[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by Schmitz

I don't think so. My e90 has folding seats and they don't make a peep.

#4, not #2...

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

There are only 4 things that I can complain about my car that wouldn't also impact the regular sedan (not sure about the last one, might still impact sedans):

1. a little extra wind noise from the combo of the MASSIVE sunroof and roof rails (but the trade off is I have a MASSIVE sunroof and roof rails
2. Extra rattles from the rear seat assembly since it doesn't have a bulkhead to support it.
3. Hearing stuff in the trunk. Since there isn't anything blocking you from the trunk anything rattling/squeaking/crinkling in the trunk will sound the same as if it was in the back seat
4. the rear seat-belt receiver dents the seat when you fold it down. I fold a towel and put it over in the hopes its less likely to damage the seat

Any other little complaints are still going to stand for any E9# car.

On another note, they are a bit pricey but I cannot recommend this rack system enough:
http://www.whispbar.com/

Its yakima and the line is discontinued for some reason (probably was too expensive) but its the easiest on/off bike rack Ive ever seen. Its literally 30 seconds to lock in or remove a bike rack, and its all a single-key system. If you find one discounted or used snatch it up.

I have the whispbars as well and they are very nice.

I wish that I did not have the sunroof, and one day I'm gonna delete it.

if I could get rid of the sunroof that puts it back at nearly sedan weight.

[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by nsjames

I wish that I did not have the sunroof, and one day I'm gonna delete it.

Pics when you do it, please! I don't have that problem, but it'll be a massive job to basically replace the entire roof!

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Pics when you do it, please! I don't have that problem, but it'll be a massive job to basically replace the entire roof!

well you'd have to keep the frame part, as it's structural.
but you could gut all the motors and glass out of it, and that's probably 250 lbs worth of crap in the roof.

Use the glass to make some carbon fiber replacement panels and then just secure them right into the cassette with new gaskets.

[Tambohamilton]

Ah right, I thought you were planning on somehow welding in a whole new roof panel! Sounds like an interesting project still - good luck!

</off topic>

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Ah right, I thought you were planning on somehow welding in a whole new roof panel! Sounds like an interesting project still - good luck!

</off topic>

could be done I suppose, but simply making glass replacement panels out of carbon and ripping out all the electrics accomplishes 95% of the weight deletion without mucking about with any of that.

even if one was determined to properly delete the entire thing it would still be easier to make a composite panel and then bond that to the roof.

half the car is glued together anyway.

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by T-Dubbs

its tough to find a nice e91
i got lucky with mine.
be patient...

It wasn't tough at all for me. I ordered my '11 new and did Euro Delivery. After looking for the right 5spd e39 wagon for YEARS with no luck. Signing on the dotted line for that much money made my tummy do flip-flops though. It was almost double what my previous most expensive car cost.

FWIW, at 46K miles, my agreed value insurance values it at $22K currently, just got the renewal. RWD, 6spd, of course. I am NOT selling.

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Totally confused as to why people who have never owned an e91 are chiming in here...it's just not constructive.

All I can see is e91 owners saying how happy they are with their cars (way more space in the back than a sedan, but all of the other good points of the e90 at the same time). It's just a practical car that's really nice to drive. It's not a supercar, or a race car. But if you need a small(ish) car that's nice to drive and still fit a good amount of people and/or stuff in the back, the e91 is hard to beat. Yes, that's a niche, but it's exactly what I needed. Some people would (and do!) pay good $ for a car that exactly meets their needs, and end up with no regrets!

So, for the benefit of constructive discussion, what do the current (or past) e91 owners most dislike about their cars? For me right now, it's the wiring at the tailgate hinge, and a few annoying trim squeaks that I need to spend a little time silencing.

Perfectly said. I have no need for a racecar. I also had an M235i and got rid of it after two years - boring and impractical. You can't use that level of performance in the US. With a stick the e91 is quick enough to be entertaining - it's faster than my '17 GTI. Just a lovely all-around car. Goes around a racetrack well, goes out to dinner well, hauls an assembled gas grill home from Lowe's just as well.

As for dislikes - all the inevitable dumb BMW tricks that will happen over time. The expensive water pump failing. The leaking gaskets. The spendy battery ordeal. Etc. Otherwise, mine is perfect and I plan to be buried in it.

Who let the children in here anyway? : Of course at 18, I thought I knew it all too. Boy, was I wrong. At 51, I am now pretty sure I don't know sh!t.

[Serf27]

I have both.
The e91 is a mini SUV. You are not going to get full SUV capabilities with it.
I drove my dads 2018 Rogue, a standard suv to pick up some e90 doors and they fit in there with no issues. That wouldn’t happen in the e91.

Yes the trunk is bigger than the sedan. What is helping the e91 is that the tailgate opens and closes at the top of the rear bumper so you can slide stuff right in, unlike the e90.

The e90 also has a decent sized trunk but not as tall.

Only 2 downsides for me,
It requires an n54 swap to give it some life. The n52 is ok.
The sunroof visor open with sunroof closed let’s wind noise in, but that can be fixed with a thicker window seal.

The positives for me.
Easy to load stuff into the trunk.
Looks good and you don’t see very many.

If you like the wagon look and want some more speed, get an e61 535. It is bigger and has more features.
Or just get an e91 for the added height in the rear, but don’t expect to haul around things as you would in a full size suv.

With that being said, the e91 is very handy to carry stuff around and I like using it. If I need to move or pick up something big, I’ll take a bigger car.

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by nsjames

well you'd have to keep the frame part, as it's structural.
but you could gut all the motors and glass out of it, and that's probably 250 lbs worth of crap in the roof.

Use the glass to make some carbon fiber replacement panels and then just secure them right into the cassette with new gaskets.

An e91 is only about 100lbs heavier than a comparably equipped e90. If the sunroof weighs much more than half of that I would be shocked. For reference, I shipped the entire glass sunroof assembly from a Saab 9000 to a fellow e28 owner back in the day (direct swap for the metal one in that car) and it was less than 30lbs for the entire thing with the motor, rails, and everything. The e91 roof is not twice as big as that.

I would have preferred no sunroof for headroom reasons, but if you can tell the difference in that little bit of weight, your butt dyno is more finely calibrated than mine. I can barely tell the difference in handling with a fully loaded Thule ski box on the roof - and that actually might be a couple hundred pounds up even higher. And I am an "enthusiastic" driver.

Of course, if you want to do it just for cool points, more power to ya.

[ryan stewart]

Man, I kill my sunroof in Atlanta. Probably at least 90 days I'm opening it at some point. I've taken the girlfriend up to the mountains, folded down the rear seats, put in a camp matress and opened the roof to watch the meteor shower (as a dude you're rocking a bit of a fetal position but still sleepable).

I keep meaning to sew in some magnets to bug netting for car camping. I think that awning would be a game changer

[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

At 51, I am now pretty sure I don't know sh!t.

I'm not there yet, but I can clearly see the trajectory. You don't know what you don't know, when you're a nipper!

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

I've taken the girlfriend up to the mountains, folded down the rear seats, put in a camp matress and opened the roof to watch the meteor shower.

Boom. Serious romance!

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

An e91 is only about 100lbs heavier than a comparably equipped e90. If the sunroof weighs much more than half of that I would be shocked. For reference, I shipped the entire glass sunroof assembly from a Saab 9000 to a fellow e28 owner back in the day (direct swap for the metal one in that car) and it was less than 30lbs for the entire thing with the motor, rails, and everything. The e91 roof is not twice as big as that.

I would have preferred no sunroof for headroom reasons, but if you can tell the difference in that little bit of weight, your butt dyno is more finely calibrated than mine. I can barely tell the difference in handling with a fully loaded Thule ski box on the roof - and that actually might be a couple hundred pounds up even higher. And I am an "enthusiastic" driver.

Of course, if you want to do it just for cool points, more power to ya.

just the frame is 48KG

Frame panoramic roof
From:09/01/2005To:-Weight:47.500 kgPrice:$1825.69
Part 54137176313 was found on the following vehicles:

the glass is another 20.
plus all the motors
so yeah, you rapidly approach 100KG.
perhaps 250lbs is an overestimate, but it's not 30lbs.

[gIzzE]

This thread is hilarious.

The problem you have in the States is wagons were for soccer moms.

If you wanted to carry around your mountain bikes, snowboards, kayaks, etc. etc. you bought an SUV.

In Europe it is very different, we got all the cars available in wagon form, therefore there were cool wagons for the younger crowd who wanted to carry their bike, boards etc.

Merc C32 wagon, C55, E55, E63, E43, E53, C43, E63s, Audi RS2, RS4, RS6, RS3, Alpina B3, Alpina B10, Alpina B5, E30 325i, E36 328i, E46 330i, E39 540i, E61 535d, 550i, F11 550i, Alpina D5, B5, G31 B5, 550d, 540i, B5s, D5s blah, blah blah.


Perception depends on where you are.
For me I see car shapes like this....

When you are 17 you get your first car, a hatchback, 100hp but you love it.
21 you buy a nice hatch, maybe 180hp, but BMW, Audi or Merc.
25 you get a hot hatch, the A45, M140i, RS3.
29 you get a coupe or maybe even an S5 or 440i, or an M4 or RS5.
32 you have kids and need more space. You can get the SUV but many here get an estate, sorry, wagon.
Then you get to 40 and obviously you buy the 911 and a basic 3 series for the commute.
Then by 42 you realise you don't use the 911 at all so go back and buy a 540i or RS6 wagon again.

Then when you are too old to have bikes and boards and the kids have left home you step back and look at your life and realise it is almost over, life is boring, so what do you buy? You buy a sedan.


A sedan is for the sales rep, company car.
"Boss can I have a coupe?"
"wrong image"
"Can I have the wagon?"
"Does it cost more?"
"Only a little."
"No. You can have the sedan. You can get your photocopiers in the back that is all that matters."
"Gee, thanks."


I am saying this with tongue firmly in cheek of course. But some of the posts on here are hilarious.,
I reckon most are coming from kids whose mom was taking them to soccer practise in her family wagon only last year.

[gIzzE]

Oh, and the E91 has less understeer than the E90, I have owned both and that was the first thing that I noticed when I got the E90, the E91 is better balanced.

Some of my wagons...











I reckon I have had 25 different wagons over the years. Love 'em.

I have an F11 at the moment and an E91 330i that I just picked up again.
Prefer the 330i to the 335i, 335i is all a bit too effortless.

Like my SUVs as well, but prefer a Range Rover, I would always go for a fast wagon over an SUV that tries to be sporty.

But we are all different, that's a good thing.

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Oh, and the E91 has less understeer than the E90, I have owned both and that was the first thing that I noticed when I got the E90, the E91 is better balanced.

Some of my wagons...

I reckon I have had 25 different wagons over the years. Love 'em.

I have an F11 at the moment and an E91 330i that I just picked up again.
Prefer the 330i to the 335i, 335i is all a bit too effortless.

Like my SUVs as well, but prefer a Range Rover, I would always go for a fast wagon over an SUV that tries to be sporty.

But we are all different, that's a good thing.

a man of fine tastes I see.

[ryan stewart]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

This thread is hilarious.

The problem you have in the States is wagons were for soccer moms.

I reckon most are coming from kids whose mom was taking them to soccer practise in her family wagon only last year.

The funny thing is that hasnt been the truth for a looonng time. SUVs became soccer mom vehicles in the late 90s when minivans fell out of favor. Wagons were basically dead before then.

The stigma is still left over from the late 80s (maybe early 90s if youre generous). Cant blame them though, then Americans think wagon they are thinking of the horrid ones that they had to choose from before the foreign invasion.



The problem is that there are so few now that those of us who hate SUVs are stuck fighting over the good ones. But it can make for a funny. A lawyer friend had an E AMG wagon that he dropped some coin making EVEN faster (but looked bone stock). He loved to screw with the american muscle crowd.

[DgjoX6M2016]

Originally Posted by tlow98

Prices are all over the place on E91s.

This one looks like a good deal...
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto...051115016.html

Out 09 is a beast. 145k miles. Runs like a top. Buzzes to 7k WOT super smooth. Love our 'silver bullet'.

[K9Leader]

Love driving my E91! It is an x-drive and an AT but it makes a great daily driver (I have a '99 Corvette for weekend fun). A wagon (okay, Touring or Estate) is great for hauling my dogs and . . . all the other stuff of modern suburban life. I'm also at the point in the life of my knees that going 3-pedals is no longer enticing.

I've always liked the idea of a hot-rod station wagon. I did the 3-stage intake manifold upgrade and really appreciate the greater low end umph. Just put new (refinished/refurbished) Style 66s on it. You can see the old wheels/tires in the bed of my little Baja ute in the background.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by K9Leader

Love driving my E91! It is an x-drive and an AT but it makes a great daily driver (I have a '99 Corvette for weekend fun). A wagon (okay, Touring or Estate) is great for hauling my dogs and . . . all the other stuff of modern suburban life. I'm also at the point in the life of my knees that going 3-pedals is no longer enticing.

I've always liked the idea of a hot-rod station wagon. I did the 3-stage intake manifold upgrade and really appreciate the greater low end umph. Just put new (refinished/refurbished) Style 66s on it. You can see the old wheels/tires in the bed of my little Baja ute in the background.

Those style 66s are growing on me!

[flgfish]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

This thread is hilarious.

Then you get to 40 and obviously you buy the 911 and a basic 3 series for the commute.

Hey, you're way off. I was 42 when I bought my 911 and my e91! LOL

[gIzzE]

Originally Posted by flgfish

Hey, you're way off. I was 42 when I bought my 911 and my e91! LOL