I was a college freshman with my 1973 VW Beetle in 1988 when this V12 came out. I now drive a V12 6.0 liter Maybach. Still my VW will always hold a special place in my heart 🎉.
I was only 6 in '88. But i remember when my Grandparents was looking at Cadillac's they went to this large Luxury Dealership's that sold Domestic & Foreign Vehicles. And the BMW and Jags I saw had Circle Headlights. As a kid i thought was strange when other Cars had Square ones...lol
That was the advantage Mercedes had. Especially with their diesels. They were almost entirely analogue. Hence, why you don’t see any of those old BMW’s driving around as anyone’s daily drivers these days. Ultimately, time is the best judge of what’s the best, engineering-wise.
@@stoneylonesome4062 That is a very debatable point. I would disagree with your comment on Mercedes being the better car. BMW did engineer these exceptionally well and so were built to last. To be honest, I have not seen a Mercedes W126 in years! Besides some of these cars are still around.
@@caseinnitratjr6861 …that’s not the point. The inflation-adjusted comparison is to establish the relative value of their top-level executive sedan at that time in today’s dollars. Secondarily, I highlighted their current top offering in that class, which even fully loaded is barely at $150k. Manufacturing efficiency is partly to credit for the overall price of German cars to have fallen in relative terms, but there are other macroeconomic factors as well. Bottom line: these were very expensive cars in the 80s.
@@houseofno no it's not. it is an D-Netz cellphone. i have an e34 with the same phone and it works with every regular D-Netz sim card. At least in Germany.
@@Andreas1986xyz Germany has completely different laws from USA. What works in Germany is not typically applicable to USA. You have TUV inspections. We do not. You have an autobahn. We do not. I could go on and on with examples but hopefully you get the idea already.
@@houseofno yeah, but the car is an e32 and the e32 was never equipped with an analogue cell phone:) it was, as i said, an digital one, which in principle can be used today.
This car made me a believer in BMW. At my college age, this car would be halfway smoothly through the next block while my Corolla made only it to the facing crosswalk.
I had 3x e32s, I actually liked the 735i 6 cyl the best, the v12 was a bit lazy and extremely complicated and the V8 blew it's 'modern' 5 speed automatic
@@RayNLA Nah- forty five cents a minute daytime, less after nine PM and weekends. I had a Mitsubishi 6000 phone starting in '89 and my bill (company paid) was usually around three hundred dollars a month. Which is roughly six times what I pay now.
No idea why someone would steal a forty pound base unit and a similarly brick sized handset, especially today. The last analog celltower was decommissioned by AT&T sometime in February 2002.
The balance between most affordable and easiest to work on in my opinion is the e39 525i. You can get one for less than 4 grand in good shape, and they are much more reliable than any of the v8 BMWs.
I had a few BMWs before and I decided to buy a 1988 750iL and it was crap. Name a part and it broke. Engine was ok but the bells and whistles never worked right. It finally got bought it back under the lemon law. Then I became a Mercedes Benz owner and never looked back
300 hp from a V12? The Motor in my 1995 SL500 the M119 5.0 V8 makes 322hp. And the Mercedes M120 V12 that came out a couple of years later makes 389hp from 6.0. This isn’t much from a 12 cylinder
This style of engine at the time was focused on effortless driving comfort and not performance. Low revs, less engine strain, and smooth acceleration and cruising.
Besides that it was (in Europe at least) the beginning of unleaded fuel : octane level was not everywhere as it should). For this reason, the engineers designed the engine with a rather low compression level. The consequence was that the power it delivered was not sky high for a 5L engine.
The V12 block is NOT made of aluminum, but a nickel-silicon alloy. BMW needed something with increased strength and less weight than aluminum. The downside here is that the bores cannot be honed or machined. If the liners get scored, the entire block must be scrapped.
You're even stupider here than you are about cell phones. The blocks were made of an ALUMINUM nickel silicon alloy, usually called Nickasil, Which consists of more than ninety percent ALUMINUM to which a small (tiny) amount of other metals were alloyed. An alloy of just nickel and silicon would be ridiculously heavy and bank-breakingly expensive. Is there anything else you know absolutely nothing about?
You don't need a $40k+ truck to out accelerate this car. A Corolla could do it for half the price. Let's keep it a fair competition. In 1988, the highest powered F150 you could buy was a 460 (7.5L V8) putting out around 230 hp but over 400 pounds of torque. Even so, the 750iL would both out accelerate the truck and dust it past 120 mph once the truck ran out of breath. The 750iL would continue to accelerate until it reached its 155 mile an hour electronically limited top speed. On the other hand, the 750iL isn't designed for heavy duty towing. Towing is essentially what your truck was built for, then as well as now.
@houseofno I was talking about my 2015 F-150 with a Turbo V6 that can accelerate faster than that V12 car. I never said they were the same or designed to do the same.
@@nathanhardin8530 I'm in the unique position of being a former F150(2018 STX) owner and a former 750iL (1989) owner. Yes, the Ford is objectively quicker in a straight line but the BMW felt faster and far more composed in curves and bends. And when you consider how much older the BMW is it still felt impressively solid and the tech is still useful. The car was starting to need some really expensive upkeep which is why I sold it: I leased the F150 so it was brand new and the only maintenance it needed for the three years I had it were oil changes and rear brake pads.
Nor did BMW at the time, frankly. They were truly drivers' cars. Nothing the Americans or Japanese made even came close, and as you say, Mercedes was in its own league for refinement and luxury.
That is why they then had to delay the launch of the new s-class (w140) reengineering it to fit a 12 cylinders engine as well...😅😅 Finally in 1991 they were ready !
@@jean-jacquesdelacroix2112 that was from doug muro right? you compare the two cars but in reality they're totally different cars last time i checked the dictators were ordering mercedes not BMWs lol
@@christophercolumbus8944 That's not from Doug Demuro. He didn't even get the info right anyway. A high performance braking system and 12 cylinder engine added 18 months to the program. Originally was supposed to be December 1989 introduction. BMW also delayed E32 from 1985 launch, to accommodate similar changes and widen the car.
@@nwezetx1 BMW had 12 cylinder engines in 1986 what's your point? when did mercedes start making 12 cylinder engines ? and how is that relevant BMW still sucks worst engines ever lol you would have to CONSTANTLY maintain them you would have to be a mechanic to be able to keep up with up with the problems.
