Eagle

Average km's more like it. Appears reasonably priced for the work done, but its not a msport so would be expect it to be cheaper.

Ive never come across a faulty module in facelifted cars so maybe they corrected the fault in the later versions, or maybe its just a numbers game.

Consumerism sums it up

Looks like it wasn't cleaned enough during its life

ZF's for M5X motors ie S5D 310z and 320z go for around $1000 these days, give or take a couple of hundred either side. I would think you could probably find a Getrag 220\250 for around $500 or a little more. Importing one ZF gearbox by its self didn't seem worth it when i looked into costs.

Germans may of started the trend but plenty of others have joined the club. Euro Ford cars for example are just are just as bad as the German stuff for plastic cooling.

So they can attempt to make money off you or get you to buy a new car. Modern cars are worse off with crammed engines bays, turbos etc and possibly even lower grade recycled plastics. At least some manufactures realized their mistake and make a genuine metal replacement version eg https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/toyota/engines/listing-2645493285.htm. Though its pretty stupid of Toyota in first place to use one plastic pipe when all the others are metal.

Do you have budget? Refreshing suspension on most BMW is by far the biggest expense in my experience. B4 are basically OEM replacements and are priced accordingly, you could probably get them and new hardware for under $1000 landed from places like Daemon tweeks, Rockauto or FCP Koni's are a performance upgrade (like the B6 and B8) and are much more expensive (shox.com list Sport adjustables F&R for $1200 NZD). You may get hit with custom import entry fee\paper work\GST and at least a $100-200 freight bill importing them, making them over $1500 landed. Then you got all new bump stops, mounts etc to buy on top of that. Typically most stuff in NZ would likely cost more even if its available.

Used B4's on a few BMW's and a Mercedes with stock springs, similar performance and ride to the sport dampeners they replaced. Good option if you can get them cheaper than Sachs. I wouldn't bother with PU bushings in your case, more hassle\cost than it's worth for a average road car. They need to be re-lubed and rarely worth the improvement over fresh rubber. Ive had good life out of Meyle HD arms\bushings. Yeah the B6 and B8's ive had needed to or were re-valved (like most decent suspension packages seem to do)

A number of Mazda's have VVT, timing chain stretch problems. Had a few come into work not running right due to this. Ford and Mazda have some of the worse engineering design in my books. Given its just for a daily you'd be adding many potential reliability issues. I think buying a cheaper older model in reasonable nick and throwing some money at it would carry less risk from a reliability standpoint.

You'd probably change your mind if you start working on yoru average VW (or worse Peugeot's) Only BMW's to me that meet your criteria would be E39, E46 or E87, E90 6 cylinders I used to do 500km per week open road in my E39 and i don't anything could of beaten it for the 2.5k i paid for it, well balanced ride and have ample room which you appreciate in those situations

Ive had 2x punctured tyres at the same time once but that's it, terrible road works with low tread ain't a good combo. Still liike to have to spare, better to have it and not need it.

Sadly being in the minority with generally a poor public perception means they can get away with it.

Id say its more likely someone has covered it up given its an LED soldered to the board, or physically destroyed it in the worst case.

Shouldn't need to exist it weren't for cost costing or dissuading people to work the car. Goes along some of the low rent air, cabin filter and under tray designs that appeared in the first N series motors, probably VAG inspired.

Cool. I can't message you but if you message me we can sort out the details.

Cheers. What are wanting for the long E39 kit?

Which set is the M54?

Possibly Wayne @smiddy. His were very good.

If predominately serving the Chinese market then i wouldn't expect most of buyers there would care given its a status symbol.

Im no fan of car dealers but in their defense they tend to supply what the average car buyer wants\thinks is the most important - low k's and later models. That line of thinking stems from how the average NZ'er looks after their vehicles, but people making decisions based solely digits is like writing off someone because of their age. One of the worst condition E39's ive ever seen was a 99,000km Singapore import, it obviously had to used as town car around Auckland for most its life and still mostly original parts.

Yeah for 13.5k at those k's and age id expect a fair bit of preventative maintenance on engine and suspension to be done. Can't see anyone paying more than 11k assuming nothing require attention immediately.

Sounds a bit like a situation we had - Woman comes in wanting a headlight bulb replaced which we do for $20, but turns out she can't pay but will come back next week to pay it instead. 3 weeks later a car drives onto the premise at lunch time and parks in the middle of the driveway for a bit but everyone ignores it due to the break, so it pulls into the workshop and beeps the horn instead. Boss comes down and recognizes the woman, tells her this ain't a McDonalds drive thru service and we are on our break. She ends up wanting a quote for some other work, but when brings up the $20 she was suppose to pay 3 weeks ago she has all the excuses in the world. Boss tells her to keep the $20 and never come back. Daughter leaves a bad Google review saying how rudely she was treated. Just ringing around finding parts and getting the part prices etc can actually be quite time consuming (especially multiple parts). In some other professions that would be the equivalent of a short consultation and they would probably charge you.

Yeah the photo isnt the best. How long ago were the springs installed? What struts did you use?

Stock muffler is the safest choice but finding one in your region maybe difficult. Mosen Europarts in Hamilton would probably have something.