alright i was thinking about trying to buy a 95 740i but have seen them for sale for a wide range of prices. If i wanted a high mileage one that i could afford with say 180000 miles on it what could i expect to pay. It would still run fine and might have the average ding here or there. I have taken interest in these and was also wondering how they perform. I know the stats on the car but i wanted some actual experience to tell me how they are. Thanks for your help

the other question is what years was this body style in production.

I own a 95 and would be happy to share my impressions.

First, I'm sure you know about the Nikasil issue - this is the biggest caveat of 95. I bought mine with an understanding from the stealer that they would "rebuild" the engine. Once that little detail was out of the way, your 95 will be fairly similar to 96/97 model years with a few minor exceptions. One "minor" exception is that the 95 is the only year with a 4.0 liter engine. If you look at the HP stats, however, you will see that it doesn't lag very far behind the later engines. I don't see this as much of a negative.

As for a high mileage example, this is a loaded question full of "what if's" and "wherefores". How was it maintained? What has been replaced? Etc. etc.

As for performance, I have resolved my major issues with the early the car - the lack of "low end" performance - get a re-geared diff ($2500). Want a bit more HP - try a free flow exhaust, an aftermarket CAI (RevHigh) and then "re-chip" the engine. This will get you about 20 HP and the car will sound sweet! Want a better suspension? 18"/19" wheels with HR/Bilstein suspension. ....and so it goes. I have spent at least $10k on performance upgrades. The moral of the story? Nothing on these cars comes cheap, so if you are on a budget and concerned about the acquisition cost to meet your needs, I would suggest a 3 or 5 series so you can afford some performance mods/upgrades and the maintenance that comes along with a higher mileage car.

With a higher mileage car, you need to budget for all the little things that can and will go wrong. This will steal away from your performance budget. I would also suggest that if possible, find a 95 without DSP so you have more audio upgrade options.

As a sidenote, I will probably upgrade to an 01 later this year. Why? I want the later style headlights, a steptronic tranny and some of the other goodies that found there way on the car through the model year improvements. I have been seriously considering a supercharger, but hesitate in throwing more money in a 95. ...now if they just made a Calypso Red model in 01... Nope, not available. I'll have to settle for an Imola.

My car is nowhere near the miles you are considering, so I can't comment on the maintenance items you will face with those kind of miles. Having been an E38 fanatic for many years, I would suspect that if you find a car that had the engine block swap sometime during it's "midlife" that you will have less to worry about as far as major engine issues. I can also tell you that the 5HP30 ZF tranny on the 95 - 97 is bulletproof as long as you do the valve body update. Weak points will be suspension (i.e. bushing) wear, radiator, window regulators, pixel issues, cats, and some of the other things you will read about on this forum..

There is a lot of info on www.e38.org and some great buying tips in Mark Wong's post in the "sticky" section at the top of this board.

Good luck!

Originally posted by dinan535i
the other question is what years was this body style in production.

E38's went from 95 - 01

thanks alot for your help, i saw one for 7500 that had 180,000 miles on it, this seemed to fit my budget. I have a 535i and want to get a newer body style but cant afford the newer 540i and dont want the 528i for obvious power reasons. I think the 740i would be perfect if i could get it for a good price.

i have heard that chip,exhaust, and cold air can make these a force to be reckoned with on the road. Did you notice a big difference with these mods?

Originally posted by dinan535i
i have heard that chip,exhaust, and cold air can make these a force to be reckoned with on the road. Did you notice a big difference with these mods?

I noticed the biggest difference in performance when I went to a 3.46 diff. Since I did the Eisenmann exhaust, RevHigh CAI and chip in stages, it's tough to say that this was a "big difference". But I would do it again without hesitation.

Let's face it, our 7's aren't going to beat a similarly equipped 5 for the obvious reasons, but a 7 can't be beat for comfort and style. I personally like it's stance and profile over a 5 and am willing to give up a bit on performance for that.

Cheers

With that many miles, you are in the driver's seat pricewise. It DOES have the engine replaced with the Alusil block, right? Make sure!!! Don' t buy it with a Nikasil block, unless you can get it for like $4500!

Good luck. I loved my 95 and drove it merrilly to 121k miles, and I was literally just breaking it in!

Steve
http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/5/web/317000-317999/317361_157_full.jpg It looked new when I sold it last month for $11k.

Here's a copy of a post from "Bill in Florida" a Roadfly member which I thought was impartial and interesting..........


Here's the deal. Yes, the Nikasil blocks are technically a problem. One of the first things I tell people is that they need to be aware of it. Everything else being equal, you want an Alusil car.

Now, I'm also a dealer, and I also sell lots of used BMWs, and I also sell lots of older ones. I probably haul my butt in and out of more BMWs in a month than almost anybody else on the board will in their lifetimes.

The reality of the Nikasil problem is that it's nowhere as bad as it is alleged to be. I just sold a 1994 540i with a Nikasil block in it. It's about to hit 132K miles and runs like a raped ape. It's also a Florida car since day one. "OMG! IT NEEDS AN AN ENGINE!" Nope. Car runs awesome. Car has used 1/2qt oil in the 400 miles I put on it. Oh yeah, it has an oil leak at the rear main seal (Yes I sold it on eBay, yes I described the leak, I also sold the car for $7100 and it's clean). It has strong compression and runs fine. I know of SEVERAL other cars running around (Including a 530i that's had a "failed block" for the past 3 years and over 70K miles) that all have good power and don't guzzle oil. The 530i has over 170K on it.

When they get "bad" they idle like Diesels. They can be a little tough to start when cold (Worst case it takes 8-10 starter revolutions to get it going and it's rough for 20 seconds). My friend who owns the 530i throws a can of Engine restore in it and it smooths right out for 10K miles.

Now, you can live with an occasional rough idle and the car taking twice as long to start, or you can spend $4K+ to fix the problem. That's your call. Also, modern fuels have very low sulphur levels, if the car's fine now, chances are, it'll be fine for a long time to come. It seems that some made it through the problem and are now OK and will continue to be for a while. Yes, Nikasil scares people, but I'd like to see one case where an M60 actually became a heavy smoker or became undriveable because of a bad block. I've never physically seen one, every time i see a smoking M60 car with a "blown engine" it needs an oil separator plate fixed. Including one 1994 740i that I bought that started to run like crap and smoke, I thought "Oh_Shit, I'm screwed". A new oil separator plate gasket and the car ran sweet as silk. Oh yeah, it had 2 "failed" cylinders.

They'll idle rough, lose a tad of power, etc.. but in reality, it's something you can live with. I know of a few cars that I have done leak down tests on that "failed". Most of them ran nice and smooth while a couple had a slightly rough idle. Furthermore, I've been keeping my own little survey on these cars...

I've sold, roughly, 30 1995 E38s that were originally from the southeast in the past 3 years. About half of them had Alusil blocks. About half of the Nikasil cars failed the leakdown test. Only 2 had a noticeably rough idle and 1 I retailed and the customer knew of the problem and another I wholesaled.

The one with the rocking idle is still running fine almost 2 years later. Ditto a 1993 740iL that I sold almost 3 years ago with about 110K on it. It's got almost 150K on it now. It rocks at idle noticeably. It still pulls strong just like an E32 V8 should and has no problem crusing along at 90+ on the FL Turnpike. It also does not guzzle fuel.

So stop worrying about your new car and enjoy it, as long as the car runs strong and has good power, I'd bet my watch (And it's a nice watch) that the car will treat you well for a long time to come.

I know this isn't the popular version of the story, but it's what I have seen with my own eyes.

Feel free to call me, 551-206-5171 on my cell if you want to discuss.

Bill in Orlando
(Well, Maitland but nobody has heard of Maitland so I say Orlando..haha)