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Another daily driver thread: E34 525i


P_Roloff

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As some of you may know, my family picked up a new daily for me and my brother last week in the form of an e34. It’s a 1995 525i, 5 speed, black on parchment interior. Even better, it has 61k miles, a folder full of maintenance receipts, no rust and has obviously been well maintained. Everything works: sunroof, seats, locks, keyless entry, a/c, you name it. 

I got to drive it last weekend, and as expected it was extremely good. Smooth, quiet, refined and easy to drive. The one thing I’m not sure about is the shift linkage, feels a little sloppy, but that’s easily remedied.

Other than that, the only things on the to do list are some paint correction to remove the light swirls, full interior cleaning, a new shift boot (current one is cracked and just looks kinda crappy) and finding a full set of tan floor mats for it. If anyone has good ones they’d let go, let me know. 

A question, before the pictures:

Has anyone here used leatherique on their seats? It’s quite expensive, but if it works as well as most people say it does it’d be worth it I think for this car.

 

Pics:

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1 minute ago, jc43089 said:

Looks like a nice car!  I have used Griot's Garage leather rejuvenator.  It works well and has a pleasant smell.  Nothing will penetrate where the sprayed on finish of the leather is still perfect but anywhere there are micro cracks the rejuvenator will penetrate.

I’ll have to look into it. The leather isn’t really stiff, but it’s a little dirty and the product the previous owner used kinda smell odd, so smell and cleaning ability are what I’m looking for, along with not damaging or shortening the life of the leather. 

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38 minutes ago, ChrisO said:

Wow, 61k miles is pretty cool. If EAG got there hands on it it would probably have a $15k price tag

Yeah, we ended up paying around 2k less than what it was originally listed at, so I think we got a pretty good deal. 

Those EAG markups are really pretty insane, you’re right. Same with BaT, but I guess that’s how it goes.

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2 minutes ago, P_Roloff said:

Yeah, we ended up paying around 2k less than what it was originally listed at, so I think we got a pretty good deal. 

Those EAG markups are really pretty insane, you’re right. Same with BaT, but I guess that’s how it goes.

Can I ask what you guys paid for it?

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2 hours ago, ChrisO said:

Can I ask what you guys paid for it?

$4100. It went up originally for $5900, dropped to $4800 or so, and ended up paying $4100 for it. Not a screaming deal, but we're pretty happy with it. It had some preventative maintenance done and was well taken care of, three owners, and the last owner only had it for a year before selling it. It sounded like it was pretty consistently driven around 3,000 miles a year and didn't really sit.

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9 minutes ago, P_Roloff said:

$4100. It went up originally for $5900, dropped to $4800 or so, and ended up paying $4100 for it. Not a screaming deal, but we're pretty happy with it. It had some preventative maintenance done and was well taken care of, three owners, and the last owner only had it for a year before selling it. It sounded like it was pretty consistently driven around 3,000 miles a year and didn't really sit.

Considering the condition, mileage, and lack of rust I'd say that's not a bad deal!

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20 hours ago, P_Roloff said:

I’ll have to look into it. The leather isn’t really stiff, but it’s a little dirty and the product the previous owner used kinda smell odd, so smell and cleaning ability are what I’m looking for, along with not damaging or shortening the life of the leather. 

I just got some leather cleaner from Griots, I am going to try it out tonight.  Will report back.

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Picked up a thing today:

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It’s an OE BMW roof rack for the e34, e32 and e38. I wasn’t on the hunt per se for a rack, but I got a good enough deal that I didn’t want to pass it up. I don’t have an OEM ski bag so I don’t really want to put my skis in the interior, especially i I have a bunch of people with me. It’ll also be nice for fishing poles and other random crap I don’t want inside. 

I was pretty impressed with the condition as well, I saw one set that was in worse shape that sold for over twice what I paid. End have some scratches and nicks, but I honestly don’t think much of anything has been put in the crossbars themselves. 

Pics of them on the car will come next week when I go back home. 

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  • 1 month later...
1 hour ago, snap said:

Parfrey’s Glen?

Nope, Honey Creek state natural area. It's out in Sauk county, about a half hour west of devils lake. Super cool, but definitely an early spring/late fall kind of place. It'd be miserable in the summer with the bugs. And the first hiking pic is devils lake, as you probably could've guessed. 

 

53 minutes ago, HipMF said:

Great weekend for some hiking. Couldn't have asked for better weather considering it's late November.

It was amazing, I got super lucky that this was the week of my break. 

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  • 6 months later...

Spring Update:

Up to 66.8k miles. Sadly, a tiny spot of rust formed over the winter on the bottom edge of the passenger door, gonna pull the trim strip and the door card off within the next few weeks to attempt to stop it, or at least prolong the life of the door. Changed the oil today and got my first good look underneath it, looks very clean so I think there might have already been some paint damage at the bottom of the door that kick-started the rust.

Couple things I noticed:

- Very small oil leak at the from corner of the oil pan. Doesn't drip, just weeping a bit. Not gonna worry about it, but notable.

- There appears to be a fairly significant leak on the back of the transmission somewhere, I can't tell if it's the selector shaft input or the output shaft seal. I took some pictures and will post them up tomorrow morning.

- There's been a small clunk in the rear end since we bought it, almost like something binding then popping free (it almost sounds like it resonates a little). Doesn't happen with any regularity, i.e. every bump or on/off throttle, but it is exacerbated by extra weight in the backseat or trunk. Thoughts?

A light paint correction is next on the list, along with fixing that clunk and the lower lip of the bumper my brother chunked on a snowbank. A DSSR and shifter rebuild will come as soon as I get time in the machine shop at school.

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44 minutes ago, YoungCR said:

If the clunk happens with on/off throttle it's likely the rear subframe mount bushings.

Throttle doesn’t cause it, is usually a large leading or unloading of the suspension, like in and out of driveways. Doesn’t always happen, and sometimes it happens driving at regular speeds, but it’s loudest and most consistent on big changes in suspension loading. 

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  • 1 month later...

Forgot to update last time with pictures and can’t find them right now, so the ones I took this morning after washing will have to do. Up to 70.7k miles, replaced two of the rubber exhaust hangers last night after they ripped. Nothing else has been done lately, just been racking up the miles. Super happy to be able to commute in this, it’s so comfortable and refined compared to just about anything else I’ve ever driven. 

 

If I ever find the free time in the next month, I’ll probably order a set of those trailing arm links and sway bar links and see if they get rid of the noise we’ve been dealing with. Hood and trunk shocks need replacing too, along with the drivers seat adjustment buttons, the sunroof switch panel, and a few of the headlight adjusters. Might get a set of tan floor mats if I can find any.

Side reminder: If anyone comes across an undamaged black front bumper or would like to sell theirs (cough @ChrisO cough) let me know. 

Pictures:

 

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