got a link to the article? I'd be very interested to have a read

I will be very interested to see what eventuates, however I'm somewhat skeptical as the engine mounting in the new 1-series has been confirmed as transverse, where as the M5-esque implementation of Xdrive relies on a good old longitudinal mounted engine. Perhaps they've found some clever engineering way around it, but every transverse mount AWD implementation I've seen has been front bias with no more than 50% torque ever available to the rears.

Here's a bit of a wildcard : One option I would seriously consider if you can put the badge aside, is the Hyundai i30 Limited. I test drove a bucket load of cars recently before settling on the M140i, and of all the current model cars I drove (Mazda3/6, VW Polo GTI/Golf GTI/R, Seat Leon Cupra, M140i, M120i, i30 Ltd, i30N, Kona Electric, Ioniq Electric, GT86, A45 AMG, Audi S4) the i30 Ltd and the Golf GTI were the only other models I felt rivalled the M140i in the 'value for money' stakes. Not sure what your budget is and they're $43k new before haggling, but I'm sure they'll drop in aftermarket quick enough. And for that, you get a lovely free-revving 1.6T engine with 150kw/202hp engine with 265nm torque from 1500rpm, a proper dual clutch transmission, and pretty much every mod-con you can think of. https://www.hyundai.co.nz/small-cars/i30/features

Yes I suspect this is often the case. But it's something I don't understand from a commercial perspective - wouldn't 'charge them more' be a viable solution? I'd happily pay a couple hundred an hour to get parts properly fitted and if they can't make some money off that labour rate there's bigger problems afoot.

All good - in typical ‘me’ fashion, I’d already spent dozens of hours researching online and just needed a short test drive to confirm what I’d heard before committing ? The dealership can thank the southbound Ellerslie on-ramp and some tail wiggle for that! ?

Or alternatively, M3AN actually responded to my original questions, albeit with an answer that I was hoping wasn’t the case, but I appreciate the fact he did so instead of making me feel like a dealer-shy weirdo ? Take your pick.

For the record, I’ve already asked for a quote to get the parts I was considering fitted. And had the answer been reasonably in line with international (or even Aus) pricing, I’d have locked it in on the spot, and probably prepaid in cash. Hell, even when I bought the car I literally walked in, talked to the first sales person I came across, took the car for a 20 min test drive, said ‘Here’s the spec list I’d like’, paid my deposit, didn’t haggle, signed off and walked out again. I’m literally the polar opposite of a time waster

Thank you, exact sort of response I was looking for, appreciate it. I think based on this and other comments I'll stick with the car as stock until I decide whether to keep it long term or not, and if I do I'll worry about the additional parts and fitment then. Might be better off just to save up what I would have spent on extras, and then just look at a 'proper' M in 3-4 years that come with all the bits I want fitted as standard.

I don’t think I’ve ever asked a waiter for a recommendation in my life, but it’s a good point about the others. Odd that I’ll accept advice re professional services but struggle with accepting dealer advice on a physical purchase. I’m sure there’s a deep rooted issue there somewhere. Or maybe it’s because I can generally learn lots about a physical item pre-purchase, but I’m never gonna be a dentist.

The problem with hereditary wealth is simple - it stratifies society and creates the perpetually poor and the automatically wealthy, without any regard to merit or deservedness. If someones parents were relatively wealthy, they’re already likely to have had a significant advantage in life due to no deservedness of their own. Compounding that with large transfer of additional wealth when the parents die only compounds the issue. Ive long felt that the tax system would be far better off if both company and income tax were substantially reduced, but there was a massive (and I mean 75-90%) estate tax on their passing. Allow people all the fruits of their labour while alive, without entrenching undeserved generational wealth once they’re gone. I don’t expect or desire equality of outcome, but inter generational wealth transfer completely eradicated equality of opportunity which i feel is the core required tenet of any long term successful and healthy capitalist democracy.

Quick rant : Having lived through all the Christchurch earthquakes and having to see the bulk of a city need to empty out quickly, Auckland is fooked if we have a decent natural disaster and people need to get out. 1-2 car crashes will grind the entire motorway system to a halt - what do you think a volcano or tsunami would do? We'd all be sitting ducks.

Yeh, I had high hopes for the CGT concept but either it won't come in at all or Labour will butcher it. Even the idea that you would tax shares and not the family home is just nutso. All that does is encourage to sandbag their home, which is a totally nonproductive way to use our collective wealth. Instead, they should have full CGT on any sale of a non-GDP-generating asset (including the family home!), and a fairly punishing Estate Tax (to address the problem of hereditary wealth privilege), and use that income stream to support massive incentives for investing in business and shares to drive real growth in the economy. Will never happen though. Labour are the party of 'tax the rich and give to the poor', and National is the party of 'don't tax on me!'. No one seems to be the party of 'let's use tax as a useful tool to steer the ship.'

Let me answer this again, but with a more specific thought process behind it. I am reluctant to ask the warranty and service advisors at my chosen dealer (and it wouldn't matter one iota to my thought process which dealer that was), as I would not have sufficient trust that I would get a factually honest answer as opposed to a company line slanted to generate business in their favour, if the true answer was one that mitigated or reduced their ability to make money off me. I realise that sounds paranoid and I'm probably damaged goods, but per examples mentioned above, I've never had the best luck with dealers and factual accuracy. Perhaps after I've dealt with a dealer I like for a few years and built up some trust, that'll dissipate somewhat.

Yeh it was a little less interesting this episode. Although the look of awe on James May's face as he drove Neil Armstrong's Corvette down a shuttle runway at Cape Canaveral was the look of a man who could die happy now.

Wow... that generated a response and a half! To be fair, on this matter I'm not so much looking for advice as I am for multiple data points from people who have been in a similar situation. I certainly don't think that dealers/retailers, in any industry, set out to deceive (Hanlon's Razor - 'Never attribute to malice anything adequately explainable by either ignorance or incompetence'), however it has most definitely been my experience that dealers/retailers are, on average, little more reliable as a source of fact and truth than educated members of the general public. At times you'll be lucky and bump into the long serving team member who knows everything about the subject matter and is amazing to deal with. Unfortunately, those seem to be rarer and rarer in the current retail environment. Take my recent 'car hunt' before I decided on the BMW. One sales guy at the Volkswagen dealership told me that the difference between the Golf GTI and the Golf R was that the Golf R was a turbo. Another told me the new Polo GTI handles well because it has a limited slip diff. The lady at the Hyundai dealership told me that the soon-to-arrive i30N was all wheel drive. All of which was bollocks ? So forgive my somewhat jaded cynicism. I don't dispute that. And to be fair, my comment was on my general approach to dealers for anything, not just BMW or even cars. Ever walked into an IT store and asked for specific technical advice recently? You're 10% likely to get a correct answer, 30% likely to get a wrong answer, and 60% likely to get a blank stare. No, of course I wouldn't. But there is wisdom in crowds, and so the more responses and data points you get, the more likely you are to be able to weed out the outlying / incorrect / misleading responses, whatever their source. I haven't asked the question of an independent workshop, either, nor would I necessarily be any more trusting of their response (in isolation). Yeh, I don't know exactly where that view comes from. Perhaps it's a little bit of the ol' Reagan philosophy of 'Trust, but Verify'

I’m deeply and irreparably distrustful of the advice of anyone who stands to make money by giving it. In any industry. Almost to the point of believing that all dealer advice is wrong until proven otherwise Very much prefer to get feedback and advice from those who are only in it for the love.

Hi there, Has anyone had experience with using a qualified independent mechanic to fit upgraded parts to a new-ish BMW, and whether it had any impact on the warranty for the rest of the vehicle? Also, has anyone attempted to get an authorised BMW dealership to fit genuine BMW parts you've sourced yourself rather than via them? Did they refuse to or are they prepared to do so if you're prepared to pay for their time? Thanks, Dan.

Mortgage rated are good at the mo. Just re-secured 2 years fixed at 4.05% with BNZ via Squirrel, who have been great to deal with.

I'm amazed you got one. I emailed them 3x and still haven't heard a peep back.

Wow thats fascinating. From the back, looks completely different to the M140. From the side, to the casual observer, looks near identical. Bonnet is shorter but longer, larger rear bumper, and that's about the guts of it.

What's the one on the left? Looks like an M135 or M140?

Negatory. Did not know this was a thing. Means it's only $6178 more expensive ?

Here's a specific example of some of this craziness : From one of the forum sponsors from a UK Bimmer forum, was quoted £1975 for the M Perf. LSD and £1065 for the M Perf. Exhaust with full carbon tips, cheaper with steel tips. That includes freight to NZ but not tax, by the time I add 15% GST and a clearance fee, it works out to roughly $6800 NZ landed. For comparison, in NZ the LSD alone is $10,860 inc GST and the MPE with carbon tips is $3560, prices ex dealership current as of 3 weeks ago. So I can land it, paying all shipping and tax myself, buying direct from a BMW dealership on the opposite side of the planet, for under half what I can buy it for locally. ‘Official channel’ BMW parts in NZ seem to simply be daylight robbery. There is literally no justification for charging the additional $7620 in my example above, they're not even stock parts, have to import it same as I do - and the UK dealer isn't doing it for free, he'll be making good money on the deal as is!