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Sammo

Sensible F31 320d MSport

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Picked up the new sensible car / wifes daily - 2014 F31 320d MSport in Alpinweiss III. I've always thought BMW do the best looking wagons, so stoked to have one in the fleet in a great looking, low maintenance colour.

Fresh import 76km and in absolutely fantastic condition - I don't know how the Japanese manage to keep their cars in such amazing shape?!

Early days, but really loving the look and the M Sport interior. Powertrain is plenty in the real world, definitely sounds like a diesel at idle but meh - seems pretty damn efficient!

'Modern' cars are bloody nice with all the fruit for sure. Comfort access / electric tailgate etc.

Came on new staggered 19" BMW replica wheels of some sort (anyone know what style?) and some cheapo tyres, but the fitment is excellent and it looks good - may upgrade the tyres in due course but they are brand new and already overspent a little on the car.

Plans for it so far (most parts en-route) are:

  • Euro Plate
  • Black Kidneys
  • Black Mirror Caps
  • Paint or wrap the M Performance style front splitter black (AKA sacrificial bumper)
  • Floor mats (didn't come with any)
  • Tints(?) wanting the black and white look and seems to have very light factory tints - look dark in the shade but very light in daylight
  • Wireless Carplay 
  • Bimmercode to do all the custom options / disclaimer deletes etc

Looking forward to doing some road trips in this!

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Edited by Sammo
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Awesome, completely agree about it being plenty in the real world. Have had my G20 320d for about 2 years now and still haven't felt I needed anymore performance. The torque is just fantastic. Lovely example you have there

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Also paint or wrap the lower sill covers too. Black on white looks tits. 1412759466_images(11).jpeg.fb026e7de1acdd519af1268aff63a735.jpeg

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@Gaz I did see there are vinyl decals to mimic the M performance skirt look, just wasn’t sure how they would look IRL - would help the fat belly look a bit though

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2 hours ago, Sammo said:

@Gaz I did see there are vinyl decals to mimic the M performance skirt look, just wasn’t sure how they would look IRL - would help the fat belly look a bit though

The vinyl IS the M performance part. You can purchase OEM at a price or just DIY it. However, they rip fairly easily and I ended up getting my local panelbeaters to spray paint  them onto mine.

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14 minutes ago, TonyT said:

The vinyl IS the M performance part. You can purchase OEM at a price or just DIY it. However, they rip fairly easily and I ended up getting my local panelbeaters to spray paint  them onto mine.

Ahhh good to know! I have not seen them in the flesh and assumed it was a different skirt

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Damn, that does look mighty fine. Black will probably take away a bit of the bulky look but pretty mean as it is as too. Good buy!

Keen to know how easy these engines are to maintain.

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3 hours ago, Vass said:

Damn, that does look mighty fine. Black will probably take away a bit of the bulky look but pretty mean as it is as too. Good buy!

Keen to know how easy these engines are to maintain.

Cheers man, this will be an outsourced maintenance car unless it’s something minor - got an Autosure ‘Extreme Plus’ warranty that covers everything but the kitchen sink (And DPF)

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31 minutes ago, Sammo said:

Cheers man, this will be an outsourced maintenance car unless it’s something minor - got an Autosure ‘Extreme Plus’ warranty that covers everything but the kitchen sink (And DPF)

Mine’s just clicked over 118k and I had a leak in the rocker cover and they ended up walnut blasting the engine as it was all gummed up - it made a noticeable difference to the diesel rattle and it feels smoother. 

Oil leak would be covered under your warranty but you might need to bank on doing the blasting which is not too much effort for someone who knows what they’re doing. Guess you would have to read the policy wording. 

Edited by NZ BMW
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Super clean look debadged in white - I actually don't mind the rep wheels but inevitably they'll have come with some Linglong Ditchfinders

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1 hour ago, balancerider said:

Super clean look debadged in white - I actually don't mind the rep wheels but inevitably they'll have come with some Linglong Ditchfinders

Yes brand spanking new shitbox tyres - dealer special haha

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You could probably flog 'em and get $500 back to put towards some decent ones! - there're a pair of rear Conti SC5's in the correct size on TM for $200 all in

Edited by balancerider

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Put on euro plates and Did the carplay install today.

Quite impressed with this Carplay unit (Roadtop from eBay), came with detailed colour, English instructions, simple wiring, basically plug and play and well integrated with factory system (e.g microphone / reverse camera / steering controls).

Also nice working on a more modern car where no clips etc are broken. 
 

Took about 3 hours to install and set up properly, mainly due to needing to remove glovebox to find a place to secure the unit.

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I have a set of style 400m in gunmetal grey if you ever want to flip off those wheels and get factory 18” wheels back on

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Edited by qube
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Give the tyres a try in the wet, they may not be too bad.  I wanted to hate on the brand new triangle th201's that came on my 535i but they turned out perfectly fine for a family car.  No they aren't Michelin PS4S but the car also isn't a 911 turbo.

Very nice looking wagon though.  GG.

Edited by GorGasm
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Put on gloss black mirror caps and grille - quite impressed with the fit and finish of these eBay specials.

Might leave the exterior for now, I want to do the lower lip gloss black but wife wants to leave it white 🤔

First 1000km of mixed driving is showing 6.4l/100km - pretty reasonable?? as plenty of urban in that.

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9 minutes ago, adro said:

This is what i wish I was driving! Looking great @Sammo

Haha I just realised we are rocking silver E30s and white wagons

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What brand of apple car play mmi did you use ? Edit radtop ?

 Thinking of doing the same thing. And base audio upgrade.

Edited by Neal
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9 hours ago, Neal said:

What brand of apple car play mmi did you use ? Edit radtop ?

 Thinking of doing the same thing. And base audio upgrade.

Went for a Roadtop unit - has been very good and installation instructions were far better than expected.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/384217581064

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And as a general update, car has been great - seems to have settled in at 6.5L/100km for our mixed (mainly urban and motorway) driving.

Reckon it could do 1000 a tank on a run comfortably though.

Got some ‘whiter’ fog light bulbs to install to better match headlights and still need to get around to doing some Bimmercode coding but need to temporarily disable the carplay module first (ugh).

I drive my E30 75% of the time but it certainly makes this thing seem like a Rolls Royce!

 

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Been a while as I don’t drive this too often - car has been reasonably faultless - only a service so far and steering rack knock fixed (common issue apparently).

This weekend I took advantage of the nice weather, took a gulp and handed the wife the keys to the E30 and took the F31 solo camping at Tawharanui.

Naturally feels like a Rolls Royce on the open road compared to the E30.

Next mission I reckon I’ll take the E30 camping as pretty sure I can get all the same stuff squeezed in there and it will make for better photos haha.

 

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Have you got a towbar on that? I’ve got one in the garage if you’re interested. 
Great photos and I do love a wagon.

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On 10/21/2023 at 3:37 PM, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

Have you got a towbar on that? I’ve got one in the garage if you’re interested. 
Great photos and I do love a wagon.

No towing for me, wagon is big enough haha

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