Kees

Roadster has been on my bucket list since I was about 8 years old haha. I’ll have one, one day. One benefit of the ForFour is it’s a proper 5 speed manual, whereas every Roadster is the robotised manual. My mum has a ForTwo as a run around with the same gearbox and it’s sooo slow. With much effort a Roadster can be converted to manual though.

To be honest I think that colour is awesome. Definitely an acquired taste though.

Bingo its absolutely fabulous. It’s the most “boy racer”, non boy racer looking car ever. It can spin up in 4th gear under full boost on a wet motorway haha.

Far from an e30…. Here’s a clue…

I saw that one, does look pretty tidy and I do have the manual conversion ready for it too.... Although I'm thinking I might use it to convert a D2 Audi S8 to manual, or a C5 RS6 instead... The problem with either of these plans is I just bought another car last week, it's even more bizarre and obscure than the W8, so now I have absolutely no room for another VAG car. Forum post incoming on what I bought, its a very love ir or hate it car haha.

This NZ New E34 540i has just been put up for sale on the E34 group. 2 Owners, 103,000km since new. Owner has had it since 1997. Just look at the door handle gaskets, and valve covers. Both MINT - and are usually two things that go bad one any 540i regardless of mileage. Has clearly been in a garage its WHOLE life. Bit of a bargain at $10K IMO. One of those cars where you get worried whoever buys it isn't going to look after it properly. I would buy it but I bought something last week and have no room (forum post on that car coming soon....)

The inspiration? What awesome projects - V10 E46, and V12 E53 will be mental!

KiwiCarLife just posted his review on my Boxster. Pretty cool video - he compares it to a PDK Cayman!

Haha I've been chuffed with how well the video has done so far. KiwiCarLife's videos usually do in the 3,000-10,000 views range, and so far the W8 is north of 75,000! Glad it's been getting some appreciation for once! Even he said to me that he now has a new found appreciation for the W8. For anyone wanting to watch it: Funny you mention that, must be a little infamous that car..... (from the YouTube comment section)

Very nice! They are rapidly becoming very rare with only a few nutters like us wanting to save them! It's a shame you aren't in Auckland, basically all the body parts will be off to scrap so would be more than happy to give you whatever bits you want - Euro front & rare bumpers for example - I'm guessing your one has the Japanese spec small plate holders & cut-out? Wow! Wouldn't be many with that mileage left now, would love to see some pics if you've got any? Ugh the famous cam variators - unfortunately I won't be much help at this stage. I have read recently that wiring to coils can be a semi-common issue, and potential source of a miss beyond the basic coils and plugs, but then again, misfire could be caused by so many things. When I briefly owned an auto one I do remember the torque converter to not be the smoothest thing under the sun too - apparently Tiptronic mode really hurts their longevity. W8 group on Facebook is a good place for advice from some proper experts - someone on there is even swapping a W8 engine into a Lotus! Haha the story of my life! Next on my list is a Smart Roadster... just to put into perspective how weird I am with my automotive choices.

Ok I have an update for everyone: It's been a busy few days but the car has largely been stripped. It was given an exhuast-less send-off, sounded pretty awesome! I'll put a video on YouTube for you all to have a look at sometime later today. Interior came out first, then followed by engine and gearbox, then driveshaft & diff, and now its just the odds and ends! Fun fact and for future reference: definitely don't just worry about the axles "later" if they're being stubborn to remove. It is in fact very challenging to get the engine out if they're still there - but you live and you learn I suppose. Had to cut the downpipes off and also have to disconnect thrust arms and upper control arms on each side to give just that bit more room. Would like to give a special mention to VW for using M12 Spline bits to hold the fly wheel on - the first 7 came off with much persuasion from the breaker bar. But it would have been nice to give more than 5mm of spline bit set into the bolt, because the last 3 all stripped, YAY! Had to get my mate to weld some hex nuts onto the stripped bolts and then big impact gun did the rest. W8 engine down to the block does look rather neat! Here are some pictures: Interior Stripped: Some rare bits.... Front End Off: Late Night Wrestle With Axles Concludes: VW Passat W8 Superlegeera: Draining Fluids: Basic algebra tells me this is a Bugatti; W8 + W8 = W16 Engine Separated Former M12 Spline Bolt: The block!

Most definitely, can't complain about the price! By the time I had the car shipped it owes me $1.6K, but even then I'm still very happy. Have seen that the W8 specific Remus mufflers alone retail for $700usd... each! Let alone the 6 Speed gearbox which is worth a few $$$, along with the Cats, Recaro seats, Tuned ECU, and BBS Madras + many, many other random bits. Just a bit of a bummer from an automotive moralistic point of view that such a rare car will be parted - but oh well, its life. HAHAHA, if I had a personal accountant (i.e a girlfriend) they would definitely request I block you, but luckily I don't so please keep suggesting terribly awesome cars for me to buy! I did see this one, would be a great recipient of the euro bumper & bootlid, however I've decided that a suitable shell swap candidate must be: 1) Silver 2) Wagon Only because my sedan needs a matching partner... Have seen a few silver sedans around, will potentially pick one up in the next few months I suspect - rationally justified as a "PRACTICAL" addition to the fleet I aim to start parting out the black car this weekend, anyone want a souvenir? 🤣

Alright, I have a bit of an unfortunate update.... So with the initial focus being on the front-end of the car (i.e the engine), it was only on Sunday that I actually had a proper inspection of it. I wanted to go through everything methodically, to get an understanding of how easy it would be to get the car through compliance. Everything was looking alright, couple perishing bushings but nothing to severe.... until I got to the boot.... My friend had remarked on the day the car arrived, while I was washing it, that the rear bumper had clearly been resprayed due to its higher level of metallic fleck in the paint that it appeared to have. I agreed with him, but didn't think much of it - its a 21 year old car at the end of the day.... However, I decided it would be a good idea to pull the boot's rubber seal off to look for any signs of corrosion (as compliance would do too). I then noticed that the passenger side corner of the boot has clearly been repaired, and then it hit me - the bumper was not even close to being flush with the lip of the boot. Comparing it to my silver car is startling - this car has clearly had a decent shunt up the back at some point in its life. The bumper doesn't even clip in, as the clipping points have been pushed back, and you can quite clearly see the structure of the car is pushed in/dented. Compliance definitely won't like that! So it seems I'll be using it for parts. Bit of a bummer but its done 266,000km, clearly had a decent life, and will probably help keep 5+ W8s on the road globally with its bits (have had heaps of interest in parts from America & Canada). Here are some photos of the damage: My silver W8 for reference: The black car: Pretty obvious bend.... Welded repair in left corner & you can also see where the two metal plates overlap it's been pushed out about 5mm, compared with the other side.

Not too sure, I'll have to do some research on it. Being an early 2000s VAG product I wouldn't be surprised if the engine has to come out. 🤣 That said, the engine will be pulled out anyway - whether its being repaired, replaced or the car parted. I am quite keen on a W8 coffee table so I'll strip the engine down anyway so at a minimum I'll investigate what's happening, will be interesting to see which headgasket failed (assuming it is headgasket, still need to properly test to formally diagnose).

Good point, oil is still clean and golden so the engine could be alright. Coolant isn't oily either. Apart from the misfire (which is not too bad to be fair), everything sounds and works as it should. Hmmm maybe I should replace both gaskets and go from there.

Honestly I can't fault this logic.... you're dead right haha

The second, NZ New, manual W8 sedan arrived today.... and what a day of ups and downs! Before I begin, let us all remember that the vehicle was written off by the insurer, with the damage being "Engine Damage". This morning I received a text from my transporter saying the car got driven out of the salvage lot on its own by the staff, and then easily pulled itself onto the transporter - strange I thought, given the "Engine Damage" it supposedly had. I also got some photos of the car, looked fairly dirty with muddy arches, and a bit of silt and gravel on the REMUS mufflers (I'm stoked about those). My initial thoughts were that the car was wrongly labelled, and was in fact a flood damaged car. When it arrived, the transporter told me how surprised he was when the gates opened and the car drove out under its own steam, instead of being hauled along by a forklift. He said usually when Manheim say that a car has engine damage, it really does! The car also had no water line on it, and didn't smell of damp. Very, very strange. Why would the car have been written off and deregistered by an insurer if it isn't water damaged, hydrolocked, and seemingly still runs?! I started it, there was a definite misfire, and it instantly started complaining about coolant. Head-gasket was my first thought to explain both of those. I told this theory to my mate who had skipped his engineering class join me for the delivery. He had done a ton of research prior to the delivery on possible issues that could render a W8 with "Engine Damage". He thought head gasket would be unlikely as there is almost no talk of them failing in the forums - and instead thought coolant could just be low, and misfire could be something basic like plugs and coils, or it could be the cam variators and the famous plastic mesh screens that dislodge. So anyway, I top up the reservoir and we take the car for a drive (lucky where I'm keeping the car genuinely has a 1km private road), holds temperature and goes without issue, although its still not the happiest at idle. Decided next best option would be to let it cool down, give it a bit of a clean and then investigate further. Gave the car a bit of a clean - was absolutely filthy and covered in cob webs. Figured out pretty quickly from the gravel rash + FMG insurance card, and live stock purchasing list that the previous owner of 12 years must have owned a farm. This explained the dirt in the wheel wells - so it must not be flood damaged? The car is also leaking oil and transmission fluid pretty well, so we jacked it up to look underneath. One thing I noted was that the front bumper had fresh fasteners in it - also strange. Checked the Air Filter and it was basically disintegrating - maybe the car was just running poorly as a result of old plugs or dodgey coils that were due for replacement? It was really starting to annoy me - why was this an insurance write-off and why was it deregistered? Well tonight I managed to find out what happened: The story may not be 100% correct, but this is how I remember it. A mechanic was driving the car and backed it over a big curb. This squashed the front bumper so the car was booked in to a panel beater to have the bumper put back on and repaired (remember the fasteners I saw...). Well on the way to the panel beater, the car overheated as the radiator pipes had also been squashed and damaged. The car was then taken to another mechanic for assessment where the pipes were repaired, but the car still overheated. Car was diagnosed to have a blown head-gasket and a subsequent insurance claim was made. I will test the head-gasket again myself just to be sure - I'm not sure if it was a "suspect diagnosis" or a formal one, but I am 99.9% sure it is indeed blown based on the miss on idle. It does also turn out that the car may have been the one mentioned on a forum I found, as "Big Jimmy" was from New Zealand, and the timeline matches the modifications done to the car: https://www.passatworld.com/threads/w8-performance-boost.235355/ So yes, I could confirm that apparently $10K was spent in the mid 2000s on the Remus exhaust + some kind of chip tune to bring power closer to 300hp... The fact that it's had the work done tugs on my heart strings to save it... So now the question remains - should it be resurrected or parted out? On a personal note, it really does bug me to part out such a rare car, that could be relatively easily fixed.... BUT, financially it doesn't make much sense, and this is why: So first of all, by the time the car had made it to me, it already owes me $1.6K. Assuming head-gasket is toast - an engine swap will be the cheapest option. This will require an auto W8 as a donor - a half decent one can be had for probably $2.5K. Essentially that is the cost of the engine, not really much value left from an auto W8, could recover a little bit with selling cats + wheels and a few other bits, but its a hassle having another B5 Passat thats in bits lying around... 🤣 Then budget at least $1K in new parts like new engine mounts and various gaskets. Transmission leak would need to be sorted, as well as some oil leaks that the replacement engine no doubt has. OPTIONAL EXTRA: Clutch is ok but quite spongy, logically you would probably do a clutch too at this point while the engine is out... The passenger door also refuses to open, which is just straight annoying to sort as you can't get the door card off without opening the door... So some mutilation of the door card or the door itself would probably need to happen to fix that. Then the car needs to go through compliance, it got WOF in October 2022 and drives decently enough so I don't think it would need a ton of things, but they are so strict that I'm guessing things like brakes will be flagged. And then with it all done you're left with a W8 that cosmetically is not the greatest. Cosmetically: The car is PEPPERED with stone chips, not only on the front but the sides too - having been living in rural areas its clearly been exposed to many gravel & dirt roads. Paint otherwise is nice - no clear coat peel and it does sparkle. The interior is ok but the thigh support is collapsed on the driver's Recaro seat. Wood trim is all cracked and the centre stack bit is peeling off. Leather door cards are doing the typical VAG thing where the leather un-sticks itself from the card and makes an air pocket. The car looks relatively tidy in photos - and I suppose its not horrendous, it's just compared to the silver car it just seems so much more used. I also think I'll pinch the exhaust for my silver car - it's funny, the Remus mufflers look TERRIBLE in photos, but in real life they look great and have grown on me heaps (I am ashamed to admit). So then I am left with the ultimate question: how much would the car be worth when its all done? Given the cosmetics and with a standard exhaust, I think the most I would pay is $7K... and I'm a lunatic. Normal people would probably have interest at $5k? This becomes a problem as at an absolute minimum I see the car costing $6K to resurrect (+ many, many hours), realistically probably $8K+ depending on how many hick-ups occur along the way, and how deep the rabbit hole goes when the engine is out - and ultimately I probably wouldn't keep the car long term anyway. So then on the thought of parting it out - I can take the exhaust, fuel tank module, and save all the unique manual bits like seats, shifter etc for myself just in case, and sell off the box, (its relatively common, definitely no 420G lol), wheels and a few other bits, and still have a bunch of spare bits for my silver car. But it REALLY, REALLY does pain me to part out such a rare and unique car, which is clearly saveable. So anyway, that was a long dump of thoughts, what do you all think? As you can probably tell, my heart says to save it, my head says to part it out....

HAHAHAHA thats gold 😂 Yeah it's one of those things where I think the car was just so unknown that even eagle eyed VAG enthusiasts may have scrolled right past it - especially since an automatic W8 is both underwhelming and pretty much valueless. Definitely a limited market - that car really only has value to an insane person such as myself haha The manual W8s have the same transmission (01E) as the B6 generation Audi S4 with the 4.2L V8, so I suspect the manual box is probably the most valuable bit of the car, but most people don't realise its the same gearbox. In fact, many people can't even conceptualise that a W8 is almost in essence a V8. You are dead right on the international market front - people on the W8 Facebook group go nuts over the manual bits, even the Recaro seats are a hot commodity. Just a bit limiting being in NZ shipping to overseas, but I'm confident I could quite easily make my money back. The split piece factory BBS are worth a little bit too. If the car is pretty gone, I'll keep majority of the bits, and will maybe even embark on swapping a silver wagon to manual so I can have the sedan and matching wagon just for that extra nerd clout hahaha.

That is to be decided for once I see it in person. So it turns out its 1 of 4 (everyone thought there were 3 but alas...), so if I resurrect it, I'll have 50% of the manual W8s in the country... and if I don't well that just makes my silver car more rare - and I get all the parts I could ever dream of. I bought the Carjam report - has been a single owner car since 2010, and it looks relatively tidy. It got WOF in October 2022, and then for some reason got deregistered as a result of the engine damage? Very strange. Will contact a crash certifier to triple check it isn't somehow logged as flood damaged, as it's just a bit weird it got written off for engine damage by an insurer? Maybe the motor is hydrolocked? Nevertheless, at $951 I am pretty happy, just need to figure out how to get it from Hamilton to Auckland - transporter suggestions?

You should feel sorry….. I’ve just bought the dam thing 🤣 *Deep sigh*

Kiwi Car Life’s video of my W8 (for anyone interested).

Oh dear, just as I try reduce the fleet of cars, another one wants to be adopted....

SOLD UPDATE: I just SOLD the car. Buyer is a fellow BMW enthusiast and lover of high mileage cars. Had a very tasty M-Sport F01 730D which I got to drive, very glad the car has gone to him. His previous BMWs include an E38 750iL, F10 M-Sport 535i Touring (which unfortunately got flooded) and 318iS Manual. He said the wheels + Le Mans Blue drew him to the car, and he found it by filtering by BMWs, -> highest mileage on Trademe when he was bored.

Haha there she is! Currently has 1.2 million views on Tik Tok, and about 200,000 on Instagram (if anyone cares). My only gripe about that car is it protested to being reviewed by him by fogging up its driver's side headlight after I washed it, and then the moisture promptly went away after filming concluded. That will forever annoy me haha.

Haha yeah that's my boss who does those videos - doesn't compare to the "good old Aussie muscle"... apparently It's probably now one of the most viral 130i's in the world! Was quite funny to watch him rant about the cupholder, unfortunately he couldn't experience the best bit of the 130i - the driving experience - because he's lost his license!