New(ish) to NZ, rekindling relationship with BMW...

[Phil-540i 166]

All sounds like its working out ok for you, which is good. I don't know what you know about diesel vehicles in NZ but I hope you clarified the RUC situation on the car before you brought it?? If it has been paying for km's, but registering 'miles', theres potentially a big gap there maybe, & if there is, RUC debts become the responsibility of the new owner - its one of the reason theres some incredibly cheap diesel powered vehicles on reTardme at times...

In terms of the RUC mileage on it, make sure its always 'kept in credit', because if you happen to get stopped / checked & its over the maximum distance reading, the fine for that is the equivalent of 3x the amount owing. (Eg, 5000kms over on distance - fine is what 15,000kms RUC's would cost to buy, plus vehicle still needs brought into credit).

[gjm 3194]

All sounds like its working out ok for you, which is good. I don't know what you know about diesel vehicles in NZ but I hope you clarified the RUC situation on the car before you brought it?? If it has been paying for km's, but registering 'miles', theres potentially a big gap there maybe, & if there is, RUC debts become the responsibility of the new owner - its one of the reason theres some incredibly cheap diesel powered vehicles on reTardme at times...

In terms of the RUC mileage on it, make sure its always 'kept in credit', because if you happen to get stopped / checked & its over the maximum distance reading, the fine for that is the equivalent of 3x the amount owing. (Eg, 5000kms over on distance - fine is what 15,000kms RUC's would cost to buy, plus vehicle still needs brought into credit).

The RUC payment is a potential concern. I've not yet been through the RUC payments to see what has been paid, how much and when. Probably should make that a priority, right behind changing ATF and diff oil.

[Phil-540i 166]

Be discrete on how you do it would be my advice.........

Diesel utes brought into NZ from the States as imports run into the miles vs kms hassle at times...........there used to be a box on the form for specifying whether it was kms or miles you wanted to purchase.........

[gjm 3194]

Be discrete on how you do it would be my advice.........

Diesel utes brought into NZ from the States as imports run into the miles vs kms hassle at times...........there used to be a box on the form for specifying whether it was kms or miles you wanted to purchase.........

No-one will know I'm looking!

Interesting on the kms vs miles bit. I knew of RUC, and built a spreadsheet to help me (being from the UK) convert between mpg, km/litre and liters per 100km, for petrol and diesel engines with appropriate fuel-associated costs. It's a bit academic, but clearly shows substantial savings by using an economic diesel over even a moderately reasonable petrol-engined car. I estimate I'm saving $60 per 1000km (less than one weeks' driving!), even after RUC is accounted for.

[lord_jagganath 421]

^ would love to see how that pans out!

[charles28 117]

Welcome, I like the old W201's, despite their age, they have less road noise then my 2005 Golf gti, infact a lot less then that.

I sold my W201 a few months ago, it was only the 2.3 4 Cylinder Model and managed to average 7.5L/100k on a road trip, which i thought was good considering that model has no lock up torque converter.

[gjm 3194]

7.5L/100km sounds pretty good to me! My '6' might get as far as 8L/100km if I drive incredibly carefully.