tell me about e28s

I say scratch = win

I agree completely Mr Tattoo. Friend of mine has had a few T5s/850s, and they along with most E34s (and I've had a lot) have left me wanting just something a little extra.
The E28 I'm driving at the moment, a silver 525e with pink wheels, is possibly one of the most enjoyable cars I've ever had. It's not at all fast, or even nippy, or quiet, or gadget-ised, but something about it makes me feel special when I'm in it... and surely that's what it's all about? Get scratchin'!

Oh and if you're in no rush you can buy this one in the new year I should have the M-kitted one done by then!

M5's need deep pockets. They are just as rust prone as any other E28 but with higher maintance bills.

I have two E28's. An 525e which has been converted to a manual and has had the engine management upgraded and the cylinder head and intake replaced with higher flowing part uprated suspension and brakes. The interior has been replaced. The 525e M20B27 is easy to modify to around 160hp and 190 f.tlb of torque (up from 129 hp) combine with the right final drive and it goes quite well. It will be recieving a turbo soon as well.

The other is an 520i manual, completely stock.

With all E28's check the body work first. Doors can rust from the inside (on both my cars one door on each car is doing this now). The sunroof drain holes can get blocked which can cause roof rust and A-pillar rust. The front wing at the base near the doors are prone to going as they act as mudtraps. The rest of the front wings are also prone to rust. The inner wings are more robust but check for evidence of rust as well. Boots can often be damp. This is casued by faulty boot seals, rear cluster seals, licence plate light seals. This can lead too rust in the boot floor or spare wheel well. Sills rot particularly on M-tec body kit cars, these kits trap mud and rot everything. So check the body work. Mercifully BMW are very good and the mobile tradition arm supplies everthing from brand new doors, to new roofs, to new bulkheads and every panel on the car. Good used items are available though at more reasonable prices but are not always cheap. A good door will set you back £500 new but could set you back £50 used. Front wings are £150 +VAT new and around £120 for a goord used pair. If you hunt around you may be able to turn these items for less. So check the body work carfully pulling up the boot carpet and removing the spare wheel well. Dampness in the front under the carpet could indicadtes poor repairs or hole in the front of the sills around the "jacking points". Also other thing have been know to cause this. Most E28's have had sill repairs, some including mine have had the sills repaired with filler, I found this on the 525e after I bought it. Some cars are advertised as never had any welding, that does not mean it does not need some or alot.

Check the front sring cups, these rust. A good pair of front struts are available new for £700 but a good used set will set you back £80 to £100. I am replacing the ones on my 527i tommorrow and I replaced the ones on the 520i two months ago. Check these with a srew driver. If the owner gets anxious about this, for me its a deal breaker as I want to know I will get the car home. I have had front struts fail on me in my old red E28 528i. Me and the now wife where on holiday in Itlay and we drove there in the car and the n/s strut failed and quite frankly it nearly killed us. Not much fun.

Engine wise, they are reialble if maintained. M10's, M20's and M30's will carry on long after the rest of the car has turned to dust if looked after. Servicing can can be DIY. A garage may charge £200 for a good service but the parts can be bought for around £40-£50 if you do everything. BMW operate an oil service, inspection I, oil service and inspection II regime as indiacted by the service indicator. I do not follow this. I give an oil change every 5-6000 miles and then a full service where I changes items and refresh fluids as needed every second oil change. If you do it your self then this is cost effective.

The models,
518 carb 27 mpg and 90 hp M10B18. No power steering no luxuries at all.
518i L-jet, 105 hp M10B18 and still slow but useable.

520i L-jet 130 hp M20B20 and quite spritely but not fast 28 mpg at best. If you have a 520i auto it is very slow.

525e Motonic 1.0. It uses a 2.7 M20B27 and pushes out 129 hp and 177 ft.lb of torque. They are all auto's in the U.K. They are not fast but a final drive change to a 3.46:1 from a 528i livens them up a lot. 30+ mpg depending on where you drive.

525i, 150 hp M20B25 all the thrist of a 535i and the pace of a lesser car.

528i- 184 hp M30B28both s the manuals and auto's are quite quick with 0-60 comming up in 8-8.5 secs. 26 mpg and good fun.

535i/M535i 218 hp M30B34and bucket loads of torque, and a good equipment spec. These command strong money is good.

M5, 286 hp s38B35. 100,000 miles timing chain replacement which will cost £2000 min. Everything about these cars are expensive and one that has had welding repairs will decrease in value. These are priced if completlely original. Not really daily drivers any more. Buy a perfect one and use it everday and watch that value tumble.

The 525e/527i I mentioned above is the most tunable of the series and you can get performance on par with a 535i if you the right final drive and carrying the cylinder head converison.

*ALL m20 POWERED CARS MUST HAVE THE TIMING BELT CHANGED EVERY 30,000 MILES* check when it was last changed if you are looking at a 520i or 525e.

Buy an E28 on body conidition first, engine and mechanicals second. Spec and colour should not feature as good E28's are hard to find. Buy one and spend money giving it the spec you want. If you want 535i performance but find a good 520i auto shell, then but the 520i auto and carry out an engine swap and manual conversion.

I use the white 525e/527i daily. I have had it for 3 years and have covered 64,000 miles in it. The car has 185,000 miles. They are relaiable if maintianed but they require a fair bit of maintance if used alot. I also track this car and its a great hoot but that adds to the maintance. I also paid £1700 for it with 121000 miles as it was in near perfect conditon (apart for the filler in the sills which I did spot unitl the MOT was due 8 months later, live and learn). I paid £270 for the 520i but total cost to get useable have been near £1000. So buget for £1000 to get a relaible useable car 520i or 525e. Anything less and you will be buying trouble or work, that I can guarantee, which is not an issue if it's cheap enough. I once bought a 520i two years ago for £40 but I broke it for spares.

As for price, they vary depding on mileage and condition. But for me conditon is a paramount not mileage. in France
out side my house
my car a Bedford
a collection of sharks.



To sum up nearly 6 years ago I sratched the itch with a red 528i for £500. I scrapped it in Italy 9 months later. I then bought a Pt cruiser, that lasted two year and I had to sratch the itch again. I now have two E28's it a disease you know. So sratch the itch you can only win.

Had a 528i back in about 2000/1.I got it free of charge as the guy pulled into a car park ,shoved it into park a bit quick,came out and had no gears!!he bricked it thinking the box was poo but it was only a cable that had snapped,cost a fiver from bm,he wasn't happy when I told him!

It went really well,drove pretty much perfect,these seem very well made cars but mine started developing a misfire,intermittent,I changed plugs etc but to no avail,although I'm sure it was nothing too major.

Sadly it was back in the days where these were just gas guzzling old beemers and worth very little,I gave mine away for £100 as I needed the room and of course never valued it really.

Shame,as the wings etc were mint,in that nice Lhasa silver colour which looks more like grey.

I'd like another,preferably in black but I REALLY want an old 6 series next,m635csi would be nice.it won't be standard,decked with some 09/10 my wheels polished up on it.nice.

ive never liked bmws, despite owning a few over the years. i was always a merc man.
until i got an e28.
it surpasses every other BMW in every way for me. in short, i love it, and ive never driven it any great distance on the road, that and it isnt the best model(yet!)

ive currently been spending loads on it to get all the bits for its imminent return to the road. i cant wait!!

Well you were lucky, then. I have never found such a bargin. Every sub £1000 E28 I have seen needed work. Icluding the ones I have bought.

Bargins are out there but they are not to be had for most normal people. Surprising Skoda as you drive an E28 with pink wheels you are definatley not normal

not a fan of red cars but this is a whole lot of yes

quite like the m kit myself, the one i had in spain had v slow elecy windows haha and noisy fan,

has anyone else got some nice piccys to add

I can't add a lot to this discussion aside from buy one. They're great ;D