My monumentally moronic mega-miles 760Li purchase...
Discussion
Well, my January 1998 E39 535i has reached the point that it needs some TLC. The old girl is 21 and a half years old and owes me nothing, and with the MoT up next week, I need another car. The other V8 E39 (a 2001 540i Touring) is currently fked after the header tank let go at 70mph on the A303, and, along with the 520i Touring, is currently two hundred miles away from me, up in Surrey. I'm just the Devon side of the Tamar at the moment. I randomly spotted this 760Li on eBay a couple of weeks ago, and although I wasn't brave or stupid enough enough to go for it, my elder son had other ideas... and my eBay password. Well, the 535i was an unseen eBay buy too, so how bad could this be? Seven thousand imperial credits of the realm and a fee to get it trucked down from Middlesbrough to Plymouth later, here it is...
It actually did the first 200k in just three years! There is a very slight misfire at idle when cold, and cosmetically it's not wonderful (and the paint is full of orange peel), but it drives magnificently, as tight as a drum...
It's also had most of the big scary jobs done - coolant return pipe replaced, new ABS module, the gearbox has had a load of work done, new spark plugs, new lower front suspension arms, new coolant header tank, etc etc. Giving it about one third throttle on the A388, it leapt forward with alarming urgency. I haven't had the balls to get anywhere near full throttle yet.
The mileage history is as follows: 201,003 miles at its first MoT in November 2008... which it failed on leaking rear air suspension units. It then did 2,511 miles with no MoT until it failed again on the same items a couple of weeks later, and finally passed the following day. Then only 7,773 miles to the 2009 MoT, 5,350 up to July 2011 (must have been off the road for much of 2010), then only 2,935 miles to March 2014, 4,782 miles to June 2015, then 14,729 in the following year, then 6,903 in 14 months or so to August 2017, 10,867 miles in August 2018, and just 3,088 miles in the ten months since. It hadn't been taxed since February until I taxed it a few minutes ago, which might explain the misfire. Certainly, the seller (who only acquired it a few months ago) fitted a new battery before it came south on the back of a lowloader.
It actually did the first 200k in just three years! There is a very slight misfire at idle when cold, and cosmetically it's not wonderful (and the paint is full of orange peel), but it drives magnificently, as tight as a drum...
It's also had most of the big scary jobs done - coolant return pipe replaced, new ABS module, the gearbox has had a load of work done, new spark plugs, new lower front suspension arms, new coolant header tank, etc etc. Giving it about one third throttle on the A388, it leapt forward with alarming urgency. I haven't had the balls to get anywhere near full throttle yet.
The mileage history is as follows: 201,003 miles at its first MoT in November 2008... which it failed on leaking rear air suspension units. It then did 2,511 miles with no MoT until it failed again on the same items a couple of weeks later, and finally passed the following day. Then only 7,773 miles to the 2009 MoT, 5,350 up to July 2011 (must have been off the road for much of 2010), then only 2,935 miles to March 2014, 4,782 miles to June 2015, then 14,729 in the following year, then 6,903 in 14 months or so to August 2017, 10,867 miles in August 2018, and just 3,088 miles in the ten months since. It hadn't been taxed since February until I taxed it a few minutes ago, which might explain the misfire. Certainly, the seller (who only acquired it a few months ago) fitted a new battery before it came south on the back of a lowloader.
How much is it? It has the potential to be a money pit, but than again, if it has had a lot of the likely suspects already sorted, then it could be a luxury barge for not much money. £7k seems a bit steep to me though. Maybe I'll see you wafting up and down the A38 (I'm in Ivybridge)
Well, it's been to Great Torrington via Okehampton and back this evening, and I am *not* going to admit what the lepton count was on the straights around Hatherleigh... but it also got hammered like a sports car in the tight twisty bits. I am seriously impressed at how good it is.
At some point I could do with meeting a fellow 760Li owner to learn everything the car actually does and identify the causes of the few minor issues it has, like the intermittent lighting of the inner quadrants of the dials, and the slight misfire at idle...
Is 7k a bit steep? Maybe, but that's market forces, it was an eBay auction and I wasn't the only bidder by any means. I actually won it at £7750, but the seller insisted on knocking it down because of that rough idle. I'll need to get the plug and coil checked, but it is so smooth at higher RPM, and it had new plugs last autumn... hmm.
At some point I could do with meeting a fellow 760Li owner to learn everything the car actually does and identify the causes of the few minor issues it has, like the intermittent lighting of the inner quadrants of the dials, and the slight misfire at idle...
Is 7k a bit steep? Maybe, but that's market forces, it was an eBay auction and I wasn't the only bidder by any means. I actually won it at £7750, but the seller insisted on knocking it down because of that rough idle. I'll need to get the plug and coil checked, but it is so smooth at higher RPM, and it had new plugs last autumn... hmm.
RoverP6B said:
Well, it's been to Great Torrington via Okehampton and back this evening, and I am *not* going to admit what the lepton count was on the straights around Hatherleigh... but it also got hammered like a sports car in the tight twisty bits. I am seriously impressed at how good it is.
At some point I could do with meeting a fellow 760Li owner to learn everything the car actually does and identify the causes of the few minor issues it has, like the intermittent lighting of the inner quadrants of the dials, and the slight misfire at idle...
Is 7k a bit steep? Maybe, but that's market forces, it was an eBay auction and I wasn't the only bidder by any means. I actually won it at £7750, but the seller insisted on knocking it down because of that rough idle. I'll need to get the plug and coil checked, but it is so smooth at higher RPM, and it had new plugs last autumn... hmm.
Nice road that. If you're happy with the car at that price, that's all that matters. I don't see many 7s on Devon roads and even fewer long wheelbase ones never mind a V12 ! A rare beast. My 535 GT I suppose is a bit like a 7 inside. I love it - best BMW I've had so far, and I've had a number over the years. Enjoy and forget the fuel cost At some point I could do with meeting a fellow 760Li owner to learn everything the car actually does and identify the causes of the few minor issues it has, like the intermittent lighting of the inner quadrants of the dials, and the slight misfire at idle...
Is 7k a bit steep? Maybe, but that's market forces, it was an eBay auction and I wasn't the only bidder by any means. I actually won it at £7750, but the seller insisted on knocking it down because of that rough idle. I'll need to get the plug and coil checked, but it is so smooth at higher RPM, and it had new plugs last autumn... hmm.
RoverP6B said:
I'll need to get the plug and coil checked, but it is so smooth at higher RPM, and it had new plugs last autumn... hmm.
No need for trial & error.. INPA is your friend on these cars - I got mine from https://www.cable-shack.co.uk/ and the one you need is a DCAN or a DCAN Switched (they may only sell the switched one these days). You get the software too, so I suggest an old laptop to run it on too. To this end I paid £30 and bought a Toshiba Satellite Pro U200 from Ebay, which does the job marvellously. INPA is the only installed software (apart from the Windows 7 it came with).HTP99 said:
The Mad Monk said:
Autotrader has 10 BMW 760li. 2 below £10,000, the next one £20,995. Strange?
Fantastic car but £7k seems an awful lot of money, just found one on Autotrader, 2006/56 with 71k for £8500.Also, that £8500 Autotrader 760 is grey inside and out - not for me. Very dull. Much prefer my one's colour scheme. That said, it and that cheap 2003 one have a few options missing from mine - there is no fridge or rear iDrive in mine, nor air vents in the headlining (though it does have them on the B-pillar). I wonder if it would be possible to get any of those items retrofitted?
Edited by RoverP6B on Friday 7th June 14:04
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