Just picked up a e90 335i

[oriphinz 11]

Hi guys!

Last year i was down in Queenstown for a week on the snow having a blast, sweeping powder, hitting jumps, sliding rails... Awesome! In the midst of this I met the owner of a recruitment company on a chair lift and he told me about the growing software development sector in Auckland. I took his details and said if i ever decided to move to NZ i would look him up!

Well, 2 weeks after getting back i had made up my mind, Sydney had done me well but it was time to cross the water and move Auckland!

I applied for a interesting job here taking a PHP and Flash development shop into a Microsoft stack shop after a total of 8 interviews the deal was signed and i was moving to Auckland!

The next couple of month were frantic! I had two cars and a apartment and garage load of stuff to pack / sell / give away, In the end the 2 cars sold in the last week of being in the country!

We moved over on the 15th of January and have been living on queen st since having a awesome time exploring Auckland and have a generally awesome time, next week we will be moving to a great townhouse in Avondale!

On to the car!

Last weekend i had the realisation that with us moving to Avondale, me working in the city and my partner working near the airport we would need two cars (her car was on its way through compliance, a '12 a3 1.8T) so i decided to spend Saturday trawling K Road dealerships for something to catch my eye.

One of my previous cars being a lexus i decided that that would be the first port of call, i laid my eyes on the new RC 350 for the first time.. beautiful car, took it for a drive and it was stunning, BUT the price tag was over $110,000! Way out of my price range.

Next up i moved on to VW, to try out a Golf R... $70,000, it was quick, ok inside but ultimately ugly as a toad and not RWD. Meh.

Then there was the Porsche dealership, the 03' 911 caught my eye, nice shape, great performance, $99,000 price tag, just not worth it.

Audi was next, RS4... amazing, RS6s even more so, but again was not able to justify any of the price tags.

I even went to Toyota, $50,000+ORC for a FT86, you have to be kidding me!

I had heard there were some dealerships on Great North road, so of we went up the road. The first used car dealership i dropped into finally sparked my interest! They had a E55 and a E46 M3 both for under $30k! Now were talking i spent some time taking to the sales person, mainly about cars in general and not so much the two he had. They were of to Hampton downs the next day to race their Toyota (didnt ask the model).

I decided to keep walking along to see what else was around, i found another dealership and started wandering around, i was quickly approached by a salesman who after a couple of questions showed me a '08 E90 335i in Montego blue! Stunning outside, luxurious inside, i was feeling good!

Time for a test drive we jumped in and off we went for a spin up the highway, needless to say, i was thinking this is the car for me. The car was very smooth (i had come from a daily car with circuit coilovers) had great acceleration and was very well planted on the road. We pulled back into the dealership and i started looking through the car. everything looked great but then i got to the back seats, uhoh... i cant see a button to fold them down! This was one of my requirements so i could take snowboard in the back and i started feeling quite disappointed. The salesman was telling me its easy to unbolt the seats The price started plummeting as the general manager was trying to buy the car regardless, i looked in the boot and saw the 2/1 split in the seat.. AHAH!

I jumped on my phone and went to google, as you all probably know, there is a latch in the boot that releases the back seats! And that was it, i was now 100% sold. I put down a deposit started transferring funds from Aus for the remaining.

Whist i was waiting for the deposit to come through i started swooning for hours over the car on e90post, reading about maintenance and modifications. I then thought i would check out trademe and see what parts were up for sale locally.

Just my luck! There was a brand new VRSF 7" intercooler for sale! I then read a bit more and it turned out the owner was selling his 335i and had some more kit that he was also selling off. He also had a BMS OCC and DCI! So off i went, 1 day after putting down the deposit on the car to get the first 3 mods .

I picked up the car on Wednesday and for the past 3 nights i have just been driving. I am so happy with the car and cannot wait to spend some time working on it.

So far i have also ordered:

- JB4 G5 ISO + USB + SLD

- Bavarian Technic Enthusiast Cable

- Thin wall sparkplug socket + 6 new plugs

- BMW INPA / Ediabas K+DCAN USB Interface

Fun times ahead

From what i can tell about the car so far, it seems to have

- Comfort access package

- Supersprint full exhaust

Pics:

And my previous cars back in Aus

A '03 IS300, heavily modified suspension, 3" full exhaust, quite a few TRD parts, work wheels

And a 1994 Nissan Cedric Gran Turismo, way way way to much work to list:

[qube 3570]

very cool story and lovely car.

its a shame its not a msport but im sure you have something in mind regarding suspension sooner or later.

will look forward to updates!

is the car from fast4s & prestige? (judging from number plate surround)

[oriphinz 11]

very cool story and lovely car.

its a shame its not a msport but im sure you have something in mind regarding suspension sooner or later.

will look forward to updates!

is the car from fast4s & prestige? (judging from number plate surround)

Thanks!

Yeh the msport seats would have been nice, suspension will change quite a lot probably not for 6 months or so though, i am actually enjoying having a car thats a bit softer for once but we will see once i get into a targa race.

I dont actually like the msport rear, just the front. But i figure that having a car that wont draw to much attention is a good thing and the stock front is less racey. I am going to buy a new msport steering wheel though.

Your right, fast4s and prestige, the took great care of us and whilst i dont think the have the best reputation due to their hard sales practices i would recommend them based on my experience.

I had told them that this would be our first car in NZ and after this we were off to get a hire car to go to Hampton Downs and for my partner to go to work during the week and they offered a loan car at no cost (we had already agreed on a amount for the car + 3yr mech warranty got about $4k off). Saved us another $500!

Also filled up the tank when i came to pick it up and were very helpful and friendly.

The car had a full service history as well which helped ease my mind (it is a JP import).

[kmx 1]

Beautiful car mate. I'm looking at buying a e90 335i. Would appreciate your thoughts on the car after owning yours as long as you have. Any issues and are you still loving the car?

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