The ten lowest-mileage 850CSi's

[kiwiCSi]

My CSi just makes it into the sub-20k miles bracket at 19.2k miles (31k km), and there's a small number of others in this category, as well as a handful of US cars in the 20k-30k miles range.

However, there are a scant few ultra-low mileage cars out there with less than 10k miles (16,000 km) on the clock.

I'd be interested to know say, the ten lowest-mileage CSi's, where they are and who owns them.
And of equal interest - why they're never driven!

[Sniff38]

This exercise is only useful if all CSi owners in the world read this forum and respond with their data. I wouldn't even venture to guess what percentage do.

But since you brought it up . . . with only 19.2K miles, why isn't your car driven?

[Alec Cartio]

mine has 73k mles on it. lol still super clean with very few issues.
however, I know of three low mileage CSi's. all are Red in color.
one has 10.000 miles, the other two have 6000 and 5000ish

[TxGR8White]

Sultan of Brunei probably has a handful of CSi cars that may even be sub-1,000 miles. He only bought them to never really drive them.

[Alec Cartio]

What a shame... but at least they are excellent time capsules.

Sultan of Brunei probably has a handful of CSi cars that may even be sub-1,000 miles. He only bought them to never really drive them.

[TAG850CSi]

Mine has 42K miles on it. I would say that's pretty low mileage for a car 22 years old.

[kiwiCSi]

This exercise is only useful if all CSi owners in the world read this forum and respond with their data.

Not all of 'em, just the owners of the ten low-milers!

But since you brought it up . . . with only 19.2K miles, why isn't your car driven?

That's easy....at present she is up on jacks, with no batteries, both rear wheels removed, rear arch liners removed and the rear muffler hanger brackets out for replating.....so she's not going anywhere any time soon!

But for a full perspective, here's the history:
- The first owner put 16k km (10,000 miles) on her in the first 3 1/2 years of ownership (not bad usage for a Hong Kong car), then a further 4k km (2,500 miles) in the following ten years here in NZ.
- The 2nd owner put an additional 6k km (3,700 miles) on the clock over his 5 year ownership.
- As the 3rd and 5th owner, I've added around 5,500 km (3,400 miles) in a total of 3 1/2 years of ownership.
[The 4th owner basically stored the car for 12 months - adding around 600 miles before selling her back to me].

My intention is certainly to drive this car more often than in previous years, however I'm grateful to those first two owners for not only recognizing the car's rarity and the value in keeping its mileage low, but also (as evident from the service history) for maintaining it properly, regardless of the cost.

[Major Cheese]

Oh, I remember when I purchased mine 7 years ago she only had 85k miles on her. Fast forward to today and she has 116k on the clock. My, how fast these kids grow up!

[Alec Cartio]

a friend here on the forum bought his csi with 43k miles on it 5 years ago, it now has 110k+ on it. that's what I call true LOVE for driving a car. I'm planning on doing the same to mine. drive the F*** out of it; or else there is no purpose being served here. I love driving it. I sing with joy when I do. I go to dates with it. I pull up to hotels and get people to gaze and ask me questions. I get thumbs up on the freeway and I get crowds aaround the car at car shows. it serves its purpose; as it should be

[kiwiCSi]

mine has 73k mles on it. lol still super clean with very few issues.
however, I know of three low mileage CSi's. all are Red in color.
one has 10.000 miles, the other two have 6000 and 5000ish

Those two latter Hellrot cars would certainly be contenders.
A bit more research has revealed they are owned by the same California owner.

[kiwiCSi]

Sultan of Brunei probably has a handful of CSi cars that may even be sub-1,000 miles. He only bought them to never really drive them.

I had overlooked the Sultan's cars.
Apparently he has only two CSi's in his massive E31 collection - both are RHD EG92's.
I guess we can assume they will be strong contenders for the sub-5,000 mile category.

He also (until recently) had three Alpina B12's - one 5.7 (non-CSi based) and two 5.0's.
The remainder of his 8ers are 850i or 850Ci (no V8's) and are all EG22 (RHD) models, of which all but one are registered.

[Alec Cartio]

yes I know him. He lives here in LA. An Asian gentleman.

Those two latter Hellrot cars would certainly be contenders.
A bit more research has revealed they are owned by the same California owner.

[fstenb]

I own one with 5400 miles on the clock, one of the last made ( nr 6 produced after June -96. In my ownership for 14 years. I must be the worst out there. It has been driven regularly but only on nice days and in the summer. I have since Nov prepared it for sale and it will come up officially in a month or so. Still miner cosmetics to fix. Check my profile pictures and e-mail me if there are any interest out there. It is registered as a -97 here. Probably the only one that i know.

[alex840]

Agreed. These cars don't play nice when they sit. I have an 850i with S70 motor in it, and I drive it every weekend. 35,000 miles on the S70 motor.

Then again mine is not a "real CSI", but a very well tuned car to my personal taste so made to be driven.

a friend here on the forum bought his csi with 43k miles on it 5 years ago, it now has 110k+ on it. that's what I call true LOVE for driving a car. I'm planning on doing the same to mine. drive the F*** out of it; or else there is no purpose being served here. I love driving it. I sing with joy when I do. I go to dates with it. I pull up to hotels and get people to gaze and ask me questions. I get thumbs up on the freeway and I get crowds aaround the car at car shows. it serves its purpose; as it should be

[kiwiCSi]

I own one with 5400 miles on the clock, one of the last made ( nr 6 produced after June -96. In my ownership for 14 years. I must be the worst out there. It has been driven regularly but only on nice days and in the summer. I have since Nov prepared it for sale and it will come up officially in a month or so. Still miner cosmetics to fix. Check my profile pictures and e-mail me if there are any interest out there. It is registered as a -97 here. Probably the only one that i know.

Thanks for chiming in, Fredrik.
Looks like a nice car....the leather is pristine.
Did you have the sagging headliner issue?

[fstenb]

Hi,
No problem with that. The car need a new sunroof plate due to rust and has a leaking cooling expansion canister. I have done the bomb, pressure switch, fluids, air filters, new step plate left side+ rubber seals, rear window + small rust fix upper right corner(pro-job), end mufflers + hangers and rear diff drive shaft seal. All OEM. I bought the car in 2002 but was deployed offshore. That is why the car is hardly used. My company own the car and i am closing down. It needs to go fairly quickly and will be prized as so. It comes with the usual stone chips and other issues a 20 year old car might have. Hardly any scratches though. regards

[rogbmw]

The BMWCCAE31 chapter website is currently under revision, but once it is up and running at full speed, it will have a complete database on all the US CSi's completed by one of our members. It is a very extensive database.

[Gary Knox]

I will quote Ferry Porsche who once said at a Concours event: "Our cars are built to be driven, not polished". I suspect the engineers at BMW feel the same way.

I feel pretty much the same way - so: I'm interested in hearing about cars with HIGH mileage that are maintained in excellent physical appearance and are also excellent mechanically. 'Garage Queens' do not qualify!!! - Ha

Gary

[kiwiCSi]

I will quote Ferry Porsche who once said at a Concours event: "Our cars are built to be driven, not polished". I suspect the engineers at BMW feel the same way.

I feel pretty much the same way - so: I'm interested in hearing about cars with HIGH mileage that are maintained in excellent physical appearance and are also excellent mechanically. 'Garage Queens' do not qualify!!! - Ha

Gary

This is also a common point of interest with me, Gary...the other end of the scale, so to speak.
Feel free to start that thread.

[kiwiCSi]

Hi,
No problem with that. The car need a new sunroof plate due to rust and has a leaking cooling expansion canister. I have done the bomb, pressure switch, fluids, air filters, new step plate left side+ rubber seals, rear window + small rust fix upper right corner(pro-job), end mufflers + hangers and rear diff drive shaft seal. All OEM. I bought the car in 2002 but was deployed offshore. That is why the car is hardly used. My company own the car and i am closing down. It needs to go fairly quickly and will be prized as so. It comes with the usual stone chips and other issues a 20 year old car might have. Hardly any scratches though. regards

Thanks for the update.......I'm sure there will be plenty of interest in the car, both from within this forum and the wider BMW community.
It certainly qualifies as one of lowest mileage examples out there.

[kiwiCSi]

The BMWCCAE31 chapter website is currently under revision, but once it is up and running at full speed, it will have a complete database on all the US CSi's completed by one of our members. It is a very extensive database.

This will be an eagerly awaited database for sure, Roger!
I have a complete database of all the EG92 CSi's and have begun compiling a similar one for the EG91 cars which, as you can imagine, will be quite a task, with 1,125 cars produced (including the 49 CSi-based Alpinas)!

[kiwiCSi]

So far we have five 850CSi's which are likely contenders for inclusion in this category:

2 x Hellrot US-spec cars in California (VIN's are known but withheld for privacy)
1 x Sterlingsilber RHD CSi in the Sultan's collection (VIN is known but withheld)
1 x Orientblau RHD CSi in the Sultan's collection (VIN is known but withheld)
1 x Cosmosschwarz(?) Euro-LHD CSi in Sweden (member fstenb's car - VIN unknown)

[Alec Cartio]

Why are you withholding the Sultan's VIN? It's not as if we're gonna have access to the cars in any shape or form anyway.
They're locked up and heavily guarded in some bunker. ��

[clubE31]

1 x silver, 3400km (sold recently in the netherlands)
1 x sub ten (8k something) also sold last year in the netherlands (believe it was blue)
Probably in collections at the moment because we do see them in the club scene.

Just two I have seen.... but what's the point of this excercise ?

[kiwiCSi]

Why are you withholding the Sultan's VIN? It's not as if we're gonna have access to the cars in any shape or form anyway.
They're locked up and heavily guarded in some bunker. 😁

Same reason I've withheld the two VIN's of your California friend's CSi's - simply out of respect for the owners' privacy, and the fact that I don't have permission to publish their VIN's on an open forum.
But as for the Sultan's cars, if you're resourceful enough you should be able to find them anyway.