Any BMW people?

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muddy12

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I'm not a BMW person, or even a car person for that matter. Other than a Honda civic that my wife had when we first got married, I've only ever driven trucks and jeeps. Picked up a '96 740iL this weekend. I was looking for a cheap "beater" for my son to drive, and found this for FREE!!
It needs a little TLC, but overall, looks to be in really good shape. Depending on how the repairs go, it may end up being my commuter so I can keep some miles off of my ram. Any words of wisdom from anyone who has or had a BMW of this vintage??
BMW.jpg
 
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Ken W

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I got a “good deal” on on 01 3 series for my daughter about 10 years ago. I think i wound up changing virtually every gasket/seal on that car, AC compressor, window regulators etc...It wouldn’t go more than a month without something. Hope yours is better than mine was.
 

Tray Burge

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They're actually pretty dependable until they get a lot of mileage or age on them.
Then they get very expensive to maintain, parts are astronomical, not to mention labor if you can't do the work.
My sister's had several all the way up to the 850 series and my best friend had one too.
Same experience for both.
That old? Money, money, money.
 

BWL

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The 40s aren't as bad as the V12 ones for parts. For the stuff you can plan ahead for you can get parts online for fair prices. For the stuff that comes up out of the blue it can get pricey. It is 25 years old and also looks like it's been sitting around a while so I'd expect a few leaks and sticky parts. Not harder to work on than most cars and the drivetrain is pretty solid. Check out rock auto to get an idea of cost for stuff.
 

LeesEvoX

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Check for rust under the carpet in the trunk. I think the older BMW's were known for having some nasty spots that would rot out.

my buddy has a BMW X5M. big twin turbo, AWD, V8. The thing is a monster. And eats tires/brakes as such.

he was quoted over 8K to replace front and rear rotors, along with pads.

We ended up doing it in his driveway. but he insisted on using OEM parts. So he still ended up paying 4k for the rotors and pads. **** was CRAZY.
 
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muddy12

muddy12

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I work with the previous owner, so I know at least some of its history. It was running great until about two years ago when the water pump went out. He parked it, and never got around to fixing it.

The repair list so far is;
Water pump
Hoses
Belts
Battery
Oil change and tune up items


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Booms

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Nice car. :)

Whatever you do, please don't EVER call it a "Beemer" ...
 
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muddy12

muddy12

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Nice car. :)

Whatever you do, please don't EVER call it a "Beemer" ...


It's funny that you mention that. My wife and kids insist on naming our vehicles. we have Rocky Ram, Amy Armada, Jenny Jeep, and Betty Beemer was suggested for the car. :happy175:
 

joeygster

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Check for rust under the carpet in the trunk. I think the older BMW's were known for having some nasty spots that would rot out.

my buddy has a BMW X5M. big twin turbo, AWD, V8. The thing is a monster. And eats tires/brakes as such.

he was quoted over 8K to replace front and rear rotors, along with pads.

We ended up doing it in his driveway. but he insisted on using OEM parts. So he still ended up paying 4k for the rotors and pads. **** was CRAZY.

My brother swears by BMW and has owned a couple of different years of that X5 M and you're right they rip through tires and brakes like no tomorrow and replacing them costs a small fortune. You need to been huge fans of these vehicles because outside of warranty they are a money pit.

My wife owned two BMW's, a 2008 135i M Performance coupe and a 2014 435Xi M-Sport coupe. They were both rockets and she still misses them but they just aren't affordable outside of warranty once the mileage increases on them.
 

BWL

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I should add that if on a budget I'd go another route if he'll be doing a lot of driving. Not exactly fuel efficient.
 
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muddy12

muddy12

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I should add that if on a budget I'd go another route if he'll be doing a lot of driving. Not exactly fuel efficient.

Figure any mpg better than our other vehicles is a win. Both my ram and our jeep are on 35’s, and get 12-14mpg, and the armada is only slightly better.

Honestly, my biggest concern is being able to get out of the driveway during the winter if we have any amount of snow. Might have to put a lift and bigger tires on it. LOL!!

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Treburkulosis

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I had a low milage 04 330ci vert manual for a couple of years. It never let me down. I did the recommended maintenance and never one issue. The only thing was it wasn't great on gas and needing 93 octane that is where it got expensive. It probably got around the same MPG as the hemi rams do. Loads of fun tho. I would still take a E46 M3 any day. My wife has kinda been hinting she wants one.
 

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I've got an 03' Z4 with only 40K miles on it. It's the only vehicle we own that has a manual transmission so it's fun to get it out and drive. It has the quickest steering of any car I've ever owned or driven. We live near the Blue Ridge Parkway and it's a perfect car for that. Other than that, it's not good for anything. You can't even take it to the grocery store. There's no room for groceries! It's not a practical car.

This post has got me to thinking... It's springtime so I need to find some unsuspecting young person to sucker... I mean to sell this thing to.
 

Phillyrube

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I work with the previous owner, so I know at least some of its history. It was running great until about two years ago when the water pump went out. He parked it, and never got around to fixing it.

The repair list so far is;
Water pump
Hoses
Belts
Battery
Oil change and tune up items


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Msy want to think about a timing belt as long as you going for the water pump.
 

Tepco

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That year 740 will most likely need timing belt tensioners at the very least or a timing belt. It's no civic timing belt it's a 30hr book job with special tools needed that you can't do without. I think 24hr job for just the tensioners. About $4k job. Pixels in the dash are probably out but you can do without fixing those around $300 repair. Tie rod ends are also common to go bad. Radiators are common to leak but they make better replacements. Oil pan gaskets leak but are cheap to fix. Most people sell these when they need any timing chain/tensioner work done because it costs more than the car is worth. But they ride really nice...
 

KMKKOZ

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I've had a lot of BMWs but I bet you have twice as many wheels as I have, on average. ;)

Good luck with the car, I greatly respect keeping nice machines alive as long as possible.

20160121_123512.jpg

20160121_123626.jpg
 

Llola_ol

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BMW claims the 530i sedan accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 5.9 or 5.8 seconds, depending on the drivetrain. The 530e plug-in hybrid accelerates in 5.7 seconds. The 540i is slightly faster, reaching 100 km / h in 4.9 seconds with rear-wheel drive and 4.6 seconds with all-wheel drive. The powerful M550i accelerates in 3.6 seconds and the M5 rocket takes off in 3.2 seconds. By connecting your time tracking software, you can reduce that time to 3.1 seconds in the best BMW M5 Competition.
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/bmw/5-series"
 

JJEH

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BMW stands for Bei Mercedes Weggeschmissen.

Their heyday is over, their cars are getting seemingly more boring by the day.

I would not buy one unless I know there's a buyer that would pay me more than I paid for it.
 

Llola_ol

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BMW claims the 530i sedan accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 5.9 or 5.8 seconds, depending on the drivetrain. The 530e plug-in hybrid accelerates in 5.7 seconds. The 540i is slightly faster, reaching 100 km / h in 4.9 seconds with rear-wheel drive and 4.6 seconds with all-wheel drive. The powerful M550i accelerates in 3.6 seconds and the M5 rocket takes off in 3.2 seconds. By connecting your time tracking software, you can reduce that time to 3.1 seconds in the best BMW M5 Competition.
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/bmw/5-series employee monitoring
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/bmw/8-series
wow, just look at this beauty !!!!
 
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