Re: Reliability of 525i 530i

[Nello Franco <nfranco@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Personal experience with respect to the  following:
1993 525iA (5 yrs and 50K miles) - no major problems yet, just slow rear windows.
1995 530i 5sp - bought used with 27K miles on it.  By 28K miles, the transmission had to be replaced,
the washer pump had to be replaced, and... get this... a head bolt snapped and wedged itself under
the camshaft causing the cam to snap, and therefore the head to be replaced.  This was never repaired
correctly by the selling dealer and after jerking me around endlessly, they reluctantly agreed to
take the car back (much headache on my part).  Boy... if you want a headache story about nightmarish
"service" in the S.F. Peninsula / South Bay... (but that's a story for another thread)
Based on this limited experience... the 525 would be a HIGH recommendation with respect to quality,
the 530 on the other hand... a piece.  I recently purchased another used E34 V8 ('95 540i 6sp with
21K miles) and had to have the transmission replaced.   I wont even bother to go into the
alusil/nickasil story for the '94 and '95 V8s as I'm sure you will have gotten quite a few responses
on that topic.

For what its worth...

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