TonyT

If it's an agreed value policy then set the value at a figure you agree with. I always adjust mine each year, precisely because their estimate doesn't gel with the market. AA insurance wont bat an eyelid if you want to insure for more than they suggest.

Another idea might be to get a can of C21L made up from Spraystore or similar, test spray some random panel or part, and then see how that looks relative to both your original paint and your newly resprayed parts. If it's close to the old paint and different to the new paint, then you can go back to your painter with more confidence.

All colours change over time, and blacks perhaps more than most. If you have a good paint depth on the rest of the car then you might find a deep cut with the right pads and compounds will bring your old paintwork back to what it looked like new, and therefore closer to the newly resprayed parts.

Nice, the green is a very cool colour. Please keep us updated as the build progresses.

Is it being built for you? What colour did you choose?

Possibly BMWs are so loved that they get repaired if they break, and have preventative maintenance completed. So there is plenty of discussion in the enthusiast communities about these topics. Whereas some other brands are just driven into the ground then ditched, with little in the way of enthusiasm to keep them going.

At 150k they will be stuffed, for sure. If you want to stick with the H&R springs I would email H&R and ask them what dampers they recommend. Otherwise, troll through the online forums and see if you can find someone else who has done the same, and what dampers they went with.

How old are your current dampers? What you have possibly done by fitting the H&R (which as has been noted, are significantly firmer than stock) is push your worn dampers into only a small part of their operating range. Hence they are not operating very well. You have a number of options, none of them cheap. But all worthwhile in terms of improved handling, if that is your goal.

Sorry to mislead. It was an attempt at humour - a comment on the price of petrol these days. If I was to hazard a guess I would say check your fuel breather valve.

Its the sound of your hard-earned money leaving your account at high speed... 😆

As a minimum you'll need to give it about half an hour of full operating temperature running every 800-1000km (so about once per tank full) to regenerate the DPF. Obviously the more you can run it at at full temperature the better.

Different flow rates through the DPFs perhaps? ie. the 2011 one more clogged than the 2010.

Timing chains were an issue on the earlier N47s but.a redesign post 2009 improved them a lot. There was another design change in 2012, and the twin-scroll version used in this F31 is said to be improved further (no doubt as a result of the failures of the previous versions). While timing chain faliures are the most common issue with a N47, they are not very common issue, and you would be unlucky to get one so long as regular maintenance has been kept up. The difficulty with this particular car being a new import is to find the service history - if it has a service booklet with regular services in it thats good, or check the service section of the idrive. If it's not had a good service history then it becomes a more difficult decision.

Given the higher kms you might be doing, the diesels could suit you well. Pretty bullet proof in the F series. BUT, be aware you will need to do a decent high speed run (20-30 mins) every 1000km or so to regenerate the DPF. So long as you have some out-of-town running in your usage the diesel will serve you well.

While driving it till it dies IS probably your only financially sensible option, you could prolong that for a while. 1) Use a "stop leak" oil additive and keep the oil topped up. 2) find some second hand shocks and bumpstops from a lower mileage car. The labour fitting these is not huge. 3) Assuming you don't have allergies, ignore the pollen filter 4) Spark plugs are worth doing and should be fairly cheap with minimal labour 5) Ignore the diff leak, buy a drip tray for your garage floor, and get the fluid topped up every oil service.