1998 BMW 840Ci *Sold £10,250*

Description

• Thousands spent 
• Brakes renewed less than 1,000 miles ago 
• Brand new batteries 
• Very well maintained 
• Fantastic example 
• Brand new MOT 

The BMW E31 is the first generation of the BMW 8 Series. It is a grand tourer built by BMW from 1990 to 1999 as a 2-door coupé, powered by either a V8 or V12 engine. Whilst it did supplant the original E24 based 6 Series in 1990, it was not a direct successor, but a new model class with a substantially higher price and performance than the 6 Series. 

Development of the 8 Series began in July 1981, with the final design phase reaching completion in 1986. It debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) in early September 1989.  

Over 1.5 billion Deutsche Marks were spent on total development using CAD tools, still unusual at the time, to design the car’s all-new body. Combined with wind tunnel testing, the resulting car had a drag coefficient of Cd=0.29; a major improvement from the previous BMWs of the time. 

It was one of the first vehicles to be fitted with an electronic drive-by-wire throttle. The 8 Series was also one of BMW’s first cars, together with the Z1, to use a multi-link rear axle.  

This lovely BMW 840Ci comes to market from a small collection, unfortunately our vendor needs the space to accommodate his new project. Having owned it for seven years it has been looked after extremely well, we will explain more further in this article, but having already been treated to thousands of pounds worth of improvement and maintenance from its previous owner our vendor did the same. The history file is massive and includes scores of invoices going back years. 

It will also come with the owner’s manual, the service book, a brand spanking new MOT, the V5 in our vendors name, a full toolkit in the boot, and even the original sales brochure. All pointing to a car that has been very well looked after. 

As expected, cars in this GT category are almost always purchased and maintained with no expense spared; keep reading and you will find that this lovely example is no exception. 

Exterior 

There really are few things cooler than pop up headlamps on a car. Add to that the unpretentious but supremely elegant design and you will agree that the 8 series BMW is a joy to look at. Keeping the iconic shark nose front end yet modernised with the also iconic kidney grille, it deserves to have been at the pinnacle of BMWs line up for ten years. 

Walk around the car and you will see evidence that this car was designed to be the most aero dynamic GT on the market at the time. Firstly, the wedge shape was obviously designed to keep the 8 series planted at 150 mph; even the wipers were set under the bonnet to keep the co-efficiency below 0.30. It really is a car that was designed, and engineered while we’re at it, well before it’s time. We would also add that it has aged extremely slowly. 

Browse the image gallery and you will see this BMW 840Ci is presented extremely well. Our vendor was straight and open when stating it is not concours but is very nice. Start at the front and that beautiful front end is surprisingly nice, the only issue of note being a slight scuff on the offside front corner of the bumper.   

The bonnet was repainted a couple of years ago in time for a BMW car show, frustratingly two chips were picked up on the way home but generally the Estoril Blue paintwork is still in wonderful condition. Follow it around and you will find a very small area of surface rust to the offside rear quarter panel, at the bottom of the wheel arch. Other than that, a bit of close scrutiny will find some very minor marks here and there, but nothing to be concerned about. 

Testament to the quality of this car, the usual bubbling around the sunroof is absent and all the glass looks to be original and in fantastic shape with no scratches or signs of delaminating.  

The underneath is as expected, nice and solid with some very minimal surface rust as you would expect on a car of 25 plus years. 

The original and quite stunning, Throwing Star alloy wheels were diamond cut a few years ago but still present superbly. While we are at it, the tyres have generous amounts of tread as well. 

All in all, we have a very nice example of a BMW 840Ci indeed. 

Interior 

The interior layout of the original 8 Series is very driver centric, with a large instrument cluster and a ton of buttons and dials. As far as driver tech goes, BMW in this era was very much into one button, one function. There are several orange pixel screens that display how soon you need to take the 8 Series in for service and how many miles are on the odometer.  

The seats are still extremely comfortable and supportive, with loads of electric adjustments that all work; in fact, the seats were recoloured and softened so look just as good as they feel. The rear seats look even better. All the electrics work as well. 

The carpets have been protected with rubber mats so are in great condition. The door pads are typical BMW quality and look fantastic, the only gripe our vendor pointed out was that the usual affliction of a sticking sunroof is present; diagnosed as the inner sunroof section runners, our vendor has had a look into it and has been advised that it is the same part number as the 5 series so is readily available.   

The plethora of switches and buttons all work their relative ancillaries, bar the aforementioned sunroof, which really is a bonus as being the flagship BMW of this era there are a lot of things to go wrong. Not in this instance. 

Our vendor did say that there are a couple of pixels out on the digital computer, but it does not affect its use. 

Engine and Mechanicals 

As the 8 Series was launched in 1989, the world went into recession, and the idea of a big v12 GT quickly lost its appeal. Fortunately, BMW acted quickly, and the range was joined by a more frugal, 4.0 litre V8-powered 840Ci. This later V8 was developed further with a new 4.4 litre unit with the same 282bhp as its predecessor, but with more torque and better fuel economy.   

With the current news broadcasters sharing that more fuel price increases are on the horizon, we believe that the 4.4 litre V8 is now the best model to buy in this range. Add to that the amount of money lavished on this car (see the extensive list below) and we suspect you will not only save money on fuel but also on future maintenance costs. 

Our vendor has shared that during his ownership the car has benefitted from: 

• New BMW (Brembo) front calipers 
• New front Disks and pads 
• New BMW rear calipers 
• New Rear Disks and brakes 

Less than 1,000 miles ago a full service was carried that included: 

• Usual Oil, filter and air filter etc
• Differential seals replaced with new oil
• Both lower arms and drop links replaced 
• New radiator 
• New expansion tank 
• Upgraded aluminium coolant pipes, the common coolant pipe failure has been sorted
• New stainless-steel exhaust 
• New water pump 

All the above was carried out by M-tech, a BMW specialist, and as expected our vendor shared that the 840Ci runs extremely well and is confident enough to state that it drives perfectly. 

To add to all that our vendor has even replaced the two batteries that keep this flagship BMW’s electrics running perfectly. 

Our view  

If you have reached to this section of our article then you are probably already a fan of this flagship BMW, although designed in the eighties it still looks current and will demand attention every time you pull it out of your garage. A truly timeless design. 

With less than five thousand BMW 840Ci built, these are becoming harder to find, especially ones that are as nice as this inside and out. Factor in the copious amount of time and money keeping it in tip top condition and you have a car that will not only look and run sweet, but we also expect it won’t cost a lot to run it in the near future. 

And let’s not overlook the fact that prices of these are only going one way, a super appreciating classic car that can actually be used as a daily driver.