Bmw 730i 1988

80% of E32's value comes down to
>does the engine work
>what does the interior looks like
>does the electric shit work
If it's a manual, go knock on his door and ask if he's willing to sell for 2k if the car manages to start and keep idle.

Is it manual or automatic?
The ZF4HP22 automatic transmission has issues with the seals of the A clutch pack, they wear out and start releasing pressure when the car is in neutral or park, meaning that if you apply gas while in N or P, or come to N or P from driving and leave her idling, the clutches will start slipping and are destroyed extremely fast, like in a matter of seconds.

M30 engine itself has camshaft oiler tube problems, mostly with the tube getting clogged and the banjo bolts coming loose, causing insufficient oil coming to the cam and wearing out the lobes prematurely.

Aside for those, the 730i with the M30 is a very reliable car mechanically, but the electronics are a nightmare. I've owned one 730, moved to a 750, bought a 740, bought another 750 and then sold them all away, only the 730 didn't bite in considerably on my savings and my free time.

it's manual.

That's why it stuck to me. It looks pretty good. As good as a car that has been sitting for 3 years or more and he obviously has no need for it.

Aside for the camshaft and electronics, you're good to go then.
Just listen to any clicking noise from the head and check if the car revs properly. Removing the valve cover to inspect the cam isn't that hard too, a bit of disassembly required though due to the idle control valve and throttle body residing on top of the valve cover.
The Throttle body is supported by these 3 or was it 4 rubber bushings that tend to rip easy and cause it to move/shake while the engine is running, which could fuck with the idle at times.

Those things aside, they're extremely reliable cars, dailied mine for a good few years before I did the controversial thing of upgrading to a 750 E32.
Oh yeah, do check if the car has self leveling suspension at the rear or normal "solid" suspension. Easiest way to check is if the car has a headlights adjustment scroll on the left side of the steering wheel, on the dashboard trim. If the scroll is there, the car has regular suspension, if not, prepare for leaky shocks that can cost upwards from a thousand dollars a piece.

lol yeah I expected it would be a little expensive to take care of it. Thanks a lot for the advice. I guess that was yours?

That was my first one. I know, terrible wheels.
Anyway, the M30 powered ones aren't all that expensive to take care of if manual and "base" models with not much going on. Shit, I kept mine going with just a students fuckall salary.

Oh yeah, do note HVAC and heater issues too, the magnetic valves tend to get stuck and fuck up from time to time, causing the car to blow only cold or hot.

One other problem with the AC is the HVAC "sword", the control module. It's this, well, sword looking thing that craps out after years and causes your blowers to stop working or only work on max power. Those swords can get a bit pricey. You can find overhauled ones for like 200 bucks like I did or brand new OEM ones for upwards to a grand.

Don't know about cuckbucks, but in freedom dollars they're pretty cheap because hand-me-down broke dicks can't afford to fix em.

Thank you. Good to know.

Thought about this at one point.

those wheels are fine.
probably one of the best looking bmw 16 inch wheels

Stole them from my E60 530d as the E32 was riding on some steelies at the time. Gave the steelies to my E34 530 as burnout/drift tires

How much are they worth?

No it isn't, the one in the OP is an E32 Steve drove an E23 a generation before that.

enjoy spending twice what you paid for it to keep it running before finally crying as it gets towed away to a scrapyard.

>M30 730i
>expensive to own
Yeah, nah, those things are so base model, they have next to nothing to go wrong.

I just think it's a cool car lol. Cooler than a Golf 4

E32's are really nice cars and much more reliable people make them out to be. Everyone goes on about HURR BMW DURR MILLIONS IN REPAIRS EACH DAY, dailied a 750 E32 Lang with 400k on the clock and the most expensive repair I did was a factory brand new HVAC control unit

>much more reliable people make them out to be

Because it's an old BMW, and old BMWs didn't have anything that could break. E30, E32 and E34 were the last actually reliable Bimmers.

The E32 does have a lot of things to break though, that thing was loaded with tech that basically runs on arcane magic and ancient blood rituals. Thankfully that tech is still quite reliable even after all these years.

I'd also argue that the E39 for example in a base 520 form is a dead on reliable car for example. It's all a matter of maintenance and ownership, if you drive and treat them like some beater shitbox corolla, things will go wrong and fast.

now add the pussy you got while owning it

I actually managed to hit up on 2 chicks with my first E32 730, went steady with the other one of them for a couple of years, still friends with the other one.

;)

not e32 user but i just bought a set with good winter tyres and those wheels for 140 euros

I think they're E60 stock aluminum wheels, seen them run at around 100-300 yurobucks. THy aren't all that expensive to be honest.

so a pretty fucking sweet car in the end then?

Pretty fucking sweet and totally worth it in my opinion. I loved my E32's way more than my E38, they had this feeling of superiority when compared to everything else.
E38 feels like a huge barge in comparison.

But the question remains. I don’t have a starting point on the price of the car. How much to offer if he doesn’t wanna sell?

About 2 grand is an okay price to offer. Check for rust on the rear arches and on the bot, especially for an 730 that has been sitting, doing nothing.tom of the door, you can use those as a scapegoat.

I drove a 94 740i for years. I bought the thing for 2500 with 100k miles. They're out there, my friend.

How much does it eat? Is the sound in the car good? Now I know that depends but I’m just trying to get my mind around it

Below 3 grand
Check for rust at the bottom of the front doors and the jack points

Din't buy when you find any of this

Or this

>he has a shop do his work for him

>he thinks buying parts and fixing it yourself wouldn't still cost twice what you pay for it

Fucking moron.

>buying something costs twice as much as buying it
What

I got about 8-9 litres per 100km on mine, which is fuck if I know in American units, something like 35-31 mpg?

Lmao more like 16l/100

On smaller engines too?

8-9l/100km was what I got on the M30, my M70 powered 750 got about 11.5-12.5l/100km, current E38 750 daily gets roughly the same, a bit lower at 11.5-12l/100km

I got the 3.5 m30 and when i drive it normally i get 16l/100 in the city and 9-11l/100 on the autobahn
So the 3.0 might be a bit more frugal

The sound is very good, the carpezs and insulaton are very thick, you barely hear any road and tire noise.
you can get one with a 10 speaker soundsystem and an amplifier in the trunk, it is very nice

it's surprisingly really clean

sounds good. thanks

>you can get one with a 10 speaker soundsystem and an amplifier in the trunk
YOu sure you ain't thinking of the E38 DSP system? as the E32, if I remember correctly, has only 6 speakers

I am very sure, as my e32 has this.
Its got 6 speakers in the front(2 in the dash, 2 in the footwells, 2 in the foremost corners of the doorwindows) and 4 in the back(2 behind the seats and 2 in the c-pillar)

It was called "BMW sound system" or something like that

Oh shit, completely forgot about those C-pillar and door speakers. Sorry, my bad.

That's cause it is mostly hidden under a plastic panel.
Nearly had a heart attack when i took it off.
Thankfully it looked worse than it is and i was able to remove the afflicted material and weld new sheet metal in.

They are hidden real good, i only found out about it when the head unit crapped out and i wanted to put a different one in

Yea I know, I've had about 4 E32's thus far. The 10 speaker setup was Premium Sound System if I remember correctly and the regular 6 speaker setup was just the sound system, found mostly in the 730's.

Some 750's also had additional tweeters on the speakers on the rear shelf, I think they were combined into one speaker later on.

If it has no rust you should definitely buy it
The m30 engine is really easy to fix if it ever has any problems