Which E34?

[kramsivad]

Hi all. I'm looking for an E34 for my wife. It has to be an automatic. We just sold a '99 528 sport package and are looking to come as close to that performance as possible - at lower cost, of course. I'm figuring I can 2+ the wheels on whatever I get and add Bilstein HDs and H&R's for her.

So I figured the M30 engine would be the way to go. Super reliable with better specs than the E39 528. Then I drove a '90 WITH a chip. What a pig! It handled great but it was sooo slow to accelerate. I can only imagine what it would have been like without the chip.

As for the V8's, my mechanic says, "no way." I'll just end up spending the money I would have continued to spend on the E39.

That leaves the 525. We'll drive some this Saturday. But I have the M50 in my e36 and I know the torque doesn't kick in 'til past 4000, so I'm not hopeful that it's acceleration will be as satisfying as her E39 - and that didn't cut it, either.

I'm looking to spend < $10K. Any thoughts?

[winfred]

of 525s id suggest 93-95 and drive a few theres fast and slow ones, the same goes for 535s but the 4hp22 tranny can be sluggish and not geared to launching a 3500+ lb car, that said i dragged the boss when he was in his sisters 97 528ia and for about 50' the e39 had me but once i got on the cam it wasn't even close with my 535ia

[John in CT]

Hi all. I'm looking for an E34 for my wife. It has to be an automatic. We just sold a '99 528 sport package and are looking to come as close to that performance as possible - at lower cost, of course. I'm figuring I can 2+ the wheels on whatever I get and add Bilstein HDs and H&R's for her.

So I figured the M30 engine would be the way to go. Super reliable with better specs than the E39 528. Then I drove a '90 WITH a chip. What a pig! It handled great but it was sooo slow to accelerate. I can only imagine what it would have been like without the chip.

As for the V8's, my mechanic says, "no way." I'll just end up spending the money I would have continued to spend on the E39.

That leaves the 525. We'll drive some this Saturday. But I have the M50 in my e36 and I know the torque doesn't kick in 'til past 4000, so I'm not hopeful that it's acceleration will be as satisfying as her E39 - and that didn't cut it, either.

I'm looking to spend < $10K. Any thoughts?

[John in CT]

Easy choice really, the 1995 w/ M50 has all the bells and whistles possible plus wood trim. You should be able to find a really nice example around $10K.

Good luck

john
1995 525im

[AllanS]

And it has that nice folded-leather on the doors. Looks a lot nicer than the flat style.

[Elekta]

Easy choice really, the 1995 w/ M50 has all the bells and whistles possible plus wood trim. You should be able to find a really nice example around $10K.

Good luck

john
1995 525im

Agree, that's the car.

My wife's in the 92 535ia, but we knew orig owner and it had FSH. Still rock solid despite the shopping cart dings and paper sack swirls all over it.

[AllanS]

Er... a 525ia does 0-60 in over 9 seconds compared to over 8 seconds for a 535ia. Maybe the 535i you were driving had some... issues?

[Phil M]

i was thinking the same thing. if ya want the quickest e34 auto outside of the V8's, then the 535 is it. the 525 just seems underpowered. i guess im just spoiled by my 4.0L V8.

i say get your wife a 5 speed 535i and teach her how to drive it. E34s are probably the easiest car to learn how to drive stick. see then you will then get to enjoy it as well.. that is if you ever were to need a break from that Dinan E36

[Elekta]

Er... a 525ia does 0-60 in over 9 seconds compared to over 8 seconds for a 535ia. Maybe the 535i you were driving had some... issues?

My point is that a 535 is a rare car to find with low miles and no issues. Also, he said it's his wife's car, so she's not going to miss the sec. Lastly if he is going to drive it, he can chip the M50 and get the sec back, plus keep the bulletproof M50.


jes sayin 99k >$6k


Bet this one with 59k would fetch $9800

Search autotrader 94-95 / 525 / >100k. There's 83 cars under 100k; 6 of which are manual like this blue one...sweeet

[AllanS]

There's no way that a chip is going to take 1 second off of the 0-60 time, and obviously, if he's replacing a 97' 528i (which does 0-60 in less than 8 seconds with an auto box) he's going to miss that kick.

The 528i that he's coming from is a helluva nice BMW. I love the 525i (I owned one and would buy one again in a second) but... a 528i is a 528i.

Also, I checked Autotrader, and there are 50 1990-1993 535Is out there between $5k and $8k. They're not as rare as you might think. The mileage is probably going to be higher than a similarly priced 525i, although I'd trust the m30 to last longer. This doesn't speak for anything else on the car though I couldn't accurately search via mileage because half don't list it. http://www.autotrader.com/findacar/r...arch_type=used