Show Me Your BMW!!!!!!!!!
Discussion
My manual 2007 335i M Sport after an early Sunday morning wash. Trying to justify a Cobb AP3 and some new dampers and springs with a slight drop of an inch or so, just to get her performing and looking how I've always wanted. Then again, she also needs new tyres so probably best they come first!
Edited by Rdawson on Thursday 9th October 21:40
very nice.Thanks a lot! Just took a look at your 330i on your profile - I actually wanted a Le Mans blue one - beautiful colour for the E90 and just brings out the shape so well whereas it's a bit lost in the black. I feel pretty lucky to have found mine though. Bought it off a nice chap in Blackheath back in July last year and shipped it back to NZ with me after 8 years in London. He's since bought a Z4M Coupe and now runs a Z3M Coupe. The lemon isn't to everyone's liking, but I enjoy it. Just hard to keep the driver's seat in good nick. The manual is great (once it's warmed up....!!)
cerb4.5lee said:
^^^ Nice motor and a lovely colour combo, also nice to see xenons and a manual gearbox too. 
Edited by Rdawson on Thursday 9th October 22:11
BMW 728i - 105k miles, fsh, 12 months mot, straight, great paint, great interior, mechanically mint, newish tyres all round, fresh front suspension, newish brake discs and pad, 2-keys, sat nav, just needs the alloys refurbing.
£2k.
probably paid a bit through the nose (although bought from a stealer with a 3 month warranty)
posh bangernomics.... absolutely loving it (it replaces my lohen-tuned r56 cooper s and vw t5 camper conversion along with putting over £25k back in my bank account in the process).
£2k.
probably paid a bit through the nose (although bought from a stealer with a 3 month warranty)
posh bangernomics.... absolutely loving it (it replaces my lohen-tuned r56 cooper s and vw t5 camper conversion along with putting over £25k back in my bank account in the process).
village idiot said:
BMW 728i - 105k miles, fsh, 12 months mot, straight, great paint, great interior, mechanically mint, newish tyres all round, fresh front suspension, newish brake discs and pad, 2-keys, sat nav, just needs the alloys refurbing.
£2k.
probably paid a bit through the nose (although bought from a stealer with a 3 month warranty)
posh bangernomics.... absolutely loving it (it replaces my lohen-tuned r56 cooper s and vw t5 camper conversion along with putting over £25k back in my bank account in the process).
I ran a 728i for 2 years. Great cars. Not a fan of those wheels but you can't moan for how much car they offer for the money, certainly if it's nice and straight. They're surprisingly capable once up to speed. Certainly feel faster than the 0-60 time suggests. £2k.
probably paid a bit through the nose (although bought from a stealer with a 3 month warranty)
posh bangernomics.... absolutely loving it (it replaces my lohen-tuned r56 cooper s and vw t5 camper conversion along with putting over £25k back in my bank account in the process).
Enjoy.
Well, I can probably beat that for cheap BMW bangernomics with my new purchase, albeit not quite as posh as a 7er. Mine's got a bigger engine than that 728i, though...
It has various minor cosmetic blemishes, nothing too major. It's actually cleaner than it looks in these photos. It could probably do with having the interior valeted and the engine bay steam-cleaned, then start attending to things like paint scratches (there's one stone chip on the nearside front wing where a bit of surface rust is visible, will need to get that fixed), and the headlights have the usual faded plastic which needs re-polishing, but, on the plus side, it's got full service history, has had fluids dropped at every MOT (including the transmission, I believe, but I'll get that done shortly just to make sure).
I bought it unseen on eBay (I was actually beaten to it by another bidder at the last second, but he pulled out when he realised where the car was!), picked it up in Ashburton (a pleasant small town on the edge of Dartmoor), then drove it 190 miles home to Surrey. Never missed a beat, ticking over 100,000 miles a short distance after Exeter Airport on the A30. It's smooth, refined, quiet when I want it to be but makes a V8 snarl worthy of anything Detroit has produced when I floor it, which actually isn't as appealing as I'd thought it would be - the turbine-smooth howl of the 520i M54 straight six is a much nicer and more musical noise, so I'm wondering about having a 530i next (or swapping an S54 into the 520i Touring...).
Anyway, this had a new radiator and header tank in 2007 and, more recently, has had new belts and a new alternator. The only worn leather in the interior is on the steering wheel rim and the seats give off a slight aroma of saddle-soap and leather feed. There are two advisories on the MoT - a corroding rear brake pipe and slight play in a ball-joint somewhere, which I'll get fixed ASAP. Oh, and I received an offer for it of double what I paid for it within 40 hours of being handed the keys. I'm not minded to sell it any time soon, though. Yeah, it's an automatic and I've always sworn I'd only buy an automatic when I became too frail to operate a clutch, but I haven't missed having a manual 'box yet - it really is an effortless mile-cruncher. I've still got my incredibly tatty 520i Touring with the buggered M54B22 (knackered valve stem oil seals) for that, although I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, aside from using it to take some dead domestic appliances to the tip...
The saloon also rides noticeably better than the Touring (I don't know if it's down to having more weight over the nose and less over the rear, or having coils rather than bags at the rear...) and its straight-line stability is also noticeably better than the Touring's (which may be either down to having recirculating ball steering rather than rack'n'pinion or again more weight over the nose). It's not quite as eager to turn in as the Touring, but it's far from Audi-like. I haven't noticed a massive loss of steering feel versus the Touring's R&P either. At the moment, it's on Nexen tyres, those on the front different to those on the rear, but old bills tell me it habitually sat on Pirelli P7s. The Nexens are actually pretty good (I drove the entire 190 miles home beneath a colossal thunderstorm, in which vast quantities of standing water could be found on the road, and the grip levels were excellent) and were fitted quite recently, so I'm not in a massive hurry to replace them. If the 520i Touring goes to the breakers, which is currently looking like the most realistic possibility, I'll keep its identical 16" turbine wheels as it's on fairly new Avon rubber.
Meanwhile, would any of you like to guess what I paid for it? (If you've seen the eBay listing or bid on it, shut up!)
It has various minor cosmetic blemishes, nothing too major. It's actually cleaner than it looks in these photos. It could probably do with having the interior valeted and the engine bay steam-cleaned, then start attending to things like paint scratches (there's one stone chip on the nearside front wing where a bit of surface rust is visible, will need to get that fixed), and the headlights have the usual faded plastic which needs re-polishing, but, on the plus side, it's got full service history, has had fluids dropped at every MOT (including the transmission, I believe, but I'll get that done shortly just to make sure).
I bought it unseen on eBay (I was actually beaten to it by another bidder at the last second, but he pulled out when he realised where the car was!), picked it up in Ashburton (a pleasant small town on the edge of Dartmoor), then drove it 190 miles home to Surrey. Never missed a beat, ticking over 100,000 miles a short distance after Exeter Airport on the A30. It's smooth, refined, quiet when I want it to be but makes a V8 snarl worthy of anything Detroit has produced when I floor it, which actually isn't as appealing as I'd thought it would be - the turbine-smooth howl of the 520i M54 straight six is a much nicer and more musical noise, so I'm wondering about having a 530i next (or swapping an S54 into the 520i Touring...).
Anyway, this had a new radiator and header tank in 2007 and, more recently, has had new belts and a new alternator. The only worn leather in the interior is on the steering wheel rim and the seats give off a slight aroma of saddle-soap and leather feed. There are two advisories on the MoT - a corroding rear brake pipe and slight play in a ball-joint somewhere, which I'll get fixed ASAP. Oh, and I received an offer for it of double what I paid for it within 40 hours of being handed the keys. I'm not minded to sell it any time soon, though. Yeah, it's an automatic and I've always sworn I'd only buy an automatic when I became too frail to operate a clutch, but I haven't missed having a manual 'box yet - it really is an effortless mile-cruncher. I've still got my incredibly tatty 520i Touring with the buggered M54B22 (knackered valve stem oil seals) for that, although I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, aside from using it to take some dead domestic appliances to the tip...
The saloon also rides noticeably better than the Touring (I don't know if it's down to having more weight over the nose and less over the rear, or having coils rather than bags at the rear...) and its straight-line stability is also noticeably better than the Touring's (which may be either down to having recirculating ball steering rather than rack'n'pinion or again more weight over the nose). It's not quite as eager to turn in as the Touring, but it's far from Audi-like. I haven't noticed a massive loss of steering feel versus the Touring's R&P either. At the moment, it's on Nexen tyres, those on the front different to those on the rear, but old bills tell me it habitually sat on Pirelli P7s. The Nexens are actually pretty good (I drove the entire 190 miles home beneath a colossal thunderstorm, in which vast quantities of standing water could be found on the road, and the grip levels were excellent) and were fitted quite recently, so I'm not in a massive hurry to replace them. If the 520i Touring goes to the breakers, which is currently looking like the most realistic possibility, I'll keep its identical 16" turbine wheels as it's on fairly new Avon rubber.
Meanwhile, would any of you like to guess what I paid for it? (If you've seen the eBay listing or bid on it, shut up!)
RichardM5 said:
Looks like a nice car. The 535i is often cheaper than the 530i and 540i as it's seen to have the consumption of the 540i with performance of the 530i. I'd guess you probably paid between £1000 and £1500 for it depending how bad the cosmetic bits that you can't see in pictures are.
No major cosmetic blemishes whatsoever. £595 from a seller in Devon. It's also definitely a fair bit quicker than a 530i and barely drinks more than my 520i Touring.
RoverP6B said:
No major cosmetic blemishes whatsoever. £595 from a seller in Devon. It's also definitely a fair bit quicker than a 530i and barely drinks more than my 520i Touring.
Sounds like a bargain then!Keep an eye on the cooling system, they run at quite high pressure which puts quite a lot of stress on the hoses and rad over time. Check the bottom of the rad to see if it's bulging badly, they can get to look like this:
The 3.5L V8 has more torque low down than the 3L 6, probably suits the nature of the car better.
RichardM5 said:
Sounds like a bargain then!
Keep an eye on the cooling system, they run at quite high pressure which puts quite a lot of stress on the hoses and rad over time. Check the bottom of the rad to see if it's bulging badly, they can get to look like this:
The 3.5L V8 has more torque low down than the 3L 6, probably suits the nature of the car better.
Had a new radiator and header tank in 2007, so I won't lose too much sleep over that just yet. Thanks for the tip though.Keep an eye on the cooling system, they run at quite high pressure which puts quite a lot of stress on the hoses and rad over time. Check the bottom of the rad to see if it's bulging badly, they can get to look like this:
The 3.5L V8 has more torque low down than the 3L 6, probably suits the nature of the car better.
RoverP6B said:
No major cosmetic blemishes whatsoever. £595 from a seller in Devon. It's also definitely a fair bit quicker than a 530i and barely drinks more than my 520i Touring.
Thats a bargain for that - nice buy. It's not a fair bit quicker than a 530i though, in pre-facelift form it's only about 4bhp more than the 530i despite more weight so it has a lower power to weight ratio.Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff