still looks good in my book

I heard maintenance on the 850 is enough to make you want to light the car on fire, but I could be wrong.

 

Former 840i owner here and that thing was always in the shop.

 

I agree. My dad bought a 840 brand new in 1994. It had a lot of electrical problems and he sold it after two years. And that was under a factory warranty. Could be big $$ to maintain.

 

owned an 850 CI and it was a fine GT. only problem I had was a leaking water pump repaired under warranty.

 

I was able to take a friends 850i for a drive (6 speed manual with a v12!) and it definitely was a fun car to drive. By no means is it a rocket by todays standards but the power delivery was very smooth and the engine sounded great. The car handled very well also, although it was equipped with an AC Scnitzer suspension kit so I'm guessing the stock setup is pretty soft. In terms of reliability, while the car may depreciate by 60K from the list price, the price of the parts will most certainly not and they will be a little tougher to find. I remember hearing that a replacement clutch, flywheel and throwout bearing ran ~4 grand. Also, the car was equipped with very advanced electronics for its time so thats another line item to take into consideration. That being said, I think it is one of the most attractive cars that BMW has designed (even if it gets the ford probe comparisons) and it certainly is not a ride you see every day.

 

Yes I am reviving an old thread.

I have the bug for an 8 series to use as a GT.
Does anyone have any other opinions on these cars or is the reputation of bad reliability true?


Thanks for any input.
Gary

 

I have a 91 850i, 6spd V12, fun car and easy to work on, no problems with the car. Owning an 8 is like gaining celebrity status, you get caravans of cars following you on the highway, you always get people walking up to you asking is it a 2008?

Went to get my MID replaced at the BMW dealership, had customers and sales people all around the car looking at it, they were in total awe...lol

The E31 is a car that is not a street fighter, that's what the M3,M5 or M6 is made for, the 850 is basically a top end car made for the autobahn, this car is at home at triple digit speeds.

The 8 series is one of the easiest cars to work on, once you get to know the in's and out's of them, the M70 or m73 V12 engine is a very basic engine. It is an electrical nightmare if you do not know what to look for, we have a great world wide network that we all help out one another. Also the 840, V8 well don't know much about them, but I know they had issues and if you buy one, make sure its a 96 or 97.

Micah's tt most likely might be a Dinan, if it is, they are rare and a must, if you want the best of both world, street fighter and top end.



This was a recent event me and my fellow E31 owners went to in BC, enjoy

P.S this is no Ford Probe....lol Had a 96 Probe GT, not even close.




http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/trufantome/

Password is : bcbmws

 

^^ Great looking car! The int appear to be in mint condition too.

 

The car is mint, it has all service records since day one, from the same BMW dealer (stealer)..lol

I just picked up a set of 19" ACS wheels made in Germany, not the made in Taiwan or China crap.

Looking at getting a Zeemax standard body kit, not widebody (to expensive to build)

And maybe a carbon fiber alpina b12 hood, maybe if funds are still there.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

I have always loved the look of the BMW 8 series and wanted one forever. I have a 1980 928, and the 840 and 850 was always compared to the 928. I drove an 850 last year and it was the most disappointing car I have ever driven. It wasn't that bad of a car just disappointing because I always loved them. They are really heavy (over 4,000 pounds) and the car was surprisingly slow feeling. It made me really appreciate my old 928. I still love the way the 8 series looks though.

 

Hi,

Well were do I start, "it was the most disappointing car I have ever driven"

Well the car looks like it should have been made with a DOHC, 7.0 engine, but we all must understand back in the early 90's, 300 hp was a lot, I remeber my friend's father has a zr-1 and it had 380 hp, awesome for back then.

The whole purpose of the 850 is a car that is driven on the highway, for long distance with comfort. Now, with that being said, there are many performance option to the M70 engine, there are a few TT kit and 2 S/C kits, all that bring the performance level up to date, 400 hp to 500hp.

As for the wieght, at triple digit speeds, it comes in handy.

Here are a few pictures of some single and twin S/C kits.

 

here are some variations of different E31 super charger kits and twin turbo, all these cars are very fast

 

some different styles of e31's

Dinan Super Coupe, this car was a rocket, the removed the pop up head light to make room for the power adder (black car)

Reiger Widebody E31 (red car)

 

[quote=tread72;1943698]Hi,

Well were do I start, "it was the most disappointing car I have ever driven"

Well the car looks like it should have been made with a DOHC, 7.0 engine, but we all must understand back in the early 90's, 300 hp was a lot, I remeber my friend's father has a zr-1 and it had 380 hp, awesome for back then.

This is why I am being generous and comparing it to a 928 from 1980 with only a 4.5 liter engine with 220 hp.

It is only my opinion haven driven a lot of high performance cars. I didn't want to be disappointed, but the car just felt bad and I felt really disconnected from the car.

 

Lane,

You have an honest opinion, I respect it, dont worry brother sometimes I wish I had a 997 twin turbo...

But you can always do this to the E31 for more power LOL I warned you