BMW Reviews

This book contains a plentitude of information about the 3 series from the "02" series to the second generation, including a generous M3 section. The only downside was the lack of differentiation between British and American models, which could be frustrating to some.

This is a very well-written book. It covers history of BMWs before and during the 5-Series. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Bimmers.

I just bought a used copy through Amazon and it's certainly worth the price. So far, the only drawbacks I've noticed include (1) British terms for everything (though there is an English-to-American "conversion" chart), and (2) annoyingly, the electrical schematics are color coded with indecipherable abbreviations (what color would you imagine WS stands for -- or, GE, SW, RT?). I finally figured out that the publisher inexplicably neglected to translate the codes from GERMAN! Hence, if you decide to buy this book, which I recommend, here's the cracked code:
BL = Blau = Blue
BR = Braun = Brown
GE = Gelb = Yellow
GN = Gruen = Green
GR = Grau = Gray
RT = Rot = Red
SW = Schwarz = Black
VI = Violett = Violet
WS = Weiss = White
For 2-tone wires, the code lists the primary color first, and the stripe color second; thus a wire coded SW-WS stands for a black wire with a white stripe.

This is an excellent repair manual with good info and pictures. I've used it on my 320i since 1978 when I bought it new and it has never been in one of those rip-off repair shops in 22 years. I've worked on every part of this car with the help of this book. Lots of good info and practical advice.

india does not figure in your list of countries how do you expect me to order

This isn't a how-to manual because it doesn't go into repair and restoration enough to get your hands greasy. What this book IS, is a wonderful guide of what accessory/part is appropriate for each year BMW motorcycle. The photos are extensive and very educational in leading you to a complete vintage BMW with accessories appropriate for the year of your bike. The author, Roland Slabon, is president of the Vintage BMW Owners, Ltd club world-wide and editor of the club newsletter.

I was disappointed in this book from the start. It is clear to me that the author new alot about 02 cars and their restoration but i think the book was a poor effort. First off, there are not very many pictures and the ones they have look like a small child took them. There are more than a couple half page pictures that are completely out of focus and show the lack of care taken in assembling this book. Furthermore, he spends no time on any one subject. For instance, he wrote a paragraph on headliners, not going in to any detail on how to install them. So if you are looking for a book that covers how to install headliners, seat covers, carpets, wiring, convertable tops, door seals, etc, this is a poor book for you in my opinion. But if you want a book with a few handy specifications, a couple of tips , and a hand full of useless snapshots that must have been taken by a toddler, i would say this is an excellent book for you. If i could go back in time i certainly would find a better way to spend 30 bucks. I think that, keeping in mind that there are some usefull facts and specifications in the text, this book is worth about 10 to 15 bucks.

Whether or not you are reading this book for fun or for the mechanical advice the book is great. Everything you need to know to restore any year/model 2002. This ones a real winner with all the good pictures and descriptions.

I purchased a 1975 2002 and had it hauled into my foreign car auto shop. I also had purchased this book and gave the book to the mechanic to use, if need be. Two months later, when I got the car and the book back, the owner of the shop said that they had referred to the book and it was a most valuable source for restoring the BMW 2002.

It's a great book but be warned. When I baught it I thought it was a book ABOUT those models. What it is is a typical Clymer Service, Repair, and Maintenance book. This was not clear to me since they didn't include the sub-title.

A very informative workshop manual. A must if you are doing your own work. It's well illustrated and easily understood. The only improvement it needs is a better index. The index it has now is not comprehensive and ,therefore hard to find specific listings without actually having to go through the chapters themselves. It would be a 5 star with a separate index for each chapter.

This book is fantastic even if you are inexperienced, plenty of pictures, diagrams and technical schemes, I recommend this book for all real Old BMW motorcycles lovers. BUY IT NOW... See you on the road, Chris the big black guy from France...

This is an excellent book for the BMW motorcycle enthusiast. It tells the whole story since the beginning until around 1994. It presents it chronologically as technical achivements so one can see how one model was improved upon to become the next. And it has a lot of excellent photos. There are a few gaps (like, what made the R60/6 to become the R60/7) but I guess that that is unavoidable. The authors are very knowledgeable but left out a lot of interesting information BY DESIGN. They don't give us their opinion about what is right or wrong with each machine, and I would like to know the opinion of experts! For example, I have learned somewhere else that the old R60 models from the 1970s are forgiving for not-too-expert riders, a bit involved in maintenance (like adjusting valves every month), but easy and cheap to repair whereas de K models are more difficult to ride, very easy to maintain, but difficult and expensive to repair. This is the kind of information I would have expected in this book. I would also like to see more technical specifications. I still think that this is a great book but I pray the authors: expand the book in its next edition and make it the dream of every BMW motorcycle enthusiast.

The book detailed the models, chronologically, showing how one cycle evolved into the the next model. It would detail the new models improvements. Numerous photo also aided in the descriptions of the improvements made year to year, model to model. Easy reading and a MUST read for all you BMW lovers.

This is a very complete and detailed book. I think that the authors give us a very good review of the BMW bikes. They write not only about technical specification, but history as well. They have good pictures, photos and technical data. What I miss is that they forgot to write about some types ( R-3, R-61 ) and they do not give the technical data of all types of BMW bikes. The advantage of this book - can be read as an interesting story - is also the disadvantage of it. What I would try, if I were the author, is that show the types one by one, not forgetting the stories, but more sistematically show us the BMW bikes, one or two page for each, including photos, pictures, data. Otherwise the best book I know about BMW bikes.

Be wary of these reviews, as not all of them are about thisbook. Amazon have made a mistake and the reviews shown here have beencombined with the ones for the book 'BMW 5 Series: Service Manual,1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988: 528e, 533i, 535i, 535is'. In the review from Canada, dated Oct 27 1998, Amazon state that it is from the 'Paperback edition'. In fact the book on the 1982-1988 cars concerns the E28 model 5 Series whereas the book on the 1989-1995 cars is about the E34 model 5 Series. They are completely separate books, not just different editions of the same book. END tr[17~

Compared to the Haynes, this book gives excellent photographs, warnings on appropriate procedures, tool and chemicals to make the job easier and a section on easy to build test equipment to help in diagnostics.

Coupled with BMW's Mobile Tradition CDROM covering illustrations and part numbers, this book will save the owner significant repair costs over a BMW dealership service department or after-market repair facility.

This is a MUST OWN for anyone interested in becoming involved in simple maintenance or more complex tasks to reduce the cost of owning a great performing German automobile. Bentley Publishers excels over other reference print materials.

This book does not baby feed you BUT IF YOU USE IT AND FIX COMPONENTS IN YOUR CAR BY YOURSELF YOU WILL SAVE A BUNDLE!!
To make a long story short, I had 4 problems with my car, wouldn't start half the time, heater would only do maximum air push or nothing (no 1,2, or 3), back window got stuck half way, belt buckle cracked.
A supposed import specialist charged $68 just to tell me that the battery needs to be changed, and the heater's blower resistor had to be replaced. Oh and that it would cost $240 for the battery (part $100, labor $140!), resistor $370 (part $280, labor $90), belt $180 ($100 part, $80 labor).

Basically they were going to take me for a ride for a bill over $800!!! I finally set THAT IS IT! I stomached the $55 bill for a used copy of this book. AND after working on the car for a few hours a day for 3 days I REPAIRED EVERYTHING ALL BY MYSELF!

The parts purchased on my own (battery $105, resistor $22 from BMW itself (NOT $280 by a long shot!), and belt used for $60) came to only $180! I saved over $500 BUCKS in BS labor charges!!
This book paid for itself 10 fold within days of getting it! I better diagnosed my car with this book than that rip off import service station did with my $68!

The book does not really baby you, so you have to read it carefully and get a feel for your car yourself. But I tell you once you start fixing all these problems which are exaggerated by the standard con - mechanic for 1/4 the cost adn putting in the parts yourself, you can really get impowered.

I can tell you one thing I dont think I will ever use a mechanic again. Although I might call one after doing my next fix it job to see what a rip off they really are! HAHA

All I can say is get the book. If you want the repair done right you have to do it yourself. Ultimately it is cheaper, faster and easier. ( no BS waits for your car to come back, with a BS phone call stating the seriousness of the supposed malady! Your car still waiting in their shop with them hoping you can be suckered into fixing your car under their rip off conditions!)

I highly recommend the book. If you work through it and use it as you are fixing your car, you are definitely going to save big money!

The book is expensive BUT IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY TOO!

This book does not contain proper electrical wiring schematics like other automotive repair manuals do. I have found more useful diagrams posted by kind people on the Web. This book is too pricey to have such a deficiency. Does have other useful information (which should go without saying) however, such as on the fuel delivery system.

For the most part this was a good manual for the 325i, but there was a shortcoming that I had due to it missing information on 325iX driveline components. I thought it would have covered this info as there are quite a few 325iX cars around and many of the owners do their own work. The rest of the book was complete and close to what is printed in factory manuals.

i was a bit worried when i purchased this book, i thought i would pay all this money and regret it. now that i have the book and have been able to spend time with it i can honestly say this book has saved me a lot more money then i ever expected to save. its great, i can do soo much more now with my 330ci.. its just great.

This is typical of a Chiltons. Very long on warnings concerning handling antifreeze and motor oils, then falls flat on it's face in the index department. I have not yet figured how to find anything in the index. And the comments driving you to seek help from a dealer are not what I bought the book for. I KNOW how to change oil and plugs, what I needed was help in troubleshooting a transmission problem. And there was no help there. To me, not worth the 17 bucks

Some of the other reviewers seem a tad cornfoozled. Noting that the book title itself explains in bold letters that this item covers only those Beemers made between 1970 and 1988, I think it's save to say, and rightfully assume (duh! and doh!), that cars made after that are (surprise!) NOT covered here.

But since I can actually read and easily comprehend the title, and we own an old (old, old, old) daily driver, workhorse, 524td that was in fact made between those years, this work suits us just fine.

It certainly costs thousands of dollars less to buy, and read, this book and learn to do this most of this stuff yourself, than to cart the poor old girl down to the local BMW dealerships where they charge labor and parts fees like they believe that every Beemer owner has direct access to the vaults at Fort Knox. (Even if I did, it wouldn't be smart to give most of it away on the maintenance of an old car!).

As long as you don't really expect UPS to bring a mechanic along with the book so that your hands don't have to get dirty, and you know that the book won't magically transform your computer potato, cubicle inhabiting, soft handed self into an expert engine rebuilder overnight, you'll do just fine and you might even learn a thing or twelve. Hard work is it's own reward. Wax on. Wax off. etc...

This book has been extremely helpful with schedule and preventive maintenace and repairs done by the professionals, because it enabled me to purchase various parts myself wholesale or refurbished which made the service much, much cheaper. I'm still in search of a owner's manual though, for a 1987 BMW 735i

this book was quite a disappointment. the information is all here, but the photo selection and quality are decidedly 'low-budget.' and, if you are a fan of the current 'king of the mountain' in terms of the bmw 5-series line (and, i dare say, even amongst the so-called 'super-exotic' cars in general) - the e39 m5 - then this book is downright atrocious. many of the photos were take-offs of pdf photos found on many of the more popular bmw enthusiasts websites.

when you have hobbyists as fanatical as bmw 5-series owners are, and, in particular, bmw m5 owners (e28, e34 or e39), then you had better well treat them to a lavish, extravagant photo montage.

other books do this better, in my humble opinion.

I recently purchased a "classic" 5 series BMW. I love the older style of the E-12 and the E-28 models to the all-too-common look of recent 5 series, which look way too much like Toyota Camry's. "Not that there is anything wrong with that"! (an homage to the millions of Camry owners). So, I had great interest in this book as a recent convert to the marquee.

Sadly, there was no mention of my particular model, the US 1987 535is. Despite this disappointment, the book is excellent and the photos of rare and European models not often seen here in the States are wonderful. The text is also quite interesting as were the unexpected photos of US cars like the Camero and the Pacer, shown as examples of what was "also" being produced in those years.

My only complaint about the book is that it is not laid out quite right. While loosely chronological, the book does skip around a bit, and would be improved greatly by back-to-back photos of all 5 series models to show the change and development of the series over the last 30 years. Also rarely mentioned was the precursor to the 5 series model - the Bavaria. Like all things BMW, the book is more expensive than it needs to be. Nonetheless, a good book for the enthusiast.

A well researched and written book on the history of the e12, e28, e34 & e39 5 series generations. Some interesting new facts revealed by this title. The good coverage of US spec 5 series models made a refreshing change from the usual UK publications. Pricey, but worth a look.