Want a mint condition 2013 with 11K miles on it? Mine is for sale. Stored winters. Black, cloth seats, no stripes, heated seats\Auto HVAC\Sirius pkg.. Love it, but I don't have room for it with an M235i on the way.

MSRP on these cars is a fantasy. You get $5K off by walking through the door. And don't forget, $4K of that price is the folding cloth roof. A comparable hardtop is little over $21K or so in the real world.

It is necessary for resale only if you enjoy a less than 50% return on your "investment". Buy a $150 TomTom if you need a GPS, or use your phone. Either is better than 95% of factory NAV systems for a tiny fraction of the cost.

Mercedes-Benz

You can't have a minivan that is great to drive? I fail to see why not. If Porsche can make the Porsche of SUVS, I don't see why BMW can't make the BMW of minivans. And I have news for you, not every BMW has been "The Ultimate Driving Machine". It's just a BS marketing slogan. My Mother's '83 528e with 120hp and 3spd…

Tavarish, take a bow for this one, your best article ever!

ROFL!

The problem is there is no transmission that fits the turbo motor AND has the right tailshaft arrangement for the torque tube drive for the wagon. The sedans could be had with 5spds, but not the wagons. The 2.2i has a completely different transmission bell housing than the turbo. I suppose in theory you could have…

The SW8 is not anything like as softly suspended as an early 5-seat wagon. Quite firm, and they corner very well for a big car. I much prefer the earlier seats though.

My understanding is that there is no manual that fits both the turbo motor and the wagon. I did have a super rare manual non-turbo '92 SW8, but the motors are completely different. Lovely car, wish I still had it.

None were sold in the US with a stick, all the turbo wagons, both gas and diesel, were automatique.

I spent the summer of '91 in Budapest, rode on those so many times! Are the Ikarus busses still chugging around, or have they scrapped those too?

The title is the least of the problems. My state doesn't even title anything older than 1995.

The very, very best ones with low mileage and documented history, or $150K restorations are worth $50-60K. Average ones are worth $20K. On a good day. This one is unlikely to ever be as good as average again.

Even doing 100% of the labor yourself (paint booth in the shed in the garden?), there is no way on God's Green Earth that car is getting back on the road in anything vaguely resembling presentable condition for less than $10K. None, zip, zilch, not-gonna-happen.

Not surprised at all it is much heavier. A six has a long steel crank, and a couple of long steel cams, the steel cylinder liners, and a rather large block and head. A V8 is much more compact.

That's even the case with my Triumph Spitfire. The transverse leaf spring is the upper suspension arm, the half shafts is the lower, then there is a dinky little radius arm to locate things fore-and-aft. Though they did it to be cheap, not to be light as it is all cast iron and steel.

Assuming that is a 960/S90, the inline 6 you took out was aluminum too. The only iron Volvo 6 was the B30 in the 164e. Even the V6 in the 260s and 760s was aluminum with wet liners.

And Maine, and Vermont. Probably New Hampshire too. Though in Maine at least that car would have long since failed safety inspection, so you don't actually see them THAT bad. No sharp edges, and no holes allowed.

What could you not figure out about it? Assume it is a "fly off" system. Push the button and pull, release button once tight to set, pull again to release? There's no ratchet. Very common on ye olde Englishe Crockes, though neither of mine have it.