When you think of vintage BMWs, the first car that comes to mind is typically the iconic 2002. This sporting two-door continues to be a sought-after model for fans of 60s- and 70s-era European classics, and for good reason. However, there’s another vintage BMW out there that doesn’t get much shine, and that’s another member of the Neue Klasse contingent, the BMW 2000 sedan. This handsome four-door listed here on craigslist is one of the better examples of this obscure luxury sedan that we can recall seeing, and was imported from Germany by the current owner.
That may be one of the smarter ways to acquire one of these cars, considering how few ever turn up stateside. The headlights are a clear indication this is a European-market model, as those glass-ensconced lenses only came on the overseas models. Although this 2000 has been repainted, the bronze paint job works well on this body style, and the paint work appears to be of a decent quality from this side of the monitor. The chrome bumpers, which sit nice and tight up against the body any European market cars, are in excellent shape, along with the polished hubcaps.
I don’t believe the 2000 was ever officially imported to the US, but don’t quote me on that. Regardless, the 2000 would certainly embrace the spirit of the 2002 despite preceding it, with an independent rear suspension, excellent driver dynamics in the cockpit, and engines that were not overly powerful but also quite sporting. The interior walks the line between being luxurious and a sport sedan, with bucket seats, a simple instrument display, woodgrain trim, and a four-speed manual (a 3-speed automatic was optional.) The interior is in beautiful shape, with the seat upholstery appearing to have been redone and the woodgrain looking original.
The 2.0L M10 engine was good for around 100 horsepower and a 0-6o run in the 15 second range. In looking at the engine bay, you can see a very pretty shade of dark blue paint, which makes me a touch disappointed it was repainted to brown. Unfortunately, the values on these aren’t high enough to justify repainting unless you intend to keep the car forever. There was a high-performance Ti version offered, and that model is one you could justify respraying back to original. Regardless, this model rarely comes up for sale, and this particular car looks like a turnkey driver with lots of recent mechanical work noted in the listing.
These cars are so cool! Would love to own it.
If you think that this is cool, check out the BMW 2.0 CS. Never imported, but I almost bought one from a fellow USAF member in 1974 who had brought it back from Europe. Good thing my imported car mechanic talked me out of it…
Do you mean a 2000 CS?
Yes, you are correct. It had a 2.0L engine. I thought that the guy selling it referred to it as a 2.0 CS (which is what I also thought the trunk badges said), but I was young enough and ignorant enough to accept it. Its siren song called out to me, beckoning me to abandon my ever faithful Dodge van- what a great design.
Hey John. The 2000CS was, indeed, imported to the States for a few years…maybe 65-67. It was pretty pricey: about the same as an XK-E or a well optioned Corvette. It didn’t have the Euro-spec car’s streamlined headlights, but had 4 sealed beams in their place. The engine was good, with dual 40(?) MM side draft Solexes and a mechanical advance distributor. There was also a single barrel version (2000C?) and an automatic, 2000CA that had the one barrel. I imported several of these cars back in the 70s and 80s, including a 2000CA that was serial number 000015….I wonder if it’s still around? As far as the subject car’s handling: yeah, it was not as sporting as the later 2002. German rural roads at the time were pretty rough: the independent rear suspension was more a nod to ride quality and the performance that comes from keeping the wheels in contact with the ground.
”Embrace the spirit of the 2002…” No, others may perhaps disagree but I found the 2000 a bit disappointing after having owned a couple of 2002. Perhaps my friend’s 2000 wasn’t the very best example, but it wasn’t at all as nice to drive. Just a regular mid sized sedan fairly similar to a Volvo 144 for the driving dynamics.
This one looks quite nice but I still can’t gather much enthusiasm.
You are correct in that these were rather tall and had along wheelbase and were rather softly sprung and didn’t have anti-roll bars at all (neither did the 1600’s but they fixed that on the 2002). The steering was slow and it just wasn’t a sporty ride at all. They were great freeway and autobahn cars and would cruise at high speed all day, but they weren’t much fun in the twisties. Of course the 1800 TI/SA model fixed all that but those are big bucks now.
Both the 1800 and 2000 sedans as well as the 2000 CS were all imported to the USA. The US model 1800’s had single headlights, and the 2000 had quad headlights instead of the square European headlights in the sedans or the odd shaped headlights of the coupe. The reason these aren’t remembered as being imported is because they weren’t imported in large numbers. That was because they were rather expensive compared to their modest performance and small size relative to American iron that you could buy for the same price. There was also offered a TI version with 2x2bbl sidedraft Solex carbs and a TILux model that had the sidedrafts as well as a more luxurious interior. These weighed around 2500 pounds (curb weight) and unless you went for the bigger motor they weren’t very sprightly. The 1600 two door is what really put BMW on the map in the states. This is way overpriced. This very car was sold on BAT on Nov 5th for $12,700. At least you have some bargaining power if you want it bad enough. Here’s the link to the BAT auction results… https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1967-bmw-2000-2/
I got curious and checked a Swedish car catalog to see how the BMW 2000 was priced as new, because they were never that common. It occupied an in-between price bracket above say the Volvo 144, Saab 99 or Peugeot 504, but still a bit cheaper than a more upscale market with cars like Volvo 164 and Mercedes 200.
Some cars in the same price range were Alfa 1750 Berlina, Citroen ID19 Super, Ford 20M 2300S, Opel Commodore 2.5 and Rover 2000TC. Perhaps I would have picked the Alfa? For sure the best driving car here. The Ford and Opel were both more basic cars just with larger 6-cylinder engines, and for the Citroen and the Rover you just would have wanted to pay more to get the larger engines they could be had with. So it seems that the BMW was still a decent choice for the money.
The Neue Klasse was a very important car in UK, which quickly became BMW’s biggest European market. It sold well against the cars you mention and appealed strongly to the sporting driver. European competition success helped with that image.
BMW’s UK distributor was AFN, which previously built and sold Frazer-Nash sports cars. A rare UK special edition was badged as Fraser Nash BMW 2000. Few survive, all RHD.