LOL yeah, I tried to find a B5 in my budget, but they were all either a 1996 12v or they had a blown engine. I kind of wanted to try something different this time, so I didn't go for a '96; and I need a running car, so I didn't go for any of the ones with a blown motor. Would love to have been able to pick up a facelift 1.8Tqm I found with a blown motor and swapped a 4.2 into it... but I don't have the time.

I'm definitely not looking forward to driving this thing in heavy snow; it's got two brand new snow tires on the back, but snow tires are no substitute for quattro.

 

Two words:

RAMMING SPEED!!!

 

Looks like some aftermarket stereo wires running off the battery... does it have a system or something, or did somebody get lazy when disconnecting? Or am I mistaken entirely?

I always liked that body style... the M5 of that gen is sweeeet.

 

Yeah it's got an aftermarket stereo and the previous owner had installed a subwoofer. Good for me, because it only took about five minutes to hook mine up. I hate running cable. The head unit in the car is a Sony Xplod, I'll probably swap my Alpine deck in there some time this week.

The M5 must have some kind of magical fairy dust involved, because this car is anything but sporty. The shifter feels like an iron rod embedded in granite. I can't wait to get back into a B5.

Yeah, that's right. I've owned it for just over 48 hours and I already don't like it. From now on, every time I see the guy who wrecked my A4 I'm going to bitch, bitch, bitch about how much I hate this BMW and wish I still had my Audi. That son of a mother.

 

Sorry to hear that man. Are you now on the prowl for another B5 or just gonna deal with it?

 

Going to deal with it for now, it's not at all what I would call a bad car - just not my style. I'm probably just bitter because I'm still pissed about my A4 getting wrecked. Anyway, I think around about mid-late summer I should have enough cash saved up to put together a B5 4.2 swap

Then, I will be happy. Very happy indeed.

 

i drove my other friend's 02 525i and the rev was much quicker but i hated the slow pick up though. it also didn't corner like my stock A4 suspension would've. only thing i liked about his car was the BBS style wheels. i don't think i could ever buy an older NA BMW without doing at least SC lol.

http://iowacity.craigslist.org/cto/1536292466.html - it just needs suspension work. do it
http://omaha.craigslist.org/cto/1572251052.html - not a B5 but just do it.
http://omaha.craigslist.org/cto/1534681495.html - a possibility

 

have you completely flipped, mr flippant?

 

^^Interesting choice of words, considering what happened to my A4, Sweetee. :P

I'm getting more and more used to die fuenf as I drive it. For a minute there, I think the loss of my A4 was really eating at me. If I still had the A4, and the spare scratch to buy something extra, I probably would have picked this thing up as a project and loved it to death. Not having a car payment is definitely going to kick in as a major benefit here in a month or so...