E34 540i Registry for New Zealand

[Kees 598]

@HerbmiesterI am a jealous man, I remember seeing it on trademe, still have the screenshot of the listing. Beautiful colour! Wish my 540 had a manual box...

[Kees 598]

19 hours ago, ssbmw said:

Has anyone see nthe Hell red example mentioned that had 20,000kms? I recall hearing about it when it had like 13,000 kms on the clock. Apparently lives in Auckland somewhere.

A friend of mine owns 2 540i's - a hell red and a cosmos schwarz. Great cars. 

 

Manual 540s seem to be very illusive. Are your friend's cars both manual? Is his hell red one XD9969? 

[ssbmw 223]

In my opinion, the e34 looks great with body kit and rear- boot spoiler,  and the throwing stars suit them so well - stunning cars! Beautiful car John! 

[ssbmw 223]

10 hours ago, Kees said:

Manual 540s seem to be very illusive. Are your friend's cars both manual? Is his hell red one XD9969? 

Hi mate, well both of his cars were on that list on the previous page which depicts the 540is 6 speeds delivered to NZ. His red one is the first one on the list - different plate to what you mention. Has around 255,000 kms on the clock. Around 2000, you saw these 540is's everywhere. They are obviously not M cars,  but do deserve modern classic car status. Accordingly, alot have been parked away in garages and come out sparingly. There was an avus blau example that had the plate BLU M5 that i saw and heard (had an extremely loud exhaust) in Auckland around that time. Clocked real high k's quickly. Now parked away.

The Australian delivery equivalent - the 540iLe (70 were delivered) is a very special car too - and very sought afer in Australia. Most of them did not have the full body kit. 

[leichtbau 525]

Further to what @ssbmw said, two 540i LE's have sold for $48.5K and $50K respectively inside the last 24hrs. Always good to keep a weather eye on carsales.com.au

 

Pic attached is the "unicorn" possibly the last 540i/6 produced #797/797 and the last M-Sport optioned car produced; 21xxx km as of 07/21 😮

Edited September 3, 2021 by leichtbau

[Kees 598]

11 minutes ago, leichtbau said:

Further to what @ssbmw said, two 540i LE's have sold for $48.5K and $50K respectively inside the last 24hrs. Always good to keep a weather eye on carsales.com.au

 

Pic attached is the "unicorn" possibly the last 540i/6 produced #797/797 and the last M-Sport optioned car produced; 21xxx km as of 07/21 😮

That looks incredible!! What a special car! 

[treone 649]

Hey can we close this thread down quick please - we don’t want the general public to know that these cars, well e34’s for that matter, are the next collectable modern bmw. And then become unobtainable for us mere mortals. Thanks! 😎😎😎

[Kees 598]

20 minutes ago, ssbmw said:

Hi mate, well both of his cars were on that list on the previous page which depicts the 540is 6 speeds delivered to NZ. His red one is the first one on the list - different plate to what you mention. Has around 255,000 kms on the clock. Around 2000, you saw these 540is's everywhere. They are obviously not M cars,  but do deserve modern classic car status. Accordingly, alot have been parked away in garages and come out sparingly. There was an avus blau example that had the plate BLU M5 that i saw and heard (had an extremely loud exhaust) in Auckland around that time. Clocked real high k's quickly. Now parked away.

The Australian delivery equivalent - the 540iLe (70 were delivered) is a very special car too - and very sought afer in Australia. Most of them did not have the full body kit. 

Oh right that makes sense, your friend has the 94' and then the two 96's are already on the list. There is an extremely tidy Avus Blau one with around 150,000km in Auckland that does less than 1000km a year according to the owner, it is also a unicorn. 540iS must be an incredible car judging by how many are being hidden away and not coming to market. They definitely deserve to see a significant price hike in value. 

[Kees 598]

2 minutes ago, treone said:

Hey can we close this thread down quick please - we don’t want the general public to know that these cars, well e34’s for that matter, are the next collectable modern bmw. And then become unobtainable for us mere mortals. Thanks! 😎😎😎

Haha perfect excuse to get one quick! Have noticed even the rougher e34s don't stick around on Trademe for long. There's a nice manual 535i available for 7K at the moment..... 

 

[ssbmw 223]

11 minutes ago, Kees said:

Oh right that makes sense, your friend has the 94' and then the two 96's are already on the list. There is an extremely tidy Avus Blau one with around 150,000km in Auckland that does less than 1000km a year according to the owner, it is also a unicorn. 540iS must be an incredible car judging by how many are being hidden away and not coming to market. They definitely deserve to see a significant price hike in value. 

Both the avus you mentiion and the technoviolet example that John owns (photographed earlier in the thread) were both owned by a friend of mine  concurrently 10 years ago. They were both stunning cars - beautiful bodywork and lovely interiors. 

[ssbmw 223]

35 minutes ago, leichtbau said:

Further to what @ssbmw said, two 540i LE's have sold for $48.5K and $50K respectively inside the last 24hrs. Always good to keep a weather eye on carsales.com.au

 

Pic attached is the "unicorn" possibly the last 540i/6 produced #797/797 and the last M-Sport optioned car produced; 21xxx km as of 07/21 😮

Thanks so much for this photo buddy! Much appreciated.

[Herbmiester 932]

4 hours ago, ssbmw said:

In my opinion, the e34 looks great with body kit and rear- boot spoiler,  and the throwing stars suit them so well - stunning cars! Beautiful car John! 

Thankyou it is my pride and joy.

[SRacin 44]

Had to go back to November to find the most recent photo.

[Kees 598]

@SRacin Very nice, love the M Pars! Matches the other Techno iS in Christchurch. 

[balancerider 778]

@Kees didn't spot this one on a cursory scan of the database. Low km Hong Kong import living in Wellington

wbahe62040gf21296-bimmer.work.pdf

Edited September 20, 2021 by balancerider

[Kees 598]

21 minutes ago, balancerider said:

@Kees didn't spot this one on a cursory scan of the database. Low km Hong Kong import living in Wellington

wbahe62040gf21296-bimmer.work.pdf 63.59 kB · 0 downloads

Yup thats not on the list, great spot! Will add it now. 

[Kiwi_BMW 89]

So are there more E34 540is vehicles in NZ than E39 540is.................just wondering which is the rarer vehicle

Just for info the white E34 540i on TM had a trans service and flush at 143967km.

[Kees 598]

2 minutes ago, Kiwi_BMW said:

So are there more E34 540is vehicles in NZ than E39 540is.................just wondering which is the rarer vehicle

Just for info the white E34 540i on TM had a trans service and flush at 143967km.

Yeah I would say for a couple reasons a manual e39 540 would be rarer than a manual e34 540 in New Zealand. First would be as a result of changes in consumer preferences as a result of automatics becoming far more popular to have in a big car.

Second, would be the existence of the E39 M5, as most people who could afford a manual e39 540 back in the day could probably afford an E39 M5 too. Why spec a manual if you want driving fun in a 540 when BMW offers a superior version of it with sportier suspension, bigger and more powerful engine etc. This differs to an E34 as if you wanted a manual V8 you could only get a 540. 

That low km white E34 540 that is for sale is owned by a member of the E34 Enthusiasts Facebook page. He is only selling as he managed to score an iS, otherwise he would be keeping that one due to its low mileage and overall good condition. 

[Kiwi_BMW 89]

2 minutes ago, Kees said:

Yeah I would say for a couple reasons a manual e39 540 would be rarer than a manual e34 540 in New Zealand. First would be as a result of changes in consumer preferences as a result of automatics becoming far more popular to have in a big car.

Second, would be the existence of the E39 M5, as most people who could afford a manual e39 540 back in the day could probably afford an E39 M5 too. Why spec a manual if you want driving fun in a 540 when BMW offers a superior version of it with sportier suspension, bigger and more powerful engine etc. This differs to an E34 as if you wanted a manual V8 you could only get a 540. 

That low km white E34 540 that is for sale is owned by a member of the E34 Enthusiasts Facebook page. He is only selling as he managed to score an iS, otherwise he would be keeping that one due to its low mileage and overall good condition. 

The E39 M5 wasn't available until 1999, yet the E39 was available with the 6spd manual from 1995.

It would be interesting to know the number of manual E39 540's sold new in NZ and how many have been imported. My guess would be the 6spd manual 540 is rarer than an M5.

[Kees 598]

7 minutes ago, Kiwi_BMW said:

The E39 M5 wasn't available until 1999, yet the E39 was available with the 6spd manual from 1995.

It would be interesting to know the number of manual E39 540's sold new in NZ and how many have been imported. My guess would be the 6spd manual 540 is rarer than an M5.

Yeah there are probably bugger all factory manual E39 540s in NZ, the few that I have seen have seen for sale have been converted to manual or were unfortunately being parted out due to the value of the 420g. I think there are roughly 40-something E39 M5s in NZ so a manual E39 540 is definitely a lot rarer. 

[Kiwi_BMW 89]

Makes me wonder what the value of a NZ new 540i with factory fitted 6spd would be worth.

[Kees 598]

6 minutes ago, Kiwi_BMW said:

Makes me wonder what the value of a NZ new 540i with factory fitted 6spd would be worth.

They are definitely worth a pretty penny. I recall there may have been a really tidy factory manual car in black for sale a few months ago and it was listed for $30K. No idea if it sold but it isn't for sale anymore. There is a manual converted one available for around $16K at the moment though. 

[Kiwi_BMW 89]

9 minutes ago, Kees said:

They are definitely worth a pretty penny. I recall there may have been a really tidy factory manual car in black for sale a few months ago and it was listed for $30K. No idea if it sold but it isn't for sale anymore. There is a manual converted one available for around $16K at the moment though. 

That black one was an import and was originally an auto, I thought the price of it was a bit OTT, and the red one at present was originally an auto also.

I can't recall the last factory 6spd 540 I saw that was for sale

[Kees 598]

3 minutes ago, Kiwi_BMW said:

That black one was an import and was originally an auto, I thought the price of it was a bit OTT, and the red one at present was originally an auto also.

I can't recall the last factory 6spd 540 I saw that was for sale

There is an old forum post from 2017 for a factory manual E39 540 for sale for $8K (what a bargain). Other than that I don't recall seeing any others even though I spend many, many hours on trademe. 

 

[Kiwi_BMW 89]

15 minutes ago, Kees said:

There is an old forum post from 2017 for a factory manual E39 540 for sale for $8K (what a bargain). Other than that I don't recall seeing any others even though I spend many, many hours on trademe. 

 

Yes I do recall that one now, the last ones I saw on TM that were factory manuals were about 15 years ago, there were two that popped up at about the same time. Back then they were a 25k car.