7-series advice

wrote

The 735 is not sold in the US, but is quite similar to the 740.

125K km (or 80K miles) is not low miles, but the engines and transmissions should be good. I'd worry about the cooling system, especially the radiator and water pump. All the electrical/electronic equipment is also problematic.

FloydR

You need to work out what it is you want other than "a BMW". Is a big engine more important than a big car? If so then a 540 might be what you want. If a big car is more important than the engine then you might want a 728. At the years you're looking at the 5-series looks a bit more modern even though the 7 was facelifted in 98ish. You can get "sport" models of both. I run a '96 740i and I can't say that there are any problems any different to any other model. Certainly by '99 most things should have been fixed.

See

I run a 730i E38, nice car. But the cooling system has been a real pain. Everything else is fine.

What you've written is an embarrassing truth in my case; I had "a BMW" in mind and just a big one. The 7-series cars look nice too... but then I don't even know why I shouldn't look for either a 5- or 3-series! :(

Since I've a wife and two kids and not exactly the money to buy a slew of cars, I can't even begin to think of a Z3 or Z4. Or any of those oh-so-pricey 6-series.

Thanks to the others for the advice too. The cooling problem is a real scare, being in Dubai where not merely are the ambient temperatures murderous, we can rarely if ever get to drive without the AC on.

Ramapriya

Cars originally supplied to tropical regions by BMW have larger radiators.

The 7-series are more statesman/diplomat like and you can get longer limo versions if you want. 5-series are a bit fat middle management in my opinion. 3 series are yuppie-wannabees :-)

Drive a few and see what you think.