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Love those late 80's 5 series cars. I never bought one, but test drove and negotiated unsuccessfully for an 87 535is and an 88 M5, I nearly bought both but didn't buy either. Too many miles and too high prices on both. There weren't many of those M5's around and the guy selling it had priced it like it was very rare. Loved the way it drove though. I joined the BMWCCA back when I bought the Bavaria in 73 or early 74. I had a low club number then but lost it when I didn't have a BMW for a few years between it and the 80 Euro 7 series. The Bavaria was an incredible car, but I bought one with an automatic and I always preferred 5 speeds. Still I loved that car. The Euro 735 was a 5 speed, roll up windows and (really nice) cloth interior. My wife and I drove it in a BMWCCA drivers school in Sebring, FL in maybe 84. All the instructors loved that car and were surprised at how fast it was.

I checked my records and sure enough there was work done on the rear hatch. We were getting hatch open warnings when the hatch was closed and my understanding is they replace only the sensor, so for sure that is the car we had. My wife loved that car and got really upset when I started looking for another one. My thinking was we love that car so much, and they don't make them anymore, so we should purchase a very low mileage one that was the last year of production, that way we could have one as long as possible. Another reason for me was we had never had occasion where we needed to use the REX, the newer ones have a bigger battery, so why not have a BEV. I got a 2021 i3s BEV and Jan, my wife, learned to love it in short order. I looked for about a month and ended up flying to California to look at the car (did a bit of vacationing while I was there) and had it shipped back. Not that many in Louisiana. Just an FYI, I was concerned about leaving gas in the car for a long time as it can decompose. So, once a year or so I ran the charge down to where the REX would run and used virtually all the gas in the tank. I only used pure premium gas (no ethanol). Running the REX maintenance cycle (which the car does automatically maybe once a month) doesn't use the gas fast enough. I would advise doing the same. I know you are going to learn to love the car if you haven't already.
 
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Happy Tuesday! I don't know what the protocols for sharing contact info are on the Forum, but I'd love to be in touch by email or phone if that's allowable.

I had a chance to buy a late 80s Euro manual 7-series recently and seriously considered it. I know it would be a great car, but I just don't drive enough to justify it.

I was almost certainly at that Sebring Driver's School. Eddie and I were the forces behind Floridafest '84 and '85 and Oktoberfest '86, all of which had driving schools at Sebring.

Thanks for the gas warning. I always used ethanol free in my Ford, so I'll continue that practice. The idea of using up all the fuel occasionally is a good one.

It's interesting that you wanted a later model pure EV. That's really what I was looking for, too. My oldest year cut-off was '17, since they increased the battery size that year, but my car counselor insisted that if it was a '17 or '18, I really should get the REx (He said that in addition to the range insurance, it might help resale value.) If I could have found a '19 or newer, I'd have preferred avoiding the maintenance complications of a gas engine I'll seldom need.

I envy you the trip to CA for yours. I found plenty of likely prospects out there, but couldn't bring myself to buy and ship from that far.

Please tell your Jan that Katherine is SO grateful for you upgrading to your new Maus! I already LOVE Bitsy and am looking forward to many wonderful adventures with her.
 
The part of the advice about resale being higher for a REX is probably correct, but I expect the initial cost is higher as well, so there is that. We loved the Wild Maus and so I was willing to keep it until I found what I was looking for. I always get excited looking for cars to buy and have to admit I almost bought 21 i3s REX with about 5K miles since, other than the REX, it was exactly what I was looking for, color, year, s, miles, no wrecks, no major work, etc. I settled for a car with 12+K miles when I was looking for one that was sub 10K, with less the better. So I wasn't as patient as I could have been. Lots of these cars have low miles since they are primarily city cars. IMHO a better city car has never been made. The combination of size (small on the outside, big in the front on the inside) and the tiny turning radius makes parallel parking a snap.

If you would like to communicate by email, my email is my name here @gmail.com
 
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