BMW’s transition to V8s came at an interesting time, as the top performance model in the M5 had the S38 inline-6 through ’95 (’93 in the US), and the 540i overlapped for a year as it came in ’93 with its bruising 4.0L V8. The M60B40 V8 as down about 30 hp to the M5’s S38B36, but made up for it with an extra 30 lb-ft of torque. This gave an interesting choice to prospective E34 buyers. Once the M5 left the North American market in 1993, the choice became clear, especially with the introduction of the M-Sport package in 1995. Unique suspension, seats, and some leftover bits from the M5 made these 200 examples very special, and 140 of those came with an exceptional 6-speed transmission. All that torque and all those gears made this the standard until the E39 M5 came out and shattered everyone’s fragile little minds.
1995 BMW 540i M-Sport 6-speed for sale on eBay
Final year for the classic E34 chassis. One of only 200 sold in the US. One of only 135 with the 6-Speed manual transmission. Beautiful Cosmo Black Metallic over black leather. Original 17″ throwing star wheels with matching spare. Electronic dampening control, ASC traction control, heated leather seats. European clear front, side & rear light package. (originals available).
Super clean non-smoker cockpit, original BMW Sound System With 6-disc CD changer. Ice cold air conditioning. All original books, manuals, tools, floor mats, spare, jack, flashlight, & window sticker included. Runs, drives & smells great!
Looking mean in black on black with the M5’s classic throwing stars, this is an awesome E34. 164k miles is no spring chicken, but at $9,900 Buy-It-Now and the opportunity to make an offer, this could be a fast and fun saloon.
-NR
The seller has the car listed at $7,900 on their website. In my opinion that’s not being very honest. I don’t know what I want more, this or a S4/S6 from that same time period.
I like E34s; used to have one. This is a good color combination and a fairly rare version.
The mileage is pretty high and there is accident damage reported on CarFax. The lighting of the pictures makes it hard to see much about the condition of the car, so a good personal inspection is mandatory. I can see that the leather needs some attention, the tires are cheap and all of the wheels need refinishing.
$7900 is too much; $9900 is ridiculous. Kelley Blue Book shows a retail price of $6,268. The CarFax report shows a $210 price reduction due to information found in the report.
These V8s are more driveable than the S38 M5, especially around town. Problem with the E34 M5 was the weight of the car and the S38’s lack of low end torque. The S38 was good in a 3300-3500 lb car but not in a 3900 lb E34. BMW M solved this problem with the 3.8 M5 but alas BMW NA never saw fit to bring it to the US…
If I were looking for a daily driver E34 I would choose the V8, as the running costs and lack of torque would get old fast. For a fun/collectible car (<2000 miles per year) it would have to be the M5.
Kelly Blue Book value on a car like this is completely irrelevant. This car gets points for originality and well used but cared for patina. If all documentation is present, paint is original (extent of body damage on CARFAX unknown), sub 10K is a fair market value given the rarity.
Jonathan,
I have an immaculate 93 S4 and I lust after an E34 M5 or one of these, until it snows anyway.
@urdriver
How would the 2 cars compare? I would guess the V8 puts out a lot more power compared to the I5 turbo. I would think the I5 would have more potentially. Some of those turbo kits 034 sells are ridiculously powerful for the first gen S4/S6. I have an 90 Quattro 20v as my dd.
I have driven the M5 and the chassis definitely has a sporting edge over the original S4, although adding 92 spec rear anti-roll bar help tremendously. I can only imagine the 540 M-Sport is more of a luxo torque monster with sporting intent. E34s just have timless presence, and real world performance to match. Between my 3 favorite sedans of all time:500E, E34 M5, and URS4, the Audi makes the most sense for me living in Colorado. And yes AAN engines are infinitely tunable.
URSDRIVER, you have to start somewhere when trying to determine what a used car is worth.
The miles on this car and its accident history keep it from being a collectible, so it falls into the category of unusual daily driver. The age and mileage on the chassis mean that there are a significant number of repairs that will have to be done, many of which are quite expensive. At nearly $10K, you are very close to, if not directly in E39 540i territory. When it comes to daily driving use, the E34 is a nice car but the E39 outshines it in most areas.
There is a reason KBB and NADA book values only go back 10 years. Take a look a E30 M3 values, and you will see nice examples trading for double that. I never said it was the best daily driver you could buy for 10k. I do however believe the extreme rarity and good condition considering age and mileage justifies an inflated price. It’s very cool car that they made very few of and will never make again.
FYI: Kelley goes back 20 years, not 10.
The dealer has this car listed on ebay for $9900, on Autotrader for $8900 and on their own website for $7900. That’s a big enough red flag for me to walk away without even getting into the specifics of this particular car.
KevinR: He’s just fishing for a sucker on eBay. Nothing wrong with that but no one here is fool enough to pay his asking price.
I plan to sell my daily driver in the next year or two. When I do I’ll skip the BMW boards and CCA because people who shop there know the cars as well as I do (or better) and are generally very choosy. Again, nothing wrong with that but that’s not my buyer. My buyer is a guy who falls in love with a red over black 3 series and is impressed by stacks of maintenance records.