Kees

Here’s something you certainly don’t see everyday, especially on a grey Thursday morning! First Lagonda I’ve ever seen in person.

Gave my 540i a much needed wash for the first time in a few months. Have barely used it since it debited my wallet $2.4K in early September. Will write about that incident at some point haha Threw on a coat of Turtle Wax Black Ceramic Wax for some extra gloss. The paint correction I did 18 months ago still looks pretty good, might give the bonnet a light buff at some point if I get bored during summer.

Have been meaning to do an update on my 540i and my W8 for a while now so thought I would start with Franklin. Finally got round to ordering Europlates - ended up being a bit of a hassle when the courier signed for me while I was out and then put the plates in a roof cavity near our front door, so I thought some parcel pirate had nabbed them and only found them yesterday. Anyway, put them on today, happy with how they look. Went for the classic Navy euro plate as I feel its almost an un-official rule that a pre 05' VW has the Navy euro plate. Other than that, car has clicked over to 248,000km (bought it with 242,9XX from memory) so have actually done a fair bit of driving in it considering it gets driven about twice a month. So far this W8 is one of my favourite cars to drive, the way the power is delivered is so unique. Gave the interior a proper detail last weekend too, conditioned all the leather etc. Have also managed to VIN decode the spec. Some interesting items: - Reflex Silver - Sports Package - Nappa Leather Recaro Sports Seats - Winter Package Otherwise its all just regular Passat options I believe. Also apparently 792 W8 Manuals were built total with majority LHD. Other than that, still trying to find out more specific information. SIDE NOTE: Small appreciation post for Bimmersport - the VASK NZ forum is simply ancient in comparison, can't even post photos! Passat's winter package ski bag coming in handy for some bits I bought for my 540i... any guesses what it is?

Interesting he's dropped the price. Was up for 12.8K originally. I asked the guy to view twice (when it was up for 12.8K) and I just get left on seen so clearly he's not particularly interested in selling.

E46 M3 Vert and 992 squaring off at the lights today

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m3/listing/3774378882 Here it is again with a 55K ONO price....

Just spotted this rather nice looking machine

2.0L Passat TDI Wagon or Audi A4/A6 AVANT 3.0 TDI? Don't think they have a ton of issues. My friend's father has a diesel Passat with 200,000+km, it's had no issues and he loves the fuel economy. I wonder if the savings of a super economical diesel euro will offset the more expensive maintenance of a Euro compared to a petrol Japanese equivalent. Examples: NZ New 2015 Passat TDI Wagon (80,000km) https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/volkswagen/passat/listing/3765391258 NZ New 2012 Audi A6 Avant TDI (120,000km) https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/audi/a6/listing/3768398160 --EDIT-- Another one I've just thought of, and I think they look rather swanky is a newer Mazda 6 diesel wagon. Example: NZ New 2018 Mazda 6 Wagon Diesel (60,000km) https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/mazda/6/listing/3729051182 I think they look really smart. Haven't looked into long term reliability, from memory older CX5s suffered from turbo issues, not sure if that was in diesel or petrol engines though but would be worth looking into.

I'd be interested in taking my 207 GTI there before it closes for good.

I've had my MacBook Air since early 2014 and it still seems to chug along well, admittedly it was a higher end one with an i7 and 256SSD which is what has helped it last I suspect. Usually is only used for Zoom calls, Word & PowerPoints, a little bit of photoshop and then just general media consumption like YouTube. Has all the ports I want (USB, SD Card Slot, & Headphone Jack) and also mag safe which has saved it a few times so have been putting off upgrading especially since the new ones in an effort to be thinner lack a bunch of ports. Also boots up faster than my friend's ~4 year old Surface Pro(something). Been very impressed with it.

Wow thats a really cool pair! 996 Turbo S must be a wicked car.

Will do, my father is really wanting to import a 997.2 Turbo 6MT from the UK for my mother but is waiting for one that isn't black/white/silver (ideally guards red but beggars can't be choosers as a manual 997.2 Turbo is extremely rare lol) so if he finds one, that C2S will definitely be going up for sale and in need of a new home!

I believe the PDC option on NZ New cars are one of the things that makes a 540 an "SE" which stands for Special Equipment. Mine is an SE so has parking sensors along with the auto dip side mirror and auto dim rear view mirror as well as a few other options. I have a registry with a bunch of the 540s in NZ (have about 90 cars on there at the moment), and "SE" trim is relatively rare but not super uncommon. The parking sensors are great and still work really well.

The mode selector by the gear selector puts the car in a different driving mode. S is Sport and changes how reactive the gearbox is which results in better throttle response. If the car isn't in Sport it will barely ever kick down hard and accelerate as it will just generally use its torque to accelerate in whatever gear its already in. NZ New cars just have an A for Auto which is the regular mode and then S for Sport. Seeing as yours is a Hong Kong import it may also have an E for Economy or an image of a snow-flake for snow mode (although most likely not since your car does not have an LSD which is a pretty rare option). "PDC" just stands for "Park Distance Control" which is BMW's way of saying parking sensors.

Yes that green car was for sale dollar reserve a while ago. Sold for 4.4K (which I did think was a bit of a deal, but probably an indicator of what the market thinks its worth) and the person who bought it immediately relisted it trying to make a quick buck to no apparent avail so far. I watch E34 540s sales quite frequently, there was a red NZ New 2 owner example with 160,000km for 10K which sold in 48 hours. Other than that the sales are rather slow. Even an NZ New 118,000km E34 540i with a factory almost "iS" spec (aside from the most important bit... the manual) with all the M-tech goodies including an LSD, sports seats, shadow trim etc sat on the market for ages recently. Pretty sure it didn't pull much over 10K which really surprised me as that car was a bit of a unicorn. All it needed was the 420G and it's an un-official iS.... Maintenance is a very big thing, mine has done very high ks but was serviced religiously every 6 months from 2003-2019. Today mine actually clicked over to 376,000km! M60 B40 is a great engine if maintained properly. I honestly don't understand why 540 values are so poor, they are awesome cars. They have the classic BMW look but pack some pretty decent performance, great build quality and are relatively reliable if looked after. FAR superior to an LS400 of the same age imo. All NZ New cars up until 1996 (so basically all of them aside from a handful) are factory cat delete which is a nice bonus imo.

Yup was a HellBM car, pretty sure the low ks was because it was damaged and just sat around until Ray got it and then he repaired it and got it on the road. I think this is the same car:

The Webbs website details past auction results. This is the one for the M5: https://auctions.webbs.co.nz/m/lot-details/index/catalog/463/lot/111354/1987-BMW-M5?url=%2Fm%2Fview-auctions%2Fcatalog%2Fid%2F463

@m325i found your thread! Your car?

Spotted this tasty looking E46 M3 this morning. Pretty sure it’s a forum member’s car, had distinctive amber tail lights as opposed to the oem clears. Car looked really good! Couldn’t find their thread to tag them though.

There's a black e34 540i with M5 badging and throwing stars which lives down those parts. Plate is BMC924. Might be that? Would be awesome if it's a genuine M5.

Spotted this. Sub 40K for an NZ New, M3 Coupe, pretty sure its factory manual since its NZ New and listed as such on carjam. Seems a bit of a bargain?! I've actually seen this car in person frequenting Queenstown and it does need a variety of cosmetic things remedied but has decent bones. I actually took a few photos of it because I thought it looked rather tasty especially with the mountains in the backdrop. From memory the interior needs a full overhaul. Here is the link: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m3/listing/3705220724 Here are the photos I took of it in February 2021.

Considering the price of a full manual conversion is nearing about 10K now, I don't think it's horrendously priced at 15K.

Man that looks incredible!! @Sammo

Wonder if its the same car as @Kiwi_BMW posted a photo of in a thread in 2016. Clear indicators and different wheels the only difference. Although top car looks almost inky blue whereas trademe one is clearly black, may just be lighting.

Just spotted this: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/540i/listing/3699135437 Have not seen a factory manual E39 540i for sale in ages, let alone an NZ New one! Anyone know how many came to NZ? Less than 20 E34 540i/6s came to NZ so I'm guessing even less for E39... Wonder what the reserve is....