I spent ages looking at all the websites for my E39 and most of what I saw was v. low spec.

There is a garage on the way between Lucan village and Woodies (as you head towards town they are on the right) with shedloads of (UK imported?) BMWs but I haven't had time to call in. Maybe worth a try.

Ken a mate of mine is selling his  Silver 00 328ci at the moment and it has around 40,000 miles on the clock and when it was purchased every option on the list was selected that could be put into car was put in it since he has it he has put on the new Led's and the new M type 18's and also has the tv enabled so that it can be viewed while driving. It has the sport's pack front and rear bumpers and ACS mirrors and side skirts the list of options goes on and on and the reg is personalised

Topazman

E46 Section  

Look here: - I already sold it though , but the UK is the place to get a 2nd hand beamer from, high spec, low price!!

http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=10581&PN=1 - http://www.bmwcarclubforum.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=10581&a mp;PN=1

Kdevitt you can't be to fussy on colour when you want a certain spec, this car is specced to the max and you can't spec it any more except change the engine, when I change again I will definately try and get a silver car as it's easier to keep clean etc anyway beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Topazman

E46 Section 

The Irish do seem to be ripped with taxes on cars.

Might be worth selling mine in Ireland!!

That 323 would be about 16-17,000 Euros in the UK!!

I'm glad somebody from the UK realises that they are not taxed as bad as they think your petrol might be dearer but you car prices for the spec you get are better(cheaper) your road tax and insurance is cheaper and I'd reckon that your parts and the service for your cars are cheaper and if your country ever goes Euro then the real difference will be seen. 

Topazman

E46 Section 

topazman wrote: I'm glad somebody from the UK realises that they are not taxed as bad as they think your petrol might be dearer but you car prices for the spec you get are better(cheaper) your road tax and insurance is cheaper and I'd reckon that your parts and the service for your cars are cheaper and if your country ever goes Euro then the real difference will be seen.  Topazman E46 Section

I agree, if you join the Euro in UK then prepare to feel the pain. Why is it we're still payin VRT, and are still the only country in the EU to pay such a tax!!!!

I'm sure i read somewhere that under some EU directive or other, that this tax was to be abolished, creating a common market blah blah blah.....but i'm sure if we say nothing, then its full steam ahead for rip-off Ireland as usual

Dave328....i think its worth a try selling your car here(Auto Trader) and yes we are ripped with taxes on cars and almost everything else that you can think of.

dave 328 wrote: But the difference in car prices is pretty big, so much so I made the post. Are Northern Ireland prices similar to Southern or UKs?

NI same as UK pretty much!

NI suffers from the same tax system as UK and its cars are subsequently the same price. Some even say NI part of the UK but Im not going there! Cars sold in NI though often don't have the freebies like insurance etc. that you get over there.

Cars brought into ireland are subject to VRT on the open market selling price of the car (not what it is worth!) and if dave328 brought his over to flog it, he would have to pay 30% of the value of the OMSP on a 328i as soon as he arrives off the boat.

VRT is in most countries but in the likes of the UK it is nothing much compared to ours. Finland or Denmark (one or the other IIRC) has the highest rates. There is absolutely nothing the EU can do - the local tax rates are decided locally and the Eu has no real control over them. Yet!

Ahem Mr Killian, my passport actually says the north is part of the UK, and as such will have the same tax system lol.

Even the phone numbers are direct dial with no country code needed from the UK.

I could never understand why they had/have ? different number plates though, ( its hard to tell if they are still different as so many of the cars in the north now have been brought over from the mainland).

I hope we never get the Euro, after watching what has happened to you lot, and my Froggy counterparts.

The € is brill, ensuring you know what something costs accross europe. No exchange rates or nothing.

Anyway, I don't want to be political but the Irish Consitiution until recently laid a claim over Norn Iron. Phone numbers to NI from the Republic are direct dial also. The reg plates are in UK format (orange back, etc. and are generally of the format LLL NNN. The mainland system is different but not too much. Most cars to my knowledge are bought there (but imported via UK). From what I remember many people are buying NI reg plates on the mainland so they can get the likes of BAZ or GAZ or 1DIOT or whatever.

Until the last number plate change, we werent allowed Z or I anywhere on the plate, on a mainland redg, although we could of course buy an Irish one, prices range form about £50.

I almost went for NIW 2254 instead of my B7 NPW, and although my car has never lived in Ireland, it has had two NI redgs on it.

The bit I couldnt understand is why there was a difference, eg BAZ 2267 versus T226 TUY, the former being the NI one, and the latter the one but last mainland one.

All the other parts of the UK had the latter.

I'm not sure what they do now, the mainland format is now BU04 ABC, where the first two letters denote where the vehicle was first redg, that example would be Birmingham,the two numbers will denote when it was redg, that one would be march to september 2004, and the last three are random.

This led to some great combinations, like DO51 COW, which is made to look like DOZI COW, this was for sale when we bought my wifes new car, but I was threatened with death.

I think your format is good, ( we cant be seen to be copying the Irish though !), although I am used to the UK colours.

Am I correct in thinking you dont have private redgs ?

I have only seen these in the UK, and the States.

The Irish system won some EU award IIRC when it started in 1987. There is no doubt as to the age of the car or where it was first registered*. My E30 is 89-RN-320, indicating that it was the 320th car registered in Co. Roscommon in 1989. All cars are given the next available number for the local authority area in which the first registrant lives. The number dies with the car and is non transferable. You may pre-book a number for a car for something like €300 but the car cannot be used on public roads until all numbers up to your number are issued & allowed on the roads.

* except for when an old car is imported - this car even though it may have been licenced abroad at the start of a year, will recieve the next available number resulting in the car lookinglike an end of year regd car.

Two points:

On the original topic, if you want a fairly specific spec mix of extras and colour then you really need to think about searching in the UK.  The number of the larger engined cars sold here is so small, relatively speaking, that the chances of finding an exact fit for your requirements are tiny.  Found this a couple of years ago looking for an e46 328i touring for my sister.  They weren't to be had here pre-owned at that time regardless of spec and you had a better chance of being murdered in Manhattan than finding the mix of leather, climate, esr and colour(s) she wanted.  Had numerous matches through the UK BMW Approved Used scheme, in her case, and got exactly what she wanted.

On Killian's explanation of his reg number, e.g his being the 320th car registered in that area in that year, that's not quite true in more recent years as the numbers 1 to 200 are reserved in all counties (since about '92 or '93).  They can be had by paying a fee and the number 1 is reserved in some areas for the mayors car.  In fact, all other numbers can be reserved, but they can't be applied to a car until they come up in sequence.

Funny this topic has come up. I'm getting a car (to keep) in january and I am getting a nice english reg. I have an address in england so I can get away with this.

I came across M3 BOY during my search..... now wouldn't that be nice!

Looks good...............unusual colour

Rhys wrote: When I bought my car it came with a private plate, a few people have mentioned its an irish plate, LLL NNNN. so might it be an imported plate?

FIrstly, it wont be an "imported" plate, even if it is an NI redg, it wont be classed as imported, they are quite legal here, as they are issued by the Uk authorities.

Secondly, you wont get too many comments, as a lot of mainland people dont even know these are NI redg numbers, unless you have lived in, or visited frequently, why would you ?

If you bought Killians E30, then you would have a period of time in which to get it tested and re-redgistered, as that would be an imported plate, as although we have many agreements between the two countries ( not needing passports, almost zippo border controls etc, rather like europe now, but its been like this with Ireland for as long as I've been travelling there, you could also spend sterling before the Euro, and in my experience, you still can), they are a seperate country, so as far as cars are concerned, its "abroad".

Lastly, not knowing what letters and numbers, it could possibly be a very old British plate, we seem to have gone through just about every combination, not sure which came first, A1 or 1A, but 4 numbers 2 letters are very common as private plates.

It would be a very unpopular move amongst the private plate bods if we were ever required to standardise amongst Europe, as you would just lose them, you never really own them, you just pay for the privaledge of being able to display them on your car.

Nigel

A1 was first and as far as I am aware was owned by Dunlop for years.

The original plates in Ireland all included an I or Z as you mentioned.  The reg for a county was decided starting with IA and then done in alphabetical order by county name, e.g. IA was Antrim, IB was Armagh, IC was Carlow, etc.  This was done before the creation of the Republic of Ireland, so the alpabetical order covers all 32 counties. Some were missed or not used, I don't think IG was used and so we missed out on such personalized numbers as BIG 1 !  Original Irish plates from southern counties were available to use as personalized numbers in the UK if they were first issued before 1922 I think.

One difference between north and south though was that Northern counties issued numbers up to 9999 following the letters for all registrations whereas in the south, only the initial plate in a series was issued to 9999, e.g. IC9999 and following sequences only went to 3 digits, e.g. AIC 999.  Don't know why that was.

Nothern Ireland will probably have to change their numbering style in the foreseeable future as they are beginning to run short of new sequences that include an I or Z.

Correct Rhys.

Mrs D thinks that this kind of stuff is tied to the "Rainman" side of my personality!

My missus just thinks I'm sad.

The A1, and 1A I was reffering to are uk issue, so that could be interesting, two cars with the same number, one from Ireland, one from the UK.

Unless ( I've got me tin hat on ), was the south under UK rule at that time too ?

I have a funny feeling it was.

The one I want was N1 GEL, but I have a feeling that is owned by a Mr Mansell, and is fitted to a red Ferrari Diablo.

Nigel wrote: The one I want was N1 GEL, but I have a feeling that is owned by a Mr Mansell, and is fitted to a red Ferrari Diablo.

Surely you mean lamborgini diablo?

Dunno, it was on the RAC car redg checker, I knew he bought the number, but that was the car listed.

They have mine listed as a dec 1988, which would make it an "F" redg, when infact its a june 88, and without my plate would be on an "E" redg.

I know from when a bit of mine fell off, the glue is hell on earth to remove.

I love the wood trim, just taste eh ?

That colour was "metallic burgandy" on my original E34, or at least it looks the same from the picture.

If you want someone to drive it to Hollyhead for you....just let me know lol

Nigel

The A1 plate is the UK issued one, no duplication.

Nigel wrote: I love the wood trim, just taste eh ?

Behave...even if it is true !

[QUOTE=kdevitt]- anyone changed head units on the E46's

The second I bought my car I replaced the stock head unit with a pioneer cd player with a multichanger in the boot, I can now custom the stereo sound to what I like and have added an amp and extra speaker in the boot etc much better than the stock unit

Topazman

E46 Section    

Yeah but when you put in the surround it doesn't look that much out of place and who wants to be a  'Conforming Norman'  and it lets you add that little bit of individuality to the interior of your car. I don't have any pic of the interior of my car to show you at the moment

Topazman

E46 Section