Hello all, new to the forum, thought I'd say hello and naturally, not waste any time following the introduction.
I own an MG and found a Forum to be of incredible help in acquiring and maintaining it, so I thought it would do well to join a similar forum for an entirely dissimilar car.

I've found a 1985 535i (I think it's a European model...but I'm not sure what that entails) that I'm very interested in and am close to purchasing. Close as in - if it passes my rudimentary inspection, I'll purchase it. The few pictures there are seem very nice. The car looks great cosmetically with a tidy clean engine (sometime though, I prefer a nasty engine bay to a sparkling one as it often lends itself to something being hidden...) No matter. It just rolled over and is a few thousand over the 100K mark and the price looks about right. SO, with all that limited knowledge, what should I know?

I've always been a fan of old German cars. And while I'm sure there's some bitter rivalry between old Mercedes owners and diehard BMW owners, that's fine. I can understand that brotherly camaraderie/rivalry that comes with the territory. I'm partial to both to be honest. They're machines that look like if they're maintained properly will hardly ever die and deliver years of performance. That's really the draw to this car for me. I feel that it's just being broken in at it's 100K mile mark.

If anyone has any horror stories or success stories related to a car of this background, I'd love to hear it. As well as anything I should look for when I go and drive it. Things to feel for, things to look for. All is appreciated.

Hope y'all are having a great weekend.

Welcome, although this forum is named 5Series, it basically started out primarily focused on the E60 model. You might want to check out mye28.com which is dedicated to the E28. Their Fiver Fest is worth attending if it's being held near you.