E34 Advice

[kp_sixty]

I'm about to buy my first E34 with the smaller engine option due to ridiculous greek road taxes. I've driven my best friend's one when it was a simple 518i and later when it was swapped with an m50b20 engine.
Not a big fan of the steering box though but overall seemed like a good car to use as my daily commute.
Opinions please

[adam73bgt]

I've had a couple and reckon they're great cars for an everyday driver, I used mine as a daily for a good few years.

Steering boxes can develop play but this can be adjusted out to an extent. The front suspension has quite a few links and bushes so can develop a "shimmy" through the steering at around motorway speeds which is quite common to BMWs.

Rust is a problem on them in sills and arches but maybe not so much a problem in Greece!

I think the early 518i had a cam belt and the later one a cam chain, either way I don't recall hearing too much about them being unreliable at all, clearly you won't be getting anywhere in a hurry with one. I had an m50b20 touring manual as my main one, and that was pretty slow as it is.

If you're looking at a touring, they can chafe the wires in the tailgate if you use the opening glass part, leading to some electrical issues with the rear lights

Not sure what economy is like on the 4 pots but with the 2.0 I think I was getting into the high 20s mpg on average

[adam73bgt]

Also if you're looking at mods, then coilovers are available but need welding into the front suspension knuckles.

Plenty of aftermarket and OEM wheel options to choose from

And you can do a fair bit of retrofitting parts from higher spec models. On the late cars, they often had wiring for higher spec options pre-fitted. I know on my car there was wiring in place for air conditioning, cruise control and auto dimming rear view mirror even though none of those options were fitted

[HARDCORE]

Great cars, proper BMW, would recommend!

Where abouts in Greece are you? We have family in Aigeira, and are flying there tomorrow!

[kp_sixty]

Jun 28, 2021 15:11:16 GMT HARDCORE said:

Great cars, proper BMW, would recommend!

Where abouts in Greece are you? We have family in Aigeira, and are flying there tomorrow!

I live in Peristeri which is near the centre of Athens

[HARDCORE]

Jun 28, 2021 16:07:16 GMT kp_sixty said:

Jun 28, 2021 15:11:16 GMT HARDCORE said:

Great cars, proper BMW, would recommend!

Where abouts in Greece are you? We have family in Aigeira, and are flying there tomorrow!

I live in Peristeri which is near the centre of Athens

Ahh great! Are there any retro car meets?

[kp_sixty]

Unfortunately no...

[HARDCORE]

Jun 29, 2021 14:40:39 GMT kp_sixty said:

Unfortunately no...

Start one! I keep seeing cool old cars that I want to take home, mainly Datsun pickups!

[discostew38]

E34 was one of my favourite bmws
I used to use my M5 as a daily in the early part of ownership and I would happily have another now
Never had any issues with it having a steering box and still probably one of the best handling bmws ive had
I don't know what the tax implications are but I wouldn't want to go any smaller than a 2.5 the later M50/2.5 was really good
The 1.8 was just to small and back in the day when they were more common on the roads the 1.8 was the ones we would always get in with problems Because it was having to work so much harder than the 6 cylinder engines nes