E31 840Ci - first ever BMW (and a daily!)
Discussion
Image from: collectingcars.com
Hi everyone,
I’ve been a very long time anonymous lurker on the site (12 years plus) and spent this time browsing and enjoying rather than posting. Finally, I’ve decided to contribute and hope it’s of interest to people.
As the title says, this is my first ever BMW, and according to the internet (and my new friendly mechanic – shoutout to P&R BMW) I’ve gone in right at the deep end.
I apologize in advance that the introductory posts are a bit long ─ as I bought the car in January 2020 I have a bit to cover.
My (recent) previous cars were a 1.6 4-pot 1990 Mazda Eunos:
…then moved onto a 3.0 V6 2006 Mercedes CLK 280 Sport. All I did to it was add an aux-out and changed the alloys to 19" OZ Superturismo LMs:
…and now this V8 4.4 840Ci. So, it seems the pattern is to go up in engine size by two and increase the bork factor by about five.
As mentioned, I bought the car in January 2020 and had hoped to do a few miles in it before posting, but COVID put paid to that idea. Considering the hardships some have had to go through in this period, this is a very minor thing, and hopefully it just means putting the foot down once lockdown is lifted!
Background
I’m a visual designer ( www.salman.org.uk), working for an educational institute by day and freelancing at night/weekends. The office is only 6 miles away (but takes 45-60min each way due to London traffic). As a result I only do around 6000-8000 miles a year.
The CLK was comfortable, fairly fast and enjoyable with the top down. On the flip side it only did 21 mpg around town, the road tax was £450ish, and due to where I live, insurance around £700. I decided to sell it once it went over 90,000 miles and the next major service cost was quoted around £1,000.
I bought the car for £7,000 and took a complete bath come selling time, letting it go for £2,000 after 4 years. Ouch.
The hunt
I drew a short list a year in advance (January 2019) and like any Pistonheader worth their salt, tracked prices and availability in an Excel sheet over this period. My criteria had 4 points:
As anyone sensible can work out, for the money I had, compromises had to be made on most of the cars above. A further compromise needed was borne out from wanting to buy from a dealership rather than private individual. This thinking was mainly a result of issues with the CLK in the first 3 months of ownership, where the idler pulley came loose (once) and belt snapped (twice). Thankfully the dealer repaired it both times at his expense (London to Torquay!).
My first two options were disregarded as it would mean buying high mileage heroes/leggy cars. The next two were disregarded on bork factor (my neighbour has a CL and cries himself to sleep) as well as pushy salesman (in the case of the XKR, calling at 8pm to say another customer is interested in the car and I needed to get to somewhere near Southampton from London the next morning). It proved difficult in finding a well maintained RS4 and CLS55 at a dealership.
The Volvo Amazon, while one of my dream-five-car-garage cars, was also difficult to find – with a useable example having to be imported from the Netherlands – and lets face it, hard to be used as a daily.
This meant the final three were the 840Ci, M3 and SL500.
I disregarded the M3 next as although it was the best handling, made the best noise, a pure M car, etc I couldn’t find a sensibly priced manual (for example, hello company named after a six-sided polygon and your £30,000+ M3!!)
However, what really swung it for me were the type of people buying M3s/M4s in my area. I’m almost 100% sure this is a local ‘scene’ thing (and a big case of stereotyping), but around here, these cars are mostly driven by individuals who make the exhaust fart loudly at crawling speed and drive at 40mph around residential areas. Again, I realise I’m stereotyping so apologise to all the Pistonheaders here who own these – I promise, it’s just my area.
Final two
Come the third week of December 2019, and it’s a duel between an 840Ci in Hertford and an SL500 in Hampshire.
My first choice was the Mercedes as it was the brand I was coming from (so knew the local mechanic) and as someone I follow on Twitter was an owner and sung its praises (Helen Wakerley, Ferrari UK social guru).
So phoned up the dealership and they the instructions they gave were something along the lines of:
“We can arrange a viewing but our premises are at a secret location. So travel to a field in the middle of nowhere, do the hand gestures we will fax over to you, proceed to drop you trousers and button them up back-to-front, wait for it to rain, and then maybe, just maybe, someone will come meet you and take you to the car”
Cue a polite thank you and I’ll call back in a few hours to confirm.
The E31
Immediately rang the E31 dealership and it was a much more straightforward affair. If memory serves me correctly, I phoned the last Friday before Christmas 2019 and organised a viewing on Boxing Day. Coincidentally I also bought the CLK on a Boxing Day.
The dealership in question was Old Colonel Cars, and I met Andy Miller, who came across as a nice enthusiast. On the day of my visit he had an old school Bentley, some more BMWs (Alpinas, a 635csi, E39s, another E31, etc) and a few Porsches. He works out of a farm which I found quirky but proved most useful in testing out the cars handling and comfort.
It’s very cliched (and completely against the ‘don’t buy the first car you see’ advice), but as soon as I saw it, I knew I was buying it. Mainly, as it had been detailed and the sun was shining so looked resplendent in Cosmos Black. Started it up and it purred into life, I turned on the pop-up headlights and in the drivers seat I felt like a giddy 9 year old.
We had a 30-45min test drive along rutted unpaved roads, single track paved roads and the motorway. It felt tight – although obviously being the first E31 I’d ever sat in (let alone driven) I had no reference point. To somewhat alleviate this, I gave it a very thorough going over with a few buyers guides in hand, and there was very little wrong with it.
Here are some pics:
(Images from advertisement on Old Colonel Cars and Collecting Cars)
(As an aside, before Andy sold it, it was put on auction at Collecting Cars and failed to sell. Hopefully this is just because it didn’t meet the reserve (and not as a result of something being discovered) – on the longshot anyone can shed some light on this – I’d be very curious!)
I’m a visual designer ( www.salman.org.uk), working for an educational institute by day and freelancing at night/weekends. The office is only 6 miles away (but takes 45-60min each way due to London traffic). As a result I only do around 6000-8000 miles a year.
The CLK was comfortable, fairly fast and enjoyable with the top down. On the flip side it only did 21 mpg around town, the road tax was £450ish, and due to where I live, insurance around £700. I decided to sell it once it went over 90,000 miles and the next major service cost was quoted around £1,000.
I bought the car for £7,000 and took a complete bath come selling time, letting it go for £2,000 after 4 years. Ouch.
The hunt
I drew a short list a year in advance (January 2019) and like any Pistonheader worth their salt, tracked prices and availability in an Excel sheet over this period. My criteria had 4 points:
- lose as little money as possible/ownership cost per mile to be low (especially after the CLK)
- desirability and/or rare
- able to be an only-car daily
- no more than £25,000
- Maserati Gran Turismo
- Porsche 996 C4S
- Mercedes CL500 Blue Efficiency
- Jaguar XKR
- Audi RS4 convertible
- Mercedes CLS55 AMG
- Volvo Amazon wagon
- BMW E46 M3
- BMW 840Ci
- Mercedes R129 SL500
As anyone sensible can work out, for the money I had, compromises had to be made on most of the cars above. A further compromise needed was borne out from wanting to buy from a dealership rather than private individual. This thinking was mainly a result of issues with the CLK in the first 3 months of ownership, where the idler pulley came loose (once) and belt snapped (twice). Thankfully the dealer repaired it both times at his expense (London to Torquay!).
My first two options were disregarded as it would mean buying high mileage heroes/leggy cars. The next two were disregarded on bork factor (my neighbour has a CL and cries himself to sleep) as well as pushy salesman (in the case of the XKR, calling at 8pm to say another customer is interested in the car and I needed to get to somewhere near Southampton from London the next morning). It proved difficult in finding a well maintained RS4 and CLS55 at a dealership.
The Volvo Amazon, while one of my dream-five-car-garage cars, was also difficult to find – with a useable example having to be imported from the Netherlands – and lets face it, hard to be used as a daily.
This meant the final three were the 840Ci, M3 and SL500.
I disregarded the M3 next as although it was the best handling, made the best noise, a pure M car, etc I couldn’t find a sensibly priced manual (for example, hello company named after a six-sided polygon and your £30,000+ M3!!)
However, what really swung it for me were the type of people buying M3s/M4s in my area. I’m almost 100% sure this is a local ‘scene’ thing (and a big case of stereotyping), but around here, these cars are mostly driven by individuals who make the exhaust fart loudly at crawling speed and drive at 40mph around residential areas. Again, I realise I’m stereotyping so apologise to all the Pistonheaders here who own these – I promise, it’s just my area.
Final two
Come the third week of December 2019, and it’s a duel between an 840Ci in Hertford and an SL500 in Hampshire.
My first choice was the Mercedes as it was the brand I was coming from (so knew the local mechanic) and as someone I follow on Twitter was an owner and sung its praises (Helen Wakerley, Ferrari UK social guru).
So phoned up the dealership and they the instructions they gave were something along the lines of:
“We can arrange a viewing but our premises are at a secret location. So travel to a field in the middle of nowhere, do the hand gestures we will fax over to you, proceed to drop you trousers and button them up back-to-front, wait for it to rain, and then maybe, just maybe, someone will come meet you and take you to the car”
Cue a polite thank you and I’ll call back in a few hours to confirm.
The E31
Immediately rang the E31 dealership and it was a much more straightforward affair. If memory serves me correctly, I phoned the last Friday before Christmas 2019 and organised a viewing on Boxing Day. Coincidentally I also bought the CLK on a Boxing Day.
The dealership in question was Old Colonel Cars, and I met Andy Miller, who came across as a nice enthusiast. On the day of my visit he had an old school Bentley, some more BMWs (Alpinas, a 635csi, E39s, another E31, etc) and a few Porsches. He works out of a farm which I found quirky but proved most useful in testing out the cars handling and comfort.
It’s very cliched (and completely against the ‘don’t buy the first car you see’ advice), but as soon as I saw it, I knew I was buying it. Mainly, as it had been detailed and the sun was shining so looked resplendent in Cosmos Black. Started it up and it purred into life, I turned on the pop-up headlights and in the drivers seat I felt like a giddy 9 year old.
We had a 30-45min test drive along rutted unpaved roads, single track paved roads and the motorway. It felt tight – although obviously being the first E31 I’d ever sat in (let alone driven) I had no reference point. To somewhat alleviate this, I gave it a very thorough going over with a few buyers guides in hand, and there was very little wrong with it.
Here are some pics:
(Images from advertisement on Old Colonel Cars and Collecting Cars)
(As an aside, before Andy sold it, it was put on auction at Collecting Cars and failed to sell. Hopefully this is just because it didn’t meet the reserve (and not as a result of something being discovered) – on the longshot anyone can shed some light on this – I’d be very curious!)
Edited by salmanorguk on Tuesday 13th April 16:37
The condition/specs
Another thing that drew me to the car was its condition and specs.
When I viewed it, it had only done 51,000 miles, was recently serviced, and prior to that had had a light recommissioning following a long period of storage.
It is supposedly a car with quite rare specs/options list – although I have no way of confirming. This is partly due to it being generously optioned but mostly due to the Nürburgring suspension system. According to other forums this is a package in addition to the EDC system and gives beefier anti-roll bars, springs, etc. The EDC is nice but increases the bork factor.
The full options list is:
It was not all sunshine and roses – there were one or two issues:
As the internet will have you believe (rightly), a bad E31 can be a money pit – and the forums are littered with examples of hapless men (its always men) living out their own 2008 financial crisis in a bid to get the car fixed.
As I really didn’t want to tempt fate and didn’t possess an ample titanium undercarriage, I also bought an Autoprotect warranty for the year for £400. (Spoiler alert – this proved to be a prudent decision)
The sale and collection day
With all the above I managed to get a £1,000 discount on the sale price and left on Boxing Day having given a deposit to secure the car. Collection was to be in the first week of January 2020 after the oil sensor and starter motor were replaced.
Cue the third week of January 2020, and after BMW had dispatched the wrong starter motor THREE times from Germany, I finally collected the car.
Titivating
Prepare yourself for one of the most horrific sentences to be uttered in classic car/enthusiast ownership circles.
I immediately started to modify the car.
But before everyone remembers what I did to my Mazda Eunos and recoils in horror, this was a much more sympathetic approach with a goal of making the car liveable as a daily.
Head unit
The first change was to replace the head-unit/phone holder. As much as I loved the quaintness of the original tape deck and Nokia phone holder – it didn’t have Bluetooth or an aux jack. I read online you could retrofit the Nokia for a modern phone but this proved difficult to obtain. When deleting, I had hoped this dealer-fit option would have been sticky-padded on to the centre console but lo and behold, three screws were used instead. FFS.
With the head-unit, out came the Business RDS deck and in went a Pioneer DEH-80PRS. As someone who enjoys music (and aimlessly goes out for drives listening to it) I focussed on getting a quality head-unit, and reviews suggested this was nice. My first choice was a Sony RSX-GS9, but at £1,300 I couldn’t justify the cost (especially as other components should also really require upgrading to take advantage of it). To get around this I purchased an Astell & Kern SR25 digital audio player to play songs from.
Floor mats
The next were replacing the floormats. As much as I loved the light, airy, parchment interior - cream floormats are very hard to keep clean. Cue some model specific mats ordered from a UK company – black with cream piping.
Sticker
The last, and probably most frowned upon mod, was a sticker. For some weird reason I became obsessed with naming the car, and decided it was a bit of a “Bruce” car. I wanted a phrase that alluded to Bavaria and a female name, so came up with “Brunhilda the broody Bavarian beast”.
As I previously mentioned, I’m a visual designer ( www.salman.org.uk) and handily my freelance work tends to be around automotive subjects (e.g 50+ illustrations for Blipshift, two-stage illumination MX5 dials, etc), so rather than farm out, I fired up Adobe Illustrator and came up with my own design.
I didn’t want to have M colours (as its not an M car and those colours are so played-out anyway) and I also didn’t want any Blackletter font styles (due to Nazi and current racism connections). Having researched a bit, this led me to the Bavarian flag colours, which turned out to be (light) blue and white. So washed-out BMW colours. Drat.
I finally settled on the Munich flag for the colours (connecting with BMW’s location) and a condensed variant of “Akzidenz Grotesk” and “Din” for the fonts (as both originated from Germany).
From the outset, I wanted a simple roundel that complimented the simple lines of the car and could be tucked into the rear quarter window, and below is the result:
PS
Yes, not only is this magnificent b
d my only car at the moment, I also street park the thing. Runs for cover…
Chapter 1 - done
I’ll leave it here for now – and if anyone has any questions, happy to answer them.
(This is at my sisters - who has a garage!)
(In the snow)
(outside the house)
Another thing that drew me to the car was its condition and specs.
When I viewed it, it had only done 51,000 miles, was recently serviced, and prior to that had had a light recommissioning following a long period of storage.
It is supposedly a car with quite rare specs/options list – although I have no way of confirming. This is partly due to it being generously optioned but mostly due to the Nürburgring suspension system. According to other forums this is a package in addition to the EDC system and gives beefier anti-roll bars, springs, etc. The EDC is nice but increases the bork factor.
The full options list is:
- S216A Hydro steering-servotronic
- S223A Dynamic Damping Control
- S243A Airbag for front passenger
- S245A Steering wheel column adjustment electric
- S320A Deleted, model lettering
- S353A Front and rear window green wedge
- S401A Lift-up-and-slide-back sunroof, electric
- S416A Roller sun vizor, rear lateral
- S423A Floor mats, velours
- S428A Warning triangle and first aid kit
- S431A Interior mirror with automatic-dip
- S459A Seat adjuster, electric, with memory
- S481A Sports seat
- S494A Seat heating driver/passenger
- S500A Headlight wipe/wash/Intensive cleaning
- S528A Automatic air flow control
- S540A Cruise control
- S669A Radio BMW Business RDS
- S676A HiFi speaker system
- S694A Provisions for BMW 6 CD changer
- S710A M sports steering wheel, multifunction
- S715A M Aerodynamics package
- S775A Headlining anthracite
- S782A Suspension system Nürburgring
It was not all sunshine and roses – there were one or two issues:
- It had a weak starter motor – I didn’t notice but was pointed out - Andy would replace this before sale
- It had a faulty oil sensor – this showed on the computer readout - Andy would replace this before sale
- The wheels had kerb rash and in some places the paint flaked off
- The rear window was delaminated at the lower corners – apparently an E31 thing
- There were one or two scratches in the paint work
- There was wear to the drivers seat bolster and the rear passenger armrest/centre console
As the internet will have you believe (rightly), a bad E31 can be a money pit – and the forums are littered with examples of hapless men (its always men) living out their own 2008 financial crisis in a bid to get the car fixed.
As I really didn’t want to tempt fate and didn’t possess an ample titanium undercarriage, I also bought an Autoprotect warranty for the year for £400. (Spoiler alert – this proved to be a prudent decision)
The sale and collection day
With all the above I managed to get a £1,000 discount on the sale price and left on Boxing Day having given a deposit to secure the car. Collection was to be in the first week of January 2020 after the oil sensor and starter motor were replaced.
Cue the third week of January 2020, and after BMW had dispatched the wrong starter motor THREE times from Germany, I finally collected the car.
Titivating
Prepare yourself for one of the most horrific sentences to be uttered in classic car/enthusiast ownership circles.
I immediately started to modify the car.
But before everyone remembers what I did to my Mazda Eunos and recoils in horror, this was a much more sympathetic approach with a goal of making the car liveable as a daily.
Head unit
The first change was to replace the head-unit/phone holder. As much as I loved the quaintness of the original tape deck and Nokia phone holder – it didn’t have Bluetooth or an aux jack. I read online you could retrofit the Nokia for a modern phone but this proved difficult to obtain. When deleting, I had hoped this dealer-fit option would have been sticky-padded on to the centre console but lo and behold, three screws were used instead. FFS.
With the head-unit, out came the Business RDS deck and in went a Pioneer DEH-80PRS. As someone who enjoys music (and aimlessly goes out for drives listening to it) I focussed on getting a quality head-unit, and reviews suggested this was nice. My first choice was a Sony RSX-GS9, but at £1,300 I couldn’t justify the cost (especially as other components should also really require upgrading to take advantage of it). To get around this I purchased an Astell & Kern SR25 digital audio player to play songs from.
Floor mats
The next were replacing the floormats. As much as I loved the light, airy, parchment interior - cream floormats are very hard to keep clean. Cue some model specific mats ordered from a UK company – black with cream piping.
Sticker
The last, and probably most frowned upon mod, was a sticker. For some weird reason I became obsessed with naming the car, and decided it was a bit of a “Bruce” car. I wanted a phrase that alluded to Bavaria and a female name, so came up with “Brunhilda the broody Bavarian beast”.
As I previously mentioned, I’m a visual designer ( www.salman.org.uk) and handily my freelance work tends to be around automotive subjects (e.g 50+ illustrations for Blipshift, two-stage illumination MX5 dials, etc), so rather than farm out, I fired up Adobe Illustrator and came up with my own design.
I didn’t want to have M colours (as its not an M car and those colours are so played-out anyway) and I also didn’t want any Blackletter font styles (due to Nazi and current racism connections). Having researched a bit, this led me to the Bavarian flag colours, which turned out to be (light) blue and white. So washed-out BMW colours. Drat.
I finally settled on the Munich flag for the colours (connecting with BMW’s location) and a condensed variant of “Akzidenz Grotesk” and “Din” for the fonts (as both originated from Germany).
From the outset, I wanted a simple roundel that complimented the simple lines of the car and could be tucked into the rear quarter window, and below is the result:
PS
Yes, not only is this magnificent b
d my only car at the moment, I also street park the thing. Runs for cover…Chapter 1 - done
I’ll leave it here for now – and if anyone has any questions, happy to answer them.
(This is at my sisters - who has a garage!)
(In the snow)
(outside the house)
Edited by salmanorguk on Tuesday 13th April 16:37
Hi again,
Thanks to everyone for the kind messages – as cliched as it sounds they really are nice and it’s very uplifting to be part of a supportive and appreciative community!
Apologies I'm still trying to get my head around how to post and not sure how to "quote reply all" to the individual messages - so will try and reply to questions in the updates.
So to continue the story…
Thanks to everyone for the kind messages – as cliched as it sounds they really are nice and it’s very uplifting to be part of a supportive and appreciative community!
Apologies I'm still trying to get my head around how to post and not sure how to "quote reply all" to the individual messages - so will try and reply to questions in the updates.
So to continue the story…
Initial outlay
As previously mentioned, not being rich enough to send it to a mechanic every time an issue occurred, and not being heroic enough to completely work on it myself, I needed a car in good condition that didn’t cost too much per mile.
Someone has asked how much it cost, and if you include everything to get it home (car cost, road tax, insurance, warranty) I was close to my £25,000 budget.
Since buying I’m still tracking prices (mainly on Autotrader) and they seem to fall into two camps. You have your ultra-low mileage or rare spec beauties that are advertised above £30,000 and you have (relatively) high mileage cars (over 100k miles, but that’s still only 4k per year) that are between £10-15,000. For some reason (most likely current times) neither are selling.
In America it seems to be a different story and on the crackpot auction site, Bring A Trailer (which I am convinced is just a front for cocaine smuggling due to the ridiculous prices), they are doing well.
Dailying
I bought it home in the third week of January and dailyed it until the date the first lockdown began in March.
This meant all trips to work, the grocery shop, visiting B&Q a few times, and going to the tip once. It was performing faultlessly.
Also on 22nd February it breezed through its MOT without any advisories or issues. While on the lift it gave me the opportunity to inspect underneath, and for the age, it’s remarkably clean. I think the time spent in dry storage really helped and backs the previous owners claims of it being well looked after.
The only two issues I found were that two front bushes could be replaced for more confident steering and that part of the front undertray/guard maybe missing. I can’t quite work this out as checking diagrams online make it look standard, but two people I know (ones a mechanic, the other ones worked with cars all his life) have said they usually extend beyond the front axle? Would anyone know if this is the case?
First grab of prayer beads
Cue the evening of 11th of March and I am patiently waiting in line at the Yeading Starbucks drive-thru. I usually order a latte but due to the hot day my eye caught the toffee caramel frappuccino on offer. At this point there are 4 cars in front and 2 behind and the temperature needle starts to rise above middle. Clearly I have sinned with my beverage choice and am about to be smite down.
I manage to get out in time and decide to progress down the dual carriageway to try to get cool air into the engine, with the interior heater on full blast. Doesn’t work. I pull over just before the needle goes into the red and then spend the next 90 minutes or so waiting for the engine to cool down. It does and I put in some distilled water and travel around 2 miles back home. The temperature rises again.
I phone around a bit/check online and general consensus is to start small with diagnosis and work the way up. I have a somewhat disturbed sleep that night. The next day I visit BMW Brentford and purchase 3 litres of antifreeze at £24.07. At the local independent I ask them to check for an airlock and then fill up. Miraculously this turns out to be correct and the brute is back to good health (spoiler alert – for now). One slightly used prayer bead goes back on the shelf.
Peace of mind
The car has a reverse-tardis quality of being intimate on the inside and yet massive on the outside. (Its actually only 12mm longer than the new Jaws grille 4 series and 2mm narrower and 57mm shorter).
And despite a year spent living out at Coventry Uni where I honed my parallel parking/tight parking skills I really didn’t want to prang the car (or have others do it). The low nose also doesn’t help the driver or other drivers as it drops out of view.
For this reason, I decided to buy a dash cam with parking protection and try and hard wire it.
This seemingly simple task turned into a right ball-ache, as for some reason the only permanent live fixture point in the car is situated in the next post code/engine. The only remaining two options are to run a wire along the a-pillar, across the centre console and to the cigarette lighter near the armrest or to adapt the circuit in the dome light panel ( link here). Not liking the aesthetics(!) of the first option or paid enough attention in electronics/DT class to attempt the second (without burning 4 houses down in the process), it was back to square one.
While researching dash cams the main issue was the battery life (and wiring to the cigarette lighter was useless when the car was off and parked). Some considerable time later I hit upon a brainwave and started researching bicycle dash cams (as they usually have a longer battery).
After a while I came across the Cycliq Fly 12 ( link here) which managed to fit the bill. Good points - up to 10 hours battery life, looped recording, incident protection mode, takes a 64gb card, good video quality. Bad points – it’s a chunky old hector requiring a three-suction clamp for the windscreen, and theres no display so it’s controlled through a phone app, which is a little clunky.
Rather amusingly it also comes with a Strava overlay, so if I wanted, with a heart rate monitor I could pretend to be in a budget F1 race. ( link here).
For £99 (plus an additional £20 for the microsd card) I think this is a very worthwhile purchase. The only issue now is that it is discontinued, so hard to find, and the newest release has a smaller battery.
OEM +, slowly
As long as funds allow, I’m letting the pros tackle the big jobs and am tackling the small jobs myself.
So, around March 2020 I bought some metal pressed numberplates (from UK Metal Plates) and also upgraded the headlight bulbs to Osram Night Breaker H1s. (I’m making sure any changes I make are reversible so ruled out a xenon or HID retrofit. They also gave off a little too much of a gangsta lean vibe for my liking). For the price (£24.82) these are bright, effective and have a long throw.
I’m finding prices for parts are all over the shop, with items you’d expect to be cheap costing a fortune, and vice versa.
For example, there are 8 trim clips that go hold the airbox/fan cover in place (the V shaped black plastic volume in front of the engine here: ( image link ). These push buttons seem to be of a special design and no other style really fit the cover (as most catch the point where the two faces meet).
My airbox only had 6 trim pieces (two of which were a different style) meaning two were missing. The different sstyles ones (I suspect they were the door card variety) proved very difficult in removing. I think each one took about 30 min to remove!
So I ordered these ( link here) and it cost £18.70 for 10. Yikes! On the other hand, being one of the first things the eyes fall upon when opening the engine bay, at least no more holes. I also could hear a slight rattle from the passenger door and after stripping down the door card, it turned out that some of the clips had perished. These were a much more reasonable £2 for a bag full.
This car is very environmentally friendly
Living between Heathrow and Twickenham, and with work being close to the South Circular road, I was a little apprehensive about the ULEZ charge and its expansion. Being a 4.4 V8 gas guzzler from 1997 I fully expected it to be non-compliant and putting the numberplate on the TFL website came up with the “you may need to pay” message.
I then read on another forum that certain cars maybe exempt and TFL regularly make manually decisions. I immediately contacted BMW GB for a certificate of conformity (which has the NOx number on it). They appear to be backlogged so it took a month for it to arrive. Once received I sent this along with a copy of the V5 to TFL. Three days letter and, amusingly, this happens. The 8 series is now ULEZ compliant.
As previously mentioned, not being rich enough to send it to a mechanic every time an issue occurred, and not being heroic enough to completely work on it myself, I needed a car in good condition that didn’t cost too much per mile.
Someone has asked how much it cost, and if you include everything to get it home (car cost, road tax, insurance, warranty) I was close to my £25,000 budget.
Since buying I’m still tracking prices (mainly on Autotrader) and they seem to fall into two camps. You have your ultra-low mileage or rare spec beauties that are advertised above £30,000 and you have (relatively) high mileage cars (over 100k miles, but that’s still only 4k per year) that are between £10-15,000. For some reason (most likely current times) neither are selling.
In America it seems to be a different story and on the crackpot auction site, Bring A Trailer (which I am convinced is just a front for cocaine smuggling due to the ridiculous prices), they are doing well.
Dailying
I bought it home in the third week of January and dailyed it until the date the first lockdown began in March.
This meant all trips to work, the grocery shop, visiting B&Q a few times, and going to the tip once. It was performing faultlessly.
Also on 22nd February it breezed through its MOT without any advisories or issues. While on the lift it gave me the opportunity to inspect underneath, and for the age, it’s remarkably clean. I think the time spent in dry storage really helped and backs the previous owners claims of it being well looked after.
The only two issues I found were that two front bushes could be replaced for more confident steering and that part of the front undertray/guard maybe missing. I can’t quite work this out as checking diagrams online make it look standard, but two people I know (ones a mechanic, the other ones worked with cars all his life) have said they usually extend beyond the front axle? Would anyone know if this is the case?
First grab of prayer beads
Cue the evening of 11th of March and I am patiently waiting in line at the Yeading Starbucks drive-thru. I usually order a latte but due to the hot day my eye caught the toffee caramel frappuccino on offer. At this point there are 4 cars in front and 2 behind and the temperature needle starts to rise above middle. Clearly I have sinned with my beverage choice and am about to be smite down.
I manage to get out in time and decide to progress down the dual carriageway to try to get cool air into the engine, with the interior heater on full blast. Doesn’t work. I pull over just before the needle goes into the red and then spend the next 90 minutes or so waiting for the engine to cool down. It does and I put in some distilled water and travel around 2 miles back home. The temperature rises again.
I phone around a bit/check online and general consensus is to start small with diagnosis and work the way up. I have a somewhat disturbed sleep that night. The next day I visit BMW Brentford and purchase 3 litres of antifreeze at £24.07. At the local independent I ask them to check for an airlock and then fill up. Miraculously this turns out to be correct and the brute is back to good health (spoiler alert – for now). One slightly used prayer bead goes back on the shelf.
Peace of mind
The car has a reverse-tardis quality of being intimate on the inside and yet massive on the outside. (Its actually only 12mm longer than the new Jaws grille 4 series and 2mm narrower and 57mm shorter).
And despite a year spent living out at Coventry Uni where I honed my parallel parking/tight parking skills I really didn’t want to prang the car (or have others do it). The low nose also doesn’t help the driver or other drivers as it drops out of view.
For this reason, I decided to buy a dash cam with parking protection and try and hard wire it.
This seemingly simple task turned into a right ball-ache, as for some reason the only permanent live fixture point in the car is situated in the next post code/engine. The only remaining two options are to run a wire along the a-pillar, across the centre console and to the cigarette lighter near the armrest or to adapt the circuit in the dome light panel ( link here). Not liking the aesthetics(!) of the first option or paid enough attention in electronics/DT class to attempt the second (without burning 4 houses down in the process), it was back to square one.
While researching dash cams the main issue was the battery life (and wiring to the cigarette lighter was useless when the car was off and parked). Some considerable time later I hit upon a brainwave and started researching bicycle dash cams (as they usually have a longer battery).
After a while I came across the Cycliq Fly 12 ( link here) which managed to fit the bill. Good points - up to 10 hours battery life, looped recording, incident protection mode, takes a 64gb card, good video quality. Bad points – it’s a chunky old hector requiring a three-suction clamp for the windscreen, and theres no display so it’s controlled through a phone app, which is a little clunky.
Rather amusingly it also comes with a Strava overlay, so if I wanted, with a heart rate monitor I could pretend to be in a budget F1 race. ( link here).
For £99 (plus an additional £20 for the microsd card) I think this is a very worthwhile purchase. The only issue now is that it is discontinued, so hard to find, and the newest release has a smaller battery.
OEM +, slowly
As long as funds allow, I’m letting the pros tackle the big jobs and am tackling the small jobs myself.
So, around March 2020 I bought some metal pressed numberplates (from UK Metal Plates) and also upgraded the headlight bulbs to Osram Night Breaker H1s. (I’m making sure any changes I make are reversible so ruled out a xenon or HID retrofit. They also gave off a little too much of a gangsta lean vibe for my liking). For the price (£24.82) these are bright, effective and have a long throw.
I’m finding prices for parts are all over the shop, with items you’d expect to be cheap costing a fortune, and vice versa.
For example, there are 8 trim clips that go hold the airbox/fan cover in place (the V shaped black plastic volume in front of the engine here: ( image link ). These push buttons seem to be of a special design and no other style really fit the cover (as most catch the point where the two faces meet).
My airbox only had 6 trim pieces (two of which were a different style) meaning two were missing. The different sstyles ones (I suspect they were the door card variety) proved very difficult in removing. I think each one took about 30 min to remove!
So I ordered these ( link here) and it cost £18.70 for 10. Yikes! On the other hand, being one of the first things the eyes fall upon when opening the engine bay, at least no more holes. I also could hear a slight rattle from the passenger door and after stripping down the door card, it turned out that some of the clips had perished. These were a much more reasonable £2 for a bag full.
This car is very environmentally friendly
Living between Heathrow and Twickenham, and with work being close to the South Circular road, I was a little apprehensive about the ULEZ charge and its expansion. Being a 4.4 V8 gas guzzler from 1997 I fully expected it to be non-compliant and putting the numberplate on the TFL website came up with the “you may need to pay” message.
I then read on another forum that certain cars maybe exempt and TFL regularly make manually decisions. I immediately contacted BMW GB for a certificate of conformity (which has the NOx number on it). They appear to be backlogged so it took a month for it to arrive. Once received I sent this along with a copy of the V5 to TFL. Three days letter and, amusingly, this happens. The 8 series is now ULEZ compliant.
Edited by salmanorguk on Tuesday 13th April 16:44
Edited by salmanorguk on Tuesday 13th April 16:47
Edited by salmanorguk on Tuesday 13th April 16:47
Fuel costs
This car has a V8 under the bonnet. 4.4 litres of “Das ist good ja?” engineering. From 1997. A time, where I suspect “tuning” was performed by burly, bearded men using a hammer. And yet, for my use, it is no less economical to run than my 2006 3.0 V6 Mercedes CLK convertible. (Although that M272 engine being based on one from 1998 may have something to do with it.)
Around town (which is a drive across a portion of the A4, then single lanes) the Mercedes got around 19 - 22mpg. On the motorway it got around 33 - 36mpg. I calculated that a weeks’ worth of petrol cost around £38. (The 1990 Eunos would take around £30)
The BMW is averaging 18 - 20 mpg in town and on the motorway it can hit 27 mpg. My spreadsheet states that from 13th January to 21st December 2020 I filled up 19 times at an average cost of £43.93.
This may have been lower still, but I had to take two 300 mile round trips to my sisters house in this period, as well as the initial 40 mile odd trip back from the dealers. Conversely, perhaps, if you exclude these it may be higher as these were the only three trips that took advantage of the motorway.
Anyway, cost breakdown was:
Lastly, I’ve found the car is very sensitive to tire pressure, and even the slightest psi difference can upset the mpg. As an example, on one of the trips to my sisters the best mpg the OBD spat out was 20.4mpg, having cruised there at around 65mph. I checked the psi and the fronts were down to 33. Once inflated back to 42 psi, the mpg was a much healthier 24.6mpg, even while travelling at a faster speed.
Confidence inspiring
One of the best things about the car is that it is a conversation starter.
I’m more of a listener than a talker, so my interactions with people have been more Harrison Ford, leave me alone, than James Corden, I’m everyones friend. (Perhaps that’s why I went into visual design, who knows!)
Anyway, this car has upended my natural order a bit, and I find quite a few people appreciate the car, and a number approach and ask questions. This has greatly increased my confidence and made me feel better in terms of “yes, that was a well communicated conversation”.
I have been guilty of waving to a fellow E31 driver while pootling about in Teddington though!
PS
I’m quite good at composing a photo shot (i.e working out what looks good) but its just a shame I’m absolutely useless at effectively taking it, and don’t know anything about photography.
Mark Riccioni, GF Williams or Hooded Reeper I am not.
So I apologise for the lack of photography – but if youre interested in viewing solid 3/10s I’m happy to take more! Or if anyone has any requests/specific areas (apart from anything requiring a lift) just shout.
To make it up, here’s a gratuitous pic of what 300 miles of road grime looks like on the front of these:
Chapter 2 - done
Again, I’ll leave it here for now and next time will talk about the first of my two (and hopefully last) warranty claims (touch wood!!!) – and if anyone has any questions, happy to answer them.
This car has a V8 under the bonnet. 4.4 litres of “Das ist good ja?” engineering. From 1997. A time, where I suspect “tuning” was performed by burly, bearded men using a hammer. And yet, for my use, it is no less economical to run than my 2006 3.0 V6 Mercedes CLK convertible. (Although that M272 engine being based on one from 1998 may have something to do with it.)
Around town (which is a drive across a portion of the A4, then single lanes) the Mercedes got around 19 - 22mpg. On the motorway it got around 33 - 36mpg. I calculated that a weeks’ worth of petrol cost around £38. (The 1990 Eunos would take around £30)
The BMW is averaging 18 - 20 mpg in town and on the motorway it can hit 27 mpg. My spreadsheet states that from 13th January to 21st December 2020 I filled up 19 times at an average cost of £43.93.
This may have been lower still, but I had to take two 300 mile round trips to my sisters house in this period, as well as the initial 40 mile odd trip back from the dealers. Conversely, perhaps, if you exclude these it may be higher as these were the only three trips that took advantage of the motorway.
Anyway, cost breakdown was:
Lastly, I’ve found the car is very sensitive to tire pressure, and even the slightest psi difference can upset the mpg. As an example, on one of the trips to my sisters the best mpg the OBD spat out was 20.4mpg, having cruised there at around 65mph. I checked the psi and the fronts were down to 33. Once inflated back to 42 psi, the mpg was a much healthier 24.6mpg, even while travelling at a faster speed.
Confidence inspiring
One of the best things about the car is that it is a conversation starter.
I’m more of a listener than a talker, so my interactions with people have been more Harrison Ford, leave me alone, than James Corden, I’m everyones friend. (Perhaps that’s why I went into visual design, who knows!)
Anyway, this car has upended my natural order a bit, and I find quite a few people appreciate the car, and a number approach and ask questions. This has greatly increased my confidence and made me feel better in terms of “yes, that was a well communicated conversation”.
I have been guilty of waving to a fellow E31 driver while pootling about in Teddington though!
PS
I’m quite good at composing a photo shot (i.e working out what looks good) but its just a shame I’m absolutely useless at effectively taking it, and don’t know anything about photography.
Mark Riccioni, GF Williams or Hooded Reeper I am not.
So I apologise for the lack of photography – but if youre interested in viewing solid 3/10s I’m happy to take more! Or if anyone has any requests/specific areas (apart from anything requiring a lift) just shout.
To make it up, here’s a gratuitous pic of what 300 miles of road grime looks like on the front of these:
Chapter 2 - done
Again, I’ll leave it here for now and next time will talk about the first of my two (and hopefully last) warranty claims (touch wood!!!) – and if anyone has any questions, happy to answer them.
Edited by salmanorguk on Tuesday 13th April 16:48
Still buggering around with the "reply all" facility so instead will go old-fashioned and type it below,
Thanks to WhisperingWask, Tobinen, d_a_n1979, carb4.5lee, Chickenvanguy etc for kind messages
DanG355 - answered question in the sescond update. I'm a little annoyed with final cost as even a bit back as 2-3 years ago you could save around £5,000 on what I paid for one in the same condition.
Paul S4 - thanks for the advice. I knew about the chain but not the tank. Will keep an eye out for it.
Cra1g - Your posts here (and I think on one of the BMW forums) did help decide getting one of these. Although I'd probably swap it for your Z3M in a heartbeat!
Jazzer77 - will do
Thanks to WhisperingWask, Tobinen, d_a_n1979, carb4.5lee, Chickenvanguy etc for kind messages
DanG355 - answered question in the sescond update. I'm a little annoyed with final cost as even a bit back as 2-3 years ago you could save around £5,000 on what I paid for one in the same condition.
Paul S4 - thanks for the advice. I knew about the chain but not the tank. Will keep an eye out for it.
Cra1g - Your posts here (and I think on one of the BMW forums) did help decide getting one of these. Although I'd probably swap it for your Z3M in a heartbeat!
Jazzer77 - will do
alec.e said:
CRA1G said:
SturdyHSV said:
Love the E31, great choice 
You mentioned modifications, any chance of a set of these very appropriate wheels going on...
OP.. Why would you want to modified it...? keep your E31 original...l Those wheels.. and V8 side badges...You mentioned modifications, any chance of a set of these very appropriate wheels going on...
keep it standard and you will end up with an appreciating classic..?At the end of the day, the OP can decide...
BTW, love the 8 Series!
Sort of like Alec.e had done with his M6 and Jaguars!
Having said all that I'd really like a set of M parallels as the current Throwing stars need to be restored.
We shall see!
beambeam1 said:
jamesson said:
helix402 said:
MitchT said:
The plates look great. Are they legal though? I might get some done for my E36 but the .gov website implies that the background has to be reflective.
They are legal and reflective.Here is where I bought mine - and their FAQ states its reflective and it has the necessary marks:
UK Metal Plates
I paid £39.98 for them in March 2020.
Hi everyone, thanks for the continued nice messages - time for an update…
Pootling
So, the first lockdown has happened and we’re approaching August 2020.
Since 22nd March I’ve been working from home, which is great news in terms of saving petrol but less so on social life, and more importantly, keeping the car healthy.
I’d decided early on to take it for a merry pootle once every 5-7 days to ensure nothing seized up, both batteries remained healthy, etc. Having read online that keeping cars in storage can in some cases do more damage than good I really didn’t want to experience that! The only headache was every other drive coincided with the grocery shop so I had to go into Tescos and with a vulnerable parent it meant taking a lot of precautions.
My circuit was a 9 mile/30min lap up a dual carriage way and then back using some single residential/b-roads. The dual carriage way got it up to a 40mph cruise and the b-roads, which had curves and speed bumps, meant the brakes got used.
(As an aside I’ve found as I’ve progressed through car ownership they have gotten more powerful, and the more I’ve spent on them, yet the need for speed has decreased dramatically. Either this is called “growing wise” or its to do with the fact I’m terrified of crashing the bloody things
).
First test of the warranty
Anyway, I digress…
Its August 2020 and I’m coming back from Tesco and the temperature needle starts to rise. Uh oh. Unlike before its not gradual and this time immediately jumps to the right. Just before it goes into the red I find a parking spot and park.
There’s steam coming from the bonnet and some coolant leakage underneath. A quick look in the engine bay shows no hose pipes, clips, etc loose, viscous fan seems fine and expansion tank and other plastics intact. At this point I’m thinking this probably means something more serious and get someone to help tow it home.
I didn’t want to faff about with airlocks, bleeding, etc and wanted to nip the coolant issue in the bud so eat some brave pills and phone Autoprotect warranty claim. I speak to a helpful agent who explains the procedure. I need to take it to any garage (or a Halfords – lol), have them diagnose the issue within 14 days (I pay for diagnostics), and finally get them to put in a claim.
Now, as the forum title says, this is my first BMW – so I have no ideas on who’s a good garage in West London. I of course peruse the Pistonheads forum but am no closer to picking. I therefore decide to take a gamble and phone a few on availability. (This was the time when MOTs were restarted so there was a huge backlog on servicing cars).
After half a day of calls the earliest I can get a look in is 12 days at Tuner Automotive in Twickenham. They have a good reputation online so I pop down in the family Zafira, and the owner Barry, comes across as knowledgeable and willing to take a look.
He chose… poorly
I tell someone (a BMW 3 series owner) I’m about to book it in when they mention I should take it to another garage in West Drayton,/Hayes who they know and have been going to for some time and that “they’ll know what to do”.
It takes some persuading but the fact they are available the next day swings it, and I book it in. This turns out to be the worst mistake of my 8 series ownership thus far. Also, now, the recomendee is dead to me.
Now unfortunately Pistonhead rules state I cannot outright name the company. So instead I’ll strategically comment on the below image, and let people infer something from the formatting:
“What a lovely M2. I think it’s a CS automobile from Bavarian Motor Werks”
I’m amazed that they run a car garage with some of the tomfoolery they got up to.
I leave the car with them at 9.45am on. the. dot the next day. I speak to the owner face to face and give him a tour of the car. I explain the issue in detail. I let him know it’s a warranty claim and he needs to diagnose (and put the claim in) within 13 days.
“No problem – leave it with me, youre in safe hands”
Cue SEVEN DAYS later and I find out the car hasn’t moved. They’ve apparently started it, seen it overheat and turn it off again. They decide it needs a run to diagnose the cooling. However it hasn’t been all bad as in the interim they have diagnosed other issues. I politely ask the owner if his head is in a place where the sun isn’t shining and tell him I’m taking the car off his hands tomorrow and if he even looks at it in the meantime I’ll be most displeased.
What he’s diagnosed is not the coolant issue but the fact the alloys need refurbing (and would you know theres a unit next door to his!), a paint correction, and one front bush could be replaced.
The next day an hour before I’m to collect I phone to say I’m on the way.
“oh sorry sire, yesterday before you phoned we left the door open for around 2 hours, which meant the welcome light stayed on and we didn’t realise this. So now the batteries died. We’re recharging them now, please come in 2 hours”
Cue much questioning of the owners parentage.
At this point I was worried about the cars famously pernickety electronics and battery requirements.
Thankfully when I got there it started. I noted they drove it 2 miles.
He chose… wisely
At this point with 7 days left for the claim period I phone Autoprotect back and relay the above story. They again prove helpful and say “not to worry, we’ve made a note on the claim file, just get it diagnosed as soon as possible”.
I do some more research and phone up P&R BMW, also in Hayes/West Drayton. They’re actually only 2 miles away from the first garage (as the crow flies).
What a difference between the two garages – it really is night and day.
I speak to Rob who could not be more helpful or accommodating. Luckily a spot has opened on the day and if I can get it to him in a hour or so they can take a look tomorrow. I readily accept his offer.
I leave the car and as promised Rob comes back tomorrow morning (around 11am if memory serve me correctly) to say the car is getting ready to be diagnosed. At 4pm he phones back to say diagnosis is complete and…it’s not looking good.
It seems the radiator has completely shat itself, with a quite large failure near the bottom joint. A large percentage of the fins are also bent. I enquire how that could happen and am told it’s the original radiator!
They also checked the water pump, thermostat and other cooling components and said they were very healthy and no point changing them. This is good, as the paperwork indicated the viscous fan had been changed in the recommissioning, so it was good to hear it was true.
Rob puts the claim in with Autoprotect that day. Two days later I hear back from him saying Autoprotect have approved the claim! Well holy crap how did that happen!?! Both my bank manager and I breathe a sigh of relief.
It isn’t all sunshine as Autoprotect insist on using a genuine BMW radiator which they will part cover. It takes a week to arrive and fit from Germany (there was no stock in the UK at the time and I don’t want to use a second-hand or refurbished one).
Total cost of replacing the radiator, topping up the coolant, labour, diagnosis, etc is £602.52. From this I pay £200.36.
Considering I paid £400 for the warranty, with its first claim it has already covered this and put me in the black by £2.52.
I'm hoping E31 ownership is not a tribute act to Doug Demuro, featuring his Range Rover and a CarMax warranty
Pootling
So, the first lockdown has happened and we’re approaching August 2020.
Since 22nd March I’ve been working from home, which is great news in terms of saving petrol but less so on social life, and more importantly, keeping the car healthy.
I’d decided early on to take it for a merry pootle once every 5-7 days to ensure nothing seized up, both batteries remained healthy, etc. Having read online that keeping cars in storage can in some cases do more damage than good I really didn’t want to experience that! The only headache was every other drive coincided with the grocery shop so I had to go into Tescos and with a vulnerable parent it meant taking a lot of precautions.
My circuit was a 9 mile/30min lap up a dual carriage way and then back using some single residential/b-roads. The dual carriage way got it up to a 40mph cruise and the b-roads, which had curves and speed bumps, meant the brakes got used.
(As an aside I’ve found as I’ve progressed through car ownership they have gotten more powerful, and the more I’ve spent on them, yet the need for speed has decreased dramatically. Either this is called “growing wise” or its to do with the fact I’m terrified of crashing the bloody things
).First test of the warranty
Anyway, I digress…
Its August 2020 and I’m coming back from Tesco and the temperature needle starts to rise. Uh oh. Unlike before its not gradual and this time immediately jumps to the right. Just before it goes into the red I find a parking spot and park.
There’s steam coming from the bonnet and some coolant leakage underneath. A quick look in the engine bay shows no hose pipes, clips, etc loose, viscous fan seems fine and expansion tank and other plastics intact. At this point I’m thinking this probably means something more serious and get someone to help tow it home.
I didn’t want to faff about with airlocks, bleeding, etc and wanted to nip the coolant issue in the bud so eat some brave pills and phone Autoprotect warranty claim. I speak to a helpful agent who explains the procedure. I need to take it to any garage (or a Halfords – lol), have them diagnose the issue within 14 days (I pay for diagnostics), and finally get them to put in a claim.
Now, as the forum title says, this is my first BMW – so I have no ideas on who’s a good garage in West London. I of course peruse the Pistonheads forum but am no closer to picking. I therefore decide to take a gamble and phone a few on availability. (This was the time when MOTs were restarted so there was a huge backlog on servicing cars).
After half a day of calls the earliest I can get a look in is 12 days at Tuner Automotive in Twickenham. They have a good reputation online so I pop down in the family Zafira, and the owner Barry, comes across as knowledgeable and willing to take a look.
He chose… poorly
I tell someone (a BMW 3 series owner) I’m about to book it in when they mention I should take it to another garage in West Drayton,/Hayes who they know and have been going to for some time and that “they’ll know what to do”.
It takes some persuading but the fact they are available the next day swings it, and I book it in. This turns out to be the worst mistake of my 8 series ownership thus far. Also, now, the recomendee is dead to me.
Now unfortunately Pistonhead rules state I cannot outright name the company. So instead I’ll strategically comment on the below image, and let people infer something from the formatting:
“What a lovely M2. I think it’s a CS automobile from Bavarian Motor Werks”
I’m amazed that they run a car garage with some of the tomfoolery they got up to.
I leave the car with them at 9.45am on. the. dot the next day. I speak to the owner face to face and give him a tour of the car. I explain the issue in detail. I let him know it’s a warranty claim and he needs to diagnose (and put the claim in) within 13 days.
“No problem – leave it with me, youre in safe hands”
Cue SEVEN DAYS later and I find out the car hasn’t moved. They’ve apparently started it, seen it overheat and turn it off again. They decide it needs a run to diagnose the cooling. However it hasn’t been all bad as in the interim they have diagnosed other issues. I politely ask the owner if his head is in a place where the sun isn’t shining and tell him I’m taking the car off his hands tomorrow and if he even looks at it in the meantime I’ll be most displeased.
What he’s diagnosed is not the coolant issue but the fact the alloys need refurbing (and would you know theres a unit next door to his!), a paint correction, and one front bush could be replaced.
The next day an hour before I’m to collect I phone to say I’m on the way.
“oh sorry sire, yesterday before you phoned we left the door open for around 2 hours, which meant the welcome light stayed on and we didn’t realise this. So now the batteries died. We’re recharging them now, please come in 2 hours”
Cue much questioning of the owners parentage.
At this point I was worried about the cars famously pernickety electronics and battery requirements.
Thankfully when I got there it started. I noted they drove it 2 miles.
He chose… wisely
At this point with 7 days left for the claim period I phone Autoprotect back and relay the above story. They again prove helpful and say “not to worry, we’ve made a note on the claim file, just get it diagnosed as soon as possible”.
I do some more research and phone up P&R BMW, also in Hayes/West Drayton. They’re actually only 2 miles away from the first garage (as the crow flies).
What a difference between the two garages – it really is night and day.
I speak to Rob who could not be more helpful or accommodating. Luckily a spot has opened on the day and if I can get it to him in a hour or so they can take a look tomorrow. I readily accept his offer.
I leave the car and as promised Rob comes back tomorrow morning (around 11am if memory serve me correctly) to say the car is getting ready to be diagnosed. At 4pm he phones back to say diagnosis is complete and…it’s not looking good.
It seems the radiator has completely shat itself, with a quite large failure near the bottom joint. A large percentage of the fins are also bent. I enquire how that could happen and am told it’s the original radiator!
They also checked the water pump, thermostat and other cooling components and said they were very healthy and no point changing them. This is good, as the paperwork indicated the viscous fan had been changed in the recommissioning, so it was good to hear it was true.
Rob puts the claim in with Autoprotect that day. Two days later I hear back from him saying Autoprotect have approved the claim! Well holy crap how did that happen!?! Both my bank manager and I breathe a sigh of relief.
It isn’t all sunshine as Autoprotect insist on using a genuine BMW radiator which they will part cover. It takes a week to arrive and fit from Germany (there was no stock in the UK at the time and I don’t want to use a second-hand or refurbished one).
Total cost of replacing the radiator, topping up the coolant, labour, diagnosis, etc is £602.52. From this I pay £200.36.
Considering I paid £400 for the warranty, with its first claim it has already covered this and put me in the black by £2.52.
I'm hoping E31 ownership is not a tribute act to Doug Demuro, featuring his Range Rover and a CarMax warranty
Edited by salmanorguk on Saturday 17th April 20:50
Jumping ahead
I have one or two more historical posts and then I’ll be up-to-date with E31 ownership. However, like those unfathomable Marvel movies, I thought I’d jump ahead in the timeline and post some pics from yesterday when I gave it a wash.
This is the first car I’ve bothered to wash myself, before I just took my cars to a hand car wash on the way home from work.
So – car detailing – first time I tried this and all I thought was: “what an absolute ballache”.
I decided early on I didn’t want to use a pressure washer or a mechanical polisher, as not having the experience I didn’t want to flake off or burn the paint. I also think the paint is soft so its probably best if my ham-fisted approach is as gentle as possible.
I read up on a few forums (Pistonheads, Detailingworld, etc) and watched a few videos (AMMO, AutoFinesse, etc) and decided to give it a go.
My setup is basic and manual so it took a whole weekend the first time I tried it (beginning of January). In the end after applying washing, waxing, polishing, etc I did get protection and beading – happy days. No pictures however – boo!
Yesterday I gave it a maintenance wash and remembered to take pictures this time.
So heres a picture of my setup (from top left, clockwise):
Tire shine, Autofinesse wheel cleaner, window cleaner, Autofinesse shampoo, two microfibre towels, squeegee, kitchen tissue roll, (bastardised) hosepipe, 3 x buckets, brush for alloys, manual pump sprayer, cooking measuring jug (to measure the snow foam)
The manual pump sprayer is obviously not a match for a pressure washer but it still produces a good steady stream of foam. Does knacker the arm though!:
Not pictured is the Autoglym snow foam, and Autofinesse polish, wax and clay bar.
The car does have a few swirl marks (revealed another time as to why) but it still comes up well.
The colour is Cosmos Black and if you look closely the flakes give off a purple, green, gold sparkle:
Anyway heres some pics:
Chapter 3 – done
So ill leave it here for now. Next time will hopefully get around to the other warranty claim!
Also, if anyone knows of any scenic spots to take car pictures in West London (say 5-10 miles of Heathrow/Hounslow/Twickenham) it’d be most appreciated.
Not previously owning a car worthy of pics I didn’t really bother so I’m at a complete loss at the moment and am getting a bit bored of taking them outside the house!
I have one or two more historical posts and then I’ll be up-to-date with E31 ownership. However, like those unfathomable Marvel movies, I thought I’d jump ahead in the timeline and post some pics from yesterday when I gave it a wash.
This is the first car I’ve bothered to wash myself, before I just took my cars to a hand car wash on the way home from work.
So – car detailing – first time I tried this and all I thought was: “what an absolute ballache”.
- So. Many. Steps.
- So. Many. Products.
- So. Much. Love. For. “Beading”.
I decided early on I didn’t want to use a pressure washer or a mechanical polisher, as not having the experience I didn’t want to flake off or burn the paint. I also think the paint is soft so its probably best if my ham-fisted approach is as gentle as possible.
I read up on a few forums (Pistonheads, Detailingworld, etc) and watched a few videos (AMMO, AutoFinesse, etc) and decided to give it a go.
My setup is basic and manual so it took a whole weekend the first time I tried it (beginning of January). In the end after applying washing, waxing, polishing, etc I did get protection and beading – happy days. No pictures however – boo!
Yesterday I gave it a maintenance wash and remembered to take pictures this time.
So heres a picture of my setup (from top left, clockwise):
Tire shine, Autofinesse wheel cleaner, window cleaner, Autofinesse shampoo, two microfibre towels, squeegee, kitchen tissue roll, (bastardised) hosepipe, 3 x buckets, brush for alloys, manual pump sprayer, cooking measuring jug (to measure the snow foam)
The manual pump sprayer is obviously not a match for a pressure washer but it still produces a good steady stream of foam. Does knacker the arm though!:
Not pictured is the Autoglym snow foam, and Autofinesse polish, wax and clay bar.
The car does have a few swirl marks (revealed another time as to why) but it still comes up well.
The colour is Cosmos Black and if you look closely the flakes give off a purple, green, gold sparkle:
Anyway heres some pics:
Chapter 3 – done
So ill leave it here for now. Next time will hopefully get around to the other warranty claim!
Also, if anyone knows of any scenic spots to take car pictures in West London (say 5-10 miles of Heathrow/Hounslow/Twickenham) it’d be most appreciated.
Not previously owning a car worthy of pics I didn’t really bother so I’m at a complete loss at the moment and am getting a bit bored of taking them outside the house!
Spinakerr said:
Looking very good indeed - I'm going to keep a close eye on this thread as cleaning/detailing is a slippery slope, and with this car I have an inkling you may start to get carried away with it!
Well done following up on the first BMW 'specialist' and extricating the car with old a slit dip in battery voltage. That could have been much worse.
As I'm in Twickenham may I recommend Bushy Park? There's a few tarmac routes to car parks and cafes that are usually very quiet. Here's my GT6 of two visits:
Its also the complete opposite of the 'hell on earth' that is Richmond Park.
I would also be tempted by some Victoriana given the 840's sleek but industrial lines - Kempton Park or Hampton water treatment works perhaps? If you're heading over this way ever give me a PM, would be great to see the car!
Thanks very much on the recommendation! Despite spending 4-5 years commuting past Twickenham/Teddington, rather embarassingly I has no idea Bushy Park was so close.Well done following up on the first BMW 'specialist' and extricating the car with old a slit dip in battery voltage. That could have been much worse.
As I'm in Twickenham may I recommend Bushy Park? There's a few tarmac routes to car parks and cafes that are usually very quiet. Here's my GT6 of two visits:
Its also the complete opposite of the 'hell on earth' that is Richmond Park.
I would also be tempted by some Victoriana given the 840's sleek but industrial lines - Kempton Park or Hampton water treatment works perhaps? If you're heading over this way ever give me a PM, would be great to see the car!
As you said Richmond is a nightmare, even Hampton and Osterley Park nowadays, and I think the first two don't allow you to stop either?
More importantly thats a lovely GT6 - bet that sounds lovely!
Hi again,
Time for another few updates…
So after the radiator change I went back to enjoying the car as usual. As the UK was still doing the hokey-cokey on whether to stay or come out of lockdowns, I continued to work from home. This meant the car was still doing the once a week local loop to keep everything tip top.
Truncated years cost
January 2021 comes around and marks one year of ownership. I feel this is a good time to break down costs of running the car in this peculiar year.
Repairs:
This covered one issue, split into four items in March 2020 and August 2020 –
This would have been lower still but it includes the £102.00 the first mechanic shafted me for to run the battery down (see last post)
Misc:
(I didn’t bother to include insurance as that is such a big variable)
Overall
Overall total was: £1881.14
Overall mileage during this period was: 716 miles (lol)
Assuming my maths is correct, cost per mile: £2.62
Ouch. Thank God I don’t have to justify this to anyone yet, and this magnificent bd best start to appreciate!
If you exclude the fuel and road tax it falls to 98p per mile. As a reference a fellow Pistonheader (Andrew Crown) mentioned his W221 S Class cost around 32p per mile (excluding fuel and tax) over his 5 year ownership.
I need a lie down…
Time for another few updates…
So after the radiator change I went back to enjoying the car as usual. As the UK was still doing the hokey-cokey on whether to stay or come out of lockdowns, I continued to work from home. This meant the car was still doing the once a week local loop to keep everything tip top.
Truncated years cost
January 2021 comes around and marks one year of ownership. I feel this is a good time to break down costs of running the car in this peculiar year.
Repairs:
This covered one issue, split into four items in March 2020 and August 2020 –
- the coolant top-up in March
- the “diagnostic” cost at that atrocious first “mechanic” in August
- the labour and parts cost at the brilliant second garage in August
- the coolant cost for the second garage
This would have been lower still but it includes the £102.00 the first mechanic shafted me for to run the battery down (see last post)
Misc:
(I didn’t bother to include insurance as that is such a big variable)
- 19 fuel stops in the year at £834.71
- Road tax at £300
- Warranty purchase at £400
Overall
Overall total was: £1881.14
Overall mileage during this period was: 716 miles (lol)
Assuming my maths is correct, cost per mile: £2.62
Ouch. Thank God I don’t have to justify this to anyone yet, and this magnificent b
d best start to appreciate! If you exclude the fuel and road tax it falls to 98p per mile. As a reference a fellow Pistonheader (Andrew Crown) mentioned his W221 S Class cost around 32p per mile (excluding fuel and tax) over his 5 year ownership.
I need a lie down…
"Hello, warranty people, me again…"
January 13th, 2021 rolls around and I’m walking back to the car following a Tesco grocery shop. Get in and start it up and nothing. Try again and nothing. Hmm this seems wrong. I let it rest for around 10 min more (as I don’t want to flood the engine) and try again, and it splutters into life.
Something is definitely not right and I can see the £ signs in front of the eyes. I respond by hitting the forehead against the steering wheel centre cap. Cue the most feeble car horn you have ever heard. Oh dear, another issue.
With the service also coming up (I think its best to do a yearly one rather based on mileage at this point) I pop open another couple of brave pills and phone Autoprotect three days before the warranty expires.
Let them know of the issue and they say again “get it to a Halfords (lol) or another garage and get it diagnosed in 14 days”.
I manage to get a slot in with P&R BMW the next day and Rob says he’ll take a look. I get a call later to say the starter motor has failed.
Well that’s weird, especially considering it had a new one put in just last year. I ask them to keep the car longer and when they have time to do another test just to be sure.
Lo and behold… it’s the starter motor. Now I knew BMW were only second to VW in finding legendary ways to fail, but I had hoped it wouldn’t extend to its suppliers. Both Rob and I agree we should look for a genuine part.
They put the claim through the day before the warranty expires and surprise, surprise, it’s approved. We’re two for two on warranty claims here!
A new starter motor is sourced and fitted for £271.05. I contributed £83.80 of it, and now the warranty has me in the black by £189.77.
I, of course, renew the warranty.
Time for a service
The service turns out to be an Inspection II service, at a cost of £473.20.
I also had the horn inspected and thanks to it’s wonderful placement by BMW on the car (immediately behind the front splitter) it needed to be replaced, at a cost of £199.29. Turns out it has a hi-tone and low-tone horn, and both were bashed. Further the connectors and wires were corroded.
MOT time
Following this, in March it was time for it’s MOT. I was a little apprehensive as its an old car but needn’t have worried – passed first time without any advisories. Cue a very happy drink of coke.
Also, while in the air having it’s undercarriage ogled and jiggled, a BMW collector turned up to have his family car MOT’d. This person knew the owner so they spent some time discussing the car while it was being tested. All I heard was “steering box”, “clean”, and “low miles”. I also saw him do a lot of sage nodding whenever the tester shook something – whatever that meant! In the end he approached me and inquired about the car. Said he has a few BMWs (including E34 and E39 M5s) but has never had an E31. Asked how much I would look to sell it for and (after I gave him a ball park figure) he gave me his contact details.
And rather amusingly two days later when I undertook my first ever car detailing session (out on the street) an acquaintance of my neighbour also started asking about the car. Gave the same ball park figure and he also gave me his contact details.
Let’s see what happens.
Chapter 4 – done
This now brings me up-to-date with everything, and the car has performed faultlessly in the last er… 98 days.
I’d imagine updates to be slow going forward – at least until some form of normality returns – but hopefully not too slow.
Any questions please ask!
January 13th, 2021 rolls around and I’m walking back to the car following a Tesco grocery shop. Get in and start it up and nothing. Try again and nothing. Hmm this seems wrong. I let it rest for around 10 min more (as I don’t want to flood the engine) and try again, and it splutters into life.
Something is definitely not right and I can see the £ signs in front of the eyes. I respond by hitting the forehead against the steering wheel centre cap. Cue the most feeble car horn you have ever heard. Oh dear, another issue.
With the service also coming up (I think its best to do a yearly one rather based on mileage at this point) I pop open another couple of brave pills and phone Autoprotect three days before the warranty expires.
Let them know of the issue and they say again “get it to a Halfords (lol) or another garage and get it diagnosed in 14 days”.
I manage to get a slot in with P&R BMW the next day and Rob says he’ll take a look. I get a call later to say the starter motor has failed.
Well that’s weird, especially considering it had a new one put in just last year. I ask them to keep the car longer and when they have time to do another test just to be sure.
Lo and behold… it’s the starter motor. Now I knew BMW were only second to VW in finding legendary ways to fail, but I had hoped it wouldn’t extend to its suppliers. Both Rob and I agree we should look for a genuine part.
They put the claim through the day before the warranty expires and surprise, surprise, it’s approved. We’re two for two on warranty claims here!
A new starter motor is sourced and fitted for £271.05. I contributed £83.80 of it, and now the warranty has me in the black by £189.77.
I, of course, renew the warranty.
Time for a service
The service turns out to be an Inspection II service, at a cost of £473.20.
I also had the horn inspected and thanks to it’s wonderful placement by BMW on the car (immediately behind the front splitter) it needed to be replaced, at a cost of £199.29. Turns out it has a hi-tone and low-tone horn, and both were bashed. Further the connectors and wires were corroded.
MOT time
Following this, in March it was time for it’s MOT. I was a little apprehensive as its an old car but needn’t have worried – passed first time without any advisories. Cue a very happy drink of coke.
Also, while in the air having it’s undercarriage ogled and jiggled, a BMW collector turned up to have his family car MOT’d. This person knew the owner so they spent some time discussing the car while it was being tested. All I heard was “steering box”, “clean”, and “low miles”. I also saw him do a lot of sage nodding whenever the tester shook something – whatever that meant! In the end he approached me and inquired about the car. Said he has a few BMWs (including E34 and E39 M5s) but has never had an E31. Asked how much I would look to sell it for and (after I gave him a ball park figure) he gave me his contact details.
And rather amusingly two days later when I undertook my first ever car detailing session (out on the street) an acquaintance of my neighbour also started asking about the car. Gave the same ball park figure and he also gave me his contact details.
Let’s see what happens.
Chapter 4 – done
This now brings me up-to-date with everything, and the car has performed faultlessly in the last er… 98 days.
I’d imagine updates to be slow going forward – at least until some form of normality returns – but hopefully not too slow.
Any questions please ask!
Hi everyone,
So the perils of street parking a semi-nice car in London have reared their ugly head
This weekend gone I was up north celebrating the arrival of neice number two. Had gone up with parents in their Zafira battle bus (we were transporting a massive amount of care packages that wouldnt fit in my car).
Cue Sunday night 2.15am and I get a call from my neighbour.
"Some thieves have come and cut out the catalyst converters from three cars, including yours"
Utter utter bds
The cars hit were my E31, his Honda Insight, and the neighbour opposites Mk 4 Golf.
From what I was told the two other cars were done in 30-60sec each whereas mine took around 5min of work.
Neighbours say there were three of them arms with bats. When a young, petite, new mother confronted them they started swinging at her so she backed off. Here are the thundertts (from a neighbours CCTV):
Police arrived but couldn't help as no one saw their faces clearly enough and the car (silver A4) was on false plates. Brazenly the bds changed the plates 10 metres from the scene just after a bend and sped offf
I hope a thousand hornets enter their bottoms and live in their cavities for the rest of their miserable lives.
Anyway, came home yesterday to assess the damage and thankfully they are quite skilled in their sthousery as the chassis, body, brake lines, hoses, etc have all been spared any damage. They took the two cats and the two lamda sensors:
My options to repair were:
Second hand OEM I ruled out as they could be back and even with a metal plate underneath it wouldn't stop them.
Stainless steel cats to existing was tempting however in the end after getting prices I will go with the custom stainless steel exhaust system. I'll keep what's on there in storage and if I come to sell give both to the new owner.
For anyone interested I got the following quotes:
The only slight positive from this debacle is that the car now sounds like amplified thunder, but perhaps a bit too much for a daily!
https://imgur.com/H4gTeUT
Lastly, just a shout out to the E31 WhatsApp and FaceBook groups, who have been extremly helpful and quite a few have gone out of their way to help. From recommending garages, to swap deals, to just commiseratory messages, they've been very reassuring and kind.
PS -
The obvious solution to this problem would be to garage the car but unfortunately I am currently not able to do that. My flat has designated parking at the rear and at my parents (where this car was) we've been trying to buy some land for 5 years from the council.
So the perils of street parking a semi-nice car in London have reared their ugly head
This weekend gone I was up north celebrating the arrival of neice number two. Had gone up with parents in their Zafira battle bus (we were transporting a massive amount of care packages that wouldnt fit in my car).
Cue Sunday night 2.15am and I get a call from my neighbour.
"Some thieves have come and cut out the catalyst converters from three cars, including yours"
Utter utter b
dsThe cars hit were my E31, his Honda Insight, and the neighbour opposites Mk 4 Golf.
From what I was told the two other cars were done in 30-60sec each whereas mine took around 5min of work.
Neighbours say there were three of them arms with bats. When a young, petite, new mother confronted them they started swinging at her so she backed off. Here are the thundert
ts (from a neighbours CCTV):Police arrived but couldn't help as no one saw their faces clearly enough and the car (silver A4) was on false plates. Brazenly the b
ds changed the plates 10 metres from the scene just after a bend and sped offfI hope a thousand hornets enter their bottoms and live in their cavities for the rest of their miserable lives.
Anyway, came home yesterday to assess the damage and thankfully they are quite skilled in their s
thousery as the chassis, body, brake lines, hoses, etc have all been spared any damage. They took the two cats and the two lamda sensors:My options to repair were:
- Insurance claim for OEM parts
- Second hand OEM cat and new sensors
- Stainless steel cats welded to existing exhaust system
- Custom stainless steel exhaust system
Second hand OEM I ruled out as they could be back and even with a metal plate underneath it wouldn't stop them.
Stainless steel cats to existing was tempting however in the end after getting prices I will go with the custom stainless steel exhaust system. I'll keep what's on there in storage and if I come to sell give both to the new owner.
For anyone interested I got the following quotes:
- Powerflow Exhausts - £1,000 for stainless steel cats welded in
- Profusion Customs - £1,080 for stainless steel cats welded in
- Style Dynamics - £1,460 for custom setup
- Longlife Exhausts - £1,500 for custom setup
- Second hand OEM - £1,290
The only slight positive from this debacle is that the car now sounds like amplified thunder, but perhaps a bit too much for a daily!
https://imgur.com/H4gTeUT
Lastly, just a shout out to the E31 WhatsApp and FaceBook groups, who have been extremly helpful and quite a few have gone out of their way to help. From recommending garages, to swap deals, to just commiseratory messages, they've been very reassuring and kind.
PS -
The obvious solution to this problem would be to garage the car but unfortunately I am currently not able to do that. My flat has designated parking at the rear and at my parents (where this car was) we've been trying to buy some land for 5 years from the council.
Falsey said:
Forgive my naivety, but how would the thieves tell it was decat if they just went in to chop the middle out?
Though, common sense would hope they wouldnt hit the same place again.
Commiserations though, utter tts.
Decat is without the cat, so it's just the pipe. The stainless steel cat is normally a completely different shape to the OEM one. Though, common sense would hope they wouldnt hit the same place again.
Commiserations though, utter t
ts.Think of the steel one like a short sausage whereas the OEM one is like a sandwich that's got good amount filling!
The reason they go for OEM ones is because they have more of the precious metals in them. For example the neighbours Honda Insight would get them £400 from a breaker and mine would get around £900. The sports cat would be lucky to get £150.
ScoobyChris said:
Very nice! If I wasn’t so scared of borkage there would be so many awesome cars sat on my drive
Enjoy OP!
Chris
Ha! The same thought occurs to me to - which is why I got it with a warranty! Thanks for the kind words.Enjoy OP!
Chris
Edited by ScoobyChris on Wednesday 16th June 21:57
Edited by ScoobyChris on Wednesday 16th June 21:57
DanG355 said:
So will the new custom system not have cats? How does it pass an MOT? Is there a friendly MOT station or is there some MOT loophole for cars of this age? I thought they have to have cats present for the MOT if they were fitted from new for any car post 1989 but I could be wrong…
The cut off date is 1992 or younger, my car's a 1997.I do know a friendly MOT garage but don't want to risk it, plus as it's a daily and a GT car/cruiser, fitting a decat is stupid imo.
I'll be having a custom stainless steel exhaust setup made by Longlife Exhausts, and have their sports cats plumbed in at the same time
Done fuming
Hi everyone,
Hope you are all well.
Thanks to everyone for the kind messages of commiseration and vengence - much appreciated!
So just under a month on and the catalytic converter situation is now sorted.
As mentioned in my previous post I went with Longlife Exhausts in Basingstoke, and decided for a full custom exhaust system. Total cost was £1,577 - broken down into:
The sound is quite a bit louder than stock but obviously nowhere near a straight pipe.
It’s proving incredibly difficult to capture on my equipment (an old Samsung phone or a dashcam!) so the best way to describe it is to imagine a slightly muffled mk 1 V8 Ford Mustang, more rumbly grumbly rather than shouty Ferrari 458.
I have noticed it is rumbly in the 10-40mph range and then goes quiet, at cruising motorway speeds it is no louder than before (probably thanks to cabin and wind noise) unless you step on it.
Here’s a sound clip from the dashcam (mounted on the side window) – sorry for the wind noise and low volume – just imagine it louder!:
https://imgur.com/pmh0JHB
(PS - On the external BMW forum it seems to be 50-50 on like/dislike)
Hi everyone,
Hope you are all well.
Thanks to everyone for the kind messages of commiseration and vengence - much appreciated!
So just under a month on and the catalytic converter situation is now sorted.
As mentioned in my previous post I went with Longlife Exhausts in Basingstoke, and decided for a full custom exhaust system. Total cost was £1,577 - broken down into:
- £1,250 – for custom stainless steel exhaust setup
- £80 – for double sheathed tips
- £147 – for 2 lambda sensors
- £100 – for flatbed transport from Heathrow to Basingstoke
The sound is quite a bit louder than stock but obviously nowhere near a straight pipe.
It’s proving incredibly difficult to capture on my equipment (an old Samsung phone or a dashcam!) so the best way to describe it is to imagine a slightly muffled mk 1 V8 Ford Mustang, more rumbly grumbly rather than shouty Ferrari 458.
I have noticed it is rumbly in the 10-40mph range and then goes quiet, at cruising motorway speeds it is no louder than before (probably thanks to cabin and wind noise) unless you step on it.
Here’s a sound clip from the dashcam (mounted on the side window) – sorry for the wind noise and low volume – just imagine it louder!:
https://imgur.com/pmh0JHB
(PS - On the external BMW forum it seems to be 50-50 on like/dislike)
Swervin_Mervin said:
Just read the whole thread today. Great purchase OP and nice to see your journey with it over the last 12mo or so. Shame about the scrotes though
I've always had a thing for the E31, and recently started watching M539's channel and his E31 projects. Your thread though has only served to get me seriously considering one.
My original plan was to chop my E91 in for a 650 Gran Coupe but after the last 12mo I'm seriously considering running something more classic.
So if, in 12mo, I'm destitute and single with an E31 on my drive you will be partly to blame!
Thanks and ha!I've always had a thing for the E31, and recently started watching M539's channel and his E31 projects. Your thread though has only served to get me seriously considering one.
My original plan was to chop my E91 in for a 650 Gran Coupe but after the last 12mo I'm seriously considering running something more classic.
So if, in 12mo, I'm destitute and single with an E31 on my drive you will be partly to blame!
Edited by Swervin_Mervin on Saturday 19th June 18:27
I have found it to be more reliable than my last car, a CLK 280 sport - however there has been cost due to it being an old car and things have perished/reached end of life and need changing (e.g .radiator).
If you are mechanically minded, there's a great wealth of knowledge (e.g Tim Meeke, E31 whatsapp group) and it'll be okay to run.
Also due to things like the pandemic, classic car prices increasing and (relative) rarity; theres quite a few sellers asking silly prices. The whatsapp group digs out all the sensible priced ones! Everyone does however seem to agree prices will only go up.
PS - A year in and I'm still broke, single and without a drive
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