If you could find one from an original owner with all service records then go for it. The e38 is a great car. If you need more info on what to watch for, try e38.org.

Good Luck.

I gotta disagree there. We've had 2 E38s, and although they were fantastic cars, both were quite maintenance-intensive. We drove both to 90K+ miles, and paid a lot in upkeep, not to mention the substantial depreciation. With that said, was it worth it? Yes. The E38 is an amazing car.

Nabee, I read your previous post. Was the $4-5K/year to upkeep one or both e38s? If it was for both then it doesnt sound so bad since the typical figure is around $1,500/year for one. Mine is not even close to the typical figure. Maybe I've been lucky so far.. knock on wood.... ;)

Hello, guy's!

I own two towing services and was tow operator for more than 10 years. We tow new Jaguars (made by FORD) all the time, we also tow beemers ones in the wile, but almost never MB. And just in case if anyone thinking about buying Ford- we tow those cars every day with same problems (year after year) and I'am 100% sure that ford knows about those problems, but they not doing anything to correct them. List of problems is endless.
In my opinion Benz iz by far better car.
Well, Lexus is good one too.
_________________________
1994 S420 (75,000 ml)
2003 BMW F650CS bike (1000 ml)
2004 KIA Optima (22,000 ml)
1986 VOLVO 760GLE (85,000 ml) big headake
2003 Toyo Siena ( 29,000)
2001 Chevy Silverado 2500HD (44,000 ml)
1973 Buick Riviera (199,000 ml) Project

why no A8?

Dealers are scarce where I live. Their techs are always scrathing their heads with problems they're unable to resolve, at least that's what I witnessed on numerous occasions, parts are very expensive, insurance is expensive, etc. Not on the top of my list unfortunately.

On the other hand, I love the look of the car, the interior fit and finish is superb, lots of power and luxury and the beauty of all wheel drive. It definitely offers a great package and pricing is very cheap on the used car market compared to any thing else in the same category.

For anyone else who may be interested in one of these cars, here is a site that has some very helpful information for the used car buyer:

http://www.audipages.com/usedA8/usedA8items.html

i love the A8, i have an A6 but would have loved the 8, i havent had the poor dealer experience so maybe one day i'll trade my old boxter in and get one. on the other hand the cls600 is right up, there i love the look of it and the size is close to the audi, at the local dealer in tampa they m/b is close to 10 grand less!!! they have the cls at 68k, and the A8 at around 78!!

E38 all the way if you like to drive. If you like to be be driven, W140. In the long run, bmw maintenance will be cheaper and more predictable. MB is like driving a ticking time bomb. Im sure you are already aware of 140 horror stories. E38 radiator and cats tend to go out at around 70-80k, but MB has the same problems AND more. W140s gadgets are bound to go bad sooner or later and MB parts cost a fortune. If youre a hands on kinda guy, maintenance wont be too expensive. I drive a 530, but the lux factor doesnt measure up to its bigger brother. 7 cabin space makes 5 feel like an econobox. I love the rear leg room. I dont know how BMW could have gone from that classic design to current e65. :pukeface:

I actually like the BMW E65/E66 design. I think it was too advanced for its release date and it will take a little longer before it's accepted. There comes a time when a person must let go of the old classics and move into the new generation. You'll find that a lot of cars are following these designs now.

Do you really find this car ugly?

http://www.anything-auto.net/CARS/AC.../02acs7_02.jpg

Err.. Nothing about that design exudes class.And I'm fairly young too. The schnitzer kit makes it worse imo. I like bmw's new designs on certain models, just not on a big cruiser like that.

The AC Schnitzer version doesn't look too bad.
An improvement over the OEM look for sure.