BMW 535is or Mercedes 190E 2.3 16V Your Thoughts (SAC)

[aparatii at xprt.net]

> ps:  I'd never buy a bimmer with more than 90k on the clock unless the
> motor had been rebuilt.

Wow, thats an interesting opinon.  I don't have any technical 
DETAILS, but I can share with you my only experience with BMW 
which is as follows:  
(i'll try to fit some Audi content in here somewhere)

I knew a 17 yr old girl who got an 88 535i with 130k on it, in good 
shape.  (at first I didnt like it, but it was black on black, so it looks 
pretty badass) She's treated that car like crap for almost 4 years... 
oil changes about every 8000 miles or so, (one time it was 
approaching 10,000 so I chewed her out and changed it for her)... 
Letting the boyfriends "go driving" (which usually resulted in the car 
being covered in mud and "alien crop circles" appearing in the 
neighboring fields) etc...

I sometimes wondered if she realized the hood "opens", and often 
wondered if I would see the car again before it's lifespan gave way 
to abuse.  She occasionally came to me with minor problems, (like 
hooking up the new CD player) and now my respect for that car is 
immense.

I assisted her by replacing a brake bomb that was failing once, and 
told her she had to have her control arms replaced soon.  (which 
she did about 25k later, all the shaking from that and the warped 
rotors she also replaced must have been great for the rest of the 
car teehee)...  A few months ago I demanded she take it in for a 
transmission fluid change and while it was in, the fan clutch was 
replaced at Kuni BMW because they said there was a recall on it 
or something. (thats what she said anyway)

But with the exception of these minor replacements that were long 
overdue, (she has not even had any engine work done with the 
exception of a Firestone "tune-up" two years ago, and an o2 
sensor when it failed emissions last summer) the car now has over 
250k on it and is still running strong (she drove it from Portland to 
Vancouver BC last weekend -- she's 20 now and likes to go drinkin) 
The car boasts almost all the same equipment that was on it 
nearly 130k ago when she bought it, and keep in mind she got it 
with 130k already on the clock... I saw her recently and took it for a 
spin, and BTW it's still got a ton of pep and driving it is a dream..   
It's not even leaking oil!!! (though the suspension does seem a little 
loose again)..   Truly an amazing automobile, and based on her 
experience, I have recently considered finding an e28 myself.

I've been feeling the urge to use parentheses a lot (over the past 
couple of weeks) (for some reason)

-Carl (from one to another)

PS Audis are so cool!