anyone know much about these? part of me says dated looking car from the '80s part of me says modern classic thats got the power [on paper] for a bargin price?!

are they all six speed or was that just the 3.8's?

fuel consumption? what goes wrong? 0-60? top speed? traction control?

 

quality machines mate,theres 2 versions available ,the 89-92 315bhp and the 92-95 340 bhp version and you cant beat the smoothness and reliability of the 6 pot bm's.0-60's are listed as 6.4 and 5.9 and i think would be limited to 155mph.looking at the adds at the back of PBMW about Ł8000 seams to get you a good one.

 

Just been and viewed an H plate E34 M5 this morning up for the bargain price of Ł2300. Unfortunately it had 190k miles on the clock and although the body was nice and clean the engine sounded a bit rough and it sat low at the back. Was told shockers for these are Ł500 a corner

 

yeah, i think theres various ways around that, you can disable the self leveling system and use normal shocks..

there seems a few that look alright for under Ł5k on autotrader.

what are they like to drive? just as good as any other e34 or really do handle well like a e39 m5?

 

They are nice cars

Alex

 

Loverly cars. I was impressed with the headrests are electric


Little things and all that

 

IIRC they are all 6 speed - it was an option on 540i as well.

Fuel consumption is poor.

top speed is 155

0-60 I cant remember

No traction control - but a nice LSD.

What goes wrong?

Not much as a rule but when bits break they are seriously pricy!

Brakes, suspension and VANOS cost the earth if it goes.

Alex

 

they had vanos did they? i assumed they wouldn't cos of them being a bit old?

 

Had a 3.8 for about 2 years only thing i had to do to it was a clutch!!(and a pair of rear tyres!!) Took absolutely everything that was thrown at it fautless car even with 130,000 miles on it sold it last year for Ł5k!! was abit heavy on fuel but that was how it was being driven. and i had it on classic ins Ł300 fully comp!! only the very late 3.8 were 6 speed

 

your right they didn't...

ooops!

Alex

 

something else i've seen is some advertiesed as 3.5, is this just a misprint or were there 3.5 and 3.6 models about?

i've already checked insurance and was quite suprised hence further questions! but if it's gonna be a lard arsed boat thats gonna drive horribily, handle like a boat and not all that quick i'll give it a miss!

 

my e34 540 was fun and thats a luxo barge!

the m5s are good!

I havent read this all.... but it looks ok at a glance in terms of details.

http://www.bmwworld.com/engines/s38.htm


alex

 

according to that as far as i can make out they did a 3.5 for US markets which ran a lower cr & different cat to make emission laws, it made 260bhp?

no mention of 3.5's in the uk though?

this is the one i've seen thats got me thinking about them, don't know milage but i won't be buying that exact one atm anyway;

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www...00651263132362

 

Sorry to hijack but what exactley is Vanos? and how does it work?

 

basicly varible valve timing, cos the engines are chain driven vanos is like a bolt on unit full of gears which adjusts the cam timing, iirc it's just on the inlet cam? unless it has double vanos which is both, iirc it's got a solenoid on it which makes it ecu controlled. vanos is simply the bmw name for the unit, like honda call theres v-tec.

It's about Ł1100 for the unit from bmw, common fault is excess noise from the unit, iirc theres a gear that wears and nothing can be done, the other fault is it stays advanced or something and i believe you can change a seal or solenoid to get it back running on course, although i suspect special bmw tools are needed for this.

But i'm no bmw expert, hopfully alex will confirm/deny though.

 

bang on james!

 

We just finished a customers E30 tarmac racer with an M5 3,6 litre engine:

[img]http://www.raceinfo.no/temp/tn_DSC01416.JPG

[img]http://www.raceinfo.no/temp/tn_DSC01476.JPG

 

 

If you remove all the iirc, it is pretty exactly what happens to them.

There seems to be many horror stories about vanos (i know jj's e39 m5 has had some work in this area, he may expand on this) and on some of the forums it seems to be a 'sinking fund' area (i.e you accept it will break at some and therefore you put aside money each week to fund t when it does) but isnt this the same for every other motor?

BTW i know buddies who think the E34 motor is stunning and think i am being a complete tool for trying to by an E36 M3.

I think they are bargain Q cars (not at 8k to be fair) but if you can get a minter for 2.3k that needs new shocks, well hell, 340bhp here we come!!

 

No, all the suspension on the E39 was radically changed (iirc it went all ally and multipoint on the rear) and this is what put the E39 on the map forever.

The E34 was good, the E39 is amazing!!!