E38 Availability and Misc Ramblings

[tominizer]

I've been sniffing around for a while and I am thinking this spring/summer to pull the trigger on an E38. It's the typical story that's likely been posted up before. Done lots of read and quiet lurking on the forums. Scanned all the Kijiji/Craigslist/autotrader/etc following the pricing and availability. I have a decent idea of what my "Want" list is and what sort of flexibility I would have depending on the condition and model of car. I am a pretty good DIY-er and I have a close buddy that is a wizard on these cars. I have some money squirreled away for the purchase and the maintenance. I've had a few beemers in the past...... 5 older 2002's, 2 E30 M3's, X5, E46 sedan, e46 coupe, and a Z4M (not all at once BTW..... that's divorce court!!). Anyways, so I think I've had some limited BMW experience and I'm gonna giver a go to finally get into a big boy's BMW.

Thing is I'm up here in Toronto Canada. I've looked around. I can't find sh!t that isn't rotten or badly maintained, etc, etc. Ok, well I did find a '95 that some older guy owned that was in "good" condition but it wasn't without those "things" on my list that are a compromise....... like that lite grey interior, which is livable but gaaaah....... like an accident/repair history which I can't seem to get around even though it looks really well done.......... like that rust/rot that has really taken hold of on the driver's side door. The door needs to be replaced and properly aligned. This '95 has all the paperwork for a block replacement to get rid of "that" issue of the Nikasil BMW. I'm back and forth on it. No vanos on it. Runs smooth as butter and no leaks. But it's low down on the "wants" list. Could it be a short term leap to have one while I keep searching !??!?!? Meeeeeeeh. Guy is also asking too much and I think I'd need to wait him out a long while.

Yeah anyways I get it that these are older cars and there are going to be things. It's just that i'm really disappointed in the selection available at this time locally. And I like local cause I can put my hands on it and have it checked out properly. It's risky leaving town to go get cars. I did that with one of my E30 M3's that I imported from Texas. I got lucky I think as it was solid and the seller off one of the forums was a good BMW guy. Anyways, I think I'm getting impatient. "But my little voice is saying "be patient grass hopper........ the right one will eventually show". Merde. Ok, for now I will continue looking and waiting. Truth be told, there's justa sh!t ton of excitement in the chase as well. So we'll see where this all leads...........

[Stillife]

I was in your situation recently and i'm so glad i passed up on a dozen e38s before I just bought my first last month. I have had craigslist alerts and been doing my ebay and local car lot searches for close to 4 years before I found the perfect 2001 740il in Silver with a really nice black interior and 121k on the OD. I had a list of wants to. No dead pixels cluster, post facelift e38, black on black or silver on black and 18" M Par wheels. I got everything but the wheels for $1800 and I had to accept that a full control arm replacement was imminent. That was something I could live with and I am so glad I waited. I live in the deep south and most of the e38s I scouted were rust buckets or had crazy high miles or some other super ghetto mods.

Just wait for the "one" and save an extra 2k so you can jump on the cleanest car you can find even if you have to stretch the budget a bit. I'm no expert but these cars are only as good as their service record. I wouldn't buy one without a good sense that it had really been cared for.

[racer2086]

Completely agree with posted above. Take your time. If you rush, you will get a basketcase. It is all about the maintenance and that things have been kept up to date.

I was really impatient trying to find my ZHP, but I waited, passed up one with some rust and glad I did, because I ended up finding the perfect one with maintenance history.

Just be patient. You will find the right one.

[tominizer]

My thing is this. How long do you wait and what's the compromise?? You can wait forever hoping to find the "right" one. And that means you may be giving up on one that is close but not really there. Is that perfect one possibly there on the horizon?? Sometimes I think it may not be. I don't know. Wish I had a crystal ball...... LOL !!! I may start backing off on my "wants" list if and when I find a solid car that's been maintained, jump. Maintenacne and care is soooooo important I've found.


When and looked at another '95 last night with my mechanic. I felt bad for the car. The owner was an absolute idiot and had no respect for the car nor did he know what he even had. Car is going to unfortunately rot and die in his hands. Making me think more again about the '95 I saw over the weekend that had been cared for that the "older guy" (my age at 51!!). It's not exactly what I'm looking for but the car was solid. I think if it had a black interior, I would have jumped on it. In comparison to last nights car, it ran as smooth as butter and you could tell maintenance had been looked after. Gaaaaaah. What to do !??!! I think I will wait a while longer and see what else pops up. And maybe the old guy will call back a relax on his price........

[rslifkin]

Which E38 to buy all depends on what kind of work you're willing or able to put into it.

In my case, I bought one that needed a few things mechanically and needed a little bit of going-over, but the interior is in good shape, everything works, no rust issues, etc. I do have a few minor exterior body things I want to get taken care of, but they're not critical. I don't mind doing mechanical work, while interior work and trying to fix non-working factory bits drives me crazy. Only thing I worry a little about with my car is when the time will come for timing chain guides. It's got 153k on the original guides, so I know the day will come (and something about that job makes me want to pay someone even though I've been further than that into other engines before).

[acspecialists]

I was looking for 18 months for an M5. I even drove a few. I ended up with a clean E60 that had just had the rod bearings, clutch and alternator done.

Your car is out there sitting in someone's garage. My vote would be to get a clean body and interior. If you have been lurking you know all of the mechanical issues that you will HAVE to do sooner or later. My car had 138k when I bought it and it had some problems. Over the last 40k I have done everything on the list, I just finished the chain guides and vanos. I dove it the whole time I was fixing one thing or the other. It will be close to a 20yo car and it will need love. The one thing I regret is letting the bad paint job slide. I'm not a painter and I doubt I will ever spend that kid of money. It doesn't look bad but I can see the flaws.

These cars are awesome and worth the wait. They drive like a dream and are even more fun on the track. If you are really worried about chain guides pull a valve cover and have a look. A chain guide job is pretty straight forward and I would even say that if I had to choose I would take bad guides over bad paint.

[georgebest]

I would take bad guides over bad paint.

Very true, I'd much rather get one with nice paint and interior. Those are the expensive things compared to those a chain guide is nothing.

[rslifkin]

Very true, I'd much rather get one with nice paint and interior. Those are the expensive things compared to that a chain guide is nothing.

Not only expensive, but for a lot of people, further out of DIY range too.

[tominizer]

Paint and body for me is pretty critical . Paint is not really DIY IMHO to be done properly. Rust and Rot must be avoided if at all possible. Important to have a look at the underside of the car too.

Interiors I have swapped but can get pricey. And then you have to do something with the one you took out. Once I swapped out a manual BMW X5 passenger seat for a power one......... turned it into a desk chair that we still have!!

[Stillife]

100% agree with everyone. A clean body and interior are #1. Everyone always asks me if I'm worried the engine and transmission will have trouble. Nope. I'm worried about my cupholders, glovebox latch, the tabs on my C pillars, that stuff is a nightmare to fix. I'm in the middle of a black headliner swap and it is proving to be very annoying. German metal good. German plastic...well lets just say they could learn a lot from the Japanese in that area.

[Chris V]

Also, be prepared to jump on the right one when it comes along, even if you think it's priced too high. It isn't. A good one will have all the things done that it needs to have done and won't nickel and dime you to death, justifying a higher up front price. Both of mine were bought that way and they were worth every penny of the slightly elevated buy-in price, as I had to do very little to the cars over a 5 and 3 year period. Too many guys go into this thinking that a good one should be priced like the junkers and end up avoiding the well kept examples because they are "asking too much." You either pay $7500-8500 up front or you pay more than that to make a $5000 or cheaper one up to snuff, and deal with the hassles that that entails.

[racer2086]

^yup

I would at least give it a couple months of regular searching online before starting to cave on your wants. It took me 2 months of searching every day to find the ZHP. There will always be something coming up!