1988 BMW 525i

I would think very carefully before doing this to your 525i...

This is my first semi-classic car review.
Many cars in NZ are modified, so they become 'boy-racer' cars. These automotive atrocities are usually just 17 year old Nissan Skylines and Subarus, with ridiculous body kits, spoilers, 157 decibel stereos, and garish paint jobs. These cars are the primary transport of choice for the party-pill eating, cap-wearing yobs, who communicate in a new language involving words such as 'yo', and 'sup'. So far this review has nothing to with the BMW 525i; but I haven't mentioned the other feature of these boy-racer cars. 

Many young drivers (including me, I must confess) want their car to stand out from the crowd. The first thing that many boy-racers do to their cars, is bypass the muffler system in the exhaust. In nearly all of these cars, the muffler is so unused, that colonies of moths and other insects can safely live in it without fear of hot, fast moving exhaust gases charging into their home. 

The reason why the muffler is bypassed, is to make the car loud. Very loud. Many residents living in prime boy-racer territory complain about the terrible noise. And the reason why the noise is so awful, is that the original source of this noise (usually a boring 4 cylinder engine) is unchanged. You can't use a muffler-less exhaust system to improve on a terrible din. 

And this is where the 1988 BMW 525i comes into the picture. In my opinion, all 5-series BMWs from 1988-1994 were the greatest executive sedans of the period. They all had straight 6 engines ranging from 2 to 3.5 litres. And each one had its own, glorious soundtrack. The noise got deeper as the engine size increased, so you could choose what tone of noise you wanted by buying a bigger or smaller engine. You don't need to spend any money changing the exhaust system, because the original one delivers the sound like a world class musician.  

There are thousands of 80's and 90's 5 series BMWs out there, each one available for less than NZ$10,000. I've searched the Internet, and you can pick up a decent 525i (in my opinion, the one with the best sounding engine) for less than 1 grand. And because most boy racers are so obsessed with Japanese cars, you will stand out from the crowd because of the classy styling, as well as the tone-perfect engine note. 

If every boy racer had an 80's 5 series, there would be no noise complaints at all.