1987 635CSI Or 1994 525i

[Kalevera]

My humble recommendation is to get a car that allows you to focus on college first, then when you graduate, you can have fun

Haha - I completely agree. I graduated and decided I needed something else to worry about and spend money on, so I bought Fritz

EDIT: One other thing -- I wouldn't say that the front end is a "weak" design. I'd say it's purposeful for the kind of ride quality that BMW hoped to achieve with the E34. Better to sacrifice a few bushings every ~120k than the rest of the suspended parts. Show me a domestic at 120k that needs less

best, whit

[Scott C]

Haha - I completely agree. I graduated and decided I needed something else to worry about and spend money on, so I bought Fritz

EDIT: One other thing -- I wouldn't say that the front end is a "weak" design. I'd say it's purposeful for the kind of ride quality that BMW hoped to achieve with the E34. Better to sacrifice a few bushings every ~120k than the rest of the suspended parts. Show me a domestic at 120k that needs less

best, whit

My son's 1995 Dodge neon (110K) has balljoints that are 2x the size of the 525i and are solid like the day they were installed - I know, comparing a BMW to a Dodge....

Scott

[niall]

haha

my vote is with the six all day long

[JAlfredPrufrock]

Get the sixer.

[John in CT]

Buy the 525 and you won't regret it. The 635 was limited production compared to the E34, most body and interior parts will not be availalble, you can buy everything for the E34 on-line. Try to find a muffler for a six series. They aren't exactly cheap for the E34 but you can find them easily. The electrics on the 635 are getting old and weren't the greatest when the cars were new. A late E34 is relatively young and one doesn't hear about electrical troubles. Performance? Pretty close, the engines got more powerful as time went on. Corrosion? Not an issue w/ E34, big issue w/ 6 series cars. There's tons of e34 cars in junkyards for spares, not true with 6 series.

As far as BMW verses something else, say a Honda, well all older cars are going to need something sometime, the E34 is IMHO one of the best designed cars out there and unless you are paying for the previous owner's deferred maintenance you should be Ok. Spend a hundred bucks and get it checked out first, not after it's yours...

Good luck

John
1995 525im

[Paul in NZ]

i agree with the others,but i will qualify it more..the six is probably the more desireable car but even in america a six or even a bmw is not for a college student....maybe an e34 if you have the resources(not nec just $) to look after it,and DEFINETLY get it checked by someone who knows what they are looking at..once you have graduated THEN buy a six........

[granit_silber]

There both great cars!!!

They can be expensive to maintain if you let someone else do all the labor. If you're interested in learning how to maintain your car, you'd be hard pressed to find a make that's easier to work on (except for something lieka '66 charger).

The automatics last a long time. Someone in this thread said that you can expect the auto tranny to fail at 120K, B.S. Mine's got 164K on it right now a shifts better than many of the other auto I owned with half the mileage. Whit bought his with 200K+ on it and it did all right for something like 20K before it popped (but it also was abused from day one, not by whit). Nothing mechanical and involving friction lasts forever, but these things come close.

Style points I would go for the 635 for a few reasons
1) M30 engine is so unstressed that it doesn't take much to make it pour power.
2) the E24 (6 series) has always been a HOT car (one of the last sharknoses!)
3) CSI baby!
4) Less miles on the 635

However, the 6 series has one huge drawback to it, rustproofing i.e the lack insome critical areas. Check the car for rust if you find ANY in the front quarter panels (wings), negotiate a lower price or walk away. Those body panels are expensive and getting harder to find every day.

As with any BMW make sure that the seller has
1)owned the car for more than a year
2) has complete service records/history for the car

Make sure You
1) take it to a reputable mech and have the car checked out $100
2) are able to walk away if something's not right.

BMW's aren't neccesarily more expensive to maintain, but they are built to perform and that means that you must be more intentional about maintainace than with a Honda. But that quality is standard across the board in high performance engines. In fact the nice thing is, you can further modify your engine and the required maintaince level will remain about the same. Ask some Honda tuners if it works like that for them.

best of luck,
ashley
ps a really good high school car would a 81-84 533i. Safe, Cheap, easy to fix, and easy to mod.

[granit_silber]

My son's 1995 Dodge neon (110K) has balljoints that are 2x the size of the 525i and are solid like the day they were installed - I know, comparing a BMW to a Dodge....

Scott

Let your son autocross it and see how long those bushings last.
-ashley

[Kalevera]

Ashley -- actually, I wasn't lucky enough to get 20k out of the car before everything started falling apart....I bought it with all of it's problems and towed it to a buddy's garage, where the work began; the PO's lack of scruples, my ignorance at the time, and what my family calls my "stubborn german genes" were the cause of the $10,000 perfection game.

http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=8771



But yes, like Niall & others have said...I vote M30 any day of the week. The 6 is a great car, even a classic, but they were never meant to be owned by people other than enthusiasts. A nice one is exclusive, even. Which we can't quite say about the E34, let alone a 525, as of yet.

It all depends on what you want, bobbyboy!

Best, whit

[granit_silber]

Ashley -- actually, I wasn't lucky enough to get 20k out of the car before everything started falling apart....


Best, whit

I misunderstood then. But the point remains that your tranny went 200K+ before blowing. I've never driven or even seen an american example that could boast the same (that doesn't mean they're not out there, though)

-ashley