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Thread: Buying an old bimmer as first car to learn how to work on, good idea?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Norman, Oklahoma
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    2006 BMW 530xi

    Buying an old bimmer as first car to learn how to work on, good idea?

    hopefully this is the right place to post this...

    Anyways, I'm a 16 year old who's never really gave a crap about cars until about a year ago, when a friend made me help him replace his timing belt on his old Accord. I realized that there was only a year or so till I was gonna learn how to drive, and I really didn't want to be one of those morons who had no idea how their car works or how to maintain them.

    I've never really liked BMWs till quite recently, when my sister got hers. I started to really get into them, and started dreaming about owning one. I especially loved old ones from the 80s and 90s, just something about them made me want one. I started to browse on craigslist, and saw a bunch of E36s and E46s for around 3-5k, and I got a part time job so I could save up money so that when I get my license I could buy one. One thing is I really wanted to learn how to work on my own car. Seeing my dad taking his car to the stealership to get it fixed was always painful when they would always make him shell out hundreds of dollars for basic stuff.

    I've been saving up money for a bit now, and have around 2k right now. But then something happened... My parents found out my sister has been doing drugs and stealing stuff and just stupid crap like that, and they took her BMW away from her. The car sat around for a while, and I would always stare at it, and recently my parents said that as long as I made decent grades, I could drive it.

    I was super happy, as now I basically had my own bimmer, and it was quite a bit nicer than any of the ones I was planning to save up for. It's a 2006 530XI E60, only problem is my sister never took care of the interior, so it's dirty as hell and just reeks of cigarettes It's also got quite a bit of miles, currently around 186k.

    But's it's still kinda sucks because I'm don't actually own the car, and my parents won't let me do any maintenance or learn how to fix things on it since they'd rather pay someone else to do it.

    Anyways I've been looking on craigslist still and I've thought about, maybe getting a second car to learn how to fix things on it. I will have roughly 3-4k by the end of the year, which should be plenty to get an old beater, and have enough money left over to fix any issues with it.

    Probably my absolute favorite BMWs are E30's and E34's. I think they're the perfect balance between modern and classic. I love the way the headlights look, and E34's have great looking interiors in my opinion. I'm also a fan of E36's. For some reason, I really don't like the look of E39's and E46's, I can't really explain why. But the car I want the most is a decent E34.

    Right now I see a couple E30s and E34s on craigslist in decentish condition. There's an E32 740i thats in great condition, but according to the seller it has a rough idle, and he's only asking $800. Then there's a E34 525i for $1800 that's in pretty nice condition, and the seller says it runs great and has no issues, but it does have 200k miles on the clock. There's another E34 525i for $2500 with 170k miles, and it's in good condition and runs well, but it is from a dealership so idk.

    Is buying an old E30 or E34 to learn how to work on a good idea? Or will I just be wasting my time and money. I really want to have my own car that I can feel proud that I can actually fix stuff on it and maintain it. I'm pretty skilled with tools generally, but the most I've ever done on a car is changing the oil on my dads 04 Acura RL, which I thought was super easy, and changing the battery on my moms Honda CRV. I'm not looking to spend more than 1-2k on the car itself, and this isn't going to be my daily driver that I have to depend on.

    Anyways hope that wasn't too long or boring of a read, I'm just not sure about this idea.



  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    charlotte NC
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    352
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    88 325 vert
    Sounds like you have plan.Do not forget to save up for the parts to fix it up by the time you get a car that age in good shape you will have spent as much on parts and tools than the car.I did tje same thing with a volvo p1800 when I was your age it was a great learing experince that I would do over again if I had the choice.I broke some stuff but thats part of learning.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Stuttgart, Germany
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    One Too Many
    You should probably get a E30 or better yet a E36 instead of a E34, although the e34 if more car and has the better interior it can also involve more work and a bit of a learning curve for the beginner. I would say you get preferably the E36 318is with the M43(non vanos) or M42 motor. They are solid little engines that can take a beating. Good on gas, easy to work and learn on, parts are cheap and more available, would make a good first car to start with, just buy one in good condition with little issues and eventually save up for something better. If you do buy a E36 or any BMW with a auto box, make sure you change the automatic transmission filter and put some new fluid (easy DIY that saves the tranny since people never replace the fluid and it eventually kills the trans). E36 may have one issue that will bother you, which is the poor interior (falls apart) you may have to replace the saggy headliner and door cards. Also may replace the water pump on these cars if they were never replaced. But thats about it, But good car overall.
    Last edited by MisterM52; 07-05-2015 at 06:26 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Charleston, SC
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    1,330
    My Cars
    '15 I01Rex , '11F25
    Go ahead and besides all the great info on the net, it would be wise to pick up the Bentley manual for your car, also a decent DVOM.

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