E31 Plan shelved (for now) but I found a modern BMW I like

    Hello 8ers
    I hope you are all well. I've been making noises about getting back into an E31 but (as I think Reinhard might have predicted - in fact you could say he rather influenced my thinking) this has been decided against. Sad face. :roll:


    Reasoning: As we all know, we're looking at 14-15k GBP upwards to buy in, with a likely 5-10k restore bill soon after. With the best will that is a strong investment and I'm not quite in that league.


    Quite a few I checked closely in the 20-25k range all had imminent likely issues. Notably, one at 19.99k I spoke at length with the vendor.. seemed to be a part time 8er dealer as he talked of selling quite a few E31s before. He seemed interested to hear my (honest) thoughts about his car, so I compared it unfavourably with one which was up at (I think) 12k which at least had some detailed repairs work listed with dates etc. His has very little meaningful work done in 15 years but was marketed at a high price because (as is the way with E31) cosmetically in the photos it looked great.


    So, I have searched around a little and found a long wheelbase 3 Series Mutant-Coupe (I called it a 'luxury hearse') but the Auto gearbox is something special, the backseat passengers enjoy limo-level legroom and very practical for work boxes etc too ...a huge boot.


    Basically I am brazenly, here, saying that I really like this 328i GT ...i'm urging Sandwich to dump the Volvo. and I don't mind what many BMW drivers /people etc say about it!
    Please forgive the non-E31 photos on just 1 occasion here and my dramatic suggestion this car is a worthy modern BMW, but I like bigger cars and always have done.


    happy motoring again :driver:


    I know this will be doubted but the eventual plan is to get another yellow 8er, come what may. I'll pay 10k for a fixer-upper and spend another 10k on it, I'm just not ready yet (quite.)
    Cheers... and please holler if you see any yellow 8ers at a fair price..or any unusual colours..thanks
    Look aside if you hate the GT 3 series, like I seen some crazy people talking.


    8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/46262/


    8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/46263/


    8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/46264/

    So to me, with slightly fading memories now admittedly but an instinctive feel for what my yellow 8er felt like to drive -- this piddly 2.0 petrol engine silently delivers something really quite similar feeling, in power terms, to my 4.4 V8.


    My other plan is to hold out properly for the 5.7.


    :toothbrush:

    I am fighting the urge to join a 3 Series forum (the UK ones aren't great & the American-biased ones, are friendly but I can't relate much, I'm an old hippy) sooooooo


    Just in case anyone wants to press me urgently sometime for the full low-down about this strangely appealing marque - let me know and I will prattle on happily here, more likely. Sandwich this is the ideal pretend 8er imvho

    Actually I tell a lie, the 6 Series Grand Coupe is the ideal pretend 8er, seems to me.


    My 3er isn't far off that however & since the early 90s I never found any 3 Series I desired. They were always too small.


    If anyone has any experience about whether the new 8-Series is the Truly Ideal Pretend E31, feel free to weigh in here, as the thread topic is partly now: Cars that might make up for a lost E31 that you still miss.

    Zitat von BBMatic;152601

    Hello 8ers


    Reasoning: As we all know, we're looking at 14-15k GBP upwards to buy in, with a likely 5-10k restore bill soon after. With the best will that is a strong investment and I'm not quite in that league.


    Quite a few I checked closely in the 20-25k range all had imminent likely issues. Notably, one at 19.99k I spoke at length with the vendor.. seemed to be a part time 8er dealer as he talked of selling quite a few E31s before. He seemed interested to hear my (honest) thoughts about his car, so I compared it unfavourably with one which was up at (I think) 12k which at least had some detailed repairs work listed with dates etc. His has very little meaningful work done in 15 years but was marketed at a high price because (as is the way with E31) cosmetically in the photos it looked great.


    Good morning Bern,


    It is difficult to work out when you sleep unless you are currently in Australia:hmmmm:


    Interesting paragraph above. Could you please expand on what you consider to be "imminent likely issues" and what "meaningful work done" would be?


    Is it your belief that unless a car has had some fairly major work done then it is inevitably not worth the money because all the problems are yet to come? This does seem a bit pessimistic because a well maintained car shouldn't necessarily be full of Gremlins waiting to jump out.


    I think over the years, there has been a tendency for many, dare I say younger enthusiasts to have gotten into the 8 scene and thought they were just buying a lot of car for cheap money only to find that they couldn't really afford to run and maintain them. As a consequence every subsequent genuine enthusiast has had to spend fortunes in time and money effectively restoring the cars and this has led to the widespread belief that these cars are desirable but 'a bucket load of grief'.


    I will never forget Chris Burton (the 8 specialist) telling me that if a car is worth £25K you could not turn a £5K car into a £25K car even if you spent £25K on it. Obviously it is the case that everyone has a budget to work to but I think every article I have ever read about classic cars always states that you should buy the very best one you can afford as it is false economy to buy cheap and do up unless your name is Ed China or restomod is your thing.


    Cheers
    Graham

    Hi Graham
    thanks for your reply which does make this thread slightly interesting.. previously it was just me droning on.


    Re: posting times, this website is 2 hours ahead.. so when a post is timed at 3am, it is actually 1am. (this may have temporarily shifted last night due to clocks going forward)


    First thing to say quickly is that while this is a public forum my words were more like thinking aloud. & not intended as a definitive statement of 'good' reasons, (or lack of reasons) to buy an E31. I speak here with very little authority, even if I'm clearly smitten by the E31.


    Reading back my post it is clear 1-2 words or phrases are stated too strongly. For example, the word 'imminent' is clearly wrong - I meant 'possible' or even 'likely' (or somewhere in between) but 'imminent' just isn't right. Furthermore, the numbers I randomly used to illustrate my point - they are somewhat randomly chosen, there is no mythical "12k level" or 20k-level 8 Series.


    What I mean by 'meaningful work' done.. relates to what the programme of upkeep has looked like over (say) last 10 years


    Many E31 owners have maintained their cars faultlessly, and some lucky owners no doubt find their E31 carries on working flawlessly in some cases even without being fussed over unduly.


    Was my general gist spurious? Well, I now feel that I should have used more careful language however IF we strip the numbers out of my post, really all I'm saying is: 1-2 of the cars in the higher price bracket had seemingly very little maintenance works carried out at all. Those are the cars I felt wary of during my recent search -ultimately I don't want to spend a higher sum and still be possibly looking at a required programme of Works needed.


    I wasn't suggesting buying a tatty 10k car and spending 5-10k would magically create a good E31.


    I was saying that IF i did buy now, there is a possibility I would select one in a lower price range, with the very high possibility further spending was necessary. I may try to avoid one which has the higher price tag but little documentary evidence of parts replaced etc.


    The one thing I was *not* discussing (although maybe I should have, as it would have been my preferred route back into the fold) was the cherished collectors car such as one of those run by esteemed members of this forum.


    I am aware there are no set rules. Mainly I was pointing out that the *current* available crop, from some quite indepth investigation on my part, was not yielding something which struck the correct balance (for me) between price > upkeep.


    There are expensive E31 out there which I'm not sure earn that higher pricetag, but arguably they do, if the cosmetics are very good. To be clear I am NOT suggesting E31s are a ticking timebomb, personal experience taught me that isn't the case, but 7-8 more years have passed in the timeline so I think the service record of a vehicle becomes ever more important, if one is to source the right car at a fair price. Whether I'm able to afford to buy in - In short I felt I wasn't at present but I concede willingly my post was somewhat loosely worded.

    Hi Bern,


    A most satisfactory response and I have to say it did feel like you were merely thinking out loud.:laugh:


    It came across that you had done a good deal of homework and that is absolutely the right thing to do. I was just hoping to get the topic going as we are all affected by your findings.


    Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question!


    Stay well.

    Hey again G
    The feeling I was getting when the search became more earnest was the kind of 'addiction' fuel that results in someone buying another 8 Series. A rising feeling of certainty mixed with exhilaration. I started to resist it, almost subconsciously - the 'obvious' candidate 8er was not apparent anyway - and then more consciously when I took a look in the 15k + bracket...the conversation I had with the part-time 8 dealer probably sealed my decision that right now wasn't going to work, and no point trying to force it.
    I have left various email alerts active for the time being as I want to sample the market for a longer period, not just 1-2 months.


    One thing has changed is, I've abandoned my very recent preference to buy/ run an E31 and use it again as a Daily Driver. Even if I did acquire another one, I probably should only do so with a view to using it in a more limited way. That means garage space etc, plus a slightly altered mindset to a future E31. While I was overjoyed to learn the news about ULEZ, I can't help feeling my pursuit of another E31 will re-start, & become more urgent if / when we move somewhere else, as my garage space is too useful as storage to easily consider repurposing it for a car again.
    Other factors are at play and I am going to monitor the 8er market for some time yet even if my Daily Driver car problem has now been resolved.

    I like the way not a single crap was given about this other car I bought, (the unpopular subject of this thread).


    Can I quickly add, in case it stimulates a tidal wave of responses, the F34 has a reassuringly familiar drag coefficient of... 0.29 :harhar:


    All we need concern ourselves with here though, is that an E31 looks (much) better and drives better and is generally much better than an F34. I still quite like it though.

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