BMW Reviews

Buying an old car requires that you get after-market guides for repair. Haynes covers not only the drive train and bodywork, but esoterica like door locks and after market sound system retrofits. Required reading for old Bimmers like 2800s and 3.0s. Note that this book excludes coupes, but a lot of the info is transferable.

I found this book good value for money with good pictures and up-to date information. A must have for people interested in BMW.

Good basic guidance to repair and maintenance of a wide variety of R bikes. Even includes obscure R65-specific material.

I HAVE A BMW, 1983, 518, I NEED A REPAIR AND TUNE-UP GUIDE.MOTOR AND SERIAL NUMBER IS WBADK1104D7883885 THANKS FOR YOUR COLABORATION. VERY TROULY YOURS.

Hard to find the parts because it has lots of drawings, not pictures.Not for the beginner.It doesn't explain in detail.It always says to bring the car to service center, instead of showing you how to do it yourself.

This manual covers everything and gives excellent attention to routine service. Unlike some manuals, it is focussed on the BMW 3 series and gives very little 'general' advice. It also gives useful tips about obtaining speciality tools. The general explanations at the front of the manual are indispensible. On the down side, the drawings and photographs leave something to be desired. There are too few of them and they are quite confusing. There are no comprehensive pictures pointing out the key features and the text does not fill in the gaps. Compared directly with Haynes, this manual covers far more, has better electrical schematics and the entire book is devoted to one car. On the other hand, the explanations are not as clear and the diagrams and photographs are terrible. Overall, it is good value and coupled with a more basic and more graphic manual it is very helpful.

This big, expansive book just about covers everything for an E36 BMW this side of a factory service manual... However, there are some details that are missing (or that I can't find): like adjusting the throttle/accelerator linkage, and replacing the trim at the base of the windshield/engine compartment... Also, like the other service manuals, the indices aren't very detailed... I have the Chilton's and Haynes service manuals as well, but the Bentley's is definitely the best... But I would recommend owning all three service manuals to compare procedures (a "second opinion") and just in case a procedure is not covered by one of the other manuals...

I'm looking to buy a 2002 and found some help in reading this book. Nevertheless, there is a lot of detail here that may be of some interest to enthusiasts, but was a little more than a novice like myself needs to know. Utlimately, the book is what it promises to be, "a comprehensive guide".

The book was authoritive in its portrayal of the 2002's history and gave very good advice in what to look for in purchacing one. In my opinion too much of the book was spent covering extremely rare 2002s and ones that were not imported to the US. I would have rather seen more detail on the more common US models and more detail pictures of what the original (US) equipment was like. Some of the pictures and English terminology were not very clear to me. If you're interested in buying a 2002 it is a good book to have, but you may want to supplement it with others.

Hi all,

I would like to give a word of advise for this book, as it is a great book! Never understood the differences quite well between the different 02`s. After reading only the first chapter everything was clear to me! I self working on a restoration and I do think that this books contributes in a very good way to a make a full and original 02 again!

Thanks,
Pascal.

J. Cohen's writing is several cuts above the usual hack quality found in car books. Alas, he is awfully focused on Alpina, Hartge, etc., and skimps on info on the M models that are presumably the subject of the book! More detail on what, for instance, makes an E34 M5 different and special, or what are all the mods made to the E30 M3 that make it such a big deal, and how did it do in racing? None of this is addressed; rather, he spills a lot of ink on detailing every nuance of every Alpina product made in the last 30 years. If he wanted to write a history of Alpina, that's fine, but the cover, title, and description of the book leads one to believe that its principal focus is M and the products thereof.

Nonetheless, the book is still several cuts above MBI's usually atrocious quality standards, and makes for an interesting evening of reading.

This is a very good book. Goes into great detail on BMW's history of performance special cars, how this came about, and where Alpina and Schnitzer and even Hartge fit into this. However, there is clearly a slant towards Alpina. The author does state however that Alpina has more of an "in" with BMW than the other tuners and therefore is a bit more respected. There is great detail on engine specs, displacement, special models, and even production numbers for each model. He details the evolution of the 2002, then goes through the 3, 5, 6, and 8 series. There is a section on the M1 also. Whenever possible, the author seems to mention whether any of a certain type of car were ever imported into the U.S. or not. He includes a description of the U.S. grey market in the 80s in the beginning of the book. The pictures in the book are fantastic and almost all are in full color. This book is worth every penny of the meager asking price. Thumbs up!

This is the best book about performance BMW I have come across. It features history, facts and pictures about M1, M3, M5, M635 CSi, M6 and 850 CSi.

What suprised me the most was the in depth information and nice pics about Alpina, featuring the B10 BiTurbo, B12, B8 4,6 (3 series with 333 HP V8) and early B7 Turbo models.

Info about ALL Alpina models and M models! Also mentioning some Hartge models, AC Schnitzer CLS II and CLS III.

As I said earlier, the definite book regarding M models, Alpina and other top-notch tuners.

This is one of those books that tempts you with interesting subject matter, a nicely organized table of contents, wonderful photos (though none in color), and a fascinating array of tables in the appendix. But I was let down by the truly terrible writing. As mentioned in another review, the text is poorly organized and skips from topic to topic with little rhyme or reason. Non sequitors are the order of the day. Basically unreadable. Which is too bad, because the 3ers -- possibly the finest line of sport sedans ever created -- really deserve to have their story told properly.

Much like other reviewers, I though this book contains a huge amount of well researched and detailed information, but is barely readable due to the poor standard of english. Sure, you can't expect Shakespeare in a "car-book", but sentences that you have to read three times to understand are too much. Short and simple sentences would much improve this book - Sounds like advice for a 3rd grade student!

This book has tons of great info which merits 5 easy stars. BUT, if the editor had done a little better job with lining up the material and not constantly repeating some of the facts it could have been even better

Having worked on a number of 6-Series cars, I can confidently say that this book is average at best, toilet paper at worst.

The 'journalist's' ego is positively bursting from the pages of this book and it really is a painfully dull read. Lack of expertise can be covered by an entertaining style, if you have neither then I would imagine you are in real trouble.

Gerhard Berger's name on the cover is bound to sell some copies, but I would imagine his involvement with the project ended when he agreed his royalty price.

The only use for this book is to weigh down some paper or reach a higher shelf in the store. A poor effort...

Given the fact that this is the only book available (to my knowledge) on the great BMW E24 6 series, it is a must for fans. Apart from that, there is heaps of info on all the different models and on BMW history. Jeremy Walton has certainly his share of research. There are just a few things that I would like to have read about/improved, but these things are just minor things. Some topics are not covered in chronological order, which makes it a bit confusing. The good things about this book is that is covers cars manufactured for both the American market as well as the European market (although I get the impression that mr. Walton focusses more on the English market), so it is a good read both sides of the atlantic. Bearing that in mind, most numbers are given in American and European units. Good stuff!

Great non-technical reference book on the 6 series history and development including racing history for the US and Europe, Performance, and production figures and specifications for each year. Also, Insider's tips on 6 series purchase, ownership and restoration. It won't help you fix your leaky PS reservoir but it will give you an appreciation of the 6 Series history. Also contains discussions of the 6's predecessors like the 2002, M1 and 3.0 CSL/I. Highly recommended book for 6 series enthusiasts.

Like every other BMW manual I've seen, this one falls short. There isn't a single one out there that tells you how to take apart the control grips! I wish the manual writers would spend less time talking about repairs that no sane person would attempt (right, I'm gonna disassemble the drive shaft) and more time talking about simple repairs. This manual does describe the disassembly and reassembly of the front fairing (which is a real Chinese puzzle!). On the whole, though, I was not impressed.
It's also written for the Brits, which means that most of the terminology is British. Remember what George Bernard Shaw said!

Don't bother to buy a BMW manual. Here's all you need to know:
1. Fill the fluids regularly
2. Keep the tires inflated
3. The clunk on shifting is normal; BMWs use a dry clutch
4. The buzzing at 4800 rpm is normal. My friend reminds me
that you can buy one part to fix this: it's called a 2001
K1200RS!

CLAIM CODE XQXS-Z97GNW-PLWB ORDER #002-0520751-7569066/0001-0001