Is it worth fixing 1995 540i?

[Tom Jones]

My son wrecked my 1995 540i (his daily driver) and we are trying to figure out whether the car is a "classic in the rough" or just another four door sedan where any repair will be unlikely to be worth the cost.

The car has about 150K miles, ran very good, very strong, no smoke or leaks. The interior is excellent. Overall, paint clear had failed and entire car will need paint job. Color is dark green. New tires and five stock basketweave wheels.

The car was hit in left front, bent in the chassis and left front suspension. It will take some time on a frame machine to get the chassis straight, plus two fenders, bumper, grille, bumper cover, etc. Hood is reuseable. Radiator and a/c, etc. seem to be good, and the car will start and drive. The left front wheel is jammed up against the shock strut/spring.

Local dealers (Dallas) say the car is worth between $3,000 and $4,500 as a trade-in if in good condition. Obviously less today. So, I am trying to figure out whether this car is just needing to go to the great BMW factory in the sky, or whether its worth putting in another $2,500 to $3,000 to fix and keep for the future.

Thanks for any thoughts about the car!

Tom

[93FIM5]

If the unibody is actually bent I would say part it and pick up another example. 540i can be had for pretty cheap these days and depending on if its a manual or auto you could probably get some good money out of the parts. Just my 2cents good luck.

[BimmerBoy740I]

Hey and welcome to the foums :)

It depends on how much you love your E34? You will NEVER get the money back on it and in all chances it will never be the same car again after an accident like that :(.
For the kind of money that you are looking at, you could get a mint E39 540I, perhaps with a few options that you wished were on the E34...

But as I said, it all depends on how much you love your 540I. You will probably find in the short run that the E39 is going to cost more in maintenance than the E34 did...but on the whole, it is a much better car ;)

Rawdon

[ross1]

The dealer is counting on hiding that inflated trade price in the cost of whatever you purchase. In the real cash paying world a 150k '95 540i auto needing paint but otherwise in good shape would probably fetch $2k or so, without damage.
If there are a good amount of saleable parts you would probably do best parting the car out. This however is not for the faint of heart. A lot of work is required, you'll be dealing with timewasters and cheapskates a lot plus it takes a long time to sell everything.
I've assumed an automatic trans., if your car is a six speed variant or has a manual swap those parts are very desireable.

[David325e]

Get another 540. If you're staying with a BMW most of us will recommend the E34 over the E39. And hopefully there is a place where you can strip the interior and mechanical parts, put what you want on the next one, and sell the rest. The best example of stock E34s is running you 4-6K now.

[acet]

I'd get another 540 (e34 of course) and part the wrecked car. You can also take the parts off the wrecked car and install them on the new car if the parts are better. Whatever you decide, Good luck and welcome to the boards!

[jessejames]

Get another 540. If you're staying with a BMW most of us will recommend the E34 over the E39. And hopefully there is a place where you can strip the interior and mechanical parts, put what you want on the next one, and sell the rest. The best example of stock E34s is running you 4-6K now.


I'd get another 540 (e34 of course) and part the wrecked car. You can also take the parts off the wrecked car and install them on the new car if the parts are better. Whatever you decide, Good luck and welcome to the boards!

I only wish your first posting hadn't been forced under such unfortunate circumstances.
to further emphasize the general consensus, as much as we love our 540's, they aren't hard to find.
look through your local auto trader or keep an eye on eBay, part this car, and all will be well!

[janders211]

540iA's can be found pretty cheap- I definitley would think twice about putting more than $1500 into repairs. If it was a 6spd...then we could talk

[Binjammin]

Cut it up. It's dead Jim.