New Tread - PICS On That BMW 850i Checked Out!!!

[slow&rusty]

Here is a follow-up to my original BMW 850i post:

I went out today to check out the car.
Its a 1991 850i with 109,380K - Auto - clean title $12K negotiable.

The Exterior: In very decent shape - beautiful color, paint in decent shape but the cars needs a good wash and detailing to show all flaws. A few stone chips to be expected and a few small dents on the outer edge of the wheel well touched up with "Touch-Up" paint. Lower front spoiler has a crack on the right side, visible in my pics below. 18" Wheels beautiful, Sumitomo tires in good shape. Gas flap broken off by a rookie who went to fill-up the car on behalf of the owner - UG -but will be repaired prior to final sale. There are some aftermarket cheapie fog lights installed adjacent to the factory foglights and they do not work.

The Interior: Average - saddle colored interior has the typical cracking on both front seats from lack of leather treatments over the years. Dash is perfect! Several interior lights are not working, and I could not figure out how to switch on the vanity lights in the sun visors. Several cubbys have broken hinges or lids like the center console lid and the flip down coin holder on the driver's side door. Light or indicator adjacent to the gear lever does not display but the digital display for the gear is shown on the dash clearly. The car has a very expensive Eclipse Double Din with Navigation and alarm, with two 10" subs and a decent size amp in the trunk all professionally installed. All power seats, windows, locks all work incl. the one touch switches. A few pixels are not displaying on the center computer, but still "readable". Back seats are perfect (as I am sure on most of these cars they would be).

Engine: Fired up right away after sitting for 2+weeks, purrs beautifully. Warmed up quickly and the temp gauge stayed rock solid as I let it idle for 20+minutes. Luckily there was snow under the car and I backed it up and there was no leaks on the fresh snow! Tranny shifts fine. Under the hood was clean. AC compressor kicked on fine, but could test how cold as its winter here but the heat was fine.

As a bonus this car has Genuine Dinan chipsets (upgrades it to: 325hp \ 371ft.lbs) and the owner showed me the receipts and documentation from Dinan. The car also has some aftermarket chrome exhaust tips but they have seen better days - looks good from far (so to speak).

The owner is a business man and did not want me to drive the car - sadly. He has owned it for 2years and has not driven it much, it was a weekend toy for him. He was very frustrated as he told me that there has been too many tire kickers that have taken the 850 out, beaten on it and racked up literally hundreds of miles and then were not serious about buying the car.

I got along very well with the owner as I am easy going and could detect his frustration. He said if I was serious about the car to come back after the first of the year and come back with a deposit and I could take the car for a few hours for a PPI and if the car did not meet the PPI or my expectations that he would happily refund my deposit. Fair enough! I have to agree with him, that there are a few jerks out there that have no intention of buying your car and just want the statisfaction of beating up someone else's high dollar car.

I do love the look of this car! I have looked at several 928S4 - 32V Porsches and they have all dissapointed with their lazy-ish performance and hard shifting Autos (I have never driven a 5speed 928). This 850i looks easier to work on than 928s. These 850s are simply gorgeous! They are the true successor to the M6 \ 635CSi!!

This car just had $635 in brakes, belts and fluids done.

What do you guys think?

[Dixie]

If he does not want you to drive it, he does not really want to sell it.

[Evans, Marv]

I think there are a lot of (little) things wrong, from your description, that would indicate to me a lack of attention to the car over time. I also agree with Wayne, that they are expensive to fix & maintain, & I wouldn't think a car like that would be overly desirable. If you really want one, why don't you make a project out of finding a lower mileage one. If they don't go for that much, why not look for that pearl?

[slow&rusty]

Guys - Thanks for all your replies! I am in love with the looks of this car, but if (big "IF") I do consider one, I will probably go with one with less miles that does not have so many "little" things wrong with it. I would at minimum consider a 850Ci and it would have to be a 6speeder.

We'll see, the complex EFI with double everything is scary for sure and how would start trouble shooting it???? Yikes...and the CSi cars only came to this country for two years '95-'96 and they command well north of $45K.

A 6speed 850Ci with low miles and well maintained is an easy $20K car...which is 928GT money or a very late \ low mileage S4. The forum support on these cars are weak from what I have researched.

Maybe just a pipe dream....

Yasin

[the]

why not a 6 speed V8?

I agree on passing on this car. 91 is an earlier car, automatic bad, for the year and miles the price is nothing special.

[speeder]

The V-8 would be a far better car, and probably the same performance as the V-12. Unfortunately, the years of the 840 coincide w/ the cylinder wall issues on the early V-8s, (alusil vs. nikasil), so if the engine has not been replaced under warranty it would not be worth much. If it is a replacement long block from the dealer w/ the update, it could be a good car.

Neither model is known for its fuel economy, but the 850 is just an ungodly toilet. If you stick your foot in it, you can probably watch the gauge go down. You could probably lease a new 5-series for what the annual operating expenses would be.

Good-looking cars, but I would only buy one if it was ridiculously cheap. A few parking lot dings and some $5.00 @ gallon Cheney juice and you are looking at a boat anchor on wheels. JMHO of course.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Gorgeous car, but personally I think it'd look a lot nicer without the silly-ass "bling-bling" wheels.

[Big Ed]

It's too bad those installed car phones went out of style.

[K. Roman]

I think you should look into the 840. It will be impossible to find a 6 spd, but I hope you do. But I highly doubt it. The 850 is just too risky in terms of engine reliability. You need two of everything, it's two engines stuck together. Not very smart. If you love the "look" then the 840 should be all that you need. They are not fast cars either. They are a bit heavy.

The look is so impressive, but find a color like black or silver, otherwise when you sell it will be nearly impossible. And you will eventually sell!!!

[Schrup]

Have you considered a Lexus SC300/400? I was considering one of these until I decided to buy new.

[89911]

Not bad. I think the biggest attraction to these cars is they were once very expensive and now they are very cheap, comparatively speaking. I don't know if that is incentive enough for me to jump at one for the right price.

[nostatic]

money pit