1997 BMW E38 750iL
Discussion
I've had a few 7 series, most recently a E38 740il (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=47&t=1062959&mid=62110&i=0&nmt=A+brace+of+7%27s+%28e32+740i+and+e38+740il%29&mid=62110) but have always wanted a V12. Once I sold my '40il I kept my eyes open for a '50 and when this one turned up local'ish I had to have it. I'm the 5th owner, its got just shy of 100k on it and is loaded with options (full comms pack (2 phones), heated electric front AND rear seats, picnic tables, vanity mirrors in back of front headrests, rear and side blinds, separate a/c controls for rear, etc etc). It has the 18" style 32's which I really like and the previous owner had them refurbed well only 10 months ago. Being picky I would like xenons and the sports seats in my previous 7 were more comfortable and I would prefer a black than tan interior but other than those points i'm really pleased with it. Since I've had it i've had it MOT'd, oil service, given it an initial clean and sealed the wheels inside and out to protect the nice refurbed finish on them. I will do 2 x rear tyres soonish (probably go with Conti Sports as it has those all round at the moment, but will consider others if anyone has any good suggestions) and would like to continue cleaning the car up, including the engine bay. The CD changer isnt currently working so I need to sort that. On a couple of recent 2 hour runs it has managed just under 22mpg which I consider acceptable. Short trips around town are not good at 13 mpg'ish - as expected though really. Only a few photos for now as the weather has been so appalling lately.
Despite being a 'sports car' fan rather than anything luxury/barge/saloon, I absolutely love that. A luxury waft machine!
I can totally understand why you bought it, about 3 years ago my and my mate Paul bought a Calypso Red E34 525i for £400 as a joke. I think it was a 1994 L Reg. It had a full leather interior that looked the same colour as yours and was loaded with all the toys.
Despite it being in quite good nick, we just bought it as a shed to rag round the back roads of the Lake District until it blew up... but after owning it for a week we changed our minds and gave it a good clean up then proceeded to use it as our main form of transport if a few of us were going anywhere as it was so bloody comfortable!
Compared to the ride and seating quality of our daily drivers such as S-Line Audi's and 911's it was utter, utter wafting luxury. 4 or 5 of us could travel for hours in it in total quiet comfort and the boot would swallow a heap of weekend-away bags with ease. You just couldn't feel any bumps on the road!
After a full years motoring with not a single thing going wrong in thousands of miles, We sold it a year later to another mate who promptly blew it up through repeated regular redlining
I can totally understand why you bought it, about 3 years ago my and my mate Paul bought a Calypso Red E34 525i for £400 as a joke. I think it was a 1994 L Reg. It had a full leather interior that looked the same colour as yours and was loaded with all the toys.
Despite it being in quite good nick, we just bought it as a shed to rag round the back roads of the Lake District until it blew up... but after owning it for a week we changed our minds and gave it a good clean up then proceeded to use it as our main form of transport if a few of us were going anywhere as it was so bloody comfortable!
Compared to the ride and seating quality of our daily drivers such as S-Line Audi's and 911's it was utter, utter wafting luxury. 4 or 5 of us could travel for hours in it in total quiet comfort and the boot would swallow a heap of weekend-away bags with ease. You just couldn't feel any bumps on the road!
After a full years motoring with not a single thing going wrong in thousands of miles, We sold it a year later to another mate who promptly blew it up through repeated regular redlining
r1ch said:
Love it. Bit big for my taste but I really like these. What are all the buttons in the arm rest in the back?
Phone, electric rear blind, controls for front passenger seat (can more it forward to make even MORE leg room), audio controls, etc. Controls for the rear A/C zone are in between the two rear seats where there is also an AV jack for connecting AV equipment which can be displayed on the main TV/Nav screen in the dash. The MPG is slightly down on the 740il but I thought it would be. I did a fast drive to Paris and back in the 740il and I think it got somewhere around the 25 mpg mark which I thought was fine. I would like to do a similar run in the 750il so as to make a comparison.
In terms of other similarities or differences the ride is quite different as the 740il was on 16" wheels with high profile tyres. The 750il is on the 18" wheels with much lower profile tyres. Inevitably this makes the ride firmer but I don't mind that. The 750il has S-EDC so I have the option of 'normal' suspension or 'sport' mode. With the S-EDC turned on the rider becomes noticeably firmer and body roll is reduced.
Other than that the spec is quite different on the two cars and as I said above I prefer the (sport) seats in the 740il. Both are lovely cars though and if you haven't sample an E38 yet I encourage you to do so, at current prices it's hard to imagine them becoming better value.
In terms of other similarities or differences the ride is quite different as the 740il was on 16" wheels with high profile tyres. The 750il is on the 18" wheels with much lower profile tyres. Inevitably this makes the ride firmer but I don't mind that. The 750il has S-EDC so I have the option of 'normal' suspension or 'sport' mode. With the S-EDC turned on the rider becomes noticeably firmer and body roll is reduced.
Other than that the spec is quite different on the two cars and as I said above I prefer the (sport) seats in the 740il. Both are lovely cars though and if you haven't sample an E38 yet I encourage you to do so, at current prices it's hard to imagine them becoming better value.
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