Eagle

Im sure if someone turned up with 30k in the hand he'd take it. If it was such a deal he should of bought and re-sold it. Tis known the market and slowed along with available funds, so to me its more of a realistic sale price than an artificially inflated covid price.

Look them up on here - http://www.bmwstylewheels.com/ Should bolt up but offsets maybe different

@balancerider is correct Not great but ive changed fluid on quite few older models with 'lifetime fluid', all had done over 200,000km. If its shifting good then i think you'd be fine with a service. I dont really keep track of what these are actually selling for so cant help with that . With what's known about it id say its average example in general. so . They tend to be fairly cheap for a reason when they reach that age\mileage, not many people spending money on refreshing and doing preventative repairs on cars like this. You do get a fair bit of car for the money which is the appealing part i suppose. Everyone is different when it comes to acceptable maintenance costs, but if you have to pay someone to work on it then id say a mechanical warranty is needed along with the above.

It did mention they had been replaced, springs im assuming Drivetrain should be one of the more durable bits. Transmission can develop issues but much of that depends if its been serviced and how its been used. Id say the engine ancillaries are the weak link as far as costs. If you google N54 engine problems you will get an idea what can happen. Most of the rest is just normal wear and tear which a pre purchase inspection and service history should reveal.

He wanted 35k or 40k before iirc. I wonder what the true market value of these are considering this probably was a 20k car a few years ago. 25,000km in 15 years must be garage queen status though. No doubt it will need a good mechanic birthday but at least that's the cheaper part if doing it yourself.

Some people got a phobia against anything green. As long as its HOAT type and you dont mix you wont have an issue. Penrite is OEM approved. Mercedes had a water quality document i read along time ago and most NZ water was acceptable for mineral etc content iirc.

Cant help with what to choose but any model can have electrical problems, some better than others but with modern cars being complex these days its luck of the draw imo. Getting a PPI done on a good example and budgeting for some preventative maintenance is the main thing. Cars you are looking at are 10+ years old so id argue the k's aren't that reliable of an indicator. You can have high running hours, lots of stop\starts and short trips but low millage. The best vehicles ive owned were NZ new ones that were mostly used on long distance highway driving\had higher k's. Heat is the enemy so a cooler engine and less heat cycles goes along way imo. Higher k's have a more likely hood of parts being replaced\service history, although cosmetically generally are worse off to varying degrees.

I did see that that one hence some better than others comment, but unless he hasn't mentioned or it's just considered general service history it's nothing great imo. @Harper Yeah exactly and why you rarely see stuff like that for sale.

Some certainly appear better than others but dont see anything for sale that had a real mechanical birthday. To me it always felt like people stop about driving them when they reach 10+ years old and creep up around 100,000km, certainly rare to see anything over 200,000km. I dont know if that's due to perceived value loss, mechanical uncertainty, or both. Any profit would probably vanish if you refreshed it and drove it regularly for 5 years.

I thought dragon sports were decent for the price. They are average when compared to the premium sport or touring tyre but ahead of the average Chinese stuff.

Possible. Bad strut mounts or something loose could cause it. Popping the strut cap and check the nut is tight would be the first step. Giving the end links another crank cant hurt. 2 people should be able to do a good check with one moving the shaking the steering wheel when needed and one under the car looking and feeling for play. Prybar is useful too.

Only go to replace the rest of the original worn parts now

Pedals like those with no rubbers are bloody dangerous in certain conditions.

Looking at Pirelli site they appear very similar\same grouping to the P7's i have on my compact, made in asia somewhere too iirc. Those are generally slightly better stats if you go by their performance ratings. I can't fault mine for a daily driver in any area especially since they were only $99 each.

Sway bar bolt hole is typically larger than the link bolt but shouldn't be by much ~1mm. They do have fairly high torque value so shouldn't move if tightened correctly. Have you done any other front end work? or what been replaced? Manually checked\felt for any play in bushings, ball joints, steering joints\bushings etc when wheels off the ground and\or loaded?

May of rounded out the hole a bit. Could try to lower the strut down and try to press it in with a c clamp.

I remove and reuse those studs all the time. They have always gone back in fine using the same nut to draw them in and holding/pushing them up by hand. I'd just get a 2nd hand one. They are stepped with splines so unless you get a bolt with with the same step or add small washer to fill in you are leaving a small gap.

Ive always liked 80's German blue interiors. Some balance between light and dark and something different. Grey is just really depressing to me, many cars i never bought due to that. My E39 tan\beige interior was nice but had the black dash and other trim pieces which balanced it out a bit. Worst looking interior when worn and dirty like most Nissan Tidia driving around

Yeah having Koni's and the adjustability would certainly help.

Tilted trolling?

Weird code and wording but aftermarket scan tool so no surprise. If it is the OBC immobilizer then you could try a reset. Ive seen the procedure at some point but cant remember. Google search will yield no doubt.

Eibach pro-kit is basically the same ride quality as OE sport springs, but slightly lower to remove gap. They work well OE dampers and are black so look stock too. Maybe not the best choice for tourings it seems but are fine for the more common sedan and coupes. Ive run never H&R sports but they are lower and firmer than the above, uprated dampers seem to be always suggested which bumps costs up or at least harder on stock units. May or not be an issue but it could be an expensive exercise especially if you dont like the change.

Yeah when I looked I'm sure they were all the same number as Olafs. End digits may of been missed on Spareto or wherever I looking

Springs are calculated based on options and body style I presume hence no part numbers. Assuming no one has swapped them they are probably correct. As you know Eibachs prokit are soft and non specific, so stock touring appears to be the better choice

Was beginning to think i was the only here. May take me awhile but i could probably build up a quality tool set for a similar price than some cheapo new one. Facebook marketplace can deliver too despite the rubbish 'search'. Used Koken stuff (mainly ratchets) always seem to be for sale on trademe for around $50. What ive used for most of my wrenching life - https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/building-renovation/tools/hand-tools/sets-kits/listing/4405203721 Love my Fenix headlamp. I know some people dont like them, but i wear mine much that forget its even there sometimes. Lamps have their uses too.