Sammo

Spill the beans haha You have you RMVT license yet?

@qube You have an E36? Have same IR key on my E46, hate it, looking to upgrade to the RF one...

Yeah, its a little scary how fast some of these somewhat desirable "rare" manuals go for when they are priced correctly - when I was getting my E46 I had been looking for months, missed out on a few then she came up at Hell BM - rang Ray within 2 hours of it hitting Trade Me on a Sunday morning and it had already sold... It however was resold plus GST a few weeks later and I sucked it up and paid a premium to get it - still inside 8 hours of it hitting Trade Me again... Good luck and keep a few $$ aside if you have to make a rushed purchase on an unknown car. I got lucky on mine but I was always going to dump more than the cars value into it.

Just marketplace - I'm sure theres more if you join an E36 group though. The FB algorithms know I always searching for old BMWs / schnitzer or BBS lol

I wouldn't be too concerned unless you are about to sell - as John says, the market sets the price anyway and CVs are out of date before they are even released.

@Ghost Chip nice looking low km red manual 328i coupe on FB....

I did consider but the asymmetry bothered me TBH

I can definitely see the benefit of Quattro, especially come winter - this car is far from perfect but it feels so stuck to the road you feel a little bit invincible - weighing a lot helps too of course. Would recommend a specialist to check out first and mechanical warranty of course 🤣

One of BMWs 'most reliable' motors haha

Oh wow, a lot of 'bonding' with the new wagon already 😐 Must feel great to have it sorted!

Took the POS for a blast to Tawharanui today - no traffic on way there - decent fun and didn't miss a beat. Its a heavy, numb drive compared to the E46 but the steering is nicely weighted (electronically) , it corners very flat and has way more grip than I care to exploit - super planted - definitely in its element on open roads and sweeping bends. Fingers crossed.

I understand that perspective, but personally I like this one though and had been looking at plates as a finishing touch for a while. May even be useful on a subsequent car or have some value if I lose this car.

Well done man, I was thinking of getting an E30 for a while and had my eye on that plate for a while - good to see it go to a Bimmersporter - bargain IMO

Exactly haha

Did you get NZ E30??

It's taped on at the moment, so needed to maximise contact patch - will see how it holds - my last two screw holes are quite high up on the bumper so wouldn't work any lower like this. Looking at this pic (assume its an OEM Euro holder?) the line is broken anyway - plate itself is slightly lower though. Could look at a holder and spray it Orient blue I guess.

6 speed manual too 🥵

Why not just keep spending money right? Got myself a new plate - pleasantly surprised it was available:

Not sure TBH, if your E82 is Msport it’s likely lowish at the front already? I just got those black plastic low profile ramp things - about 60cm long and 10cm tall for $60 on Trade Me.

Stunning wheels, I was actually just thinking about going this route on the E46 as a set (18x8 and 18x9.5) came up in need of a refurb for $800 - potential cost of refurb put me off though and the rears were 9.5 ET25 which would be pushing it a little on the E46... regretting it now haha

I am quite low so I still have so low ramps I drive onto and then jack up - this lifts really high as well, so no issue getting stands under even when extended a fair amount. 10 or so pumps to more than high enough for jack stands I would say. I actually just sold this jack but that’s only because I moved house and my car is now parked down several flights of stairs from my tool shed and this bad boy is well over 40kg. Got a 1.5 ton alloy jack (have not used yet) which I’m sure won’t be as good but it’s only 15kg.

I mainly watch 'silly / fun' car stuff on Youtube like Carwow / Donut Media / Hoonigan etc But for genuine quality, Henry Catchpoles Carfection videos are brilliant.

Potentially solid thread haha

Sounds like you have a good budget. 30,000km on an E36, even if legit (it is an import) - every other piece of plastic and rubber in it will still be shagged, makes little sense to pay a premium for such low kms and to hack it up. Get a manual 328i coupe, 200km+ no worries, preferably partially sorted, drive it 3 months then tidy it up and personalise to your taste. Manual swapping is hard to recommend unless you already have all the parts and can DIY. Otherwise you're dealing with sourcing a good box (not a G220), all parts, loads of labour, correct coding and tuning and then LVVTA certification.