Help buyin a 6 Series

Welcome to the site ubersixer, there cant be too many M635's in Dublin, what colour is she? have you had her long? would love to see some photos. I will try and post some photos of mine this week.

Regards,

Bayerische

 hi,new to the site,very enjoyable. re the last m6 made chassi number 524, i own one which is 491, not far behind.

The only other BMW I've ever really lusted after was the Z8. Sorry, but there ye go...

Interesting.  I asked because between doing the deal (and paying) for the M5 and collecting it, I had serious doubts about why I had bought it.  I worried that it would be just the same as the M635 - it had to be with the same engine, gearbox, running gear and floorpan. 

I always thought, even when I had the E30 M3, that the M635 was the ultimate M car, but that the E28 M5 was something very special too, with so few being made and that engine, it was always very high up my list and was a car that had to be ticked off.

I'm amazed at how different it is from the M635, lighter, nimbler, sharper, smaller - it drives like a quieter, bigger, faster, more torquey, four door E30 M3 with the steering  wheel on the right side.  It's firm, but not harsh, it handles superbly and the steering is perfectly weighted.  It's a far, far better drive than the M635 - and that's a great drive too.

I've also considered the "which one to sell if I have to" question and when it comes down to it, if I had to sell one of them, it'd be a tricky decision, but despite it all, the M5 would go and I'd keep the E24.

The E28 M5 is the best driving M car I've ever driven.  Part of its appeal is that nobody knows what it is - it just looks like an old E28 and even if you do know what it is, how many have driven one and know how good it is?

But, it's just so much more of an occasion in the 6, it feels more special - even though there's more of them.  They're both brilliant, just different, but I'm an E24 man too.

But the most beautiful car BMW ever made?  You're having a giraffe here are you not?

What about the 507?
What about the M1?
What about an E9 CSL?
2002 turbo?
Even the Z8 must be in with a shout?

Bayerische wrote: m3Cecotto wrote: Bayerische wrote: Once again you have misquoted me so I will make my point again. Do try and pay attention this time. It's OK.  It's not worth the bother, you're clearly deluded, or more likely, trying to talk up the values of your cars. I think you have some valid points m3Cecotto and I am not trying to talk up the values of my car as I only just bought it in the last couple of months and was not expecting to pay what I did, I think perhaps you are living in the past with regard to what these cars are now fetching but I dont think throwing your teddy out of the pram helps your argument a whole lot. Regards, Bayerische

No teddies.  No pram.  Just no point in continuing.  You have your view, I have mine and we're not going to agree, other than that, generally, prices are going up; good cars are getting rarer and more valuable; poor ones are difficult to sell at any cost; and, there are now many unviable M635s. 

I prefer the Highline, but I always thought that the pre Highlines were considered to be more desireable as well? Lighter etc.?

Anyway, you bought your M5 first, IIRC? How do you think they compare, bearing in mind that it's the same engine/box, running gear, and chassis?  You'll not be surprised to hear that I have a firm opinion on this as well, but I'd be interested to hear your's.

m3Cecotto wrote: Bayerische wrote: Once again you have misquoted me so I will make my point again. Do try and pay attention this time. It's OK.  It's not worth the bother, you're clearly deluded, or more likely, trying to talk up the values of your cars.

I think you have some valid points m3Cecotto and I am not trying to talk up the values of my car as I only just bought it in the last couple of months and was not expecting to pay what I did, I think perhaps you are living in the past with regard to what these cars are now fetching but I dont think throwing your teddy out of the pram helps your argument a whole lot.

Regards,

Bayerische

Well I can see both Bayerische & M3Cecotto's points of view here.

Prices of Sixes have been rising, anyone remember Quentin Willsons Fifth Gear review where he urged us to buy a "good, solid car" for £3-£3.5k? How we laugh now! That was about a year before I bought my Six & I paid a lot more than that, admittedly from a dealer not private sale.

Dealers normally charge a £2k premium over private sales which can lead to snorts of derision about paying over the odds. In my case I was happy to pay the premium as I had neither the time nor inclination to go chasing around the country looking at over priced sheds. My Audi A6 was dropping more than that a year in depreciation anyway.

I will have had my Six for 4 years come November. It's been fairly trouble free (excluding the new coolant hoses leaking steam into the distributor!) but even so, I've now bitten the bullet & got new wings & bumper cover. That's a near £1500 bill before Club discount + another £900 for a half respray. Add in a new windscreen & my "little" tidy up will be getting on for £2500. Clearly not worth it on a £3k car but a necessity if I wish to keep it in top order. I'm not sure I would get my original purchase price back if I sold it though a guy did offer me £8k for it when he saw it in town the other week. But what else can you buy for £8k?

The £10k sorted M635 private sale is now with us. Dealers like Munich Legends will be asking £12-£15k for mint cars with under 100k miles. I have noticed the gap between 635's & M635's is growing from the £2k difference it used to be. Supply & demand has a lot to do with this. If you look at Munich Legends, they very rarely advertise a Six of any type. This is because they have more buyers than cars (even at their prices!). I know because the took over 9 months to find mine for me.

For years now the E9 CS coupes have been afforded classic status but prices have not reflected this. The CSLs command far higher prices especially from dealers like ML. Reported restoration costs of £30k no doubt put people off, especially if the car would only sell for half of that. The Six suffers from the same problem. Better to pay your money up front & enjoy a sorted car than to throw money at a tired example. This situation may well change if demand remains strong & people hang on to the good examples.

The only time I worry about the value of my car is at insurance renewal time for my agreed value cover. One thing is for sure, I'd have to spend more than I did the last time to replace it.

Once again you have misquoted me so I will make my point again. Do try and pay attention this time.

1. I said that M635csi's were beginning to creep in to batmobile territory not in price but in desireability and prices would rise as a result, and by using the word creep I meant that they are not quite there yet before you start throwing that back in my face.

2.This whole tread was started by a chap who had max £8000 to spend on a six series and I suggested that he would be better off buying a good 635csi as opposed to a M635csi. For £8000 you would possibly get a reasonable pre highline which would probably need work and therefore he will have gone over his budget. I also stated that highlines are more expensive but you could get a M635csi highline for between £8-12k but I wouldn't advise it in his case as they would be highmilers and possibly have rust issues and need money spent on them and once again would put him way over budget.

I agree with you, you can get a very nice pre highline M635csi for £10k, there is one for sale at the moment on the BMW car club website with 68k on it which came from the MD of Birds private collection and although I have not seen it I would say its a lovely car. Now if that car was a Highline in similar condition and mileage the owner would be mad to sell it for less than £15k and as I stated before from a specialist more like 17k minimum. These would be cars with no rust and Nothing needing doing to them.

Yes, We could all take your advice and and buy a" perfectly useable example" of a highline and then spend the next few months getting grey hairs and shelling out thousands of pounds practically rebuilding the entire underside of the car. Not for me thanks, I made that mistake once and wont do it again.

3. You love to misquote me with the higher values of Highlines I mentioned. As I said before if you took the time to read the thread properly, the £30k car that was sold is not the norm nor is Ross Harris's car as they are ultra low mileage cars which fall in to a different category so I dont think I was scaremongering. I am talking about very good rust free examples of Highlines with moderate miles and they WILL cost around 17k.

For your homework tonight, Call around some of the well known specialists and ask them if they have a M635csi Highline with moderate miles and NO rust. The first thing they will tell you is that they dont have one as there were only 101 RHD built and good ones are like hens teeth. The second thing they will tell you is that if they do end up finding one for you, you can expect to pay between £17-20k. Private sale cars will be cheaper of course.  

I think in your argument you are getting mixed up with highline and pre highline cars when you are talking about prices. Just so you know, Highlines were the later ones.

I will post some photos of 524 in due course. You are correct it was the last one ever built, I have a letter from BMW AG confirming it as the last one, build date March 3rd 1989 even though most websites show the last one built was in Feb '89.

I will also take some photo's of the M5 no. 179 but I better make sure not to scratch it taking it out of the garage now that it is quickly approaching Benz 600 pullman values.

Regards,

Bayerische

Horsetan wrote: Bayerische wrote: ...I used £30k as a top end as a very low mileage one was sold for that...   By contrast, if we look even further back than that, there is another magazine "star", this being the Macao Blue M635CSi "F 715 MNU" owned and kept in showroom order by Ross Harris. Valued by Munich Legends at £27,500 or in that region, it had done about 25,000 miles. Ross waited patiently - very patiently - before running off with it for about £18,000.

That just goes to show how much good M635csi's have risen in value in the last few years as £18000 for F715MNU seems like a steal now. I almost bought a dolphin grey one in Munich legends two years ago with 19k on it. It was offered to me for £21500 and I declined as I thought it was too much money at the time, I am kicking myself now that I didn't buy it.

Munich Legends confirmed to me that the red one did indeed go for £30k as they did the recomissioning work on the car as it had been stored for so long that it needed quite a bit of work to get it roadworthy again.

I have heard a couple of reports second hand that an owner at the Gaydon meet last year was offered £50k for his mint M635csi and declined.

I think M635csi's/M6's are now starting to creep in to batmobile territory in terms of desireability and prices will rise accordingly. I am sure that if the red highline with 2k on the clock came back on to the market it would go for alot more than £30k.

Regards,

Bayerische.

I am delighted you are happy with the news, you should run out now and get an agreed value on your insurance. I am talking about Highlines that need no work doing to them including timing chains etc, rust free and lowish mileage and the garage queens are now the only good cars left as 20 years of salty roads has taken its toll on all sixes that have not been pampered.

I used £30k as a top end as a very low mileage one was sold for that and has perhaps set a precedence, but that is an extreme case of course and most cars do not fall in to that category but good examples with between 50-70k are now fetching £15000 easily and minimum £17k from a specialist. There are plenty of high mileage highlines with 100k plus miles for sale for between £8k-12k but they will need work and as you found out yourself costs quickly spiral out of control when you are fixing sixes. Non Highline M635's will be cheaper.

I will post photos of 524 when I get a chance.

 

Regards,

Bayerische