E34's lost to cash 4 clunkers

[Red Shirt KRT]

This was brought up in the how rare are e34s thread and I thought it deserved its own post. The original data from cars.org isn't available anymore but I found that someone made a PDF of it showing a tally of all the cars junked so here they are for the e34.

E34 all

1 - 1991 M5
49 - 94' 540i
53 - 95' 540i
278 - 89-93 535i
50 - 530i touring
77 - 94 530i
40 - 95 530i
58 - 92 525iT
~500 - 525i

~ 1100 total then


Non e34 interesting ones
1 - 1991 m3
1 - 1992 850i
13 - 89' 635csi
43 - 88-91 325ix
~700 e30 3 series

[tantumaude]

I wonder how much the person who junked the m3 is regretting it...

[fo3]

I wonder how much the person who junked the m3 is regretting it...

Probably as much as me tossing my rx3 and rx4

I'm glad Australia never had a cash for clunkers, as there would be zero left. They never sold many here in the first place - just a few thousand as a 525i was 80k, a 535 was 100k and a 540 was 140k and the m5 was 155k. That's buying a house in the capital city suburbs type money in 1990 (and if you did that instead then these days you would have a $500k+ house, not a $3k e34)

[Tre0Tre34]

They didnt even know what it was. Just that it was old and "uncool"

They have already abandoned their replacement kia optima because the motor puked up its main rod bearings at 50k

[Red Shirt KRT]

I can understand why most old bmws were junked most people aren't willing to put the kind of money that is required to fix them when they could get that same amount towards a new car.

I sure hope the m3/m5 were in disastrous shape, like they went through a hail storm or something and got completely soaked inside.

[Ley3198]

Why did people hate their m30's that much? Not worth it unless it was a 5 speed Im assuming? Worse gas mileage than a 540...

[zubbie]

Just makes everything remaining more valuable.?... maybe?

[Red Shirt KRT]

Well yes, but if you think about it I guarantee , especially on the faster models m5, 540i, there are far more that have been totaled in wrecks or parted out than have been traded in so you have to take that extremely unknown amount into consideration.

[ross1]

Why did people hate their m30's that much? Not worth it unless it was a 5 speed Im assuming? Worse gas mileage than a 540...

OH, yeah! But worth it
M30s were done by '92 so these were also the oldest cars.
What was really sad is what so many old E34s were traded for, disposable junk. That's "green" for you. As one poster has already said, the replacements have probably died by now too. Wanna bet the old E34 would still be soldiering on?

[fo3]

Too true. I often have to remind myself that my car is 28 years old this sept. Worse thing about the condition is shrinking vinyl, broken plastic clips seat wear and previous owner things but even then, and even with the worst of it mechanically it seems like a 10 year old car (many 10 year old cars are much much worse).

[biasvoltage]

Somewhere on Youtube there's a video of a gray 530i and the tech assigned to kill it is ranting about how stupid the whole thing is and how angry he is at the former owner for trading this particular car in. I really hope the M5 on that list was a m20 525iA with a fake M badge.

I routinely park my 1989 750iL in the "reserved for clean air vehicles" spaces at a couple of shopping centers. Just waiting for someone to try start an argument with me -- the environmental consequences of the mining operations alone for a set of hybrid car batteries far outweigh all of the carbon footprint for my car over its entire lifetime.

[ross1]

Somewhere on Youtube there's a video of a gray 530i and the tech assigned to kill it is ranting about how stupid the whole thing is and how angry he is at the former owner for trading this particular car in. I really hope the M5 on that list was a m20 525iA with a fake M badge.

I routinely park my 1989 750iL in the "reserved for clean air vehicles" spaces at a couple of shopping centers. Just waiting for someone to try start an argument with me -- the environmental consequences of the mining operations alone for a set of hybrid car batteries far outweigh all of the carbon footprint for my car over its entire lifetime.

More likely they'll vandalize your car because you are a conspicuously consuming, typical BMW driving prick in their eyes.
Now, if you had some muddy, beater, jacked up Diesel pick up truck parked across several of those spaces....
Agreed, that all these reserved for (insert "special" group) parking spots are ridiculous.
Once while filling up my old Jeep XJ some greenies car driver asked "what kind of gas mileage does that thing get?" I told him I didn't know and didn't care. No reply.