Satin Silver GLE 2.0

[robbie]

Its very comfortable for normal driving - in no way harsh. Seems very tight in corners, but bare in mind that the old set up was so bad that it hard to judge what it's like compared to good stock suspension. An uprated ARB kit would improve things I reckon - but isn't necessary for me at the moment.

They're not height adjustable - any kind of coilover or height adjustable setup would be wasted on both me, and the car - I'd never re-adjust. Have sold a few KW kits to people at home and the suspension generally gets set and then never touched again - but maybe BMW owners are lazier than VW ones!

Thanks for the concise and quick reply Ken, I'll bear those in mind when I decide on what to go for. What's next for the MK4?

[kdevitt]

Thanks for the concise and quick reply Ken, I'll bear those in mind when I decide on what to go for. What's next for the MK4?

No worries. Just planing on petrol and maintenance at the moment. Might be moving home in a few weeks, so might have it up for sale soon, or might take it home. Given a Mk5 GTi can be gotten for 8k or so at home, and a clean Mk4 GTi for 2k, it mightn't make too much sense to ship it!

[robbie]

Wow!! That's a shock to hear you are heading back to Ireland I didn't expect that but after reading your introduction thread on VWGolf.net I thought how come he has left some BMW's in the United Kingdom. A mate of mine who used to live in the UK based in Plymouth just got back after spending Christmas with his family over there.

What made you make the move to VW's from BMW's? I would be keen to hear your opinion on what transpired you to make the move.

What BMW's have you got Ken? I'm a massive BMW fan and so are the rest of my family

[kdevitt]

Wow!! That's a shock to hear you are heading back to Ireland I didn't expect that but after reading your introduction thread on VWGolf.net I thought how come he has left some BMW's in the United Kingdom. A mate of mine who used to live in the UK based in Plymouth just got back after spending Christmas with his family over there.

What made you make the move to VW's from BMW's? I would be keen to hear your opinion on what transpired you to make the move.

What BMW's have you got Ken? I'm a massive BMW fan and so are the rest of my family

Didn't make a conscious move to VW's to be honest - the price of a decent BMW over here is just stupid though. Had a 330i when I first arrived that crapped itself, needed something reliable with cold aircon that was safe (had a baby on the way), manual and reasonably quick - so the GTi ticked the boxes. Likewise when I sold the GTi and needed a runaround - my wife doesn't like driving sedans or coupes as her spacial awareness is awful, so a hatchback is kind of necessary. Might have her back in a GTI, or the current golf, when we move home - but I'm planning on a 360 Modena for myself.

Have these three in Ireland -

[robbie]

I couldn't agree more with you Ken on how much cars especially BMW's are worth over here in comparison to say the likes of the US and the UK it amazes me. Suffice to say I'm sure the reliability and safety of Volkswagen's was another factor that couldn't be ignored when looking. I'm surprised your 330i you purchased here in Australia crapt itself seeing as how reliable my friends 325i E46 in Australia is and the only problem so far he has had with it is with the air conditioning condenser which was replaced by his private BMW mechanic.

I definitely like your taste in european cars and it would be good for you to share some BMW love and hopefully some Ferrari as well. What's a 360 Modena worth over there?

Very nice BMW's Ken Are they all stock apart from wheels?

[kdevitt]

Funnily enough, the condenser went in my 330i as well - it was the final straw, would have been $2.5k to fix. Just traded it in instead.

The BMW's are pretty stock - the M3 has some CSL goodies and a BBK, engine is stock. The E30 is stock at the moment - have a stroked 2.8 engine ready to drop in with quite a few other bits. The E36 is stock, but am dropping in an S50.

360 can be had for 50k or so!

[robbie]

Those condensers in the E46 aren't cheap and if I can recall my mate ended up scoring a good one from Parramatta Prestige for somewhere around the $1k mark. It would be good to see some more pictures of your BMW's

A mate of mine has got a similar E46 M3 with some CSL parts such as the door cards, seats etc.. Which he calls the M3 E46 CS edition lol. There seems to be a lot of people these days dropping fairly decent sized engines in E30's whether it is for the track or street, and it shocks me how much power some of them make when finished. I've been following a build thread as of late with a guy dropping a S50 motor into an E30 325is and the engineering that has gone into that build as well as the hard work I would imagine is going to be all worth it in the end. What BBK have you got on the M3? The paint on the E30 looks immaculate and I would find it hard to argue is that original paint? Or has it been repainted in the past?

I looked at purchasing an E30 325is that was for sale early last year as a project but that fell through due to the limited amount of time I had to spare.

$50k for a 360 Modena!!!!! I'm moving to Ireland haha......

[jDub]

Great work on the central locking kit.

Might look into it and give it a go.