Interested in buying E30 325i...need help!!!

[Charles McGill]

Hello fellow BMW enthusiasts,

I am interested in purchasing an E30 325i. I want to sell my 1997 328i to purchase it (I need money for college! and the E30 is a sweet car!). I am going to look for a 1991, hopefully with around 90,000 miles on it. Do you guys have any suggestions on what to look for when buying one of these new-age-classics? Any problems I should be aware of? What is maintenance like? Are they hard to work on?

Any information would be appreciated. Oh yeah....what would a 1991 325i 4D sell for? What do you guys think of white? Any good sites I can research on?

Thanks,

Charlie
PS- sorry about all the questions!

[dah328]

the roundel classifieds and autotrader.com are the best generic sources. i know a couple local dealers and techs who can find cars easier than the average person, but i don't know anyone like that in your area. have you asked your mechanic?

dan
88 325is
96 M3

[Bry]

Dan, which part of austin do you live in?

Charles, check for rust in areas such as where the tail lights are, underneath the spare and the battery well, under the front windshield. Check the motor, make sure it runs well and drives well, take it on the highway and get it in 5th to make sure there are no problems. Check for leaks, get information about the history of the car, and the receipts also if possible. Try to learn if the waterpump has been replaced.

I'm not an expert at e30's because I have a M3, but check

www.classifieds2000.com
www.autotrader.com
www.turnermotorsport.com

Check the classifieds of these places, they usually have some e30's for sale. Check

www.kbb.com for prices which is what Kelly Blue Book suggests, which isn't all that accurate.

Try to spend a lot of time with the car, just checking it out, check for squeeks rattles, and stuff like that. Make sure there aren't any major oil leaks (there are oil leaks on these old car, mine leaks, but make sure it isn't just pouring out oil.

Check over all the paint, and if you are serious about buying a car, check

www.carfax.com

It is completely necessary to check a car on this site. Before buying a M3, I ran a carfax on it and found out that the miles had been rolled back 100k miles, so these things can save you a lot of money. You might want to take it to a mechanic to look at it for you.

Just make sure you do a carfax before buying a car, it is worth the 20 bucks, and also get the 2 month account, I found that it saves money in case you don't buy the car.

Ask me any more questions that you might have!