Buying an E34 5 Series

Don't. It'll be worth about £500 in a couple of years.

They're seriously out of favour these days - relegated to drug dealer / bouncer / pub landlord / dole bludger status now.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk:

General opinion seems to be it's overkill - a problem should show itself via normal warning signs.

Handy to have a code reader. Does it reset the service indicator, too? How much did it set you back?

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk:

Tiptronic, steptronic, whatever. I'm sure he knows what he's referring to :-)

Stu wrote in news:Xns96A4C05356C7Dnobodyhomecom@216.196.109.144:

Heh....just done another autotrader search for 5 series

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Tiptronic is to auto with manual override what hoover is to vacuum cleaner. :)

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I'd say so - given the problem fuel hasn't been on sale for many years. And wasn't on sale everywhere anyway.

I've got the Peake Research one which cost $150 (yes dollars) and does re-set the service indicator too. Saved its cost when it diagnosed a faulty crank position sensor. 60 quid for a new one and a easy job to fit as opposed to about 300 quid at a dealer.

Not to a BMW owner. ;-)

Snap! I've got a Peake code reader as well. I was lucky. Paid $65 inc postage from a guy in the USA who had no futher use for it. At that price I couldn't say no. I've only used it once. It told me my car had no faults :-) Mike.

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Wondrous as a 300-24 or 320 of some description might be their all beginning to get a little long in the tooth...

could be nice tho'

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Nor us Switchtronic using ALPINA drivers. :)

Dealers tend to say "Tiptronic" or "F1 style" for anything auto/manual or with steering wheel controls...

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Seems expensive for a K reg'd car though. Especially when compared to a similar spec BMW. Mike.

The only other is the LKM module for the headlights. Occassionally you'll find they don;t work. Its merely a case of removing it, taking the PCB out of the casing and resoldering all the relay joints on the board.

Conor wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net:

I've read about this in an earlier post. Nice bit of inside info, thanks.

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I'd say BMWs are far too cheap and W124s only a little too cheap.

Think how little Mundano or Fecdtra you get for £3k...

...also, we need to pump up the residuals on our cars. ;)

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"Mike G" wrote in news:42ee178d$0$23726$892e7fe2 @authen.white.readfreenews.net:

Although I appreciate the suggestion, a Mercedes would not be to my liking. I have a reason for this, based on experience rather than prejudice: I've done most of my driving miles in a van, and every single Mercedes driver I've ever encountered on the road (apart from the wagons) has treated my in an ignorant and supercilious manner. I must emphasise that this is NOT prejudice, it is my own experience. NO Mercedes car driver has EVER let me in or out, and the vast majority of them go out of their way not to (i.e. accelerating the instant I indicate to change lanes etc). I do not have a complex about this, it is pure fact.

Sincere apologies to any Merc drivers who feel offended by these comments. I don't hate you all and I do have the intelligence to know that you're not all obnoxious people. I really, really have had bad experience with Merc drivers, though :-(

Anyway, all that was just to explain that I don't want one.

BTW, a lot of BMW drivers are as bad, but not quite so many :-)

Stu wrote in news:Xns96A4A9424226Bnobodyhomecom@216.196.109.144:

Bugger! I rang for directions this lunchtime and he'd just sold it :-( I feel a bit sick, now, because I thought the price was too good for the car to be genuine, hence I didn't rush down at the weekend. Now I feel tormented by the possibility of having missed a genuinely good deal because of my own apprehension :-(

Of course there's others, but they're all more expensive. Thing is I want the E39 now, but it's right at the limit of my finances. The E34 now feels like a compromise. I'm starting to think about the possibility of picking one up at auction. I suppose finding the right one would be rather like a needle in a haystack?

Stu wrote in news:Xns96A4A7CFEE6Dnobodyhomecom@216.196.109.144:

I've just phoned the guy. Reckon I was wrong about him. He spoke with me for several minutes. He was absolutely polite and frank in describing the car to me. I really do believe he gave me the full 'warts n all' description (and it isn't bad at all). He's even said that he doesn't expect any winning Ebayers to part with their cash until they have driven the car he's selling and pronounced it satisfactory and as described. Story is he's an ex Vx mechanic and his father has a valeting business (hence the immaculate cleanliness of the car). They've recently entered a joint trading venture.

The description. Outside: very short scratch under N/S mirror, couple a light ones under the bootlid (thinks they'll cut out), small one above the fuel cap, couple of light ones round the drivers door lock. (Apparently, it does have remote locking, but someone must have preferred using the key). The front does have some stonechips, but most of these are of the tiny 'peppery) variety. He only picked out two larger ones and says those are about pinhead size. Inside: A bit of sag in the driver's seat (you can actually tell this from the eBay photos), otherwise immaculate. Mechanical: A/C works, can hear clutch engage, but not as cold as it could be. Low on gas, in his opinion. Everything else works. No faults detectable by driving it, smooth, shifts up & down normally, no clunks, no rattles, no vibration, no judder.

There is just one fault, which may or may not be a problem: The computer display displays an error message indicating some kind of brake light circuit fault. He described it in an email as below:

there are no mechanical defects only a C.C. warning stating " EDS Regelt " which is a brake light circuit warning which has been sorted .... - slight corrosion on one contact

It has not actually been sorted but he's been on the forums (BMW were no help) and seen posts from others with the exact same error. Apparently, it is cause by a bad earth or a faulty brake light switch, but he hasn't got round to tracing it yet.

If anyone reading this has experience of this particular fault I would be ever so grateful to hear from them within the next couple of hours as I'm seriously thinking about bidding. Says the reserve is £ 1500 and he paid £1250 for it. At this price, I feel it would be a good buy and a nice stop gap until I can more comfortably afford to buy an E39. It may even sell for the same price after a year!

Of course, I won't be bidding very high, because in my heart I now want an E39 and I don't want to sell myself short! This one is now a short term ownership prospect :-)

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Bummer. :(

It did look a good deal too.

Although the cars you are looking for are too old to hit main dealer forecourts it might be worth telling them what you're looking for so they can point suitable trade-ins in your direction. BMW dealers vary widely in quality so it's a good opportunity to size up the local ones too...

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Stu wrote in news:Xns96A5B0D15EA44nobodyhomecom@216.196.109.144:

I forgot to mention, that missing bit of trim (near the rear wheel) had fallen off and has been glued back on.

For anybody who wants to recap, it's this:

You'll notice I've caught on to the shortened URL thing. I know you all love it ;-)