8 series, what are they like?

[pits]

johnnywas said:

there is 1 850csi for sale on pistonheads now

I am fully aware of it, but I dont have the cash for one, nor do I really want one at the moment, and I certainly wouldn't consider buying one that has had an M badge slapped on the back end of it and I dont think I would go and see a car which has the description

seller said:

MY LATEST TOY METALIC SWARTZ THIS WAS THE M POWERD CSI SUPER CAR THAT NEVA WAS CALLD AN M8 ONLY AVAILIBLE IN MANUAL TWO TONE GREY NAPPA E,M SEATS A/CON CRUISE E,STEERING ADJUSTMENT E,SUNROOF PAS ABS E,WINDOWS C,LOCKING ALARM 6SPEED MANUEL LONG TAX N MOT F,S HISTORY THIS CAR WILL B FOR SALE ONCE I HAVE FOUND MY SELF AN 850 B12 ALPINA 5.7 LHD OR RIGHT HD SO IF UV GOT 1 FOR SALE CASH WAITING

It was never called the M8 because the M8 prototype was never put into production, nor was the 850CSI close to even being an M8 it lacked alot of power for a start, mind you I would love a go in that 840SC that is for sale or has been for sale, 440bhp 8 series, now that is closeish to the M8


It looks a nice car, but I am put off by the M badge and how badly the advert is written, call it snobbery if you want, but I want to know that the 8 I am buying has been looked after like an 8 should be, ie not tarted M badges are for M cars or 316i compacts, I am also fully aware that the engine is part of the M range and does wear the M badge, but that is from factory, and it doesn't clutter the look of the car


Again though I am currently not in the market for an 8, either way in the real world vs ideal world I would have to pick an 840 over the 850, horses for courses and all that

derin100 said:

Not madness at all!...It COSTS to get cars into good condition. People forget that when they think they can buy an old car for not very much money. It still costs for bits and pieces to be sorted and it soon mounts up.

e.g Not even an 8-Series...and I haven't strived for perfection as I'm actually using this car on a daily basis...but I bought this Mercedes 190E with 67K miles on the clock for £1300...yet it now stands me £3K:

http://www.bmwclassics.co.uk/gallery/index.php?spg...

And that's only a little 190E to drive around in. With an 8-Series who wants a sh*t one? What's the point? Nothing looks sadder than to be in a sh*t 'once proud' luxury coupe? So it'll cost money to avoid that scenario.

Couldn't agree more, these cars whilst expensive in places you need to spend the cash on them or you end up with a st one, I remember looking at a green one years back the list of faults I can remember

Headlight intermittent problem- Could be upto £1500 for a new one to fix it

Electric seats didn't work properly- Who knows how much

Usual LCD display gone, but it binged to inform you something was wrong, but you couldn't see what it was

Suspension was on its way out

Rear diff had a leak

Starting it, it cranked over for a few seconds then fired up on what felt like 5 cylinders then the other 3 kicked in, followed by a weird buzzing noise

Gearbox was a bit funny

Couple of electrical gremlins

Sadly that was an 8 that should of been broken, but some poor soul bought it for 7k I believe it went for, probably would of cost another 7k to fix, then it will have the £70k + running costs on top, so it will have been shifted on quickly, probably been broken for bits by now.

[parksie]

The Supercharged 840 is my old one in which I tried to create the fastest accelerating 8 in the UK, it would hit 60 mph in 5'2 secs & 100 mph in 11.8 secs so as far as I know that was a successful mission albeit a expensive one.

In the process of modifying the cars character was lost some what & resulted in the sale, I have since offered to 'take it off their hands' but they seem to think it is actually worth £15k, so it will be for sale a good while longer.

5 x 840 & 1x 850 have I owned, without a doubt the M62 engined 8 is the one to have IMO.

Edited by parksie on Monday 28th December 09:00

[johnnywas]

AB said:

They are an occasion every time you get in.

The noise, feeling of power, everything is just fantastic.

All I will say is DO IT! As a daily driver I can imagine it will cost a fair amount but if it's not your only car, then you'd never tire of it and it really won't cost all that much.

IME obviously.

can you explain how on your profile your 840ci 4.4 has a v12 with an m badge ? i see you bought it of your father for £4,000 with 50k miles, its an ever bigger bargain now as it looks like a csi,

[koenig d]

some of the 8's are very rare. here is mine
the only rhd BMW E31 850i Koenig special KS8 in the world,

[Job38]

Hi Guys, I've resisted posting 'till now.

I love the 8 Series E31.
One of the last beautiful and over-engineered BMWs.

However, I have to say, it was only the CSi that interested me (apologies to other 8ers) I just HATE autos.

I ran a CSi for two years. It took me months, and months to find a good one with low miles and full BMW service history.

In two years, apart from 'improvements' with Phoenix Motorsports (tower reinforcements, poly bushes, etc., etc.) I had NO major problems.

Most importantly, I lost pretty much nothing in depreciation, which in the current market is pretty astonishing! (compare that with a current M5/M6 !!!!)
So, one has to put depreciation in the context of running costs, I'd have a CSi and it's associated running costs over an M5/M6 running costs/DEPRECIATION COSTS (ugly costs) any day of the week.....

The 8 Series is an astonishingly beautiful car, very rare, and incredibly over-engineered.
I'd recommend one to any PHer.
(Alas, PH BMW is now all about smokey, auto 3 Series.........)

The CSi is a particularly astonishing piece of kit, it has taken Aston Martin 20 years to catch-up, and even the new AM Vantage V12 has less torque....!

[koenig d]

Job38 said:

Hi Guys, I've resisted posting 'till now.

I love the 8 Series E31.
One of the last beautiful and over-engineered BMWs.

However, I have to say, it was only the CSi that interested me (apologies to other 8ers) I just HATE autos.

I ran a CSi for two years. It took me months, and months to find a good one with low miles and full BMW service history.

In two years, apart from 'improvements' with Phoenix Motorsports (tower reinforcements, poly bushes, etc., etc.) I had NO major problems.

Most importantly, I lost pretty much nothing in depreciation, which in the current market is pretty astonishing! (compare that with a current M5/M6 !!!!)
So, one has to put depreciation in the context of running costs, I'd have a CSi and it's associated running costs over an M5/M6 running costs/DEPRECIATION COSTS (ugly costs) any day of the week.....

The 8 Series is an astonishingly beautiful car, very rare, and incredibly over-engineered.
I'd recommend one to any PHer.
(Alas, PH BMW is now all about smokey, auto 3 Series.........)

The CSi is a particularly astonishing piece of kit, it has taken Aston Martin 20 years to catch-up, and even the new AM Vantage V12 has less torque....!

Gerry at pheonix is as good a technician as you will find anywhere on the planet.

[Taita]

Job38 said:

Mother of God, that is truly spectacular.

[Gun]

I loved my 840 while I owned it, was just a pain trying to find somewhere to park it where I live. I will own an 850CSi one day though, stunning piece of kit.

[johnnywas]

who wishes thay had this under the bonnet.

[derin100]

Job38 said:

Hi Guys, I've resisted posting 'till now.

I love the 8 Series E31.
One of the last beautiful and over-engineered BMWs.

However, I have to say, it was only the CSi that interested me (apologies to other 8ers) I just HATE autos.

I ran a CSi for two years. It took me months, and months to find a good one with low miles and full BMW service history.

In two years, apart from 'improvements' with Phoenix Motorsports (tower reinforcements, poly bushes, etc., etc.) I had NO major problems.

Most importantly, I lost pretty much nothing in depreciation, which in the current market is pretty astonishing! (compare that with a current M5/M6 !!!!)
So, one has to put depreciation in the context of running costs, I'd have a CSi and it's associated running costs over an M5/M6 running costs/DEPRECIATION COSTS (ugly costs) any day of the week.....

The 8 Series is an astonishingly beautiful car, very rare, and incredibly over-engineered.
I'd recommend one to any PHer.
(Alas, PH BMW is now all about smokey, auto 3 Series.........)

The CSi is a particularly astonishing piece of kit, it has taken Aston Martin 20 years to catch-up, and even the new AM Vantage V12 has less torque....!

^^^ What he says is true!

I'm not going to get into the whole debate about which model is 'best'. We did that debate to death more than once on here someways back on here and it is now even less relevant than it was a couple of years ago.

More important is the individual car itself.

As JOB38 said...these cars were phenomenally over-engineered...and BMW won't make that mistake ever again, I think?

You're not buying the fastest thing in the World even at CSi level...I've currently got an automatic Mercedes Estate that would embarrass a CSi. One is buying into something completely different.

Three years ago I was offered a five figure sum for mine (and the first figure wasn't '1')...and that was before I'd even got it home! About four weeks ago I was offered a five figure sum and first figure wasn't '1'...or even '2'! I still declined it.

If you want to see where good examples of these cars are going now log on to mobile.de.

I'm not just "saying" this...because frankly I don't care...mine's not for sale!

We're way behind in the U.K. These cars are now seriously under-valued here.

Nevermind Aston's being way behind...a year ago or so I had occasion to park my next to a Ferrari in our village...it made it's build quality and presence look like a Fiat X19!

[johnnywas]

Thing is it's getting really hard to find a really good conditioned car with good history and under 100,000 miles,To buy a good example you have to expect to pay top dollar.

[paoloh]

johnnywas said:

Thing is it's getting really hard to find a really good conditioned car with good history and under 100,000 miles,To buy a good example you have to expect to pay top dollar.

How much is a 92 J 850 with 85k worth in your opinion?

Great condition with 15 service book entries.

[johnnywas]

paoloh said:

johnnywas said:

Thing is it's getting really hard to find a really good conditioned car with good history and under 100,000 miles,To buy a good example you have to expect to pay top dollar.

How much is a 92 J 850 with 85k worth in your opinion?

Great condition with 15 service book entries.[/quote
To be honest i have not got a clue,you must have an idea yourself,but someone who wants a good one should be prepared to pay wat its worth,but as you know their is a huge differance on price to say a good one and a bad one eh,

[koenig d]

johnnywas said:

who wishes thay had this under the bonnet.

the M8 prototype motor.

[johnnywas]

koenig d said:

johnnywas said:

who wishes thay had this under the bonnet.

the M8 prototype motor.

yep prototype so nobody has one lol i was reading that the prototype m8 will oneday be crushed.oh and do you notice the pic you put up has no lights ?(main lights)

Edited by johnnywas on Thursday 31st December 14:12

Edited by johnnywas on Thursday 31st December 14:13

[Gun]

johnnywas said:

koenig d said:

johnnywas said:

who wishes thay had this under the bonnet.

the M8 prototype motor.

yep prototype so nobody has one lol i was reading that the prototype m8 will oneday be crushed.oh and do you notice the pic you put up has no lights ?(main lights)

Edited by johnnywas on Thursday 31st December 14:12

Edited by johnnywas on Thursday 31st December 14:13

If they're going to crush the only M8 ever made then I might give them a ring and offer £100 for it, why would they say no!! I wish they'd built it though, even in limited numbers, it would've been awesome.

[johnnywas]

www.e31.net lot's of imfo here

Edited by johnnywas on Thursday 31st December 16:59

[derin100]

A rare day!

It was dry and sunny here today...so I took mine out for a drive!

[E31Shrew]

derin100 said:

A rare day!

It was dry and sunny here today...so I took mine out for a drive!

You should've called! I took mine out for the first time in a month...and the car!

[koenig d]

but nice airvent's in the bonnet.

Edited by koenig d on Friday 1st January 16:55