Newer vs. Older

In a year or so I may be considering getting a late '80s to early '90s 735i or 735iL and was wondering what are some pros and cons against say a '95 740 and how reliable can i expect them to be?

the mid 90s V8s BMW used are very unreliable. their cylinder walls have a tendancy to disintegrate because of the high-sulfar content of US gasses. do be careful.

What about the reliability on the 735? I heard that they last a long time with proper maintenance. What about the E32 V8 does it have the same problem? Is there any problems that are perticular to the SWB and iL versions? Also, does anyone know how many manual transmission ones were imported to the US (if any at all) ans how rare they are?

Anyone?

The unreliable motor is the V8. '93-'94-'95
A percentage of them were replaced by BMW on an extended warranty which has long since expired. The only way to be sure if it was replaced is to read the casting number on the block.

Some of the original motors are still going strong like the one in my 840. Some died early and some are in their death throes now. My 740 died in mid life.

The V12 can be killed by overheating. Just once is enough to blow headgaskets and make
cylinder bores egg shaped.

The inline sixes just seem to run forever--or they are simple and common enough that no one whines about them when they break.

The E32 had a major update in the control wiring in'90/'91. The post change cars have fewer problems but are more complex.

The E23 seems straightforward but I have no personal experience.

If you are good with a wrench and a test meter some of the earlier 7s can be real steals. If you have to pay someone to fix them you will think differently about the word "Steal".

BMW dealers are not the place to take one of these cars for repairs because you will soon learn the origin of the word "$tealer". The labor rates and part costs are the same as if it were an E66 out of warranty.

Aftermarket parts suppliers exist with reasonable prices on most of the wear items so all is not lost.

I will buy another E32 740i someday relatively soon. I will look for one with a bad V8 because I will have a spare good M60 and auto trans when I finish with the 840 M62/6 speed swap I am working on.

If the car is a california car, you normally don't have to worry about the nikasil issue, CA gas had a much lower sulfur content than other states even before the emissions standards changed. That's probably the only good thing that has come out of the CARB's inane regulations. A friend of my has a '94 530i w/ 105K still running strong on the nikasil block.

Now, from an electronics standpoint, an E32 is going to be vastly less complicated and therefore more reliable than the E38. Not to mention, the '95 E38 was the first year of the line, and undoubtedly had problems that were worked out in the later years. Better to go with a late model E32, then an early model E38, IMHO.

My 840 came out of San Diego and has 146,000 miles on the original Nicasil block. Runs perfectly and shows no sign of damage.

The 740 came from Ohio and was dead/dying before 90,000 miles.

So location of the miles is more important than the number of them. But cars are so mobile now that you can't tell without a full scorecard. And sometimes not even then.

Currently everywhere has low sulphur gas so all of them should stay in the same condition they are now. But Dead is still Dead and none will get any better.

Thanks, does anyone know about how many manual trans models the U.S. got?

If the US got any manual E32s it was only a few early 735 models.

There were some E23 manuals.

BMWNA doesn't seem to believe that anyone wants to shift a luxury car. In Europe there were down scale 7 series models that came with manuals.