The e34 BMW 5 Series, Is It The Best Value For a BMW Right Now?

"Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis" (Dwhite95)
11/08/2014 at 19:52 • Filed to: None

Its seems like the only BMW that is at the basement of the depreciation curve right now. And more and more of them seem to be hitting sub $1,000. Sure they need work, but a similarly priced e30 or e36 is a wreck in comparison.

DISCUSSION (34)

Brian Silvestro > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
11/08/2014 at 20:00

This is why I want an E34 M5 so badly.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Brian Silvestro
11/08/2014 at 20:09

I would take a 540i M Sport 6MT as well. In canada they had the M540i with the M Parallels, only 400 or something made. That V8 just screams. BMW was killing it during the 90s.

Brian Silvestro > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/08/2014 at 20:10

hand built M5 though...

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Brian Silvestro
11/08/2014 at 20:16

I still prefer the M5 overall; it, in addition to the Euro 3.2 E36 M3 and Clownshoe, is a symbol of the M division's glory days. And my favorite of the three. But beater 3.4 M5 vs perfect 540i 6 speed at the same price? I'd have to strongly consider the 540i.

Brian Silvestro > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/08/2014 at 20:21

M5 all the way.

I'm a major E34M5 fanboy though.

RoadHead -- Armand > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
11/08/2014 at 20:32

E34 is great. Back then there were just enough mechanical components to make a damn reliable car. The very next generation the electronics began to take over

Louros > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
11/08/2014 at 20:36

I would say so. I've been looking for a 530 with the 5-speed. Dat small displacement V8 doe

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Brian Silvestro
11/08/2014 at 20:45

I am too, but I'm not buying a probable maintenance nightmare from some boy racer douchebro over (essentially) a clean and faster version of it that handles as well, is as fun, and makes an amazing sound. New, 3.4 M5 all the way. Used, nice 540i M-sport 6MT if in considerably better shape.

Manuél Ferrari > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/08/2014 at 20:51

I saw a dad driving his family in an E34 M5 last year

What a Jalop father

Manuél Ferrari > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
11/08/2014 at 20:56

so what you are saying is BUY ALL the E34S

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Manuél Ferrari
11/08/2014 at 20:58

That's awesome! Then again, is it awesome to have your family hauler be an older M5 or just lame to not? I guess a bit of both. Good thing I'm not planning on having kids, because the whole M5 thing just means so much pressure and responsibility.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Manuél Ferrari
11/08/2014 at 20:59

Brian Silvestro > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/08/2014 at 20:59

I.... disagree!

Manuél Ferrari > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/08/2014 at 20:59

Why no kids?

It's your job to create future Jalops

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Brian Silvestro
11/08/2014 at 21:06

One day you shall shop for an older performance car on the cheap. And you will take it to get it inspected. And the mechanic will look at you like, "Why are you even considering this? How much does the M badge mean to you?" To which you will respond, "What are you trying to imply?" To which she and/or he will respond, "What? I didn't say anything." But I guess my budget wouldn't buy any M5s, so whatever. Buying older BMWs from douchebros is just a bad idea.

Brian Silvestro > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/08/2014 at 21:28

The trick is to not buy it from a douchebro.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Manuél Ferrari
11/08/2014 at 21:34

Title: A Deep Look Into My Mind

Item 1: As the number of humans increases, the planet gets shittier. As time passes, the number of humans increases. By the time my offspring would reach independence, lots of time will have passed and they would have further contributed to the global population
Item 2: My social ability>Rain Man's social ability (not actually but you get the point) so no one to procreate with who would make me feel warm and fuzzy inside and make me want to further my genes and all that. Also my kids would be weird and bitter.
Item 3: I have no real aspirations/motivation, thus keeping me from sufficiently supporting a family
Item 4: No religious beliefs to pass down that would make our shitty socioeconomic system upheld by the culture (to some extent perpetuated by the ability to rely on on religion to give meaning to our lives as members of said society) digestible for a child
Item 4B: Therefore my only purpose to reproduce would be to instinctively further the species, which is counterproductive because our population is the largest threat to the planet at this point.
Item 5: Cars, as a cultural affair, will eventually die out or just become uninteresting. Life will become too fast paced and technology based and further become a barrier between us and existential thought, a connection between our invented sophistication and simply being more intelligent mammals, which separates us from cogs in a machine.

/endrant

itranthelasttimeiparkedit > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
11/08/2014 at 21:36

A few months ago there was an '86 535 5spd for sale for $750, mechanically looked alright, interior was shot. I thought about buying it, fixing it up a bit and flipping it (probably would have but I got a steal on an e30 to do so instead.) I just saw it pop back up on craigslist for $3k with some repairs made...

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Brian Silvestro
11/08/2014 at 21:36

Yes, but then monies! To clarify, I'm talking about the same price point. As in ~6500 or under.

Brian Silvestro > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/08/2014 at 21:38

This car disproves your logic.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1991-BMW-M…

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Brian Silvestro
11/08/2014 at 21:49

This is pretty good. I meant to say $5,500, but I'd be a bit worried about the A/C system (these cars are built around some of those components and I know that in a W124 can take up to $5,000 to fix) and want to know more about the transmission noise. I'd also want to know why the owner is selling and why it's going to its 6th owner. The body is solid and interior is pretty good, but in terms of value the mileage really brings up questions about maintenance mostly due to the turnover rate. It's just the fact that you can find a faster 540i M pack, 6 speed in great condition for $500+ less that makes it a tricky comparison. Nice find, though. Makes me consider one for the future. Same goes for the E36 M3 but the E34 M5 is so much cooler in my mind.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Brian Silvestro
11/08/2014 at 22:18

Also, this video is therapeutic in some way. Can I time warp back to the 90s?

Manuél Ferrari > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/08/2014 at 22:30

This was entertaining. But made me sad. I hope you change your mind one day. You need to have a C4 & 308 loving son who watches Magnum PI with you!

DipodomysDeserti > RoadHead -- Armand
11/08/2014 at 22:50

Not really. Even the E30's have a million sensors you have to track down and test when you have a problem.

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Manuél Ferrari
11/08/2014 at 23:16

Haha yeah sorry. But my child would definitely be like that, gender regardless. ("Now you're going to mirror my views, but it will be the easy way or the hard way." I'm assuming they will have some sort of mind controlling technology by this point) But I'll try to explain that in my sleep deprived state right now. Everyone has a certain amount of positivity in their mindset, a sort of filter for life. Shit takes that away from that outlook and you develop into a less productive, enthusiastic, comfortable person as a result at the cost of cynical wisdom. I enjoy interacting with others, but I don't have much to bring to a conversation about arbitrary goofy stuff or academic stuff because I just don't care. That's what it comes down to. I'm not claiming to have the most difficult life or anything (although there are just a ton of small-to-moderate factors in the road to where I am, some inevitable some not), but truly internalizing and not just understanding and not feeling the bare reality of life is just tearing off pieces from a roll of tape and sticking them on the wall and getting down to that cardboard circle in the middle when you wish you had tape... stupid metaphor. When you feel, I guess, defeated that's what you do to maintain a sense of meaning and instead of thinking about the shit sandwich like anyone else who has any awareness you're tasting it and that's all you ever taste in anything... gross metaphor. Anyways, if I went back to revisit, say, Magnum P.I., it would be a shit sandwich. Before it was just some extra "tape" like the C4 or watching a movie, but now there's no newness to it, no way to retain that illusion of grandeur I guess. That isn't just individually applicable, but in a general sense. I'm in a bit of a worse mood right now which translates into what I'd normally see as melodrama, but kids are certainly not a prospect in my future when meaningful relationships probably aren't and kids are, for the next few years at least, on my permanent not to do list. (I don't have one of those but it would be a hell of a lot longer than a to-do list)

Anyways, that's just the way I see it; I don't expect that you'd take such an extreme viewpoint so seriously but it's no more valid than the next one, even if that's incredibly cheerful in relation to mine. I'll rely on you to create a new gen of non-screwed-up Jalops, and have my two spots in the imaginary population lotto ;)

BLCKSTRM > DipodomysDeserti
11/08/2014 at 23:30

It's a mixed blessing. Those sensors do help you track down the problem a lot of the time, too, though I admit the sensor itself is as prone to going bad as whatever it's monitoring.

DipodomysDeserti > BLCKSTRM
11/09/2014 at 01:20

There aren't really any useful diagnostic sensors on E30's, so they don't really help with anything. They all relay info to the DME which then adjusts fueling. My '84 325e has four temp sensors just in the thermostat. It's a nightmare.

Manuél Ferrari > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/09/2014 at 12:04

Are you a philosopher? Because wow. I couldn't have written that!

And be future Jalop kid could definitely be a girl too. It would just be more awkward when you gave her a fake mustache for Halloween so she could be Magnum P.I., haha

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Manuél Ferrari
11/09/2014 at 18:19

Haha I must reverse engineer gender roles by having female

Kinja'd!!!

magnum P.I. But as far as my philosopher status, it's more like someone who has too much time on their hands and not enough to do with it. But you saying that cheers me up so thank you! Also, hot damn it's been done! But they really half assed things in the shoes department.

Kinja'd!!!

Manuél Ferrari > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/09/2014 at 19:55

You're welcome!

Omg that baby rules!

Funny we're talking babies cause I had a first date with a girl last night and it was love at first sight. I want to have lots of babies with her. I asked her if she wants to get married and have kids one day and she said "oh yes, and at least 3"

michael bleggi > Louros
11/10/2014 at 13:01

I have one and it's perfect. you can wind it out to 7k and it acts like an inline 6, however it has the lopey idle and other v8 characteristics... it's just perfect

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > Manuél Ferrari
11/10/2014 at 19:00

Oh man that's cool. Hope it works out!

Manuél Ferrari > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/10/2014 at 20:26

Thanks! I'm cautiously optimistic. I kind of think it won't work out cause things never do. But MAYBE this time they will :)

Manuél Ferrari > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7
11/10/2014 at 20:28

Forgot - she says she likes F1

And she didn't complain about how bumpy the ride was over the terrible roads by her place in LA when I picked her up in the 911

She has possible Jalop status!