Matt H

If he is trying to kill it, is he interested in selling it cheap to another BMW fan? I already have a 540 and I love the 6s.
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Dieder

It will need a new grill, hood, headlight support and rear bumper.

He hasnt had the best luck driving that car in the snow.

It was an $800 car that we bought off of a neighbor. He has grown very very attached to it. The H&R springs, Bilstein struts and Borbet wheels are worth more than the car, the rest is pretty beat.

Legoland951

The 88 535IS is the E28 body and last year of that style. My neighbor has one and his is quite a nice one for a $850 clean perfect body/interior car. The only thing wrong with his car is a broken seat frame. In fact, he had the seat all torn apart (joking about an elephant sitting on the seat previously) and we were looking to see if we could weld it last night. They are cheap and good cars with wide availability of new and used cheap parts.

pcarfan944

No Kidding, Hence the $6000. The electronics are easily the car's biggest downfall. I'm pretty sure the Lucas set up in our XK is more reliable. Is your E32 the same way?

Legoland951

The instrument cluster has one line of the LCD that is not working in my E32. Otherwise, everything else works. The transmission is on its way out (I hate automatics) but can't complain that much due to the miles.

UDPride

I would LOVE an 88 535is. Preferably red with black interior and 5spd please. Anyone? anyone?

AZS2

Better yet, an M5 from that era.

Matt H

E34 M5s are going up in price like crazy. Two years ago, they could be had for at least 35% less than current market pricing.
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DDP

I had a black one with 110k on it. Bought it for 2800 bucks. It was a hunk of crap though.

AZS2

I think 88 is e28, but yeah either one works for me. I would love an e34 M5, last of the hand-builts. This was my 525i before I totalled it

Matt H

Good luck finding an E28 M5. I had one in college and the thing had so many electrical problems I had to let it go. They are exceptionally rare in the US and most of them are piles.
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UDPride

There was an E28 M5 for sale in Indiana about 7 months ago by some guy who owned a farm. About 50,000 miles. Thing looked absolutely mint. I think he wanted about $16,000 for it. I would dry hump a naked statue in Central Park for a good one.

Ive seen a lot of E34 M5s for cheap. Like under $10K. Theres at least one on ebay as I speak. I think Id rather have a Mark I M3 though.

Matt since you are a BMW guru, there was a 530i wagon on ebay. 1994. About 120,000 miles. Price was about $3,500. Good car? Turd? I dont need a racer, just rock solid dependable and fairly competent in the white stuff. Im really leaning toward a wagon or mini ute on the used market ala Rav or something to get me through winters and provide cargo space.

AZS2

You didn't ask me but I will tell you what I know. I would probably stay away from the V8's of that era. They had a problem with the blocks that required replacement. Something like the originals were Nickasil and wore out prematurely, replacements were Alumasil. But the replacement could have been done and then, thats a different story. You may be able to check the VIN with BMW to find out if the replacement happened under warranty.

Those BMW VANOS 6 cylinders in the 525 are pretty bulletproof. Just a good workhorse motor.

Legoland951

UDpride, the 3.0 V8 had known problems with their blocks. Most of them were warranted and replaced by the factory if they survived this long. AZS2 summed it up pretty well. They are not much more powerful than the I6 2.5L engines but the parts are much more difficult to find. I could have bought one for $4000 with a 5 speed in very good condition with high mileage (185k) and passed on it. If you are looking for something that drives well in the white stuff, look for a rare E30 325IX. Its a 4 wheel drive and I was impressed with it when one on the track beat us out of fastest lap time in our run group. We were in a 84 944 with decent amount of mods and race tires passing everything from 95 Z28s, early 80s 911s, 928s, and more.

Matt H

An E34 M5 under 10K is going to be a piece of dog doo, guaranteed. There are also a TON of replicas out there. They didnt make that many.

The 5/7/8 series 3.0 and 4.0 V8 suffered the same problem. I would say that probably 90% of them have been replaced. My 4.0L has 110K miles on it and it runs STRONG. The original was replaced at 90K back in 1999.

The 540 is MUCH faster than a 525 and a 530 is about 1 sec. slower in a 1/4. My 540, for reference, is faster through the 1/4 than a 951, out accelerates it 0-60 and 0-100. It also outweighs it by about 1000 lbs.
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