1988 BMW 5 Series 535i SE 3.5
Summary:
An absolute monster of a car for no money at all
Faults:
The air filter needed replacing after a few days.
The car hadn't been serviced for a while so it needed all the usual parts.
Drivers windscreen wiper arm snapped, £120 from the dealers or £35 from an on-line factor.
General Comments:
I have fitted a K&N 57i Induction Kit to the car which has made some amazing performance increases. She now sounds very meaty and when in high revs it really screams at you.
Split fire Triple Core Platinum spark plugs and leads have also been added which have given the car a real responsive feel.
She is lowered on Spax springs and shocks and sits on BM Motor sport 18 inch rims.
After fitting all of the above I found it rude not to add a Super chip to her, the car will wipe any M3 off the road with no problems at all.
The car comes equipped with an on-board computer which conveniently has a 0-60 timer on. I have 0-60 stored as 5.1 seconds and the top speed so far is 153MPH.
The interior is amazing, it comes in full cream leather with electric heated memory seats, air conditioning which believe it or not actually works.
As I drive the car mostly on urban ground my fuel economy is not very good to say the least, I average about 14MPG. It may have something to do with me always having it in sports mode!!!
For it's mileage and age I have to say this car is truly amazing, they really don't make cars like this anymore.
I was very lucky s I found this high miler in a local paper for £300 with six months MOT, but no tax.
Insurance is very steep, hardly surprising as it is insurance group 18.
I do plan to have a new competition head, uprated pistons and cams thrown under the bonnet along with a complete sports braking system.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 7th December, 2003
16th Oct 2010, 20:42
Oh dear. I love my 535i Sport - I've had it for 15 years. But if you visit BMWE34.net, you will find that the K&N 57i loses power on this car (sounds quicker to ears of a certain age) and Splitfire plugs show absolutely no advantage at all (I believe they were sued in the US for false claims). I tried a Superchip - no noticeable effect. As for 'throwing' a competition head (?), camshaft (there's only one), pistons and a complete sports braking system (whatever that is) at it, it'll cost at least ten times what you paid for the car! And as your 0-60 time of 5.1 seconds makes your car quicker than BMW's own legendary 345bhp M5, why bother?