Last chance to buy a bargain BMW E34 5 Series

I keep looking at the prices of cherished, low-mileage BMW E34s and reckon they’re undervalued. We know that BMWs of this era have a strong following, particularly the 3 Series E30s, and I think the same will happen to the E34. In December, Classic Car Auctions dispatched a lovely Glacier Blue ’1991 525i SE Auto with 48,000 miles, three owners and plenty of stamps in the original service book for just £4275, while in July, the WB & Sons auction shifted an ’1988 Glacier White 525i SE manual with two owners, 73,000 warranted miles with a complete run of old MoTs and big history folder for £4200. In August 2021, H&H sold a ’1994 525i SE in black with black leather, manual ’box and air con with just one owner from new, 80k miles and a long history for just £3375.

Look online and you’ll still find cosseted examples. Lucas Sports Cars in Essex has a lovely ’1990 525i auto in Calypso Red with 66k, a ‘comprehensive’ service history and factory BBS cross spoke alloys for £5995 while a private seller in Hampshire has a ’1996 518i in Kashmir Metallic with 84k, good history and five grand of recent bills for £4999. These prices feel like bargain money for a plush, smooth-riding, and quick BM that can still turn heads. There’s a mountain of used parts online and the M50 24v engine is as tough as titanium. Go for low-mileage, bigspec cars with warranted miles and documented histories and you’ll be buying while E34s are still relatively under the radar. Estate-version Tourings are becoming rare and coveted and the bigger engine variants have an M5 kudos. For such cool and separate wheels, I reckon the E34 looks spectacular value.

• VALUE 2020£4000
• VALUE NOW £5000