SOTW: (Unofficial!) E38 728i
Discussion
A change in circumstances requiring me to do lots of motorway miles, plus a healthy addiction to the Barge Bargains thread recently led me to search for a BMW of a certain vintage, initially for a car sub 2k in value.
E39s were on the cards and there's some nice ones around at that price, but having done some more digging through the classifieds I found E38s to be even cheaper to buy... so I set about finding one on the cheap! A 728i was a must as this car needed to put in relatively economical shifts chewing up motorway miles.
Having scoured old threads on what to look for, plus pretty much every eBay, AT and PH advert (building up a spreadsheet in the process) I came across a relatively low mileage car on a no reserve auction. It had done 116k, but had the engine replaced by BMW at 38k (I confirmed this), therefore it's a 78k engine. Every MOT from new, FSH (alas no invoices) but I did call the garages in the book and everything added up ok.
Bidding was up to £650 with reserve not met, so with great trepidation 10 seconds before the end I popped in a bid of £820. Reserve not met!! So... I contacted the seller and turns out the grand sum he'd let it go for was £850 - I snapped his hands off!
Going to collect it was a pure leap of faith. I'd only test driven a few E39s (no 7 series at all - ahem) so knew roughly how they drove, but I don't really have car buying 'expertise'. I can check for mayo, oil leaks, suspension knocks, diff leaks, bodywork stuff and basic electricals but anything else - I leave to the gods!
So, having had a poke around and found the paperwork up to scratch, I paid the nice old chap a pitifully small amount of folding and nervously wafted my way back home down the motorway waiting for it to explode - surely no car this luxurious could be bought so cheaply! It was such a great journey to cruise along in near silence - for less than a grand!!
First job was to take it to Forza West for an oil service (my local PH reknowned BMW/TVR specialist) and they gave it the thumbs up with one exception - the fuel tank had some corrosion on the underside - an expensive fix to replace the tank (around 1k inc parts + labour) - argh!
Well, luckily for me I was directed to meeknet by other experienced 7 owners on here which points out all the common problems and fixes - turns out you can fix the tank with a marine sealant called Pratley Putty - this was duly bought and applied to the offending area last week and has set solid as a rock - happy days!
Other than that, everything is fine and dandy so far. Everything electrical works apart from some pixels on the display (common and fixable). The bodywork is in very good shape with one small rust scab on the OSR arch and a couple of light pin-type parking dings and the odd small scratch but you do have to be up close looking for them. Also the driver's door handle has broken in the past and been replaced - with a primed handle (no paint)
so that will need addressing. The interior is exceptional with only light wear on the drivers lower bolster and a vague whiff of old man leather 
So... nearly 2000 miles later (and it still hasn't blown up!) and I have to say I am well chuffed with my bargain barge - even the mrs likes it! Anyway, enough of the waffling, here's the pics!
E39s were on the cards and there's some nice ones around at that price, but having done some more digging through the classifieds I found E38s to be even cheaper to buy... so I set about finding one on the cheap! A 728i was a must as this car needed to put in relatively economical shifts chewing up motorway miles.
Having scoured old threads on what to look for, plus pretty much every eBay, AT and PH advert (building up a spreadsheet in the process) I came across a relatively low mileage car on a no reserve auction. It had done 116k, but had the engine replaced by BMW at 38k (I confirmed this), therefore it's a 78k engine. Every MOT from new, FSH (alas no invoices) but I did call the garages in the book and everything added up ok.
Bidding was up to £650 with reserve not met, so with great trepidation 10 seconds before the end I popped in a bid of £820. Reserve not met!! So... I contacted the seller and turns out the grand sum he'd let it go for was £850 - I snapped his hands off!
Going to collect it was a pure leap of faith. I'd only test driven a few E39s (no 7 series at all - ahem) so knew roughly how they drove, but I don't really have car buying 'expertise'. I can check for mayo, oil leaks, suspension knocks, diff leaks, bodywork stuff and basic electricals but anything else - I leave to the gods!
So, having had a poke around and found the paperwork up to scratch, I paid the nice old chap a pitifully small amount of folding and nervously wafted my way back home down the motorway waiting for it to explode - surely no car this luxurious could be bought so cheaply! It was such a great journey to cruise along in near silence - for less than a grand!!
First job was to take it to Forza West for an oil service (my local PH reknowned BMW/TVR specialist) and they gave it the thumbs up with one exception - the fuel tank had some corrosion on the underside - an expensive fix to replace the tank (around 1k inc parts + labour) - argh!
Well, luckily for me I was directed to meeknet by other experienced 7 owners on here which points out all the common problems and fixes - turns out you can fix the tank with a marine sealant called Pratley Putty - this was duly bought and applied to the offending area last week and has set solid as a rock - happy days!
Other than that, everything is fine and dandy so far. Everything electrical works apart from some pixels on the display (common and fixable). The bodywork is in very good shape with one small rust scab on the OSR arch and a couple of light pin-type parking dings and the odd small scratch but you do have to be up close looking for them. Also the driver's door handle has broken in the past and been replaced - with a primed handle (no paint)
so that will need addressing. The interior is exceptional with only light wear on the drivers lower bolster and a vague whiff of old man leather So... nearly 2000 miles later (and it still hasn't blown up!) and I have to say I am well chuffed with my bargain barge - even the mrs likes it! Anyway, enough of the waffling, here's the pics!
Edited by hornetrider on Tuesday 12th April 18:50
soad said:
Looks good, seems a bargain too...provided ya keep expensive bills at bay!
Indeed - this will be the test! The fuel tank is a bullet dodged but it does have new disks and pads, the tyres are good, there's no funny noises and it has 12 months ticket. If the worst comes to the worst I could scrap it next year and buy another (but I can't see it happening myself)!
tload of car for £850!Remagel2507 said:
For the money you paid that looks really mint,- enjoy!! and thanks for the link to meeknet, should help me solve the big list of things to do on my 740
No worries and cheers everyone for the positive feedback - I'm feeling the barge love!! There's nothing cooler than electric headrests... 
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