Talk me out of it... BMW 540i /6 content

I gotta say, I LOVE my 540i/6.

I bought it because my Justy was killing my back in my 200/day round trip and knowing that I had a few long trips coming up I decided to spend the coin and get something more comfortable on the highway. I ended up with a '98 540i/6 with new tires for $4500.

It is the best highway cruiser I've ever had. Even with 110F temps in the summer I'd kick the seat heater on high and my back was much happier.

I average 26mpg at 70 mph. Flailing on it in town can drop a tank to around 17mpg though.

RoadWarrior wrote: Yupididit, I'd love a VR4, but decent ones are few and far between, and after helping a friend work on one for years, I know that the gas mileage and reliabilty is laughably bad once you start modding/drive above above 55mph. I remember my friend's with a 16g, 720cc injectors and 3in turboback,ACT 2600, and DSMlink could barely eek out 16-18 mpg. I drove it so much in city traffic that my calf muscle on my clutch leg noticeably bigger than the other. Oh, and it's the only cars that have left me by the side of the road/almost killed multiple times....They unfortunately got to the point of being completely unreliable cars. But a Japanese Market Galant VR-4 RS is on the short list of cars I'd like to import once they hit 25 and I move the hell out of CA. Yep, it's official, I'm gonna walk away from it. This car has waay too many issues and I can see this thing eventually costing me a boatload of money when all said and done to fix the issues. Thanks guys for talking some sense into me.

It doesn’t matter now but I was wondering if the grenaded diff was the result of driving with rear tires of different circumferences for too long / too fast and then you later mentioned the thrashed spare tire…hmmm.

yupididit, Hah! I was just looking at that ad also. I'm actually driving down to the LA area this weekend to visit some friends and was thinking of checking that one out.

Also now that i've been looking, i'm starting to wonder if I should just wait a few more months and buy a Tidy E46 330i 6 speed?

Drive them both and decide. They've pretty different cars, you'll either like one or the other.

Don't know how tall you are but I'm 6'2" and with the driver's seat in a comfortable position in my 330i, there was no practical back seat room. There will be on the 5 series.

Keith Tanner wrote: Chris, got any suggestions for those cheap OEM parts?

oembimmerparts.com is my go-to source, then the new FCP Groton (they have lifetime warranties on many parts now and don't sell the chinese crap parts anymore.). AutohausAZ is another good source, though a bit pricier.

For the E38 and E39 cars, I am a big fan of the community at bimmerboard.com, an outgrowth of E38.org. We ahve regular regional get togethers of these cars, and it's a great community of DIYers that have figured out everything on these cars (many people have learned how to DIY for the first time by working on their E38s and E39s, so novices CAN indeed work on them easily. Probably the last model years BMWs where that's the case).

midatlantic7s.com

Yes, that's a 600 hp supercharged 740iL with a 6 speed manual trans....

I'll be the voice of decent. Yes, it will require some maintenance. But $2700 for a Topaz blue E39 540i/6 is a berkeleying steal. Throw a $400 diff in it, spend a grand and a couple of weekends getting the deferred maintenance up to snuff, and enjoy a spectacular car for less than 10% the new buy-in.

unevolved wrote: Drive them both and decide. They've pretty different cars, you'll either like one or the other.

Agreed. I drove an AWD 330 6-speed and was underwhelmed.

Depending on the configuration the E46 can either be a hoot or a snooze. My wife's ZHP car was terrific as they changed a lot of things on the car that made the driving dynamics better. I don't think I would get an AWD E46 car.

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/4832605061.html 53k Miles

Also, this one: http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/4821430570.html Lots of miles but lots of maintenance.

I came to this thread hoping someone was going to stuff a slant sixer into a 5 series Bimmer. Oh well.

In reply to yupididit:

Yeah, that one has "53k on motor" doesn't say how much on the chassis....

I'm still VERY tempted by the can-o-worms up here.

In reply to Harvey:

Yeah, that's what I'd be trying to find a nice 4 door ZHP packaged car.