shadowninja

One word... CARAVANS!

There was an interesting article on people convicted of benefit fraud... over $200,000 in funds, paying it back at $20 per week. Thats a 20-year interest-free loan!

They do have an anti-BMW bias, and Clarkson is a bit of a twat (Hammond is more entertaining) but Top Gear = compulsory viewing.

Ahh, clearly I didn't read my invite very closely... either that or the Welly one didn't have a price tag on it. Well the cost is definitely getting up there at $500. The Manfeild day I ran for clients had a total cost of around $7,000 including: 1 x professional clerk of course 4 x professioanl driver trainers 70 x gourmet lunch 1 x track hire I charged participants $50 per head, which covered roughly 1/3 of the cost. We also got one of the prestige car dealers to sponsor, and provide 2 x new Porsches & 2 x new Audis.

LOL Definitely would be limited value going to a driver instruction session if it weren't going to be a car you were driving all the time. I got one of these invites too... has anyone checked if there is a cost for these sessions? I ran a driver training day at Manfeild earlier this year, and have a rough idea of costs. Interestingly have also received an invitation to attend another day intended for 1-on-1 driver instruction... $160 for the vehicle, + $350 for a full day of 1-on-1. (oh and my E90 test drive is booked for this Friday, 320d & 330i)

Speak for yourself.

Interesting to see almost everyone so far has full cover. Also very interesting to see the costs people are paying ... $800 for TP only cover Andrew???? Compulsory TP cover though... I'm in two minds on it. If you have full cover you are already protected against uninsured drivers. Interesting fact for those who are interested if you hvae Third Party only cover & hit by an uninsured driver, most insurance companies will actually still cover you for damage to your car up to $3,000. If insurance becomes compulsory, it means insurance companies will be obliged to provide cover for those that shouldn't really get cover by any rights. That means insurance premiums go up for everyone who is a good driver. And ultimately the tosspots with multiple driving convictions, banned from driving will still drive anyway, regardless of any law saying otherwise.

I was surprised to read in the NZ Herald that up to 40% of drivers have no insurance cover. The article looks to suggest that NZ should consider compulsory insurance. Link to article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=10329156 "The Insurance Council estimates about 45 per cent of drivers have comprehensive insurance, 10-15 per cent have some form of third-party insurance, and 40-45 per cent have none at all." Curious as to how we follow the national average.

Have a look at www.autopoint.co.nz Retail sticker prices through dealers between $10-20k. Obviously selling your car you get less than what a dealer sells it for. Good luck.

Here's a question for you... if you buy a near-new car by private sale, do you inherit the balance of the new car warranty? Or does that effectively expire as soon as the car is sold?

Just confirms what we already knew. I wonder whether those are the new 3.0 & 2.5L from the E90, or whether they are still the old ones. Surprised to see the E46 M3 3.2L is still coming out on tops. Been out there 5 years & still blowing 'em away.

That mini would take me on the straightaways too.

Take the hand brake off.

This mornings paper stated they will be back charging everyone as it was a fault with the network or something. It was pissing me off royally through the day as I couldn't make calls from my phone right through the afternoon & into the evening.

Adds another reason to the list for carrying a cricket bat in the car everywhere you go.

How about this one... a website that sells decomissioned nuclear missile silos... reading the feature lists on those things was hilarious. Wouldn't those be better if aliens were invading? http://www.missilebases.com/

Living legend. If I were earning what he is each year as the highest paid sports-person in the world I would probably be a bit arrogant too. Oh... wait... I'm arrogant already. even tithout all the cash.

My boss got quite offended that he wasn't invited to the launch... After all he "only bought 3 BMWs from them last year" This is a little more detailed than my initial assessment on the 'Off Topic' thread. It did appear slightly larger than the E46, but part of that was because the car was raised off the ground on a perspex podium. From memory it is actually a little bigger because of the ever-evolving safety standards. The lines down the side are quite reminiscent of the 5-er, and while it looks good, it shares much with the new Honda Accord on the back and sides. Definitely needs the little sport-spoiler on the bootlid. The 330i also had the sharks-fin aerial on top that I personally don't like. I think the aerial should be integrated within the roof of the car. Can't remember whether it was also on the 320d. Looking at the interior the things that caught my eye were the 'start' button for the ignition (like the Honda S2000 etc.) SATNAV screen and a cooler gear-lever. The seats didn't seem substantially different from the Nappa leather Msport seats that I have. I met a few of my clients at the launch, and actually most of them weren't very that keen on it. Mind you only one of them actually drives a Bimmer at the moment (the others are into their Mercs, Lexus & Audis). Fortunately my wife did like it, which wasn't the case when I showed her the magazine article reviews. I had a chance to test drive both the new Audi A4 (3.2 V6) and the new S4 (4.2 V8) last week so will be interesting to compare them to the new 3-series. So far I'd give it a 4 star rating (out of 5) until test drive. :thumb:

I went to the Wellington launch last night, the place was packed with only 2 cars- 330i & 320d. It looked better in the flesh than in pictures, and looks more aggressive than the E46 (without the Motorsport kit anyway). The seats are very similar to my E46, though my seats are manual. Will suspend FINAL judgement until after my test drive! Oh and there was good grog, they were serving Veuve Cliquot (genuine french champagne, my personal favourite). :thumb:

Carl you must have a good deal, or are not getting all the extras. We also have our home line, Sky, 2mbps etc. and it costs us about $130-140 before pay-per-view movies. Oh and you can't force a service provider to continue to provide your old plan. I'm sure there's a clause in the terms & conditions that says they can disconnect your service for any reason with a notice period (probably 30 days). I've been getting peeved with Telecom that runs my work mobile. Is anyone else getting up to 6-hour delays to receive voicemail messages?

I thought it was pretty cool actually, much better than Ep. I & II. Loved the attention to detail in the textures, spaceships, cities etc. General Grevious reminded me a whole lot of 'The Mouth of Sauron' in the extended LOTR-ROTK for some bizarre reason. Two scenes that made me laugh out loud: R2 covering the two troopers in oil & setting them on fire Yoda dicking the two red imperial guards before the fight with Palpatine/Emperor. Oh and Andrew sorry to break it for you but Yoda dies in Ep. 6: "When nine-hundred years you reach, look as good you will not."

Suggesting to you boys that its not wise to promote illegal sharing of licensed software on a public forum.

Suspending jugement until after going to the release next Thursday night.

In the May 2005 edition of 'Consumer' Magazine letters to editor: "Mirror Rip-Off Recently I drove my car through the carwash at a Shell service station. The driver's side mirror was damaged beyond repair by the carwash brushes (replacement cost was about $600). When I told the attendant he said the fault must have been with the mirror, as the one on the other side had not broken! I then talked to the manager, whose response was that he had taken his car through it once and the number plate had been broken off. He pointed out a notice at the carwash entry stating that use was at customer's own risk. Does this absolve Shell of any responsibility for damage? John Morton, Christchurch [reply from Consumer] The Consumer Guarantees Act provides you with guarantees which suppliers cannot contract out of. Regardless of any signs, they must carry out their service with reasonable care and skill. If you followed all the instructions when using the carwash, then clearly the side mirrors should stay on your car. Given that most, if not all, cars have such mirrors it is hardly anything unusual for the carwash to cope with. You could take a claim against the service station to the Disputes Tribunal. (John forwarded a copy of our response to Shell, and asked "Should I take the action advised or will you contribute to a replacement?" Shell paid the repair costs in full)."