I ADORE this car...and I could be talked into getting one. Yes, that would mean trading in the War Wagon but I would quite at home cruising in one of these beauties...

What happened to them? I don't know why BMW stopped making them. Do you? And what are your impressions of the car. Yes, big and heavy, but man, talk about elegance and style...and the purr of the V12 must be heavenly...

Impressions?

 

I like the 8 series as well... I still find them very elegant, sleek and fresh whenever I see them drive by.

Maybe you can wait for the upcoming M6?

(concept stuff)


or if you like it in convertible form:



on another note here's some pics of the new 5 series...





personally I can't wait to try an Alpina Mini!

 

IMO the 850 is the nicest design BMW has ever come out with. There isn't an angle that isn't magnificent. I'd love to get one. Anyone know what they run these days?

 

As with most BMW's their value has fallen off dramatically over the past years. I wouldn't be surprised if you could pick one up for $10-15K.

The car was confused from the beginning in my opinion.

Greg - that would be a great "second" car. I can just see you in that next winter stuck on 3 inches of snow.

 

Get ready to reach deeeeep into your pockets to maintain an aging 8 series. Example: $2000 (part cost, not labor) to replace a single catalytic converter w/OEM BMW part from dealership. They also tend to develop fuel system issues (seen two leaky ones at my local dealer).

Overall neat car though. Only thing I dislike is the M1 like nose. It looked better on the M1. Now that would be a good aging BMW to get (well, not from a monetary perspective either ).



Looks like the average 8 is ~$35K
http://www.autotrader.com/findacar/results...e=BMW&x=95&y=11

Why not knock about in a M6 like Loki said, just an older one (Ok besides the same maintenance issues as the 8 Series).



[Edited by Silver S2K on 03-27-2001 at 02:08 PM]

 

Yea, that's what I was afraid of...expense. I think I could get one for about 20k, but who knows the shape of it and stuff...

Repair costs...ouch. Watch out.

Still a very beautiful car...

 

Hey Greg, I had an 850 a while back. It was a beautiful car. Went like stink, and you could cruise for hours in that thing and think you were in your living room. Unfortuantly What these guys have said is true. The repairs were very expensive. I drove the snot out of it for about a year and a half. As luck would have it, it developed a crack in the block. It was way to much to fix, so the guy put me into an 840, I drove that for 7 months and the same thing happened??? Although it was wayyyyy better on gas. The 850 was a pig!
However I don't want to scare you. My friend still has one (850), a 91 I believe with over 280,000 km on it and it hasn't given him one problem.
It is IMO hands down one of the best styled cars from BMW. Class and Style. Also remember though, Even though the car is huge..It's not all that big on the inside. Its got a very sporty feel to the cockpit, and the backseats are mearly for show. I went from this to a Maserati Bi-turbo.. That was a piece of shit. Drove it for one month and wanted to push it over the Scarbrough bluffs!!! For what it's worth I always wanted to get another one

Mike

 

Greg,

Doesn't Larry have an 850?

 

How on earth did you know THAT?!?

I was actually thinking of buying it a while back. I think he may have sold it by now. I will ask him when he gets back from vacation next Monday...

But his is beautiful...that deep deep blue....aw man, gorgeous car!

 

Kind of like the 928. A great car IMHO but didn't sell all that well. I wish I'd kept mine, but it seemed like a good idea to get rid of it at the time; sort of like my 356C Porsche of 36 years ago. I'm going to try to hang on to the Stook for as long as I can . . . or not!