E34 Information Please

[Silver Fox 43]

Hmmmmm always wanted a set of Alpinas like that

Have you seen the E28 M535 racer on TM? White one from memory - unfinished but running

Yeah, http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=122765515 it's a blue one, expensive tho for what it is. No genuine interior, and not a race car yet?

[Silver Fox 43]

So far the M30 seems to be just like a larger M20, but with more room to work with in the engine bay. Typical motronic BMW motor

[Yuen 16]

My new baby's an 85 M535i, I took it to Auckland today, mix of town and open road driving, did around 120 k's, and ended with 9.4 l/100k. Can't complain about that I guess?

Very nice to drive

Nice car! And that's pretty good fuel consumption.

[bezzal 1]

"If you were start stopping for 100kms, how much gas in dollars would you spend? Any idea of what price yours would sell for now and say roughly in 6 months?"

In my old car, the same as Kiwi535's I would get around 420k's on 60 - 65l give or take, around town. On the open road would get over 730k's on 65-70l. It has an 80l tank but I would fill up as soon as it got to orange, if not before.

I noticed absolutely no difference between foot up it or nursing it around when it came to economy. So I had the jandle down most of the time.

Depending on the on the price of gas, any where from $80 - $100+ for a fill.

My 535is had 16 inch tyres and a relatively low speed diff, so was doing over 2500rpm at 100km/hr, so I would say you could do better than above with a higher speed diff.

Good luck

Rich.

Edited October 24, 2007 by bezzal

[jpp 0]

"If you were start stopping for 100kms, how much gas in dollars would you spend? Any idea of what price yours would sell for now and say roughly in 6 months?"

In my old car, the same as Kiwi535's I would get around 420k's on 60 - 65l give or take, around town. On the open road would get over 730k's on 65-70l. It has an 80l tank but I would fill up as soon as it got to orange, if not before.

I noticed absolutely no difference between foot up it or nursing it around when it came to economy. So I had the jandle down most of the time.

Depending on the on the price of gas, any where from $80 - $100+ for a fill.

My 535is had 16 inch tyres and a relatively low speed diff, so was doing over 2500rpm at 100km/hr, so I would say you could do better than above with a higher speed diff.

Good luck

Rich.

Sounds similar to my E36 heh, damn autos always make me cringe when I look at the consumption gauge! Thanks for the input!

[kiwi535 538]

Helps heaps ya'll!

I hate making uninformed decisions, so the more the better~!

Kiwi: Sound like similar cars! Yours a manual? If you were start stopping for 100kms, how much gas in dollars would you spend? Any idea of what price yours would sell for now and say roughly in 6 months?

Yes manual...Start stopping for a hundred ks about $25(thats 16 l at 1.60 m30 can run on 91 quite happily)

when i first bought my car(central city auckland) the obc recorded fuel consumption said 17 L per 100 ks

Price......even though i wish it were more i think my car would fetch 7000 max.its pretty mint and has 230,000ks

[joel 0]

These will set it off nicely

lovely jubbly

Damm u guys found them! lol

Had my eye on them, Im soo getting them!!!!

when i spotted them they had a buynow, went to click but someone had just bidded past the reserve grrr

[BM WORLD 1261]

My new baby's an 85 M535i, I took it to Auckland today, mix of town and open road driving, did around 120 k's, and ended with 9.4 l/100k. Can't complain about that I guess?

Very nice to drive

nice car is that warrens old car from hamilton .

yes on a trip they will get 8.5-9L per 100km quite easily.

not the M88 motor i have in the car now with the 3.73 diff instead of the 3.07 it used to have .

those m30 3.5L high compression engines are great .

[kiwi535 538]

Damm u guys found them! lol

Had my eye on them, Im soo getting them!!!!

when i spotted them they had a buynow, went to click but someone had just bidded past the reserve grrr

I wont bid against you....

[Sick Puppy 1]

To the OP, thanks heaps for doing this- I was meaning to do this when I had more cash and was able to actually afford one, but this gives me some reading to do and stuff to look forward to in the meantime!

Of course, I was going to originally ask about the chances of taking a stock 535 and add the M-sport goodies to it, but I figure it's just too bloody difficult, and besides, I would rather have an original! Now if I can just get the tools first, all will be right with the world...

[rxsumo 33]

If you are looking at E34's recommend buying NZ New, in the top range of cars 535 or 540 they generally are better spec'd, and shouldnt have the rust issues that the British cars have, or as much of potential electrical issues that some of the Singapore/Hong Kong cars have.

Depending on what how far you drive as a daily driver, and the type of driving conditions you might want to rethink about the manual. After owning a manual for 5 or so years, for the relatively short 11km each way run that we do in rush hour traffic, I'll take an auto thanks! The manual gearchange is magic once you are out on the open road, but in traffic the clutch is fcuken heavy, and the gearchange "clunky", and the driveline shunts quite badly.

I've seen lots of claims about fuel economy, but our manual's overall MPG typically was around 16.5 (figures taken from the OBC), on a trip would NEVER average over 20 MPG, in fact the only time I've seen the car record over 20MPG was a run between Christchurch and Dunedin sitting on 100kmh going down to pickup the 3.0S. In my experience with M30 engines this seems to be the case whether the engine is 3.0 or 3.5 litre.

My current 535 auto, is thirster around town....down around 15 MPG, but will quite happily average between 22-25 MPG on a trip.

Of late we have brought an E34 540i, and thats the path I would go down. The V8 is smoother and quieter than the six, and as its got more torque, the engine seems to be more economical than the 6. Horsepower wise the V8 is around 285bhp, as opposed to the 211bhp in the 6.

If shopping around for a E34, they have a few common issues to watch out for, none really major, just require $$$ to fix.

Plasma Display on Dash, capacitors die meaning you wont have a mileage display, service display, and OBC transfer display. Around $400 to fix according to Page European.

Shimmy at 100-110 Kmh:

Control Arm Bushes/Ball joints are worn out OR front wheels are not centred (E34s are really fussy about front wheels)

Heater blowing hot air all the time, heater control valve solenoids dying. The heater valve "defaults" to open once power is removed.

Random alerts on the warning display, try reseating the control module. Under the black cover on the LHS of the engine bay.

[Guest 540Si]

Damm u guys found them! lol

Had my eye on them, Im soo getting them!!!!

when i spotted them they had a buynow, went to click but someone had just bidded past the reserve grrr

Does that mean you might be holding on to those throwing stars now?

[jjs 60]

Stumbled across this one on Trademe -->

Link

Higher kms, but NZ new, tidy and quite well priced

[kiwi535 538]

Depending on what how far you drive as a daily driver, and the type of driving conditions you might want to rethink about the manual. After owning a manual for 5 or so years, for the relatively short 11km each way run that we do in rush hour traffic, I'll take an auto thanks! The manual gearchange is magic once you are out on the open road, but in traffic the clutch is fcuken heavy, and the gearchange "clunky", and the driveline shunts quite badly.

I've seen lots of claims about fuel economy, but our manual's overall MPG typically was around 16.5 (figures taken from the OBC), on a trip would NEVER average over 20 MPG, in fact the only time I've seen the car record over 20MPG was a run between Christchurch and Dunedin sitting on 100kmh going down to pickup the 3.0S. In my experience with M30 engines this seems to be the case whether the engine is 3.0 or 3.5 litre.

My current 535 auto, is thirster around town....down around 15 MPG, but will quite happily average between 22-25 MPG on a trip.

.

I agree with all you said Darryl except the fuel economy on a trip.Much much better than round town.I have had up to 27mpg but its generally low twenties.If i am careful i can get 25.You arent talking about towing are you????

agree on gearbox too.I dont get caught in traffic much.Car is brilliant if on a windy road just leave in third !

Edited October 24, 2007 by kiwi535

[jpp 0]

It's hard to see why I shouldn't own one with what you guys have been telling me...

I am a university student who lives in the suburbs and drives into the city daily, but the weather has changed so I will be ultilising my motorcycle license, but that doesn't matter, as uni isn't back til march next year! So I can sell this if the need arrises, or get a cheap E30 to take into uni.

Can the M30s handle large kms? Surely if it has a mechanicla history itll be sweet ya? Im going to look at a 525iS on the weekend, will see what i come back with!!!!

[kiwi535 538]

m30 can handle very large ks,as long as you look after ther fluids esp cooling sytem and oil.

[joel 0]

Does that mean you might be holding on to those throwing stars now?

Na mate, I will be getting those alpinas

[joel 0]

get a 5er, You wont regret

Edited October 25, 2007 by GIJoel

[Silver Fox 43]

Na mate, I will be getting those alpinas

Not if Ray has his way.

[rxsumo 33]

I agree with all you said Darryl except the fuel economy on a trip.Much much better than round town.I have had up to 27mpg but its generally low twenties.If i am careful i can get 25.You arent talking about towing are you????

agree on gearbox too.I dont get caught in traffic much.Car is brilliant if on a windy road just leave in third !

No, I never actually did a fuel economy test, I relied on the OBC, when I queried it with Mike Page, he reckoned it was "about right". Its about the same as my E3 3.0Si did on a trip.

As my 535iA seems to reflect the same sort of MPG, except on a trip (where the auto is taller geared). I would think the mileage probably seems right. The only other factors could be the different rear exhaust box on your car or whether your car was equipped with a Catalytic Convertor ECU setup. Based on the rough cold idling my car had, I'm still suspect that it had the Aussie spec build with cats, that BMW NZ just ripped the cats off and hoped it would all work, like my friends E34 M5. With the car running too rich at idle or off throttle the MPG would be screwed.

Towing mileage with either the RX7 or the RX3 on the trailer (about 1.5 tonnes "on the hook") was typically 14 MPG, which was the same as my XF Falcon Ute towing the E3 (about 0.5 heavier). Incidently the XH XR8 Ute does around 18 MPG towing E12s

[rxsumo 33]

It's hard to see why I shouldn't own one with what you guys have been telling me...

I am a university student who lives in the suburbs and drives into the city daily, but the weather has changed so I will be ultilising my motorcycle license, but that doesn't matter, as uni isn't back til march next year! So I can sell this if the need arrises, or get a cheap E30 to take into uni.

Can the M30s handle large kms? Surely if it has a mechanicla history itll be sweet ya? Im going to look at a 525iS on the weekend, will see what i come back with!!!!

The only E34s fitted with a M30 are the 530 and 535, the 520 and 525 (in the early E34s) were M20 motors (baby 6).

The M30 will do stellar km's, I've got a 735 engine in the garage, owned by a not so caring guy from Gisborne with 200K kms on the clock and they is barely any wear on the bottom end or the bores. The only thing the M30 really needs to have is regular oil/filter changes, the oil feed to the camshaft gear is tiny, and if it's allowed to fill up with crap, it will cause the camshaft gear to be starved of oil.

[rxsumo 33]

Stumbled across this one on Trademe -->

Link

Higher kms, but NZ new, tidy and quite well priced

Nice but $1500 overpriced....

[jpp 0]

Bugger. The one I was after sold before I even got a chance to view. Guess it wasn't meant to be.

We all know the story of how the dealers added the M Badge, what else, if not stated by the seller are tell-tail signs of an M-Spec'd 5er?

What about the bumpers? Non-M have a detachable lip, M kit can be moulded like Brent's example?

It's like learning to walk all over again... but more fun!

[jpp 0]

What's your call on this: http://www.vir.co.nz/reference/7137fe5b

[kiwi535 538]

hard to say...

if you are determined to get a NZ 535 is this is what it should be like.There is no real mechanical difference,apart from some options