Twistee

Why can you pick up a pre LCI F01 730D for less money than the equivalent 530D ? It can't just be because the bleeding edge electronics and gadgets go wrong thanks to planned obsolescence surely? On paper (where everything makes sense) an F01 with under 100,000kms and a diesel looks like quite a thing, they appear to be from the first modern generation where BMW started to get things together on the reliability front. Is this a case of previous generations set the assumed poor reliability trend and getting out of that perceived funk doesn't come easily? I'm sure that a fully spec'd to the hilt limo variant has 100x more gizmos that could go wrong, but a fairly standard spec seems to be like an interesting proposition for anyone wanting a big barge that runs on chip fat. 

The engine is the same as that of the 5 series, with a ZF auto behind it (please correct if I'm wrong), I-Drive is the same, there is a lot of cross over but the 5 has a higher asking price than the 7 ? 

No, I'm not trying to talk myself into buying a 730D. Just interested to know what  I'm missing in the man maths.

On the plus side, I spoke with AT who are sending a street sweeper to clean up the debris field.

33 minutes ago, Cement said:

I've done the same and its turned out to be a waste of time. We have a handful of habitual excessive speeders that go past our place, I have a couple of security cameras and have worked out average speeds over a 30m stretch ... highest I've seen was 109kph (its a 50 zone, residential street). Tried to get a hold of our community constable and the person I ended up speaking to recommended that I go to a station and file a formal report, which they then have to follow up on and actually go and see the driver etc, providing you have registration of course (which I do).

I thought the main offender was going to take a holiday to the big house recently as I saw police at his place with their guns out aiming over his fence etc 😲 Alas I have seen him since.

Thanks, I think I'll do that. Every day for the past two weeks there has been a "safety" camera van on the main road, monitoring the "safety" levels which are measured km/h - I bet they have made some good coin out of the locals who are extra "safe" in the mornings around here - and during that time the only cop car I've seen was parked up and the officer looked rather busy on facebook as I walked by. He was probably just having lunch by the side of the road.

Does anyone have any recommendations for 4k dashcams, preferably with a rear facing camera as well. There seems to be a fair amount of scare mongering from the installer side of the industry around the use the dash cams from Aliexpress and exploding lithium cells due to heat, encouraging everyone to buy their product. I can see their point that a possibly cheap 4k system may overheat in the car, but I feel like if this was common place we would have seen it reported as parked cars bursting into flames are typically news worthy.

I'm more than happy to be proven wrong, in which case I will buy locally from a name brand.

Cheers. 

OMG, I filled out a 105 Police report form. I don't know what I was expecting as a confirmation of submission email but this is just fantastic :

*** This is an automatically generated email, please do not reply. ***

This message is to acknowledge receipt of your 'Report a Bad Driver - Community Roadwatch Report'.

Your report will be assessed and actioned by the New Zealand Police Community Roadwatch Team. Presuming an offence and vehicle can be identified from your report, a letter will be sent to the registered owner of the vehicle to advise of the allegation made and remind the owner of required standards of driving behaviour.

Thank you for your valuable contribution to safety on our roads.

*** This is an automatically generated email, please do not reply. ***

About an hour ago heard the unmistakable sound of a diesel ute doing a burn out at the top of the street. Shot out and jumped in the 4x4, headed up the drive, had to wait for the stupid slow ass gates to open, by which time they had lunched the rubber and thrown the tread all over the road and I could hear the sound of a steel rim being driven at high speed off into the distance. Got the the aftermath just too late to see which direction they had shot off to, but I went for a quick drive and could clearly see where they had done the same thing at at least two other intersections. And before anyone asks why didn't I call the cops, because the last time I did nothing happened and I don't expect that to change anytime soon. Yesterday a poor local family had their dog run over by someone doing skids, the local Police response to everything is call us while it's happening next time, the local cops are 15 minutes away at this time of night. Pukekohe, Patumahoe, Tuakau and Waiuku have more black rubber lines than road marking. According to the stats from LTSA / AT rural south Auckland has some of the highest accident rates and fatalities, they keep on dropping the speed limits, installing safety cameras and there are more mobile "safety" cameras out here than patrol cars. 

I think I need to buy some milk, pour it all over the road by the burn out scene and see if that attracts the cops like last week.............

The build tag lists it as an M535iA, and from what I have read about this gen the M535i was just a bodykit and interior upgrade model, auto was an option. The current owner has certainly addressed all the common problem child areas during his ownership. Someone will get a well sorted car, unfortunately thanks to the current world we live in the circle of potential owners of these classics is shrinking. While these are no E28 M5, the price gulf between them is huge and I think the look of the shark nose era of cars is amazing regardless of model. And I only recently learnt that there were a few companies of the era that did a touring conversion using various items from Merc and BMW parts bin. Looks a little out of whack from some angles, but it's a touring ......

Is it wrong that I have a dad wagon, an old Terrano farm hack 4x4, a low mileage STI RA, a POS Lancer in a shipping container and yet I still want another car for when all of those are broken and wife is out in her SUV? One of my uncles worked for BMW in South Africa and had one of these when I was very young, nostalgia is a terrible thing when it comes to cars. 

Anyway this one has been sitting for a while on TM, in the past 6 months there have been a white and a red M535i that have gone for much stronger money than what this one is asking, wonder why this one is not moving - advertised price is $22k, but the seller has commented they will take $18. Unfortunately I have flatlined the next few months of my finances thanks to the house renovation so it wont be grabbing this one, although I have a pile of Noiseline 13mm GIB that I bought before the prices went through the roof and supply stopped that haven't been used - I could sell that at the scalpers mark up rate and probably come close to the asking price  

Link to the TM auction: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/535/listing/3463793790?bof=aKD140dE

1 hour ago, Blackie said:

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/128208852/street-racer-invasion--nine-cars-impounded-and-200-fines-issued

I promise I'll leave the thread alone after this. I think I've made my point with plenty of evidence. I guess this is a rant thread and rants don't have to be logical or an accurate reflection of reality. 😆

And all it took was the nation crying over some spilt milk

Dropped my daughter at school and then just about got side swiped by some builder in a black double cab rolling on 21's. He had clearly just gotten his morning coffee, was running late to his current job to screw every dime out of some poor sod, no indicating, just started to pull out then lumped on his brakes..... I went around the idiot, looked back at him as he pulled out behind me coffee in hand while trying to find his seat belt ..... still not indicating. What a winner. If you are the type of tradie that is late is everything in life, maybe just maybe get your ass out of bed earlier. Well done for strongly reinforcing the stereotypical double cab ute dripping with chrome mentality. FFS.

I got hooked into watching Ogmios - this just cracked me up

And keeping it on topic for this thread - blah blah don't dance on street, or if you are going to be these guys! I got trapped in googling WTF it was all about, these guys pray hard and play hard!!

5 hours ago, aja540i said:

The only thing  more infuriating than the look of that grille is the fact that it doesn't even need a grille!

It does feel like a race between BMW and Audi to see who can get the largest grill (towing a vehicle behind it) into production. 

And regarding Bangle who I think everyone just assumed (myself included) was the designer of the E60/E61 series - this story and the accompanying audio interview completely changes that one. 

https://www.bmwblog.com/2020/09/26/chris-bangle-reveals-the-truth-of-the-e60-5-series-design/

I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but I can't see the exterior of that ever being looked at as a classic by future generations. 

If Darth Vader and a Chipmunk had a head on this is the love child, a face that only a mother could love. Be warned, once you have seen the ugly you cannot un-see the ugly, and everyone bagged Chris Bangle........

Hydraulic press channel FTW. Love the failure mode, if you can call it that.

That connector is wiring porn, great work. 

Just wrench on them hard, as a Subaru owner I've followed this process many times and never had any problems with broken turbo studs..... I'm always impressed with your dedication to keeping these cars on the road.

I spent a long time convincing myself that the 550 was solid with only minor issues, I really love the touring. Guessing the 535D version wouldn't cut it for you? I came really close to buying a one owner nz new one, they seem to be very underrated and undervalued.

I cringe everytime I look at that pic, I'm sure it's fine and the bottom end just needed the last of the engine degreaser rinsed off before it headed in for a WOF. Remind me, exhausts just love thermal shock right?

Welcome, lovely car. Pics, anywhere that you have had a little drive to get to aka an adventure. 

1 hour ago, aja540i said:

something has been cut out of the front and a straight pipe welded in, not sure what was there originally.

Flexi, bellows or the factory cat? BMW does seem to love 1 piece exhaust systems, do think it is a production/performance efficiency thing? I thought the rear end on the M5 would have a flange, but it also appears to be one piece to the headers.

@KeesWell said. 

@Kees

Having been an admin for years on another car forum I learnt that you can't please everyone all the time and everyone has an opinion. Like others I ended up on here as I was looking for a great local community before I committed to buying the dad wagon, I can see merit in both sides of this story. I would hasten to add that we shouldn't point fingers here, Mike while obviously very experienced had quite staunch views that would on occasion be released like a 2x4 to the head. One of the things that gave me the confidence to move into BMW ownership was the supportive environment offered by Bimmersport members, we don't have to agree on everything but there is a basic level of respect we have for others that shouldn't result in admin being put into a position like this and a long time member leaving. Guaranteed that no one has won out of this, the community has lost a valuable resource and like everything that becomes political people start to question the leadership - don't forget that the majority of car forums / clubs are run by people volunteering their time and resources - it can be a thankless job.

Agreed, he was clearly very dedicated and talented. This thread was always great to watch.

So anyway, back to my original rant take away points - rubber and tire carcases littering local streets = bad. And remember ......

I think we have better things to do than rage at each other, smiling through gnashed teeth is way healthier