Repair-It

http://www.motortrend.com/news/1999-bmw-750il/

Rear side side impact airbags were available. That's pretty fancy for the 90s. Then again, so is navigation, rear heated reclining seats, power sunshade, HIDs, park assist, heated steering wheel, and 16-way seats that actually can recline above your lumbar.

Speaking of clean B-bodies, this one is still available (no price drop though): http://columbia.craigslist.org/cto/5444633824.html

It would be a hell of a sleeper with a turbo LS, especially if you kept it stock looking outside.

Other E38 anecdotes I keep seeing is that as the miles rack up, the check engine light never goes off, even if it has no codes. I've even seen that in an ad for a higher mile one. What the hell is that? That won't work for me in RI.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/0 ... rotection/

Those old BMW V12s have THREE ECUs – one for each bank of cylinders and another to coordinate between them.

But ultimately, a $100K+ car is always a $100K+ car, no matter how cheaply you bought it used. Takes a special owner to run one of these once the years pile on. But still, it is cheaper to run a 10yo V12 BMW than to “pay” the depreciation on a new one. Of course it is cheaper still to burn dollar bills to stay warm in the winter.

Ah, the BMW 750iL a.k.a. 75 OiL – referring to the barrels of oil it consumes per trip

Haha, 75 0iL. Vanity plate possibility. Though these supposedly get 20 mpg highway, which is serviceable (for me).

This could be useful. I could even get the codes if I was looking at one with the CE light on:

1. Turn the ignition key on (without starting the car) and depress the accelerator pedal to the floor 5 times within 5 seconds.
2. The check engine light will remain lit for 5 seconds, blink off, light for 2.5 seconds, goes off for 2.5 sec. and will start flashing the codes.
3. Each code is separated by a 2.5 sec. pause. A 0.5 sec. blink then nothing means the end of the code reading. To read them again, depress the accelerator pedal 5 times again.

Although this is for an E32 (OBD-I)...I guess I already have a code reader that does OBD-II and all E38s are OBD-II.

kevm14 wrote:This could be useful. I could even get the codes if I was looking at one with the CE light on:

1. Turn the ignition key on (without starting the car) and depress the accelerator pedal to the floor 5 times within 5 seconds.
2. The check engine light will remain lit for 5 seconds, blink off, light for 2.5 seconds, goes off for 2.5 sec. and will start flashing the codes.
3. Each code is separated by a 2.5 sec. pause. A 0.5 sec. blink then nothing means the end of the code reading. To read them again, depress the accelerator pedal 5 times again.

Although this is for an E32 (OBD-I)...I guess I already have a code reader that does OBD-II and all E38s are OBD-II.

One thing's for sure. If you buy one of those, there will be plenty to post about on this forum whether it is failure-prone or not.

To re-quote one of my previous posts:

You (not me) should totally buy a European V12 car.

This could start the show we will never actually do... You can just drive around with a camera on and we can show your reaction to everything in the car breaking.

New body style for cheap: http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/5432382159.html Has anyone every LS swapped one of these?

Quite possibly given how cheap they are.

I was talking to Bill yesterday and I think what I really like about the 750iL is how it was made from the factory. I wouldn't be looking to tinker and modify, just keep it functioning as stock. It's one of those cars that had an R&D budget and commanded purchase price that allowed them to really make something with no compromises (except reliability).

The LS swap B-body would give me the other side.

Now the reason I kind of want to hang onto the CTS-V is because it's special to me, but also the only thing resembling a handling car in my fleet (or planned future fleet). Neither the B-body nor E38 will handle like the CTS-V. I am sure I could make a B-body run an autocross or road course in a similar time as my CTS-V, but at a pretty steep cost in ride quality. The E38 750iL is like a 4,500 lb car so no explanation needed there (and the b-body isn't far behind, with a D-body essentially matching).

So while it is quite interesting to suggest that I could sell the CTS-V to finance these interesting vehicles, I feel like I would also regret doing that, even though the roads I have access to make it far more appropriate for a B-body or E38. Then again, insisting that one cannot sell a car unless there are zero current or future regrets is probably not realistic.

Bob wrote:New body style for cheap: http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/5432382159.html Has anyone every LS swapped one of these?

You don't suppose anyone was riding dirty in that thing, do you?