840ci

[Herbmiester 922]

https://www.trademe.co.nz/3975126344

 

Seems a bit expensive.

[treone 644]

Thought that too - especially when its manually converted, wrong steering wheel and US type TP's. But those M-Pars are cool!

Have heard that the manually conversion was done properly though

[thorns 20]

23 hours ago, treone said:

Thought that too - especially when its manually converted, wrong steering wheel and US type TP's. But those M-Pars are cool!

Have heard that the manually conversion was done properly though

What is the US type TP's? 

[treone 644]

57 minutes ago, thorns said:

What is the US type TP's? 

You can tell US style FTPs as they have orange indicator lenses. The Euro style are ‘tinted’. As this is a NZ new it should have the euro style ones, which are way better IMO. 
Looks like the ones on this car maybe US type or are aftermarket - but I’m not aware that they are available as aftermarket.

Here’s a pic of a couple nz new examples for ref 😎

Edited February 12, 2023 by treone

[Kodachrome 150]

Remember when I sold my 1993 850CSi, V12, lower miles and factory manual here for less? And it wasnt like I had a lot of offers either. Wasnt NZ new mind you but IMO while I personally would rather a manual 840i if I got another E31, the 850CSi should be 2 to 3x the price of any of the other E31's. 

Super cool car but maybe Im also out of touch with the pricing these days. 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Kodachrome

[KwS 2421]

I miss the days when you could pick up an auto 850ci for 10-12k. It wasnt even that long ago. I wish i bought one.

[gjm 3258]

1 hour ago, KwS said:

I miss the days when you could pick up an auto 850ci for 10-12k. It wasnt even that long ago. I wish i bought one.

Back in the day, when I were a lad, (etc) I had a Mercedes 560SEC. My brother had the 500SEC. His car was more sporting, more responsive. Perhaps more 'fun' to drive. Mine was Smoke Silver, had 17" Oz alloys and looked nicer.   Both were automatics.

We changed direction a little and he bought an 840Ci (with the 4.4 engine). I bought an 850CSi with a 6-speed manual gearbox. Mine was definitely the more sporty of the two. He 'invested' (OK - we spent a lot of time, effort and no small amount of money), had a 6-speed gearbox fitted, and we demonstrated that BMW had missed a trick. His car was by far the better drive. My car felt lazy by comparison. Nice, fun, and thoroughly enjoyable, but lazy.

At the time, and this is well over 10 years ago, my 850CSi cost well under (equivalent) $8k. I was seeing them in the UK for as little as £1500 (NZ$3500 at the time). Big, complex, and expensive to maintain.

[Kodachrome 150]

Lol omg are you me? I had a 560sec and 850csi too! I paid £19k in the UK for my 850csi, you got a deal! 

[treone 644]

Having own/ed both a 4l manual and a 4.4l auto e31, my preference would be... the auto, which I think it is suited to the GT nature of the e31 (or is it a stage of life thing haha).

Don't get me wrong, the manual is the 'bees knees' and is great fun to drive (even with tired suspension lol), but the tiptronic auto is well matched to the 4.4l, smooths out the experience and is no slouch either.

Also, don't believe what they say about the e31 being slow, dull and disappointing. I find it a pure pleasure to drive and won't embarrass itself, especially the CSI, against most of the modern 'unmodified' stuff today. And it looks way cooler than anything else out there haha!

I thought my manual one had the edge, performance, handling and comfort wise, over the V2 Monaro CV8 I had at the the same time.

@Kodachrome If your CSI went to Christchurch, I think it is soon to be 'back on the road' from what I've read in a post on the US forum ☺️.

Cheers

[lord_jagganath 421]

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/other/listing/3910820823? ... would this be better value? 

[Kodachrome 150]

26 minutes ago, lord_jagganath said:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/other/listing/3910820823? ... would this be better value? 

Unless you have an absolute hard on for the manual conversion but would rather spend 20k for someone else to do it, then yes!

Near half the price and you also get half the mileage (130k less or something!?) and has the newer M60 Alusil (not the better M62 mind you, I checked MDecoder and this is a 1995 build car) engine which doesnt have any of the fuel sulpher problems of the original M60, which admittedly isnt much of an issue outside the US/Russia/India etc.

 

Id be ditching the 19" wagon wheels unless you dont intend driving it but like looking at it. 18" absolute max on that era BMW (ie this is a chassis shared with the BMW E32).

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Kodachrome

[balancerider 751]

Interestingly interior looks in way better shape on the blue one despite double the km

[Neil McCauley 394]

Surely if you were going to drop $20K into a manual conversion, you'd cross the rubicon and fit an S62 at the same time?

[Eagle 1660]

On 2/17/2023 at 5:30 PM, treone said:

 4l manual

Certainly be the most reliable spec. The M62\5HP24 combo is the least reliable spec in my book, mostly saved because they probably arent used very much.