Orange Peel in 750IL Paint

[Heer Eickhorn]

Hello everyone.

I am new to BMW's. I have been thinking about trying one because 5 to 10 year old BMW's are so inexpensive. When you look at the original MSRP on these cars, it seems like there are real bargains out there.

I checked a 1996 750il out today. I had a hard time getting past the paint. The paint was in excellent condition, but seemed to have a lot of orange peel in it. Makes me think it was a bad repaint. The trunk was misaligned too. I suspect a wreck. However, I looked at a used M3 a while back and it had the same type of orange peel, so may be this is inherent to BMW's? But I can't believe BMW would allow orange peel out of their factory on their flagship cars. Can someone enlighten me on this? Also, I have heard horror stories about the 750il, so any feedback on this car would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[shogun]

The paint is very good in my opinion on European cars in general.
A 750 is not the cheapest car to drive, you certainly can imagine. Actually the maintenance cost is VERY HIGH, think about a 12 cylinder engine, that needs to be serviced. If you are not able to do it on your own, stay away from such an expensive car. Maintenance, fuel consumption is very high, it is/was a luxury car.
See my website below under before buying, that refers to the E32 750 but is also valid for the E38, which is a 1996 model 750.

If you would fill out your profile a bit more in detail, this would help everyone here to help you, country, state at least. Here are members from all over the world.

[Heer Eickhorn]

I am from Phoenix, Arizona. This is a very arid region of the USA. It hardly ever rains here and there is never snow. Cars do not corrode here. You can find wonderful automobiles here that are 20 years old plus without a speck of rust.

Thank you for the information. I looked at the E32 buying tips which is very helpful. I do all the maintenance on my vehicles and have a good mechanical aptitude. However, I must admit, I am frightened by what these cars may require. It may be cheaper for me to own and operate a WWII Messerschmitt plane or a Tiger tank than an E32 or E38! I guess I didn’t really appreciate how complex these cars are.

[diamond777]

the e-34 gives the best of both worlds .an 89-95 535 or 525 would serve you well. you can find them in excellent shape for less than 7500 bucks and some alot cheaper. if the car has orange peel i would steer clear as that would indicate a poor re-paint or a wreck. i live in tucson if you have any other questions about bimmers in general i have owned about a dozen of them -mike 520 219 1873 good luck