Palazzo

Go for a Lexus IS or Altezza (6cyl) auto with Toyota No Worries warranty. Effectively no repair bills for 3 years. Swift is good value as long as you don't need much luggage space (eg baby buggy), or an E46 Compact should easily be in that price range. Latest Impreza would be good if it falls into budget. That's at least 4 or 5 cents worth. BTW, I wouldn't touch a Saab, their mechanics in Newmarket warned me away from them.

Admittedly the electronics could be a concern, but it's different, quick and cheap. plenty of money spent too, which is encouraging. A 535i manual is prob your best bet at current prices. I do know of a decent E32 735il, but not much of a fun car.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=220704509 This. Huge fun and most of the hard work done. There's a lovely Integrale too, but way out of budget.

What do you want to spend? A runner, or something that can be made mint? Have a couple of ideas. Both reasonably tidy.

Actually, the roof wasn't straight. Didn't have leather or "M spec" stuff either. Thought someone might find it useful.

We once owned this car (hope link works), it was lovely, except for the fact that I rolled it through a paddock as a youngster. It was never quite straight again. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-221072668.htm

There.

It 's the same car some one posted the other day, at Turners Palmy North, last Thurs I think. Was $5-6k estimate.

^ Mama Rosa's ^

Bankruptcy.

Not sure if this should be in here or wheels and tyres, anyway. . . . Went to Waiheke for the weekend and had to come up the driveway from hell to get out. Wooden, steep and wet. For grip, it had had steel bolts bolted into the wood and planks sticking up through the gaps for extra grip. Taxis refused to go down, as one of them had shredded 2 tyres on it previously (was told this after going down of course). One car made it up, then it was the E32s turn (730i V8). Up sideways, spinning both wheels complete with smoke, it ripped out at least 15 bolts, tore out some wood and made it to the top. Checked the tyres, no bolts in them, so off we went. Then, as we were about to leave for the ferry, a slow leak in the near new back left. Lovely. Unloaded the full boot, put the jack in, loosened the bolts and up she went, 4 nuts came out smoothly, last one ( the locking one of course) was really tight and then started coming out on an angle. I finally got it out on about a 30 degree angle, thread is rooted, won't go back in. Tyre has long cuts in it, not sure if that's the leak. So the questions. What caused this? What's happened? How to fix it (new hub?)? Cost and difficulty? Cheers.

Don't cut your parcel tray up for 6x9s, you'll fail a warrant and have a worthless car. Looks good in the photos, just needs to be a bit lower.

No, they were testing an E30. I have copies of road tests for a standard 325i and a convertible. The M3 was faster again, if you were prepared to rev it. Quite funny is that F1 cars in the 70s had around 400-450hp, I've driven 3 "normal" road cars in the last 3 months with more than that. Times change and things move on. I've even heard of Vectras being compared with Audis.

Frankies on Jervois Rd, the old Red, run by the same guy. Good food, reasonable prices and BYO.

Autocar magazine test. 190E 2.5 16 0-60 in 7.2, 142mph flat out. 325i 0-60 in 7.4, 132mph flat out. Note that's the 2.5, not the earlier 2.3.

The M325 every day. I'm not Bimmer exclusive in my car enthusiasm, but I just couldn't take that Merc. I'd guess there are far more than 15 in the country, judging by the numbers that come up for sale, they are horrendously expensive to fix, being an early twin cam 4 valve, it will almost certainly lack low down torque and it doesn't have enough competition pedigree to be really compared with an E30 M3. Road & Track did a comparo years ago when the 325is and M3 were new in the States. They said the M3 was a special car for weekends and sports oriented driving, but the 325 was the better bet for every day and a bit of occasional fun. But hey, at the end of the day, if it's supposed to be a fun car for you, buy with your heart and wear the consequences.

Thanks for the above post (and the number), I haven't driven the convertible for 6 months, so it's now on exemption. I think compliance is probably like lawyers, they'll always find something they don't like to justify a fee.

This was at Turners a few weeks back, estimate then was for less than it's selling for iirc. I remember being surprised that nobody posted it up. Usual story with this company, if they don't like the price and their mates can't bid you up, it will reappear citing a bad trade. Looks ok for that money though. $10k servicing p.a. and $4k petrol p.a.and you're away.

I'll throw another 2 cents in. The 325i beat the Cosworth Merc in either the German or European (maybe both) Touring Car Champs in '86 before the M3 even came out. That plus we looked at buying an '87 Cosworth in 1990. it was NZ New, lowish ks and had had $13k spent on maintenance in the last 12 months, stranding the owner 3 times on the motorway. The M325i for me every time then.

The NZ new 2.5. Ex Chch should be low or rust free, low k's and you can get used to it now and make incremental (and hopefully satisfying) improvements. Supposedly, the 2.7eta crank gets "whippy" when revved, if you're going to track it, the 2.5 may be a better bet. If you want extra excitement, put on some GT Champiros and drive on wet days.

Did you try Euro Italian? Their pricing is always good.

3 dr for price only. I've always liked Patrols, but they seem to have huge mileages and most of the (early) ones I've looked at have had rust. The Safari 2.8 diesel is a known dud.

The early Hilux Surfs with either V6 or diesel are so slow you won't believe it. I always had to recheck the handbrake when driving a diesel. For a V6, allow 1-1.5kms of straight road to overtake 1 car doing 90km/h. Plus the V6 had a tendency to do head gaskets. The later 3 litre diesels may be OK. A Discovery will make you sea sick on corners and broke, a Rangie, probably just broke. I'd try and find a 3 dr Prado, '96-2000, manual diesel.

Auto Temp told me it would be $3k to fix the air con in the E30 without looking at it. Then checked it, found it still had gas in it and said it would still be $3k and wasn't worth fixing on that car or an E36.

It did the Nissan Mobil in Wgtn too, same year as M3s, just slower.