Is the 840 or 850 a decent car?

[atomic]

stay away from Infiniti Q45's unless he likes putting transmissions in them at $4k a pop. I know first hand on this. Bought a '91t back in late '92 and it only had 13k on it when I got it. I did buy the 100k extended warranty with it as well. And when I traded it off with 110k on it in '98 that I had put in 3 transmissions in it one of which was out of my pocket..... Fun as hell car with tons of power and luxury but came with a big repair price tag to boot...

[Ablice]

The 8 series is a wonderful car to drive, look at and even just sit in.

The dash and center console design is genius. If all new cars were designed like the 8 (think higher class cars, not lower end ones) in terms of dashes and center console layouts, there'd be much happiness going around.

THE best design I have ever been in.

Bettah have pockets deeper than your office slacks if something breaks though

[UNHCLL]

I love how the electronics on the 8's go apeshit randomly.
The best is when the "auto raise up" steering wheel gets "reversed" and when you open the door to get out, it comes slamming down onto your legs. This is great fun for both legs and knee caps.

Oh, Sunroofs. Those are awesome. They open wide and let lots of sun/air/blue sky in. They also like to "stay" open wide... and not close.
When this happens, you have the fun task of removing the entire headliner/roof assembly. Now, not only have you disassembled 2/3's of the interior, but BMW won't sell individual sunroof assembly sections. Now you've got to order a $6k replacement. These are sweet, and take a long ass time to show up from DE.


YMMV. (Well, not gas mileage because those are just plain bad.)

-C

[Jscotty]

I don't know much about the 8 myself but many years ago a neighbor of mine had one and it was ALWAYS in the shop. He spent more time driving to and from the shop than he did on the weekends.

[gearheadE30]

Find a newer one and it probably wont be terrible, but the electronics have a tendency to fail. The car actually has two batteries, and they had better be good ones. Any audio upgrades, etc. tend to have massive repercussions.

[Mystikal]

Early 90's Audi A8
Jaguar XJ-12 coupe
Maserati Biturbo

-Charlie

Hahahaha I love you man.

Serious alternative: SC400.

Jay

[2002maniac]

Jag XJR if it fits in the budget.

[silversleeper]

Best alternative: E39 540/6

[Ablice]

Be different:

E34 Alpina B10 BiTurbo.

[smonkbmw]

635csi, sc300,e36 m3,rx7TT,c6, and when was the last time you saw a alpina b10 on craigslist?

[Rennsport]

my dad has a regular customer with a 850i. i say regular cuz the car is at his shop ever other month. oh and a sachs clutch is $1,200 from worldpac...

[PeaveyBassist]

8 series are money pits just like everyone has said. SC400 is a definite alternative.

Will

[mikeedler]

the water pump costs 250 dollars, and the rear section of the exhaust cost 1900 dollars from the stealership. I know cause I have had to install both a few months ago. 8 series cars are very cool, and I have to say the ones that come to our dealership regularly for service dont have any more problems than any other BMW.

[Jean]

And figure you'll never want to sell it, once you put 10s of thousands in it in maint ;)

[euroshark]

Honestly, I'd buy an alternative BMW or Mercedes before ever considering a Lexus. E24s are gorgeous, rare, exclusive, blah blah insert adjectives that describe the 8 series, plus they are reliable and totally usable as daily drivers.

For Christ's sake, my daily driver is an Alfa Romeo! Though, for their horrid reputation, my first Alfa (A Milano V6) was incredibly reliable for the 3 years I used it as a DD.