8 Series question.
8 Series question.
Author
Discussion

Blackpig2

Original Poster:

626 posts

211 months

Sunday 9th August 2009
quotequote all
Always loved the look of these cars, but are they overly expensive to keep/run as an everyday car, or not practicable?..
Only ask as saw one for under £4000 recently and felt tempted......

Talkwrench

910 posts

263 months

Sunday 9th August 2009
quotequote all
Many threads in the past on this very subject. They are perfectly practical and generally very reliable - as long as you buy a good one (ergo, not generally a cheap one). The replacement parts are not particularly expensive and are readily available but you do need to find a good indi who knows the cars. A clean model with full service history is the ideal find. I personally much prefer the V12 - the engine really suits the character of the car - but the V8's are ok. To me the V8's feel like they work hard and the V12's never need to even try.
All are thirsty on short runs and fine on long runs. A manual is a rare and special treat.
Uprated, lowered suspension transforms them into the car they should have been from new.
A bad one is a nightmare and a proverbial money pit.
A good one is gorgeous to look at, great to drive and a truly superb GT.
They still turn heads and have real presence - but do buy carefully and get someone who knows them inside out to check out any possible purchase.

koenig d

127 posts

210 months

Sunday 9th August 2009
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most of the money that iv'e spent on my 8s has been on cosmetic items. £4000 is cheap. for a lot of car. the oldest of these cars are 20years old now. a dream to drive, imo, pay as much as you can afford and make sure you get a good one. the csis are the most colectable. all have 6 speed manual box's with rear wheel steer AHK. 170mph+ with lots of toys.

derin100

5,217 posts

273 months

Sunday 9th August 2009
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The weather was dry and sunny here today so I took mine out. A rare treat as I've added only just over 1K miles in three and a half years...All on open A-roads.

In my humble experience, few cars these days generate this kind of road presence when seen in the flesh:

http://www.bmwclassics.co.uk/840cisport01/index.ht...

As Talkwrench said though: "Don't but a 'cheap' one".

Blackpig2

Original Poster:

626 posts

211 months

Sunday 9th August 2009
quotequote all
Thanks for the information. There are not many cars I would call beautiful, but this is one. Definately one to seriously consider, I took 7 months to find my perfect Discovery2, so dont mind looking a while for the right 8 series.
Regards
BP

GTWayne

4,595 posts

247 months

Monday 10th August 2009
quotequote all
An inexpensive car does not necessarily mean it is no good. I bought a 4.4 on a '97 at the end of last year for £4K. It has had a full respray in Estoril blue and has covered 165K miles and has very little service history but it has not let me down once so far, looks real fine and drives lovely, so I am a very happy bunny yes
An 8 series is a lot of car and £4K is not the amount of money that it once was and my view on the situation is that even if the motor went pop tomorrow the remains should still fetch £2K and so it will have cost me £2K to have owned an 8 series for 10 months and considering that the depreciation on my '07 Z4MC cost me well over double that for the time that I owned it I reckon that is pretty good value for money yes