840i/850i

[Gun]

I'm thinking of buying on of these in the next few months, what's everyone's experiences with them, any reliability issues etc... Any feedback greatly received.

[belleair302]

840ci with some basic modifications is a wonderful car. Look closely at the poor lights, suspension top mounts, change the gearbox oil, check all the electrics and make sure the previous owners have a passed along all of the bills. Great GT cars but a bad one will cost you dearly.

850CSi is a different beast all together. Rare, if well looked after a great car, fantastic engine but expensive to run everyday and difficult to find good specialists who understand the complex mechanics of such a beast. Rewarding for those with deep pockets and a love of the unusual. Some parts can be hard to source quickly. Around 150 came to the UK, maybe 80 still running nd half of these would be poorly looked after.

Replacement exhausts and cats are huge money, can be heavy on disks and pads. Again a great GT, but no sportscar!

[wayneblackwell]

I would like to echo what belleair said, I would suggest buying a late 840 sport, these have the later M62 engine which do not suffer from the nikasil problems they also have all the m-tec goodies
These cars need to be very well maintained as parts for these cars are often more expensive than the new six series to buy.
As for reliability well I've had my current one for over two years now and it hasn't missed a beat, it took me over 6 months with several disappointed viewings to get this one as there are many rotten apples out there.
I absolutely love these cars they always turn heads & are truly stunning in design and would always recommend buying one to anyone.

For some good buying guides I would head for clube31.net & e31faq.com

If you do your homework you will be fine.

Good luck and have fun with your search.

Edited by wayneblackwell on Thursday 24th April 12:50

[Job38]

Wot 'e sed.

I've always had a soft spot for old BMWs, the E9, E24, and E31 are the real classics to me.
I'd say have a look for a good 840Ci Sport. (this looks nice: http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/415725.htm )
BMW Magazine are running one at the moment.
Have a look over here for specific E31 stuff (it's a bit quiet though!) http://www.clube31.net/

It had to be the CSi for me, but, as said, they're a very different beastie, though look exactly the same as an 840Ci Sport.

[il-mostro]

I ran the below pictured early 850 for about 3 months, and although it truely was a gorgeous car to drive and own, it also scared the life out of me. Firstly there were the running costs, when i first picked the car up the owner had left it virtually empty (i now why now) and it cost in the region of £90 to fill it up. For that, i only got about 300 miles! On a good motorway run i only got 20mpg at the most. Using it to go to Tesco and back, i got it down to about 12-14mpg.
It is also worth remembering how much these cars cost brang new. You can't just take it to some back street garage for servicing, it needs to be looked after properly, and that required deep pockets in my experience.
I hope if you get one, you get a good one, but just be mindful of the running costs. Good Luck.

[wayneblackwell]

Yes all the above comments are true and come as standard with the all 8 series, they are not cheap by any means, but if you can afford one then I would say buy one.

Edited by wayneblackwell on Thursday 24th April 19:36

[Gun]

Thanks for all the input guy's very informative. I won't be using my car quite as much as I do now so thought I'd get something more "interesting" to use at weekends so the 300 miles on one tank should last about a month, I'm spending £100 a month on fuel now anyway.

I have a good BMW dealer not far from me so that should take care of servicing etc... Now just need to find a clean one.

[burriana]

May be daft question but have you done a search on here for the subject. There have been several long threads on the 8 series in the last few months ... sorry, haven't time to dig them out as I need to catch a bus! ... no, seriously, i do

[Gun]

Been doing a lot of searching over the last couple of days and going to look at this on Saturday:

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/cars_popup.js...

Seems to be in pretty good nick.

[burriana]

I meant a search for the "topics' in the forums... hang on ... here:

my thread here

or this

[wayneblackwell]

Seems to be OK, one thing to note is that the wipers don't seem to be as low as they should be, they should be almost under the bonnet, that could be something to look at, but the interior looks in good shape from the picture

[Gun]

burriana said:

I meant a search for the "topics' in the forums... hang on ... here:

my thread here

or this

Yeah already read them thanks

[mjwscorpio]

I could not see the link or the car that you are looking at.
For your info I looked at one in Reading and put down a deposit. RAC inspection showed many problems so did not buy. It looked good in the pictures.