stablemate for the 4.6is - E39 or E38?

[1stE53]

Love the wagon!!! I still would go for the 740 though. If three of you have the same car you might be able to get a pretty good discount when purchasing for three!!! (assuming they too are Do It Yourself type)

[JCL]

Despite the title of the thread, it seems you aren't looking for a stablemate for the 4.6, but rather a stablemate for the 4.6 and your
Corvette. You have occasionally lost access to the 4.6, and need to carry stuff that doesn't fit in the Corvette. The 540iT seems like the obvious choice, and it looks beautiful. You can get a newer one, with lower miles than the 7. And you won't see two twins to your car every time you drive into your street.

[m5james]

Originally Posted by 1stE53

Your car looks amazing!!!!
May I ask how you painted your trim? My wife wants a more modern look on her X rather than the wood. We also have a black X5 with the black interior, the trim looks so good in aluminum.

I'll do you even better and give you a write-up I made years ago

How to paint and clear wood trim to get an aluminum finish - final revision - Bimmerforums - The Ultimate BMW Forum

I'm considering redoing the 7 and starting fresh with the X and wrapping them in DiNoc silver CF just because it'll look cool.

Sorry we keep jacking your thread C5

[m5james]

Originally Posted by c4racer

So I found a steel blue / gray 01 iL that a local Lexass dealer took in on trade that I will go look at today. Sport package, rear shade. 2 owner and last owner had for 8 years and has all the records. It has potential. Asking $15.8K which seems a bit high. 90K miles. KBB high trade-in is $11K, so I put my valuation around $12K.

What is funny is we live in a court and the 2 houses to the left of us both have a 740iL - one is a real sport package, the other a non-sport with the sport wheels. So the one downside is the E38 has been "done" on our court!! OTOH, maybe that is the standard issue lux car for our court. haha.

Just make sure to double check the VIN on e38.org to make sure it's a real Sport...different torque converter and diff ratio. I've seen some pretty great looking 7's over the years to find out they weren't true sports.

[m5james]

Originally Posted by c4racer

here is the 540iT I am considering. It does look nice, eh?

The headlights look like they need to be polished, but it's a great looking car otherwise. I've always liked those wheels and it's already got the M bumper in the front. I presume it has the same in the rear?

[m5james]

Originally Posted by JCL

Despite the title of the thread, it seems you aren't looking for a stablemate for the 4.6, but rather a stablemate for the 4.6 and your
Corvette. You have occasionally lost access to the 4.6, and need to carry stuff that doesn't fit in the Corvette. The 540iT seems like the obvious choice, and it looks beautiful. You can get a newer one, with lower miles than the 7. And you won't see two twins to your car every time you drive into your street.

Good point. As I said, I'm still leaning towards the 540iT just because it's unique and still a quick rig, but you can't beat that legroom in the back of an iL if you take it on roadtrips as much as I used to.

[GSXRliterbikz]

15k seems crazy expensive. I paid 9 for mine with 90k miles. I've seen 750's going for that. If I were to sell mine I wouldnt expect to get more than 8 at best.

[m5james]

I agree, $15k is a bit high. I bought mine around 80k for $18k, but that was also around 03. I paid $22k for the E34 M5 in 01, and they wanted around $26k initially...there is always room for negotiating. Sadly, I see 7's all over CL for under the $10k, but they're mostly unmaintained and abused examples that people dumped because they finally figured out that the 7 series is the epitome of the BMW acronym, Bring My Wallet.

I knew what I was getting into when I purchased the X since it shares the same engine, but some people buy them and are just beside themselves once they start fixing the usual M62/M62TU problems...MAF's, intake manifold, valley pan gasket, etc since the PO never did it and then dumped the car for next to nothing, leaving the next owner with the problem. I purchased my car even after a good buyers inspection but an iffy noise in the drivetrain. Within 4k of ownership, the engine ate itself alive when the timing chain guide came off, and it got ugly going 70MPH down the highway. Come to find out that the PO had overheated the car, blew the headgasket and had some halfass shop do the repair, hence the expensive rebuild that brought the 7 to where it is today. I still wonder how my (sometimes misguided) devotion would be to BMW had I found the Audi S/A8L I wanted, but they we're easily twice as much and so rare at the time.

[c4racer]

I drove a really clean 2 owner 2001 740iL today - sport. Actually, assumed it was sport. The 3.15 diff and higher tq converter is only on the 740i right, not on the iL? This had the bigger 4 spoke wheel, not the 3 spoke. Also was a 7/00 build so had the smaller nav screen. Still - very clean car in Anthracite / gray and all records - of particular interest the thrust arm bushing, valley pan and water pump and associated cooling items had all been replaced in the last 10K miles. Probably why they finally traded it in on a lexus!!

Dealer is asking $15,900 which is way too high. Probably worth $13K tho. I've seen the $10K cars and this one is not in that league at all. Clearly has been garaged. Front window recently replaced with BMW glass, so another nice beni.

The dealer with the wagon also has a 2002 silver / black 540i sport package with 55K miles on it too. Looks really clean in the pictures. And it has the rare fold down rear seat option which makes the storage situation better.

I fit my drumset in the G37 today. kick drum is a bit tight in the back seat, but works. so that means it would work in a E39 too. And would be no issue at all in a 740i or 740iL. Bike would fit in trunk of E38 with rear wheel removed, or in the E39 with folders w/o removing the rear wheel. It's a 20second difference, so not really a factor.

So there are now 4 cars I'm considering - haha:
- 2000 740i sport w/ 90K mi
- 2001 740iL sport w/ 90K mi
- 2002 540i sport w/ 55K mi
- 2003 540iT sport w/ 78K mi

[c4racer]

Originally Posted by m5james

Good point. As I said, I'm still leaning towards the 540iT just because it's unique and still a quick rig, but you can't beat that legroom in the back of an iL if you take it on roadtrips as much as I used to.

well, I never sit in the back. My two daughters do and the tallest one is 5'8" and my wife is 5'4". so legroom isn't such a critical thing for me. I mean it's nice and all, but seems the X5 is the go-to vehicle when we need to sit 3 in the back, and don't see a 740iL changing that scenario since it has a bit of a hump in the middle seat, so really designed more for 2 in back.