E34 Touring- how good as a load lugger (esp mountain bikes)
Discussion
Really hoping to get some input from people who use an E34 as a bike hauler... I've a hankering for one and it's definitely not a small car but shape is pretty important for bikes!
At the moment I have a 2004 subaru legacy jdm, which is a brilliant thing- comfy, fast and spacious. With the seats down I can <just barely> fit one of my bikes with both wheels on in the back, or 2 bikes with 1 wheel off each and luggage for a few days. Being able to just load in and out with no faff, wheel removing etc is a big deal for me, it's just so quick and easy especially when you're cold and wet. If it was an inch smaller it wouldn't work out, modern mountain bikes are gigantic tbh.Its main drawback is that the boot's not very tall- it's good as far as encroachment goes but largely because it has a pretty high floor to hide suspension etc under. So it's pretty long and wide but not tall.
According to the wikis the E34 is a little bit longer, but otherwise pretty similiar. If I remember rightly the rear seats have a 60/40 fold but don't quite go flat, and while it has a proper flat boot entry and a good wide main boot it's quite encroached around the rear seats for the wheels etc. Which might not be a problem, since bikes tend to go in pretty diagonal. I suspect the boot is a little taller.
Basically I don't think there's any substitute for real world experience on this, some big cars are rubbish at this and some small cars amazingly good. So in an ideal world someone's going to go "Oh yeah I also have a medium/long Bird AM9 and a medium Titus Loco Moto and they both fit dead easily" or similiar
But any experience of big enduro bikes would be useful.
Basically the job of my big car is to haul bikes around in the boot, if it can't do it well it's just a nonstarter. I suspect an E39 might be slightly better for this but this is mostly about the looks, I'm old enough that the E34 is almost my definition of what a BMW should look like, that gorgeous face and tail combo.
Any advice much appreciated!
At the moment I have a 2004 subaru legacy jdm, which is a brilliant thing- comfy, fast and spacious. With the seats down I can <just barely> fit one of my bikes with both wheels on in the back, or 2 bikes with 1 wheel off each and luggage for a few days. Being able to just load in and out with no faff, wheel removing etc is a big deal for me, it's just so quick and easy especially when you're cold and wet. If it was an inch smaller it wouldn't work out, modern mountain bikes are gigantic tbh.Its main drawback is that the boot's not very tall- it's good as far as encroachment goes but largely because it has a pretty high floor to hide suspension etc under. So it's pretty long and wide but not tall.
According to the wikis the E34 is a little bit longer, but otherwise pretty similiar. If I remember rightly the rear seats have a 60/40 fold but don't quite go flat, and while it has a proper flat boot entry and a good wide main boot it's quite encroached around the rear seats for the wheels etc. Which might not be a problem, since bikes tend to go in pretty diagonal. I suspect the boot is a little taller.
Basically I don't think there's any substitute for real world experience on this, some big cars are rubbish at this and some small cars amazingly good. So in an ideal world someone's going to go "Oh yeah I also have a medium/long Bird AM9 and a medium Titus Loco Moto and they both fit dead easily" or similiar
But any experience of big enduro bikes would be useful. Basically the job of my big car is to haul bikes around in the boot, if it can't do it well it's just a nonstarter. I suspect an E39 might be slightly better for this but this is mostly about the looks, I'm old enough that the E34 is almost my definition of what a BMW should look like, that gorgeous face and tail combo.
Any advice much appreciated!
Nice idea, but 20 years too late.
The biggest issue is sheer age as the majority of these 30+ year old cars will either be pretty rusty or will have already seen the welder. 518i and 520i Tourings have standard rear coils but are slow (518i) or less slow but heavy on fuel (520i). 525i etc cars have rear self levelling as std which in 2025 is a collection of very rusty hydraulic pipes and hoses.
They were nice but unless you can find a really good garaged example, most of what you will encounter will be shagged out rusty baggy old relics. Properly good ones aren't cheap. E39's are much worse for potential rust and aggro. Just awful.
Best all round estate is a Volvo. The 2000's D5 and 2.4D's are great, the 1990's box 850 shape cars also - and far better built and rust protected than a BMW. A mid to late nineties 850 or V70 with the five cylinder engine and manual box.......that's a proper car.
The biggest issue is sheer age as the majority of these 30+ year old cars will either be pretty rusty or will have already seen the welder. 518i and 520i Tourings have standard rear coils but are slow (518i) or less slow but heavy on fuel (520i). 525i etc cars have rear self levelling as std which in 2025 is a collection of very rusty hydraulic pipes and hoses.
They were nice but unless you can find a really good garaged example, most of what you will encounter will be shagged out rusty baggy old relics. Properly good ones aren't cheap. E39's are much worse for potential rust and aggro. Just awful.
Best all round estate is a Volvo. The 2000's D5 and 2.4D's are great, the 1990's box 850 shape cars also - and far better built and rust protected than a BMW. A mid to late nineties 850 or V70 with the five cylinder engine and manual box.......that's a proper car.
ElNorthwind said:
Really hoping to get some input from people who use an E34 as a bike hauler... I've a hankering for one and it's definitely not a small car but shape is pretty important for bikes!
At the moment I have a 2004 subaru legacy jdm, which is a brilliant thing- comfy, fast and spacious. With the seats down I can <just barely> fit one of my bikes with both wheels on in the back, or 2 bikes with 1 wheel off each and luggage for a few days. Being able to just load in and out with no faff, wheel removing etc is a big deal for me, it's just so quick and easy especially when you're cold and wet. If it was an inch smaller it wouldn't work out, modern mountain bikes are gigantic tbh.Its main drawback is that the boot's not very tall- it's good as far as encroachment goes but largely because it has a pretty high floor to hide suspension etc under. So it's pretty long and wide but not tall.
According to the wikis the E34 is a little bit longer, but otherwise pretty similiar. If I remember rightly the rear seats have a 60/40 fold but don't quite go flat, and while it has a proper flat boot entry and a good wide main boot it's quite encroached around the rear seats for the wheels etc. Which might not be a problem, since bikes tend to go in pretty diagonal. I suspect the boot is a little taller.
Basically I don't think there's any substitute for real world experience on this, some big cars are rubbish at this and some small cars amazingly good. So in an ideal world someone's going to go "Oh yeah I also have a medium/long Bird AM9 and a medium Titus Loco Moto and they both fit dead easily" or similiar But any experience of big enduro bikes would be useful.
Basically the job of my big car is to haul bikes around in the boot, if it can't do it well it's just a nonstarter. I suspect an E39 might be slightly better for this but this is mostly about the looks, I'm old enough that the E34 is almost my definition of what a BMW should look like, that gorgeous face and tail combo.
Any advice much appreciated!
Epic lurking! At the moment I have a 2004 subaru legacy jdm, which is a brilliant thing- comfy, fast and spacious. With the seats down I can <just barely> fit one of my bikes with both wheels on in the back, or 2 bikes with 1 wheel off each and luggage for a few days. Being able to just load in and out with no faff, wheel removing etc is a big deal for me, it's just so quick and easy especially when you're cold and wet. If it was an inch smaller it wouldn't work out, modern mountain bikes are gigantic tbh.Its main drawback is that the boot's not very tall- it's good as far as encroachment goes but largely because it has a pretty high floor to hide suspension etc under. So it's pretty long and wide but not tall.
According to the wikis the E34 is a little bit longer, but otherwise pretty similiar. If I remember rightly the rear seats have a 60/40 fold but don't quite go flat, and while it has a proper flat boot entry and a good wide main boot it's quite encroached around the rear seats for the wheels etc. Which might not be a problem, since bikes tend to go in pretty diagonal. I suspect the boot is a little taller.
Basically I don't think there's any substitute for real world experience on this, some big cars are rubbish at this and some small cars amazingly good. So in an ideal world someone's going to go "Oh yeah I also have a medium/long Bird AM9 and a medium Titus Loco Moto and they both fit dead easily" or similiar
But any experience of big enduro bikes would be useful. Basically the job of my big car is to haul bikes around in the boot, if it can't do it well it's just a nonstarter. I suspect an E39 might be slightly better for this but this is mostly about the looks, I'm old enough that the E34 is almost my definition of what a BMW should look like, that gorgeous face and tail combo.
Any advice much appreciated!
E34’s a bit too long in the tooth for reliability, but I agree they are still a great looking thing.
I got given a 200,000 mile E39 2.0 diesel estate while my van was having some work done and it was extremely quiet, smooth and a delight to drive even at that mileage.
They're a great car (if very well looked after); but they're old and mainly fizzing in the rain now
My pal Chris had one, an auto 525i that he used to lug his work equipment and bikes to Germany and back; all year round. Rust killed it in the end
He got an E39 530i touring after that; got the rust sorted and that did him for over 100k miles with zero issues bar one dead rad on the Autobahn
The E39 touring would be the one to go for if you can / if you like them; unless you have an E34 in mind that's in good nice and not dying from tin worm etc
My pal Chris had one, an auto 525i that he used to lug his work equipment and bikes to Germany and back; all year round. Rust killed it in the end
He got an E39 530i touring after that; got the rust sorted and that did him for over 100k miles with zero issues bar one dead rad on the Autobahn
The E39 touring would be the one to go for if you can / if you like them; unless you have an E34 in mind that's in good nice and not dying from tin worm etc
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