First BMW in 30 years of motoring!

[gregonz 1]

Hi All,

Just joined the forum due to taking ownership of my first ever beamer next week. Just sold my 14 year old Volvo NZ new T6 S80, so looking forward to a more modern sports sedan. Learnt a lot over the years on the Volvo Forum, so thought I would give the BMW one a go.

It arrives from Auckland next week... so will give my totally unprofessional opinion on the car after i have driven it for a week or so.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-802380761.htm

I do most of my work myself as I was a mechanic in another life many years ago, before computers controlled just about everything that makes the the car go and stop!

Cheers,

Greg

[Gaz 1042]

That is one great looking car, great choice! My brother has a 525i which I quite like to drive so I hope you do to.

Welcome to Bimmersport

[euroriffic 603]

Nice looking car! Didn't like the e60 at first but love them now. Welcome aboard.

[kulgan 1042]

Welcome to the forum and the Bimmer bug. Theres no looking back now..lol

[kiwi535 538]

Nice looking car! Didn't like the e60 at first but love them now. Welcome aboard.

yes i hated them at first but i reallyy like the motorsport versions now,and the interiors are nice too

[michhod 26]

Beautiful car...but it is in white. hopefully ya won't go nuts tryin' to keep her clean. good luck

[gregonz 1]

To be honest I like cleaning my car....there something soothing about making it sparkly again! Lol.. I have a black car as well...now that's a b.tch to keep clean.

[gregonz 1]

Hi, Well.......Not off the best of starts with this car....finally arrived on Thursday due to the transport company carting all around the North Island before dropping it off.

The Good...

Spent an hour going over the car and I would have to say I could not find fault with the condition of the vehicle. Some interior parts still had plastic on them and I'm sure no one has ever sat in the back or they have ever used the boot. You coud eat your dinner off the underneath of the car and the engine bay looks like the day it came out of the factory in Germany. So far so good.....time to take it for its first test drive on NZ roads...decided on some nice quite sealed country roads .....and I would have to say spent about an hour driving it reasonably hard were the conditions allowed...so far very impressed with the road holding, ride and quietness of the car. Also the pickup and smoothness of the engine brought a smile to my face!

The bad....

On one particular straight were I would not like to say on here how fast I was going I looked in the revision mirror and saw what I thought was smoke...maybe just dust I thought...no funny noises coming from the engine..pulled over and I could smell burning oil! Umm never a good thing and one of my pet hates is oil leaking cars...(one of the reasons I got rid of the Volvo). Anyway had a look and could see oil leaking onto the exhaust manifold. Decided to head back home to investigate further then coming back into town got pulled up by one of our friendly police lady's for doing 62ks in a 50k area! $80 and 20 points. Thanked her for her great service keeping our roads safe and headed home! Lol Anyway it turned out to be the gasket between the valvetronic motor and the head..( common problem after investigating further). So now its in bits in my garage waiting for the parts to arrive and then will be back on the road. Will do plugs filters etc well I have the covers off. Had a great afternoon working on the car and quite enjoyed getting to know it more intimately.

Will post more once I get to drive it for more than an hour.

Edited November 23, 2014 by gregonz

[qube 3568]

Valve cover gasket?

[gregonz 1]

No that's all ok...just the gasket between the valvetronic motor and the head.

[qube 3568]

Rocker cover gasket i mean

[gregonz 1]

A bit of an update on my BMW experience so far.....

After getting the initial oil leak fixed the car has preformed way past my expectations!! It is a absolute joy to drive.

The only thing I couldn't get used cosmetically was the dual single exhaust...I did try, but every time I looked at the back of the car I thought it just doesn't look right??? (I know its a European thing) but maybe I have owned too many Ford's and Holden's to get used to it...anyway did a quick search on eBay and $190 later I had a new rear dual exhaust diffuser sitting in my garage. Fitted it the next day..(perfect fit, as it wasn't made in china!)...went to the local muffler shop and $400 later had 2 x dual exhaust slashed cut rolled tips fitted. They just ran a link pipe around from before the rear muffler and fitted a resonator to the link pipe side between the battery box and spare wheel well. Looks fantastic...sounds great...I drive it in manual sports mode now just to hear the beautiful sound the engine makes....never heard the car before as it was so quite. Its only above about 2500 rpm that you hear it rev which is great as when cruising its nice and quite....not so quite around town

Love this car...

[MISS BM 712]

Valve cover gasket?

Rocker cover gasket i mean

Same thing.

Terms just changed for US Can market