Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 18]

[paulguitar]

LetsTryAgain said:

Thread - look at the front end photo of the red E34 posted (think it's the 8th picture) and tell me it isn't 100 times preferable to whatever BMW are churning out ATM.

I completely agree. I am just back from my daily walk, I encountered a current 1-series and actually physically winced!

[Dapster]

LetsTryAgain said:

Thread - look at the front end photo of the red E34 posted (think it's the 8th picture) and tell me it isn't 100 times preferable to whatever BMW are churning out ATM.

1989



2021

[31mph]

The 7 series is even worse imo



Look at the gnashers on that

[W00DY]

g3org3y said:

E39 action here: Facelift 525i for half Barge budget: https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-525i-automatic-o...



Advert has the kind of photos I like with spare wheel well, toolkit, keys and service history all included.

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 7th March 16:33

Looks good and the MOT history is spotless. Just a touch of de-geralding and it'll be lovely.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Dapster said:

LetsTryAgain said:

Thread - look at the front end photo of the red E34 posted (think it's the 8th picture) and tell me it isn't 100 times preferable to whatever BMW are churning out ATM.

1989



2021

I actually quite like the new 5....

[d_a_n1979]

W00DY said:

g3org3y said:

E39 action here: Facelift 525i for half Barge budget: https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-525i-automatic-o...



Advert has the kind of photos I like with spare wheel well, toolkit, keys and service history all included.

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 7th March 16:33

Looks good and the MOT history is spotless. Just a touch of de-geralding and it'll be lovely.

Needs for nowt that IMO; what do you think it needs?

It's an SE with a nice simple spec and on 37s; IMO they need to be sold and it needs to be put back on 17" Style 32s or 16" Style 33s

Edited by d_a_n1979 on Sunday 7th March 18:31

[biggbn]

anotherswifty said:

Great example of how the market has gone a bit nuts.
Sold my 9-3 (last of the hatches) 5d weasel powered 2002 for 5k+ after lingering for a while. 3.5k seems steep.

Love that saab, owned an identical one many moons ago, paid £40 plus fees at an auction clearout...really. Turned out it was a cracker, 64k miles, one owner, full Saab history, MOTd it and sold if for £650 or so, thought I'd struck gold...how times have changed!!

[g3org3y]

d_a_n1979 said:

W00DY said:

g3org3y said:

E39 action here: Facelift 525i for half Barge budget: https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-525i-automatic-o...



Advert has the kind of photos I like with spare wheel well, toolkit, keys and service history all included.

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 7th March 16:33

Looks good and the MOT history is spotless. Just a touch of de-geralding and it'll be lovely.

Needs for now that IMO; what do you think it needs?

It's an SE with a nice simple spec and on 37s; IMO they need to be sold and it needs to be put back on 17" Style 32s or 16" Style 33s

IMO

The M Parallels would suit if this had the Sport kit.

[W00DY]

d_a_n1979 said:

W00DY said:

g3org3y said:

E39 action here: Facelift 525i for half Barge budget: https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-525i-automatic-o...



Advert has the kind of photos I like with spare wheel well, toolkit, keys and service history all included.

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 7th March 16:33

Looks good and the MOT history is spotless. Just a touch of de-geralding and it'll be lovely.

Needs for now that IMO; what do you think it needs?

It's an SE with a nice simple spec and on 37s; IMO they need to be sold and it needs to be put back on 17" Style 32s or 16" Style 33s

I don't mind the M paras, but the badges on the rubbing strips disgust me.

[g3org3y]

W00DY said:

I don't mind the M paras, but the badges on the rubbing strips disgust me.

[Emeye]

I apologise for trolling the thread with that wrapped Jaguar earlier.

Do you think all these overpriced barges are selling? We “were” the target market, but many are out of thread’s reach now.

Unless there is a secret barges £5-£10k thread which we don’t know about, where the posters discuss how shiny paint, perfect vacuum stripes and high contract photos make overpaying for troublesome 15plus year old barges so satisfying. As if those of us who think they are overpriced just don’t know what they know and they pity our naivety.

ETA - maybe if they are being sold, it is to the same people who think paying a huge buyers fee to collectingcars is somehow guaranteeing them a better quality car with a certified history that has been checked out personally by Chris Harris or something, and not just a HPI check and some fancy words.

Edited by Emeye on Sunday 7th March 18:38

Edited by Emeye on Sunday 7th March 18:39

[nobrakes]

Dapster said:

0a said:

Another over budget BMW, only £6.5k. I love these e23s. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1984-BMW-735-735i-AMAZI...

I love a good E23 but JRG really doesn't suit it. Dark metallics are the way to go - the wheels can be switched back but what were they thinking with those stripes?

Was up at Mathewsons a few months ago estimated at £5k

https://mathewsons.co.uk/auctions/auction-dates/ve...



Some diamonds in the rough there https://mathewsons.co.uk/auctions/auction-dates/ve...












etc etc you get the picture

Who said silver is a bland colour for a car?

Have you looked at that Fiat 130 Coupe with red seats?

https://mathewsons.co.uk/auctions/auction-dates/ve...

[alec.e]

ian316 said:

alec.e said:

Well done!

I love these, picked up mine for £1500, but yours has the Sepangs, V8 and better spec, I would imagine better condition too.
Bargain.

How's yours going?

Apologies Ian for missing this!

In short, its going well, nearly put the same miles on it that it covered in the whole last year!
I have rebuilt the air suspension compressor for £15, the suspension fault I am convinced is due to a dodgy solenoid connection in the boot- wiggle the connector and the fault goes away...

Done some paintwork too, changed the grille, put my old plate on it too. Guess its a keeper then?

Edited by alec.e on Sunday 7th March 18:48

[d_a_n1979]

W00DY said:

d_a_n1979 said:

W00DY said:

g3org3y said:

E39 action here: Facelift 525i for half Barge budget: https://www.gumtree.com/p/bmw/bmw-525i-automatic-o...



Advert has the kind of photos I like with spare wheel well, toolkit, keys and service history all included.

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 7th March 16:33

Looks good and the MOT history is spotless. Just a touch of de-geralding and it'll be lovely.

Needs for now that IMO; what do you think it needs?

It's an SE with a nice simple spec and on 37s; IMO they need to be sold and it needs to be put back on 17" Style 32s or 16" Style 33s

I don't mind the M paras, but the badges on the rubbing strips disgust me.

They're OEM from factory probably; it was a choice you could make when ordering the car; lots of SE's have their door bump trips and corner strips colour coded

[Macron]

Emeye said:

Unless there is a secret barges £5-£10k thread which we don’t know about]

It's not that secret. Like here it often deviates..!

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[g3org3y]

Macron said:

Emeye said:

Unless there is a secret barges £5-£10k thread which we don’t know about]

It's not that secret. Like here it often deviates..!

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Budget creep.

[bolidemichael]

Dapster said:

Nicks90 said:

That's really nice, but I struggle in my mind with the point of an e430 amg
Surely if you want lots of power and horrendous mpg + massive bork factor, you just buy a 500 and be done with it.
What does the 430 have over the 500? Maybe 2-3mpg - but then loses out everywhere else.

Or am I missing the 'point' of one of these?

It isn't an "AMG" - that's just a stuck on badge. The 430 was the big engined barge for wafting from the office to the golf club. The E55 was a proper hairy chested "AMG" and 80 odd more bhp. In the W210, the 430 was the biggest engine you could get before going AMG. The non AMG E500 only came out in the W211 which followed this.

r129sl would certainly be able to answer this as he had a thread. I recall that he enjoyed driving it briskly and missed it when it was gone. So it can't have been too bad. It has no airmatic, unlike the 500, however and I presume that the 211 represented a step change in technology. It still feels modern.

EDIT: I think that's a great find and possibly worth the asking price due to the colour combo, stated provenance (I haven't done an MOT check) and the lack of corrosion.

Edited by bolidemichael on Sunday 7th March 18:52

[bolidemichael]

g3org3y said:

Macron said:

Emeye said:

Unless there is a secret barges £5-£10k thread which we don’t know about]

It's not that secret. Like here it often deviates..!

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Budget creep.

Oh Christ, there's another thread? Does that one move as fast as this?

[g3org3y]

LetsTryAgain said:

g3org3y said:

My seller also had rubber mats in his advert photos!

Not to mention his finger over the shutter...
That X5 (yours) looks smart as a carrot.

Thank you, I didn't want black (drug dealer) or white (Essex). The grey looks decent though. I wasn't planning on getting the 4.8i, but this green one came up and it looked so good, I couldn't resist. I think one of the only options it doesn't have is Active Steering. Has pretty much everything else. Seller also included the 20 inch summer wheels/tyres (currently on 18s/winter tyres). My wife enjoys driving it. She's less keen on filling it up though.

[Nicks90]

bolidemichael said:

Dapster said:

Nicks90 said:

That's really nice, but I struggle in my mind with the point of an e430 amg
Surely if you want lots of power and horrendous mpg + massive bork factor, you just buy a 500 and be done with it.
What does the 430 have over the 500? Maybe 2-3mpg - but then loses out everywhere else.

Or am I missing the 'point' of one of these?

It isn't an "AMG" - that's just a stuck on badge. The 430 was the big engined barge for wafting from the office to the golf club. The E55 was a proper hairy chested "AMG" and 80 odd more bhp. In the W210, the 430 was the biggest engine you could get before going AMG. The non AMG E500 only came out in the W211 which followed this.

r129sl would certainly be able to answer this as he had a thread. I recall that he enjoyed driving it briskly and missed it when it was gone. So it can't have been too bad. It has no airmatic, unlike the 500, however and I presume that the 211 represented a step change in technology. It still feels modern.

EDIT: I think that's a great find and possibly worth the asking price due to the colour combo, stated provenance (I haven't done an MOT check) and the lack of corrosion.

Edited by bolidemichael on Sunday 7th March 18:52

I stand corrected and bow down to the superior beardage. I thought all hairy chested v8's of Merc origins post 1995 were amg machines of some form or another. Marketing ballcocks and all that modern Merc polaver thing.
In which case, an e430 with 16"rims and big sidewalls sounds wonderful!