new daily driver - decisions!

[340i]

so im getting over driving an ordinary car on a daily basis and want something with a bit of character, but still cheap so i can focus my monies on the 340i never ending money pit of doom. here are my top choices at the moment, what do you guys reckon? being a bmw forum, i think this might be a bit biased, but thought id get opinions anyway

bmw 2002...
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =298015064
its a classic and id love to have one with the turbo body kit, but i think its a bit similar to the e21 so wouldnt mind a bit of differentiation


Rover p5b...
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =311277467
this is very rare over here, factory v8, mint, and i think it would look awesome with just a drop and some different wheels

[E21meister]

I'd go for the Rover, if I were you. '02s are indeed too similar to E21s and the P5B is chock full of character. That particular one looks great.

[e21-Mark]

I'd say go for the 02. We've got a tii and it's an affordable car to run as a daily. If the Rover is as rare as you say, what's the parts supply like? The last thing you want with a daily is to be stranded while you await a part being shipped from the UK.

[340i]

this is tricky! do i have two beemers or two v8s?! lol. parts for the rover wouldn't be any harder to find than parts for the 2002 i think, so not too much difference there. fuel costs would be higher in the rover, but i don't drive massive k's so that is not too worrying. im going to test drive early next week and will see how we go from there

[340i]

update...

I missed out on the rover so tried to get the beemer but that got taken just before I could get it. I test drove two old 525i's but they both had too many problems. Then just lastnight I was browsing random cars and came across an old Mazda B1600 ute. Its pretty rough but I test drove it today and decided to buy it!

It needs a fair bit of work to get it road legal, and I've got a few things I'd like to change on it too, but overall I think its going to be a fairly unique ride (and I can lug stuff around if I want to)

I pick it up on Thursday night, pics to follow...

340i

[e21-Mark]

I used to work for Mazda in the late 80's and loved driving their pick-ups/utes. The 2 litre ones would easily pull 120mph although braking from anything over 85/90 was a bit of a bum twitch with so little weight over the rear wheels. Fun in the wet too.

[340i]

Fun in the wet too.

I like the sound of that!

[340i]

here it is...









there are a lot of things to fix on it to get it road legal and then even more to get it how i want it, but i think this will be a reasonably easy and fun project (and MUCH cheaper than the 340i build... )

[Yoshi]

Nice ride

[340i]

thanks! im pretty happy with it. its also great to work on, it is a very basic car. I've started a build thread for it (even though i'm going to keep it 'fairly' standard), here:
http://forums.minitruckin.co.nz/viewtop ... =12&t=4522
its early days at the moment, but should get more exciting over the next month or two.

[Jeroen]

Beautiful old school looks... but nope I'll stick to BMW myself

[340i]

haha yeah i like the beemers too, but they don't make utes!

i could've done something like this, but don't have the cash/skills/time/lunacy...
http://www.build-threads.com/build-threads/bmw-m5-ute/

[Jeroen]

[340i]

thanks! im pretty happy with it. its also great to work on, it is a very basic car. I've started a build thread for it (even though i'm going to keep it 'fairly' standard), here:
http://forums.minitruckin.co.nz/viewtop ... =12&t=4522
its early days at the moment, but should get more exciting over the next month or two.

update on this, the lunacy has begun on the ute. i figure if im going to be towing a japanes v8 powered german car, its only fair that it is with a german v8 powered japanese car...

im fully never ever going to finish the beemer now...