Having watched Top Gear a couple of weeks ago and how they bought an old 8-Series 5.0-litre V12 and run it for just 7grand, it made me want to write my own review of my car.
Hammond is right, the 8-Series is a truly terrific car. It is quite rare and with the V12 engine is very powerful. I;d definetely say get this engine over the smaller ones because it packs a lot more punch. Outside you get pop up headlamps, lots of 80s style styling and small wheels, but who cares when youve got just under 300bhp?
Inside is typical BMW. With dark leather and wood and quite a few toys to play with, it feels a lot more modern than you'd imagine. There's lots of kit to play with and the suspension is absolutely spot on!
It;s just a fine example of how a sports GT should be made.
Me and my partner had a bit of a win on the Lottery a couple of years ago, nothing big really, just a few thousand, but we thought we'd use it to get a car. We were in a bit of a silly mood because of the win, I mean because it was a lot but also because it wasn't actually all that much in the scheme of things, so we had a sort of comical look at old second hand BMWs and Mercs and things, seemed a fitting balance! It started off as just a fun thing and we never would have shopped around carefully for weeks searching for just the right thing, but then we saw the BMW 8 Series and really sort of got a bit hooked. It looks really sort of fun and old but new, kind of nerdy in a really quite cool sort of way. Weird really, but fun all the same. This one was red too, so it added to the fun.
We got inside a BMW 850i and it really began to feel like a pretty fancy car, I kept having to double back on the price tag on it, only £2000!! I mean it had well over 100 thousand miles on the clock at the time, I forget exactly how much, but still, I think these went for easily 20 times that new, probably more.
So we were sitting in it and playing around with the electric height adjustment on the seats and things. The dealer probably clocked us for a couple of idiots with no way of buying the thing, but seemed to humour us by showing us the way the car can remember settings for different drivers, not just the height of the seat but the mirrors too. We have found that useful since, as we're quite different heights. Having said that neither one of us is all that tall, nor are our kids, and it does look like it might be a bit cramped for a tall person, especially in the back.
We bought the BMW 850i after being shown a load of other fun stuff inside it, and especially the aircon which I don't think we could have got anywhere else on our budget. We've loved it now for a couple of years and it doesn't show any other signs of ageing. There was one thing with the electrics last year but nothing big. I think the brakes might need doing soon, but there doesn't seem to be anything big going wrong. Fingers crossed and touch wood!
Most people have never seen an 8-Series on the road; mainly because hardly anyone bought one and partly because it was too expensive. So that makes it rare, and when a car is rare, it usually comes with a fair bit of charisma, too.
That's what initally drew me into the BMW 840Ci. It looked great; sporty, low and sleek. Just what I wanted. And I knew none of my mates would own one, so why not? Has it been worthwhile? Well I still own it - put it that way.
The BMW 840Ci is just so lovely to drive. Easy when you want it to be but fast and taught when you need it to be. I'd say it's a driver's car; the gearbox is great, the seating position is spot on and the engine is eager. Unfortunately, it isn't the most practical car in the world; it does have a boot but it isn't exactly commodious. If you want space, buy a 5-series.
Overall, though, it's a great car that delivers on everything you want. It turns heads because it's so rare and manages to keep you smiling even on overcast and dreary days.
Neil.
A bit of a weird one, the 8 series, that doesn't really 'fit in' in the grand scale of all things BMW. It's a bit classier than lower-numbered BMWs and not quite a sports car. I bought my BMW 840Ci a long time ago and it has had a lot of work done to it but it's still doing pretty nicely.
The pop-up headlights were of immediate appeal to me (I was young), and the wheel arches and other touches make the 8 series a bit special. They are not that common in the UK so it's nice to have something that you don't see all the time. I've had to replace quite a few parts over the years and the BMW suppliers are very good, some of it was even done under warranty when I thought there was no chance.
The interiors are good and bad, the seats etc being great, really comfortable and versatile, with the dash being disproportionately terrible for such an otherwise-great motor. The performance is, of course, classic BMW. Overall a bit of a classic, I think.