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Woman Maths: BMW 7 Series (E38)

4 weeks ago

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Writer:

Helen Wakerley | Social media consultant

Date:

16 November 2024

Of all the cars I’ve owned and driven, the E38-generation BMW 7 Series was the most popular with people at petrol stations (to which visits were depressingly frequent). Hardly a journey went by without a thumbs up or a road wave. For those insufficiently sad to know all their E-numbers by heart, the E38 was the third-generation 7er, built between 1994 and 2001 and the last before the revolutionary iDrive operating system made its debut on its E65 successor.

The E38 is easy to love because it’s so handsome and excellent at what it is designed to do. I’ve lost count of the cars that I have owned and deeply regretted selling and my Oxford Green 728i Sport (shorty sporty) is right at the top of that list, just behind the Bornite Mercedes 190E I’m still trying to replace. When I had it and despite my weakness for old Mercedes, it was BMW keys I reached for on a daily basis: an i3 for travelling around London and the E38 for any journeys that exceeded the i3’s modest 130-mile range. Perfect.

One of the most memorable journeys was to the Monaco Grand Prix with a couple of fellow car photographers. Loads of equipment and four adults in a single car could have been a nightmare, yet the only issue we had was when someone spilt coffee on the Oyster leather, at the sight of which my other half came close to spontaneous combustion. What surprised me most was how much the Monegasques liked the car; even the normally stern gendarmes gave it a smile or two. (A note to anyone planning a trip to Monaco: always check the car parks. I once found a floor full of polished 1990s hot hatches, from a Renault 5 Turbo to a Peugeot 205 T16, the best selection I’ve seen then or since.)

Exactly where you want to be for a road trip to Monaco

The 728i was the least powerful engine variant but the one that made the most sense for our use of the car. The smooth straight-six could hit nearly 40mpg on long motorway journeys and felt more than powerful enough for autobahn storming. And I loved its M Parallel rims; when polished to a mirror finish they glittered and flashed in the sunshine. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: there wasn’t a better era for German wheel design than the end of the last century.

Two reasons inspired the purchase of the 728i, the first being Bond – you may recall the self-driving 750iL in Tomorrow Never Dies that ends up parked through the front window of an Avis shop. The second was simply how unbelievably cheap they are for what you get. Values go from £1000 for a project to (horrifyingly) $1.75m for the one currently on sale in Las Vegas in which Tupac Shakur was shot and fatally wounded.

Helen still regrets selling her Oxford Green 728i

With (some of) the Wakerley fleet

Looks aside, history is key and checking a few well-known issues will help you later. For example they are known to leak through rusty fuel tanks, and the V8s can suffer with VANOS issues. Rusty sills on facelift models might lurk behind the plastic covers, so check those before handing over your hard earned cash too.

Of the cars currently out there I liked the look of this purple six-cylinder example, up for £15,850, and this blue V12, which is a bit cheaper at £12,989.

Should you buy a BMW 7 Series you can expect three things to happen: first, your phone will fill up with pictures of it; second, your journeys will be calm and filled with goodwill from almost everyone; third, if you ever come to sell it, you are highly likely to regret doing so. I know I do.

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