the past ohhhh 6 months i've had this thing about bimmers. infact im in the market of getting a bimmer since i really dont need a truck. just wondering if anyone else owns any german cars.

p.s. both my parents drive mercury's and i had a '88 f-150 as my first vehicle and i bleed ford blue.... and also bimmer roundel.

 

Yeah I own a couple. The wife drives an 03 E500 Benz and I use an 02 Passat as a commute vehicle. The German driving "experience" is nice. It is a tightness and communication with the road that you have trouble finding elsewhere. Just expensive as hell when you need to fix them. The quality over the past few years is not what it used to be. But I hear the Companies are investing alot to rectify that. That being said if you are buying used select carefully some models are quite troublesome.

 

If you want a bimmer - get an E36 328Ci manual... One of the greatest cars in the world in my humble opinion.
Or (if you like the straight six, sleeper BMW appeal, like I do), a 3.8l E34 M5.

I, like you am a bit a propeller head... My uncle owns a gorgeous Alpina E24 B7, which got me started. I have never actually owned one though.

 

im hoping to get a '93-95 e36 325i or 325is sedan would probably be a little more practical.

 

We have a Mexican/German car, a VW built in Mexico. Great car, 80k toruble free miles. Handles and performs great.

 

Everyone has their preferences, but I think that the VW Golf is terrific. I has been in production for a long time and it is highly refined. Good materials and excellent fit and finish, but still fairly price competitive. The turbo four performs nicely. Diesel if you want it too.

One of the great bargains are the older seven series BMW's. If you can do the repair work yourself that is.

But when it comes to German cars the parts can be a killer. For instance, a piston for a BMW is about ten times the price of a Toyota and you are more likely to need them too. And the German car repair business is a criminal conspiracy.

 

Well, not exactly beemers but we had 2 diesel beetles, 02 & 03. Sold them both last summer. Not really impressed with them mechanically, simple things overly complicated. Changing the oil was a PITA at best. A lot of little things going wrong like the window motors, glow plugs, console latch, even a fuel pump going out. One had 44k and the other had 22k when we sold them. Hard to argue with an honest 50 mpg though. Maybe this is just VW.

 

Nice choice.

As another member mentioned, 7-series are rediculously cheap second hand (the get shellacked on resale), just find an inline 6 one.

 

2 Mercedes, a 1981 300D, and a 1993 190E 2.6. Great cars!! However, I did hear a Mercedes horror story from a friend just yesterday. His mechanic told him that he had a customer with an S-Class Mercedes (this is their biggest sedan) that had the light go out in the instrument cluster. Instead of changing a light bulb (or LED, or whatever the illuminator might be) the entire instrument cluster had to be changed, price of the part $4700 (that's right, four thousand, seven hundred dollars).

 

Jus be on the look out for one that is in good shape. These cars can be expensive to fix, and if you don't fingd the right one, they may be problem filled. I almost mought a 95 540, but I was worried about repair costs.

 

Only experience with a german vehicle was a brand new VW Golf that we rented from Enterprise last Christmas. It had just come to the rental place straight from the dealer with about 23 miles on it. I put about 500 miles on it over a couple days and for the bare-bones car that it was, it rode nicely and was generally a good experience. Even the base model has a 7-speaker stereo and in-dash changer, power windows and mirrors. The seats are comfy and the back seats are fairly roomy for a compact car. And for only 100hp, it didn't have any problems keeping up with traffic on the highway. I had it up to 100mph at one point and it tracked straight with no weird pulls or vibrations. 75mph was a breeze, the engine wasn't too loud or buzzy. The only problem was that the dummy who PDI'd it at the dealership didn't bother charging the battery long enough, and the car had to be jump-started on 3 separate occasions. That and it seemed to drink an awful lot of gas, but I think that was because the engine was brand new.

 

my pops has a 02 745i. Its pretty cool, but has some "tire sensor" problems

 

I have a '68 VW Beetle with a Baja kit on it. Had a motor built for it - has a whopping 90 HP or so.....The only non-Ford I own. Now if I only had time to drive it....

Gotta love the old Beetles. If you have a 13mm, a 15mm and a screwdriver you can fix almost anything on it.

 

The high water mark for BMW's is the E30 3 series (84-91). Well maintained examples will run forever and are a great to drive. Our 86 325es is over 220k now and drives like the day it was new. The key is to buy one that has been well maintained, many owners will have boxes of receipts for the work done. That is the car you want to buy.

These cars also do not have all the complicated electronics that makes the newer German cars unreliable.

If BMW was smart they would fire Chris Bangle, kill the wierd styling and bring out a retro 3 that looks like the classic E30.

 

im really partial to the e36 personally