Farewell Red-Red

I sold my 1990 BMW 535i this week. I first met the car back in San Diego. Christine, our neighbor and the previous owner used to wash it every Saturday. Every Saturday Christine would was her car and I wouldn't wash ours. This went on for years. One Saturday instead of washing, Christine was showing her prized BMW to a potential buyer. I didn't know she was trying to sell it. Potential buyer didn't want a 200,000 mile car. I didn't know much about BMWs then, but I did know that 200,000 miles didn't mean much if the car had been well taken care of. This one was. The price was right. I took Debbie for a test-drive and we bought the car about 10 minutes later.

That was 7 years and 50,000 miles ago. Older BMWs are amazingly durable. Don't confuse durable with reliable though. Like any older car they can and do break now and then. Nevertheless when I sold my 535i it still had the original engine, transmission, alternator, starter, power steering pump... Well a lot of parts that would have long since failed on a lesser car. Once you learn to think German, older BMWs are easy to work on. I did nearly all the repairs myself.

I made sure that Charles, the new owner would give the car a good home. He correctly identified and named the idle control valve. He knew that the fluid filled control arm bushings were the cars weak point. He owned the special 5-sided screw driver needed to remove the radio. Charles didn't realize I was screening him.

When I was going through all the paper work to hand over to Charles, I figured the total cost of owning Red-Red. Seven years cost about $7000. By far the least expensive car I've ever owned and driven. Likely to stay that way too.

BMW started replacing some metal under hood parts with plastic around 1992. Water pumps, other cooling system parts. It kinda made sense as plastic parts are both lighter and cheaper. That makes the car both faster and less expensive. It also reduced durability. Modern BMWs have endless cooling system problems as all plastic parts in the cooling system become brittle and break. This usually starts around year six and continues into year 7. Usually things fail a few months apart and at the worst possible time. I've seen a cooling fan break free from the radiator on a '96. The 99 cent plastic rivets holding the thing together had just come apart. Disaster caused by someone trying to save pennies and a few grams. Not good.


BMW still makes great cars. Red-Red was the first and the one that sold me on the brand. We just signed a purchase order for BMW number four, an e83 X3.

After signing the PO, we stopped at the parts counter to pick up a part for BMW number 3. You should have seen the disappointment on the counterman's face when I told him we'd sold our e34 and were ordering an e83. They just don't make them like they used to. This car never stranded me, put up with all sorts of abuse and started right up after sitting under a tree for six months. Farewell Red-Red we will miss you.