I've owned a couple of E34 5 series cars over the last 20 years. I consider them the last cars with the true BMW look, and they're quite DiY serviceable. My experience with the 4-liter V8 was great. Factory-equipped 6-speed manuals are rare birds, but the automatic trans is robust with proper care -- I took mine to 300k miles. Rust had its way with it, but if you're in southern California, there should still be some decent ones around. The straight-six variants are much easier to service, but they aren't very powerful. The 530i versions have all the serviceability issues of the bigger V8 with the power of the 6.
The successor chassis, the E39, still is pretty serviceable. BMW chose to substitute the timing chain idler sprocket in the valley of the V8 with a V-shaped guide. As a result, timing chain service is almost inevitable on them. My sister had a 528i touring that she liked very much. Again, in much of the country rust-free examples are pretty rare, but in Cali ...
As others have mentioned, a 3-series is more fun than a 5, but they tend to get beaten up. I also think the 5s have better build quality. So if you're looking deep into the used market, I'd focus the search on a 5er.
Edit: Ooops, I was looking at the wrong post, assuming a Californian was the OP. That said, I wouldn't mind doing a road trip for a nicely-kept classic BMW.
The successor chassis, the E39, still is pretty serviceable. BMW chose to substitute the timing chain idler sprocket in the valley of the V8 with a V-shaped guide. As a result, timing chain service is almost inevitable on them. My sister had a 528i touring that she liked very much. Again, in much of the country rust-free examples are pretty rare, but in Cali ...
As others have mentioned, a 3-series is more fun than a 5, but they tend to get beaten up. I also think the 5s have better build quality. So if you're looking deep into the used market, I'd focus the search on a 5er.
Edit: Ooops, I was looking at the wrong post, assuming a Californian was the OP. That said, I wouldn't mind doing a road trip for a nicely-kept classic BMW.
Last edited: