thinking about selling my e34, need a pep talk.

[Espen]

When i bought my 525 i had decided that i wanted a sporty car, and i didnt care if it used more than average fuel. But now after a while of driving it, i realize that it doesnt qualify for the term "sporty" but still it uses alot of fuel, Avg i 11.5 l/100km (about 18-19mpg)

Im thinking of selling it while i still can get back what i payed for it( or more )
And buy a newer (1997-1999) Audi a4 quattro with the 1.9tdi engine, a guy at my work have one of those, he is average`ing 0,47 l/100km, not sure how many mpg that is, but i know that my car uses more than two times fuel on the same distance, and Diesel is even 10%cheaper pr liter. He doesnt got all that power, or the roar of 6 sylinders, but its still somwhat "push" in the seatback when he floor it.

Not sure what to do right now.. Fuelprices keep going upwards, right now the they are about 2$ a litre..

[Paul in NZ]

and fuel will keep going up,including deisel.Only you can decide of course,just think about the extra money you will have to find to buy a newer car,you can buy a lot of fuel..Deisels also require more maintennce(?do they still?)than petrol cars

[Espen]

Yes i would have to take up a loan for about 100 000NOK, if i can get 50 000NOK for my e34.. (still owe the bank about 38 000nok for the e34)..

thats the major Cons about bying a newer car.. In a year or two i will have payed down the loan i have on my e34, maybe i should wait until then.. but on the other side, in two years the fuelprice will be so high that a medium heavy car with an "old" 2,5 liter engine wont be worth a penny.

So If i can sell it now, and get 50 000 for it, it would pay down the loan, and still give me 12k to spend on a new car.

[genphreak]

Yes i would have to take up a loan for about 100 000NOK, if i can get 50 000NOK for my e34.. (still owe the bank about 38 000nok for the e34)..

thats the major Cons about bying a newer car.. In a year or two i will have payed down the loan i have on my e34, maybe i should wait until then.. but on the other side, in two years the fuelprice will be so high that a medium heavy car with an "old" 2,5 liter engine wont be worth a penny.

So If i can sell it now, and get 50 000 for it, it would pay down the loan, and still give me 12k to spend on a new car.Work out ho far you'll drive it, and then consider the time you'll have it. Consider what the maintenance costs will be (can you get free support like you do on .info) that will help you avoid such things... can you get an Audi TIS/ETK on CD, how are the parts prices, can you plug in and do the diagnostics, etc. These are practicaly things. Other thing is the BMW is far less likely to be stolen as the old Bimmer is harder to steal, worth less and far less attractive to the kids. Also, it is bigger, more confortable, will tow things and is safer perhaps. Cheaper to repair in the case of an accident definately.

Its a question of love and math as always I'm afraid, but the practicalities are important, not just the obvious things. Things that keep me on the e34 is it sresistance to parking damage... I hate having scratched bumpers cos some idiot can't see or park properly. :) Nick

[Espen]

My e34 is well maintenanced the last year, many suspension parts are replaced with lemfoerders, new shocks and springs, new brakes, +++ So i know that my chanses for a cheap maintenance price the next years are good, with a "new" car i dont know for sure what condition those parts are in.

I can buy a lot of replacements parts for the money i will save in fuel. I use about 3000nok (500$) in fuel pr month, calculated over to diesel, and with a higher mpg i would use about 200-230$ pr month. But then again i have to calculate for the higher monthly payment to the loan.

Ahh.. this is just so frustrating. Why cant the gas prices be like in US.

I have been thinking about replace my enginge with a 524TDS engine.. That way i could have a litle of both.

[genphreak]

Problem easily solved (http://www.prins-lpg.com/en/prins/) if you add LPG with VSI like the Prins one it seems... :)

[Espen]

Problem easily solved (http://www.prins-lpg.com/en/prins/) if you add LPG with VSI like the Prins one it seems... :)

Except that there are allmost no Gas stations here who sells LPG :)

[genphreak]

Except that there are allmost no Gas stations here who sells LPG :)Awww... not even one or two on your usual routes? What about CNG- they do that too. Hmmm

Really thinking outside the square Espen, you could alwasy get a 524TD!

[Alexlind123]

18-19mpg with you 525i? that seems very poor. I averaged 23.8mpg on the way back from the beach in moderate to heavy traffic and my engine is a liter larger.

[brosher]

I get 20 city /26 highway MPG in my 540i/6. I think my car is "sporty". :D

[Denton]

Probably Imperial gallons. ;)

[632 Regal]

no actually the 540s gets much better highway mileage than most other engines including my 530.
Probably Imperial gallons. ;)

[Denton]

no actually the 540s gets much better highway mileage than most other engines including my 530.

But on Imperial gallons cars run worse than on U.S. gallons. :p

I could see the 540 getting better mileage.

[CharlesAFerg]

18-19mpg with you 525i? that seems very poor. I averaged 23.8mpg on the way back from the beach in moderate to heavy traffic and my engine is a liter larger.

15.7 woooo

[Flamin'Cow]

I agree - He must either use his accelerator 'athletically' (i.e. Lead Foot) or he has some serious issues with his engine. Mines a 3.5 also and I average 22.8 mpg on 'consum2' (which I have only once re-set - when I got the car)

[Espen]

Hmm my obc says AVG1=10.8L/100km (the last 200km) And AVG2 says 11.4 L/100km (thats for the last 2 months) By average i mean both normal driving, agressive driving, added together and divided by the distance driven.

I got one issue on my engine that can cause bad mileage, I have disconnected my MAF, bacuse when it is connected it wont rund on idle, or beneath 3000rpm, alot of backfires through the intake. I still havent found a used MAF, and a new one from the dealer is about $1000...

Genphreak, not sure what CNG is
My second( yeah I have two jobs) job is at Gas station, and we doesnt sell anything else than 95octane, 98octane and Disel, Our country is very bad in those "new" stuff.. Well we have a project called "the Hydrogene route" wich allows you to drive along our west coast on Hydrogene (5 hydrogene stations) But who has a car that runs on that?

[Qube]

11.5l/100 and you're complaining :) My almost always sporty driving with the m30 nets me avg 12.5l/100km, and I'm having lots of fun!

Sounds like you just want a little baby with some turbo to tweak and awd/4wd to put power to the ground. It's a different world... unless you're Jon K and got the best of both.

[Espen]

1.9tdi for economics, and awd for playing around on the snow.. Did i mention donuts?

[Jose]

I sencirely recomend against Audi. Not for being a bad car, they're much better build than BMW and absolutely don't rust. It'sjust that they are so boooooooooring to drive!!!!!! No emotion what so ever. Had an S2, A6 V6 2.8 and 2.6 and a 4.2 A8, tried them all, ened selling them within 6 months.

Stay with BMW, save up some cash and go with the 530D (180BHP-210BHP) the 320D (150BHP) or even better .....the 330D (204BHP). Fast,great handling, emotions ( when the tail breaks out) drifting and economics.

Don't leave BMW, you'll be really sorry.

[Zeuk in Oz]

and fuel will keep going up,including deisel.Only you can decide of course,just think about the extra money you will have to find to buy a newer car,you can buy a lot of fuel..Deisels also require more maintennce(?do they still?)than petrol cars
Actually Paul, I would argue that diesels require less maintenance than petrol engines as basically all you do is change oil and filters. No plugs, points etc.
Admittedly the injectors might need servicing eventually, however the same applies to petrol engines.

I must admit that I am stunned, Espen, at the price of fuel in Norway. (As a Swede it gives me a certain amount of satisfaction :D ). Does this mean that your reserves are running out or does the government just want more money ?

I feel that your fuel economy is probably about right for the engine and the car ( within the range depending on types of driving). I was interested to note that I drove mine very spiritedly (M20) in Sydney yesterday and still only used 9 litres per 100 km. Around where I live (semi-rural) it usually uses 8.

I have never seen these cars as sport cars, however, more the ultimate tourer - especially on winding roads ! ;)

If you have spent so much on maintenance on your car, and considering that you will be borrowing the extra money, I feel that you would have to be doing many hunreds of thousands of kilometres before you got back in fuel savings what it will cost you to change over.

I would also suggest you will be less satisfied with the Audi.

[stu1]

Espen, if your M50 doesn't run with the MAF connected it's possible you have a vacuum leak somewhere.

It's likely the MAF is fully serviceable, but the air it is metering doesn't equal the air actually entering the combustion chamber (because of a leak after the MAF) so you're getting a bad mix of air and fuel and the car will not idle.

With the MAF disconnected the ECU goes for a reasonable guess (on the rich side - hence your high fuel consumption).

Check all the hoses around the throttle housing.

Stu.

[DueyT]

Espen, there's something up with your engine. Like Stu1 says, I would be checking it out. Did you check for EML codes, etc...?

My 540/6 gets 12.5l/100 in town and 8.5-8.7 doing 120kmh on the highway. Even 140kmh still gets me 8.9-9.0 L/100.

Stay away from Audi (unless you really, really want Quattro)! I am not a big fan of VWAG...and I say that as an owner of a Jetta(Bora) 1.9TDI, great car...crappy customer support. My neighbour got an Audi S4 and had nothing but trouble after trouble with it. My biggest problem with my TDI was the crappy thin-film MAF that VWAG cheaped out on to lower costs...kept on breaking/frying and at $275 CAD a pop, I was not a big fan of replacing them. My VW TDI now purrs with the MAF-heart of an MB E320 CDI in it.

Oh, yes...chin up, keep the E34!

Cheers,
Duey

[Espen]

Actually Paul, I would argue that diesels require less maintenance than petrol engines as basically all you do is change oil and filters. No plugs, points etc.
Admittedly the injectors might need servicing eventually, however the same applies to petrol engines.

I must admit that I am stunned, Espen, at the price of fuel in Norway. (As a Swede it gives me a certain amount of satisfaction :D ). Does this mean that your reserves are running out or does the government just want more money ?

Its because of the global oil price is going up. My country produce more oil than we could ever use, so we export it mainly to USA, and in times with high oil price (the middle east terror), we get alot of money for the oil we sell, but we still have to pay the same oilprice for the oil we use to make fuel. So its like shooting yourself in the leg.


Espen, if your M50 doesn't run with the MAF connected it's possible you have a vacuum leak somewhere.

I have borrowed a friends MAF, there were no errors then. If i had a vacuum leak I would experience the same problems no matter what MAF i used?

I took a diagnosis test once, it said "MAF Shorted or disconnected" wich was true at that time, it was disconnected. And it said "Lambda sond" so I have replaced my lambda..



My 540/6 gets 12.5l/100 in town and 8.5-8.7 doing 120kmh on the highway. Even 140kmh still gets me 8.9-9.0 L/100.

You must be kidding right?
With a large enginge like that, who have to fill 4liters with fuel and air in one revolution, cant use so little at 140kmh. I use 1.5 doing 120kmh In 140-150 in 5th gear my indicator is beyond the 30 mark..

A 330d or a 530d is no option, to big engines would cost me a fortune to insure it here, im only 21years old, and the insuranse company allready hate me because my age + bmw = accidents.

Ive been looking at a E46 320d, but they are still a bit to high in price here.
Ive also had some stupif thoughts like this; sell my e34, pay down the loan, buy a 1985-1990 Vw Golf diesel for whats left of the money I got from the e34.

[Jose]

Ive also had some stupif thoughts like this; sell my e34, pay down the loan, buy a 1985-1990 Vw Golf diesel for whats left of the money I got from the e34.

NOT stupid thoughts, sencible ones. If you want to live freely, pay of the loan, save up and buy a BMW later when yo can affort it properly. There's no greater satisfaction of looking at your car and really know it belongs to you and not to the bank.

[Evan]

Ask OneWhippedPuppy if you should sell your E34

[Espen]

Ask OneWhippedPuppy if you should sell your E34
why?


Ive sorted out an audi im going to testdrive..

http://www.finn.no/finn/car/object?finnkode=8433012&sid=9a4IfKyaK472862&pos=6&tot=6

[DueyT]

Espen, seriously...I'm not joking! I was ready to turf the big beast and get another TDI, but after 20,000km over the last few months, I realize I made the right choice to keep the beast. The big 4.0L only turns 1900/min at 100kmh and 2600 at 140kmh. If I do 100kmh (very, VERY hard to do) I get 7.8-8.0 L/100...OBC, but verified with fuel consumed/distance at fill-up.

Mind you, that doesn't come close to the 4.3-4.6 L/100 I get with my Jetta...I just wish I had a 6-speed like my 540...only have a 5sp! I turn about 3200 @ 140! uggh!

Cheers,
Duey

p.s. how much is 140.000 Kroner?

[Evan]

Puppy sold his E34 and now he's looking for another one... keep yours

[Espen]

Espen, seriously...I'm not joking! I was ready to turf the big beast and get another TDI, but after 20,000km over the last few months, I realize I made the right choice to keep the beast. The big 4.0L only turns 1900/min at 100kmh and 2600 at 140kmh. If I do 100kmh (very, VERY hard to do) I get 7.8-8.0 L/100...OBC, but verified with fuel consumed/distance at fill-up.

Mind you, that doesn't come close to the 4.3-4.6 L/100 I get with my Jetta...I just wish I had a 6-speed like my 540...only have a 5sp! I turn about 3200 @ 140! uggh!

Cheers,
Duey

p.s. how much is 140.000 Kroner?

about 20 000$ i guess. I could get about 8000$ for the e34.

I know that the smart thing to do is to keep it, untill i have payed down the loan on it. Then be looking for something else maybe.

But now as guy at work has this 1.9tdi and is bragging about driving 2 weeks without a refill, and i keep reefilling every 3-4 days. I want that too!