Owned 5 low mileage E38s 34k, 37k, 46k, 54k and 78k in the last 10 years. When I get these kind of cars I like to replace radiator hose, gaskets, belts, pretty much most rubber and plastic parts. Followed by filters and fluids.
The low mileage ones will cost you less in the long run and are fresher in every way, where you enjoy the car more.
Last edited by georgebest; 12-31-2017 at 03:10 PM.
May 10th 2001 here
Last 7 of Vin Dn88676
Last edited by zheina740; 12-31-2017 at 03:38 PM.
2001 740i 6 speed M-Sport
2001 e46 M3 6spd
2002 325xiT 5 speed --- SOLD
1998 740iL 127k --- SOLD
Me too. BUT, for a mid priced one, I think the sweet spot is just over 100,000 miles ASSUMING the previous owner has addressed the front and rear suspension. If they made it to 100,000 - 115,000 and took care of it, in my experience its going to make it to 160,000 without major expenses.
...save for guides, engine mounts and a few other minor (...) inconveniences.
The low-mile cars that have lived in a garage are always better, as long as you don't overpay horribly for them. There aren't that many left, though - and the second owner 'flippers' typically do them no favours.
- - - Updated - - -
...save for guides, engine mounts and a few other minor (...) inconveniences.
The low-mile cars that have lived in a garage are always better, as long as you don't overpay horribly for them. There aren't that many left, though - and the second owner 'flippers' typically do them no favours.
I know this is an old thread, but I checked the build date on the E38 740i Sport I bought a couple weeks ago and it's a 7/26/2001 build. From what I can find, 7/27/2001 was the last day of E38 production, so it's a very late build. Going by what e38registry lists for build dates and VINs, mine is the 3rd to last US market 740i built.
Sticker on the car shows an 07/2001 build date. Mdecoder (and others) show the 7/26/2001 build date in the picture (screenshot is from Mdecoder). Looking here at http://www.e38registry.org/e38-production-numbers/ we see that the last US market 740i was built 7/27/2001 with a VIN ending in DN89753. My car is DN89751 and built 1 day earlier, so it should be 3rd to last for the US 740i production.
Build Date.jpg
That's amazing! How miles? What shape the car is in?
this will be hard to top for sure
It's got 149,500 on it as of today. Needs a few little things that I'm working through (just did the rear upper control arms, need to do the center link and tie rods and then change the CCV plate and see if that resolves the startup smoke), but it's very clean. It could use a detail (which it'll get in the near future), but the exterior is otherwise very good, undercarriage is very clean.
Interior is excellent outside of a few pieces of trim with cracked clearcoat and one broken seat back pocket hinge and one spot that makes me think I'll be doing a headliner in another couple of years.
At some point in the past it had smoked roundels and wheel center caps put on. I've already swapped the center caps back to stock ones, I'll get to the roundels at some point soon. The car also came to me with a MKIV nav and a few odds and ends thrown in (like the BMW neck pillow and BMW driving gloves, plus an M banner for the garage).
Here's a couple of photos of it in the garage (unfortunately it's not terribly clean in any of the pictures). For the winter it's sitting on a set of 4 front M pars with 235/50R18 Blizzak WS80s. When we get back around to summer, I think I'm going pick up a pair of E31/E34 rear M pars (the 9" ones) and put those up front with the stock rear M pars and go to 255/45 up front, 275/40 in back. The car came to me with rolled fender lips (done properly, no cracks in the paint or anything from it), which I'm not quite sure why, as it's had stock wheels for at least the whole time the previous owner had it (since early 09).
EDIT (forgot the pictures):
IMG_20181125_195418.jpgIMG_20181202_150346.jpgIMG_20181203_203712.jpg
Last edited by rslifkin; 12-11-2018 at 08:48 AM.
Looks clean! I like the white indicators.
Looks great!
Looks like mine was built on 6/29/2001. Last 5 of the VIN are 89489. Black on tan Short Sport - 157k miles.
Aaron
Current
'13 528i xDrive M-Sport
'00 Audi 6 4.2 Sport - 6 sp conversion - 155k
'12 Audi Q5
'08 Silverado Duramax LTZ
Past
'10 - 128i Convertibel - sold
'01 740i Sport - sold 155k
'95 M3 Coupe
'95 M Roadster
'07 328i - sport, convenience - sold 176k
'95 S6 - raced and sold
'00 528iT - sport - sold
'95 993 C2-sport - sold
'06 M3 Vert - sold
'10 TDi Jetta Cup Edition - totalled
'02 996 Cab - sold
I wonder what would is holding its price better, an E38 made on 7/27/2001 or the first E65 made on ....whenever they started making it. Probably takes a while to retool the factory. I have had both, no question about preference
I have a June 2001
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