7-series advice

Hi y'all,

My first post here. I've had a (pre-owned) C240 since Feb and mighty
pleased with it. I'm toying now with the idea of buying a pre-owned
5-series or 7-series BMW if I can find one for around $ 17k or so here
in Dubai.

Any advice from those who own either a 5- or 7-series? Anything I
should look out for in particular? The 735 and 740 excite me a lot,
though for that kinduva budget, I can only get a '99 model or so which
would've already logged in excess of 125,000 km.

Thanks in advance,

Ramapriya

> wrote
> My first post here. I've had a (pre-owned) C240 since Feb and mighty
> pleased with it. I'm toying now with the idea of buying a pre-owned
> 5-series or 7-series BMW if I can find one for around $ 17k or so here
> in Dubai.
>
> Any advice from those who own either a 5- or 7-series? Anything I
> should look out for in particular? The 735 and 740 excite me a lot,
> though for that kinduva budget, I can only get a '99 model or so which
> would've already logged in excess of 125,000 km.

The 735 is not sold in the US, but is quite similar to the 740.
125K km (or 80K miles) is not low miles, but the engines and
transmissions should be good. I'd worry about the cooling system,
especially the radiator and water pump. All the electrical/electronic
equipment is also problematic.

FloydR

wrote:
> Hi y'all,
>
> My first post here. I've had a (pre-owned) C240 since Feb and mighty
> pleased with it. I'm toying now with the idea of buying a pre-owned
> 5-series or 7-series BMW if I can find one for around $ 17k or so here
> in Dubai.
>
> Any advice from those who own either a 5- or 7-series? Anything I
> should look out for in particular? The 735 and 740 excite me a lot,
> though for that kinduva budget, I can only get a '99 model or so which
> would've already logged in excess of 125,000 km.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Ramapriya


You need to work out what it is you want other than "a BMW".
Is a big engine more important than a big car? If so then a 540 might
be what you want. If a big car is more important than the engine then
you might want a 728.
At the years you're looking at the 5-series looks a bit more modern
even though the 7 was facelifted in 98ish. You can get "sport" models
of both.
I run a '96 740i and I can't say that there are any problems any
different to any other model. Certainly by '99 most things should
have been fixed.

> My first post here. I've had a (pre-owned) C240 since Feb and mighty
> pleased with it. I'm toying now with the idea of buying a pre-owned
> 5-series or 7-series BMW if I can find one for around $ 17k or so here
> in Dubai.
>
> Any advice from those who own either a 5- or 7-series? Anything I
> should look out for in particular? The 735 and 740 excite me a lot,
> though for that kinduva budget, I can only get a '99 model or so which
> would've already logged in excess of 125,000 km.

See www.e38.org

I run a 730i E38, nice car. But the cooling system has been a real pain.
Everything else is fine.

--
Who needs a life when you've got Unix? :-)
Email: , John G.Burns B.Eng, Bonny Scotland
Web : http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk - The Ultimate BMW Homepage!
Need Sun or HP Unix kit? http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/unix.html
www.Strathspey.co.uk - Quality Binoculars at a Sensible price

wrote:
>
> You need to work out what it is you want other than "a BMW".
> Is a big engine more important than a big car? If so then a 540 might
> be what you want. If a big car is more important than the engine then
> you might want a 728.
> At the years you're looking at the 5-series looks a bit more modern
> even though the 7 was facelifted in 98ish. You can get "sport" models
> of both.


What you've written is an embarrassing truth in my case; I had "a BMW"
in mind and just a big one. The 7-series cars look nice too... but then
I don't even know why I shouldn't look for either a 5- or 3-series!

Since I've a wife and two kids and not exactly the money to buy a slew
of cars, I can't even begin to think of a Z3 or Z4. Or any of those
oh-so-pricey 6-series.

Thanks to the others for the advice too. The cooling problem is a real
scare, being in Dubai where not merely are the ambient temperatures
murderous, we can rarely if ever get to drive without the AC on.

Ramapriya

> Thanks to the others for the advice too. The cooling problem is a real
> scare, being in Dubai where not merely are the ambient temperatures
> murderous, we can rarely if ever get to drive without the AC on.

Cars originally supplied to tropical regions by BMW have larger
radiators.

--
Who needs a life when you've got Unix? :-)
Email: , John G.Burns B.Eng, Bonny Scotland
Web : http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk - The Ultimate BMW Homepage!
Need Sun or HP Unix kit? http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/unix.html
www.Strathspey.co.uk - Quality Binoculars at a Sensible price

D Ramapriya wrote:
> wrote:
> >
> > You need to work out what it is you want other than "a BMW".
> > Is a big engine more important than a big car? If so then a 540 might
> > be what you want. If a big car is more important than the engine then
> > you might want a 728.
> > At the years you're looking at the 5-series looks a bit more modern
> > even though the 7 was facelifted in 98ish. You can get "sport" models
> > of both.
>
>
> What you've written is an embarrassing truth in my case; I had "a BMW"
> in mind and just a big one. The 7-series cars look nice too... but then
> I don't even know why I shouldn't look for either a 5- or 3-series!
>
> Since I've a wife and two kids and not exactly the money to buy a slew
> of cars, I can't even begin to think of a Z3 or Z4. Or any of those
> oh-so-pricey 6-series.


The 7-series are more statesman/diplomat like and you can get longer
limo versions if you want. 5-series are a bit fat middle management in
my opinion. 3 series are yuppie-wannabees :-)

Drive a few and see what you think.