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Michael.

Model pros and cons

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From my own experiences I was thinking about what pros and cons BMW models have. Sometimes these are things you can only pick up on after owning them. Without getting super wordy, make a list of the pros and cons you've personally with your BMW experience! 

E36 Coupe, Pros

  • Body shape, longer hood etc
  • Weight, not too heavy 
  • Fun to drive from factory, more so with M3 suspension parts
  • Easy to work on

E36 Coupe, Cons

  • Water getting under the carpets
  • Rear subframe cracks 
  • Interior door panels failed
  • Roof lining needs fixing 

Your turn! 

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E36 coupe pros:
Look nice
Drive nice 
Can make them handle unbelievably well for little money 
Manual goodness

Cons:
Plastic cooling system
Window regulators and motors
The whole interior will destroy itself in front of your eyes
window regulators and motors 
Wheel bearings 
window regulators and motors

E36 316 sedan: (my favorite) 
Pros:
Manual.
Economical
Reliable
Hilariously floppy and slow 
Manual windows don't break

Cons 
Hilariously floppy and slow
Drum brakes 
No rear anti roll bar
Interior has exploded 

E53 X5 pros:
Manual.
Diesel
Everything is awesome 
Sportpac

Cons:
None. 


 

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E46 318i (my first car)

Pros

  • Economical.
  • Great handling.

Cons

  • 0 - 100: yes.
  • Sadly not worth spending money on to maintain.

 

E46 M3

Pros

  • Everything the 318i is and everything the 318i is lacking.
  • Many fast.
  • Much performance.
  • Best car ever.

Cons

  • Subframe needs much love.
  • Vanos needs much love.
  • Rod bearings need much love.
  • It would be more economical to buy petrol and set fire to it in a pit.
  • Much performance = much maintenance costs.
  • Will suck all of your money because you love it so much. (this is also a "pro").

 

Basically the E46 on the face of it has a whole bunch of cons, but that's what makes you love it so much. It's the most E46 an E46 can be. Handling is amazing. Driving experience is amazing. If it was just a standard performance car it would be boring. It's right on the edge of engineering and design and that's what makes it fun.

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E39

Cons

low beam headlights

A/c ancillary fan

Final stage unit heater

Cooling system

Belt pulleys /tensioners

Oil leaks

Crank case vent system

Seat upholstery bolsters etc

Pixels in cluster and other instruments

Thrust arms

control arms

Rotas and pads

Rear boot wiring loom

Tail light /body configuration leading to water leaks

Poor rear visibilty

reliant on to many electronic gadgets

Pros

Nice to sit in

great driving highway cruising

E46 Compact

Cons

The history of the ones with the N42,N46 engines is well documented so many faults

As mine has the M54 series motor the faults mentioned in the e39 also apply

lower suspension arms and bush's

Rear axle/hub bearings

rear window wiper motor

rubber seals around rear screen

reliant on to many electronic items to make it appear up market

Pros

Handles well

very nibble

can be economical on a trip and even in town if sensible

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Allan I am bemused by your E39 evaluation faults/cons. In 14 yrs & 160kms (now at 180km) from your list we have only had a few of those fails. Namely CCV/hoses, water pump, seat shroud, pixel failure & rear wheel bearings & rear control arms. None of the others have been an issue.

That said, all the cooling system bar the radiator has been replaced as preventative maintainance. Brakes as required but no more than any other vehicle. Both headlight beams are great - if the lenses are clear

Final stage resistors are a potential issue on all BMW's E36 on, & dare i say on most Jap cars too- more so than BMW

Have not seen any with leaking tail lights, nor have i repaired any boot wiring in one - as i have with many other cars. Belts, tensioners & oil leaks, again not prone to & no more than any other vehicle.

Pixel issue is a VDO problem & is common to most Euro cars.

Rear visibility -not a problem with a bordmonitor & integrated reverse camera <_<

I agree, they do have weak links as you mention. That said, as a car they take some beating.  I'm certainly in no hurry to replace it. 

 

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I wouldn't put my life on an E39 taking a beating, id consider it with an E28 or E34.

Some of the maybe lesser known things for the E34

Pro's

Cheap, durable and easy to fix in nearly all areas

Plug and play retrofits eg cruise control, obc etc

Good performance - complexity ratio

iS models weren't common as muck and you actually got you an LSD diff

Con's

M30 in the E34 would probably be in the top 3 worst BMW engines for mpg  

Every M30 ive owned has blown a head gasket but they are so cheap as easy to do (all 300,000-500-000km cars that still ran strong)

Dead on center steering feel from new but awesome feel when not in middle

Wiper arms have always seem to have rubbed on the hood at some point

 

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Can only relay  to the forum my experience with the 2002 530 i had for 51/2 years owner ship purchased at 52,000k sold 128,k. As it was the first bmw i had owned expectations were high and the so called prestige that it has as a brand boy did that disappear fast. That said the e39 would have to be one of the better model range available then. The faults listed are what i have encountered with mine maybe another e39 would be totally different because it was built on a Wednesday not Monday or Friday ;)

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Z3 - E36/7

Pro's

- Tops off driving

- Lovely curved lines

- Suspension can be made very nimble cheaply 

- Quickest steering rack ratio in any BMW

- No room for the kids when out for a cruise

- Easy to work on

- Parts are easy to get new or used off E30 and E36

- Plug and play cruise control retrofit for M52TU and M54 models

Con's

- The plastic cooling Y connector at the back of the M44 block (1.9L models only)

- All the M54 issues for the 6 cylinder models

- Scuttle shake if you push it really really hard in the corners

- Boot floor cross member/diff mount failure in high powered hard driven models (2.8L, 3.0L and M's)

- Peeling leather on the dash if its an extended leather model.

Edited by NZ00Z3
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E39 HALOGEN low beams are complete crap! My '72 Beetle is better - the Xenons are OK: I have had both brand new in the same car.

I replaced the original water pump preventively at about 130K... and the replacement only lasted about 40K... then the GMB I got from REPCO in an emergency only last about 3 weeks and is noisy now!

It's had a suspension rebuild at about 120K, new ABS(DSC) module, all brakes at 165K, clutch very nearly due at 175K, pixels all done at 120K, rocker cover has a small crack now too.

And I had to replace the 13+ year old battery, too! Shocking!

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E39 M5 Pro's

- Torque

- LSD

-The V8 rumble

- Manual

- Easy to work on

E39 M5 Con's

- The petrol and tyre bills

- The tendency to sledge and the re-circulating ball on-centre steering feel

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I think when any car gets old and has been owned by a "normal" person, they need a lot of love to get them back to "enthusiast" standard and I don't think the e39 is any exception.  Pro's: it's an e39.  Con's: owning two of them and indecision on which one to drive on any particular day.... :)

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12 hours ago, hqstu said:

I think when any car gets old and has been owned by a "normal" person, they need a lot of love to get them back to "enthusiast" standard and I don't think the e39 is any exception.  Pro's: it's an e39.  Con's: owning two of them and indecision on which one to drive on any particular day.... :)

Yeah I miss those days....

 

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4 hours ago, BreakMyWindow said:

Yeah I miss those days....

Eight exhaust pipes - now that is just plain greedy...

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E39 540is based on 100,000kms of driving.

Pros

Manual

V8 sound.

V8 torque

Easy to work on

Add a few M5 bits and they are as agile as a E39 M5

Awesome fun car to drive

Awesome cruising car

Comfortable

Reliable (except for the fuel pump failure)

 

Cons

None when the required maintenace is done

 

Some have mentioned the low beams, pre fl were excellent, fl were almost as good when the lenses are polished and the reflectors are good, Hids are better.

I've got a couple of dim pixels but all work

 

Parts replaced due to failure over the last 100,000km

Fuel pump

One rear suspension arm

Window regulator

Radiator before I bought it

overflow bottle just after I bought it...........should've been replaced when the rad was done.

 

Parts replaced due to maint & normal wear

oil

filters

Brakes (once @ 130km approx) still look excellent at 200,000km

 

Preventative maint at 198000km

all suspension arms bushes, subframe bushes, shocks complete with top mounts and spring seat etc, steering joints, swaybar link, swaybar bushes

 

 

 

 

IMG_1429.JPG

Edited by Kiwi_BMW
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Good to see someone else agreeing on low beam lights being good. Admittedly mine is a pre & with good clear lenses & they would be as good, if not better than any other car i have owned. Have upgraded to the HB3 HB4 +120 bulbs which also makes a big improvement.

I am the first to criticise a car with crap lights.

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Toyota BZ touring

Pros -

Quad throttle bodies howling at 7800 rpm (also happens to be peak oil consumption)

Cons -

Peak oil consumption.

Sounds like trying to beat the nurburg laptime when just trying to have enough torque to back down driveway.

 

 

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On 12/12/2017 at 9:58 AM, Jacko said:

Toyota BZ touring

Pros -

Quad throttle bodies howling at 7800 rpm (also happens to be peak oil consumption)

Cons -

Peak oil consumption.

Sounds like trying to beat the nurburg laptime when just trying to have enough torque to back down driveway.

 

 

Worth the oil consumption though, any high revving unit is usually going to do that. 

black top 4age?

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