530i vs. 535i

[Golgade]

Hello,
I am looking to buy a E34 535i but now I am looking at the 530i as well. I cant remember but was the 530i a real problem car? I'm just trying to figure out which would be a better buy, spending a few more bucks for a 530i or sticking with a 535I. Any pros or cons between them?
Dan Lafley

[shogun]

530 came as V8 in Europe with the M60 engine and also as 530 with M30B30 engine.
Details see my website under


(5 series) General Information/Specification

[Robin-535im]

Hello,
I am looking to buy a E34 535i but now I am looking at the 530i as well. I cant remember but was the 530i a real problem car? I'm just trying to figure out which would be a better buy, spending a few more bucks for a 530i or sticking with a 535I. Any pros or cons between them?
Dan Lafley
I'm a bit biased... but the torque and rev band of the 535 wins it for me. The 540 might beat the torque down low... but man you can rev that straight 6 all the way to red line and it just keeps pulling.

Never driven a 530 but I imagine it would feel like a little brother to the 540 - similar shape to the torque band but a bit lower in magnitude.

Plus - the 535 is easy to work on, which is good if you plan to do your own work.

[Phatty5BMW]

I'm a bit biased... but the torque and rev band of the 535 wins it for me. The 540 might beat the torque down low... but man you can rev that straight 6 all the way to red line and it just keeps pulling.

Never driven a 530 but I imagine it would feel like a little brother to the 540 - similar shape to the torque band but a bit lower in magnitude.

Plus - the 535 is easy to work on, which is good if you plan to do your own work.

My parents own a 530 and a 540. I own the 535. 540 wins for sure all through the power band, 530 I would say is about equal to the 535, but I like the power band of the 535. The 530 does have dinan chip and tranny chip so that might help out a bit. I would say if we raced them, my 535 would win. I am currently doing work on the 530 and it is a bitch, to put it bluntly. 535 is much easier to work on. Don't get me wrong, the 530 is a nice car, smooth power throughout the powerband, decent torque down low, but I like the feel of the tourque on the m30, seems beefier all throughout the range. But then again, the 530 gets more MPG than the 535. They are both great cars with great engines. Thats what I think.

-Pat

[e34.535i.sport]

I have a 535i as you probably guessed... Totally agree on the torque factor of the 535i - it's always there when you need it. The only thing I find is with all the torque sometimes it feels like your doing a million mph and you look down and your actually doing 43.

However, it is a rapid car especially for its age - I've never been beaten off the line by another car yet when going for it. (That metro did come close the other day though... Joke Joke).

In terms of repairs, I would only go for the V8 if it was worth it's while... I.e the 540i (The 535i is piss easy to work on in comparison due to lots of space in the engine bay). 540i though - What a car. Never driven a 530i so not dissing it in any way, it's just never appealed to me.

MPG is going to be **** whichever you get so don't worry about that.

[h2oyo]

Hello,
I am looking to buy a E34 535i but now I am looking at the 530i as well. I cant remember but was the 530i a real problem car? I'm just trying to figure out which would be a better buy, spending a few more bucks for a 530i or sticking with a 535I. Any pros or cons between them?
Dan Lafley

I cant speak about the 535 but wanted one before I drove and now own the 540i. There is a lot to say about that smooth 6 and yes I'm betting its much easier to work on. I just finished my auto to manual swap on the 540i (everything but the trans program error message). I must say that the 540 doesn't seem to bad to work on. The motor isn't squeezed in there like the V12's lol. I do know that the 540 is a completely different animal with the manual transmission. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the choices you spoke of but that is just me.
Johan

[Sixdown]

The V8 will always have a different feel to it. I went from a V8 Lexus to an I-6 BMW, and boy was there a difference. Performance-wise they weren't too different, but the 535i is much more racy and higher revving and the Lexus had massive torque and high end acceleration but revved pretty low like my 525e...that does bother me.

The 530i may cancel out a lot of what I said due to its very small size, and displacement can provide more power, so I would personally choose the 535i.

Both have bad MPG, but its more about preference. Again, I would personally keep a 535i over a V8 due to the ease of maintenance and the room in the engine bay. I just love working on my M30 and hated every V8 I owned. If you don't do your own work, forget what I said, but shops do sometimes charge more. Obviously more cylinders = more plugs and wires, etc.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

535

stick with the 6

[632 Regal]

My 530 is not hard to work on...whenever that is I have to work on it. I changed the plugs about 80K ago, might pick up another set this summer if I'm bored. I put a chip and a 3:64 gear in the rear couple years ago, perked it up around town and a couple extra MPG city. No loss in MPG highway either 83mph = 3000rpms with plenty of legroom for the freeway warriors...

[Golgade]

Wasnt there some problems with the M60 engines where they corrode from sulfur in gas? Has any one experianced this in a 530i? Arent they required 91 octane fuel?
Dan Lafley

[bubba966]

Wasnt there some problems with the M60 engines where they corrode from sulfur in gas? Has any one experianced this in a 530i? Arent they required 91 octane fuel?
Dan Lafley

M60 info here http://www.koalamotorsport.com/tech/article-m60v8.asp

And no, you don't need premium unleaded for the 530, only requires 89 octane as I recall.

[bubba966]

First I think you need to ask, what do you want out of this car? Fuel economy, or performance (yes, I know that other things matter, but these are the big 2 variables that aren't easy to drastically change once you have the car).

If you want fuel economy I'd rank the US E34's like this with #1 being the best

1. 530
2. 540
3. 525 (w/M50)
4. 535
5. M5

I'd say that around town (under 100MPH) performance they'd look like this

1. 540
2. M5
3. 530
4. 535
5. 525 (w/M50)

Now for economy #'s 2 & 3 are very close to each other. And in performance #'s 1 & 2 are close to each other, and #'s 3 & 4 are close to each other.

If you want performance first and fuel economy second get the 540. If you want fuel economy first and performance second get a 530.

Displacement isn't the easy way to tell economy or performance. A friend of mine had always heard that displacement is what dictates economy. I told her it wasn't always true and that she should get a 530, not a 525. As she was in a slight bit of a hurry and didn't want to deal with finding a 530 that had an Alusil block she just went with the 525.

She was rather surprised when I got my 540 M-Sport that gets slightly better gas mileage than her 525 does. She wishes she'd found a 530 now.

If you want the ultimate clutchless E34, find a '95 540iA M-Sport. There's nothing better out there. Unfortunately they're quite rare as there were only 65 of them built. And I know at least one of them was totaled. And I know for certain that one of them was converted to a manual (I've got the tranny out of it in my car right now as mine finally crapped out on me last year).

Not to mention that the EDC suspension on the M-Sport is spendy to repair. And they cost a whole lot more than a regular 540. Paid $12k for mine last year, and it had 149k miles on it. But I tell you what, I'm quite happy with my M-Sport and wouldn't get any other E34. Like driving it a whole lot better than the M5. And it performs better too... :D