First Timer

Hi F10 thanks for your reply. considering how much the unit costs and the conversion parts i think i'll stick with my limcet carplay/android box with mirroring and just using tvnz, netflix, etc. as they all show up on the display. Oddly enough, it will play NZ movie DVD's while i'm driving. lol

Hi Patrick there are options depending on which island you are on. https://eurosurgeon.co.nz/ if you are on north island and https://soundworks.net.nz/ on south island. all they do is install nz maps, radio and nz english lang firmware. so everything is like factory stock. Soundworks did the install on my e89 Z4 and it works like a charm. I also did a step up and had a limcet carplay/android system installed which gives me a one button choice of using the factory screen or carplay both of which costs around $500 nz

after looking over what they charge for yearly maintenance it was $300 cheaper to take it to the local dealer (Cooke Howlison BMW) the dealer only charged me $150 for oil change and yearly maintenance. Plus the service is now stored in BMW.com so when i go to sell the car the new owner can see the service history. R&D never offered me any discount after mucking up the car.

i downloaded the my BMW app based on my vin. the personalised owner's manual says the car requires greater than 95 Ron fuel and a minimum of 91. the manual says the engine light will be present but not blinking due to excessive emissions. if the engine light is blinking then pull over because there is is risk of engine damage. does this mean i have the 217 bhp version? the personalised manual doesn't quote hp specs.

i've been looking for a heads up display for my E89 to display speedo. the Hudway cast and drive look good. don't know if they will fit the dash. anyone have one or any suggestions?

Hi, my Japanese import E89 Z4 has the TV tuner. is there any way to convert it to picking up NZ stations? I realise that it requires a nstc to pal conversion box but these are easily sourced and run off of usb. i would think the hardest part would be converting it to take a digital signal. any ideas? has anyone done this? cheers

Hi, I've ordered three sets of diamond pattern grilles for my E89 (i like the look) but none of them fit properly (clips too short on sides and bottom along with not allowing for the stock nubs that hold the grilles on the bottom). I don't want to modify my bumper to get them to fit. Does anyone know of any high quality ones that install like the ease of the stock grilles? after all the trial fitments I've become somewhat of an expert on how to replace the grilles without any damage, lol. Also I've noticed that all the adverts for the diamond grilles don't actually show them installed on the E89. any and all help appreciated.

can you use 95 RON? if i use anything less than 98 RON the engine light comes on. I bought the car from the importer as his daily driver. I thought maybe he never had it remapped and that was why I can only run on 98. I did have the CIC head unit software upgraded along with NZ maps.

i don' t have any codes. this is only my 2nd BMW in 40 years. the first was a 2002tti. (never should have sold it!, lol) all i know is if i put fuel under 98 RON then the engine light comes on. supposedly it only has about 200 hp but it does 0-100 in 6.1 it only has the N52K inline 6. if it's overtuned i'd like to put it back to factory specs so i have the reliability.

Wow! i had never heard about them! thanks very much! i appreciate they also do tuning!

I'd like to play this game: anyone know of where in Dunedin i can get my car dynoed?

I've read on a few posts that japanese imports are remapped to run on NZ fuel and emission standards; is this true?

i did get a follow up call the day after this post saying that Ryan was looking at possible fixes. I told them that i traveled up to christchurch and soundworks sorted it out via eurosport in auckland.. like i said; i asked them to do something that is way out of the norm. i'll schedule my Z4 with them for maintenance due in May. hopefully they will give me a discount of my 14 hours travel and $200 in fuel.

like i said, in all fairness they did their best and didn't charge me for the whole time it took. i was asking for something they don't normally do. that said; they told me they'd sort it out a fix and get back to me and i still haven't heard from them.

Many members telling me i can put 95 RON in my Jap import E89 but if i do it then the engine light turns on. car runs fine. once i fill in 98 RON the error goes away. according to the local BMW they say there are no faults and I should be able to use 95 RON. any advice?

Eurosurgen cleared all the old codes including shadow memory codes. According to my ANSEL BM700 there are no fault codes and everything checks out ok. I did a 0-100k from standing start and my phone said it took 5.7 seconds. The car has 126K on it now. I'm wondering if someone did something to the engine to modify it. the 2.5 is not "pokey" but that seems rather quick. Ironically, i bought the car because its a N52 and i was looking at reliability instead of performance. I'll try the 95 ron next time i need fuel and see if the light comes on again. If the engine light comes on again then i think i'll go for a dyno to see if the stock 2.5 has been modded. PS: i went to a "BMW specialist" here in Dunedin and the end result was having to drive up to Christchurch so it could be hooked up to Eurosergeon's system in Auckland to fix it.

AA will inspect for roughly $200 ( less if you are a member) its about a two hour check. I did that on several cars before i decided on which one to buy, and then i had a dealership check the car for $300. Cars aren't cheap; inspections only add a small cost.

i do like how it automatically answers the phone call and mutes the radio. when i was driving up to Christchurch a plumber called me about setting up a meeting and i was immediately connected and we could convo even with the top down at highway speed.

i don't know the fault codes. When i run the all systems check everything checks out ok. I took it down to cooke howlison bmw and they said there wasn't any meaningful fault codes and they cleared them. I read on a Canadian post that the engine light can come on if the engine is not meeting emission standards based on the fuel. maybe Japan has higher emission standards? all i know is the first time i added half a tank of BP 95 fuel the engine light came on. when i got down to 3/4 tank i added NPD 100 RON and engine light went off. I tried this once again with filling tank with BP 95 RON and the engine light comes back on but the car drives fine. If i use 98 or 100 RON then no engine light warnings. according to the chassis the engine is a N52B25A imported from Japan.

If I was in Auckland I'd go to Eurosurgen. they can retrofit options and they use their own proprietary coding for import cars.

I buy parts from eBay. problem is that there is some sort of deal between NZ and the US that when you go to buy the parts the purchase doesn't go through. so buy the eBay parts from euro countries.

yes they did and it was a 7 minute fix. when they updated the software they mistakenly disabled the CIC. Soundworks in Christchurch didn't charge me anything for the fix. but it did cost me a tank of fuel for the road trip from Dunedin. dealer says my car can run on 95 RON but if i put in anything less than (98 Ron) the engine warning light shows on my dash. My Jap import N52 has a compression ratio of 11:1. is that any different? or is it based on Jap emission standards?

I've had better results using the color and drive touch up kits compared to the others. None of them are perfect as a respray, but if it is actually a chip and not a scratch i would say go with colour and drive . plus the postage is free and it shows up within a week. it includes a 'levelling agent' that makes the paint just fill the whole. it also includes the brushes, etc

I drove up to Christchurch (left Dunedin @ 430am, got there at 930am) the whole fix took about 7 minutes and all the dash warnings are gone and my CIC is up and working again. Now I admit that asking R&D to retrofit cruise control in a E89 is not the norm for a service shop. I'm a Software programmer but not a mechanic and I prefer a mechanic to install auto parts. but my quandary was that once the parts were installed they had to be programmed. I could have stumbled my way through it but without a flowchart and code footnotes (which are computer standards but seemingly not applied to automotive code standards) I would have had to follow explicit instructions without them supplying the code language key or type. My question is now who to trust to do maintenance on my BMW in Dunedin? I'd like Castrol oil as the factory recommends, but the service from the local BMW dealership is less than stellar: each time i go there i have to go back through CIC and change the settings back to my preferences. Plus when they view my vin as a import i get the feeling they look at me as a lower class of ownership even though they haven't had a Z4 for sale for years. I have an Ansel BM700 so i can reset batteries, service, modules, etc; but i would prefer supporting local businesses. Anyone have any experience with Carisma Cars in Dunedin? I saw a lot of classic jags and BMW's in their lot. Are they a good alternative? or should i stick with R&D?

i like the second photo. the first pic looks like someone photocopied their rear end and had it had it CNC'd into a grill . their trademark is their grille. the top photo looks way out of proportion.