Might be buying a 1998 328is tomorrow, a few questions for you guys...

[SF415BMW]

Hi guys i'm thinking of purchasing a 98 328is from this college kid tomorrow. Car looks pretty nice in person and also drives decently. The brakes probably need changing but thats all i could really discern from test driving it. I looked at the engine bay and there didn't seem to be any leaks anywhere. No strange noises either. The interior was alright, the inside cover for the sunroof was missing, the front seats didn't recline. Other than those things the car seemed pretty decent.

My question is how much do you think is a fair price for this vehicle? I live in San Francisco, California if that makes a difference, KBB priced it at $2400-2800. It does have 140k miles but i heard these engines can last you a long time. I'm taking it to get a pre purchase inspection tomorrow and then will try to talk him down some, he is asking for $3300. What maintenance should be done right away after buying it? Is this car very expensive to maintain?

The seller says he purchased it from the original owner and drove it here from Pennsylvania and now doesn't need it anymore. Here is the craigslist ad if you guys are curious.

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/d/1998-bmw-328is-clean-title/6683953582.html

Any help/advice is much appreciated..:)

[gdavid]

Get it on a lift or up on stands and look for rust. Look around the edges of the side skirts and It's a California car now but the Pennsylvania background means it probably saw a fair amount of salt. Reach up into the holes under the jack points on the bottom of the car (not the ones in the side skirts) and feel for condition, there may or may not be rubber plugs on them. You will probably feel some surface rust but you don't want anything with loose chunks of rusted sheet metal.

Getting under it is also key to finding leaks. Like most cars, everything looks good from above but the oil pan, sub-frame and transmission could be covered in fluids.

Being an automatic is a big negative for most people, the manual transmissions are more desirable. The cover he has on the driver sets also suggests that the leather is shot.

If it is pretty rust free pay whatever you feel comfortable with, it is probably worth $2.5k but it is your money and you are buying it to have a fun car, another $500-$800 isn't going kill you.

Maintenance you should expect is worn suspension bushings and joints. If they have not been done yet, it could probably use trailing arm bushings, control arms (which include inner and outer ball joints) and control arm bushings. This will provide the biggest improvement to the handling, suspension noises and feel of the car, none of which are very hard. A car this age is ready for a fair amount of maintenance all around which is no big deal if you are willing to DIY but can be a money pit if you plan to take it to a shop. Expected engine maintenance includes a couple of gaskets, cooling system replacement (radiator, expansion tank, water pump, thermostat and housing) and changing out the transmission filter & fluids.

Look in the e36 section of the forums and you will find a ton of information.

[MarcoZandrini]

Have the car undergo a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) performed by a reputable indie shop that specializes in bimmers. Try www.bimrs.org to find a shop.

All used cars have issues. The $200 you spend for the PPI will be the best money you can spend.

[jclausen]

Second the ppi, you can never go wrong with a ppi, but man you can really get a piece of crap if you don't

[SF415BMW]

Well guys i bought the car. I didn't get to read this in time but i will be checking for rust like you said. I paid $2900 for it which i feel was a fair price. The pre purchase inspection came back fine, i'm not sure how thorough they were (as it only took about an hour) but the mechanic said all the major parts are fine; timing belt, water pump, brakes/ties etc. ... I'm going to take it to my regular mechanic soon and have them give it a more thorough run thru.

Now that i've purchased it, what are some preemptive maintenance/upgrades i can give to it that will get me the most bang for my buck. Or rather, what are some important things i could check out that will save me money down the road. The headlights are oxidized or whatever so i'm thinking of getting new ones, which do you guys recommend? Also he said the brakes are about 60% on front and 80% on the back.

Really excited to have my new bimmer! Also thanks for the replies.

[shogun]

I will move it to the E36 forum

[somebody5788]

I hope someone there didn't actually say "timing belt is fine" and that it was just a check list and it got checked off. It should have said "N/A" for not applicable. These are a Timing Chain engine not a belt.

[ed323i]

Congrats! And welcome to the forum.

Looking at the photos seems like a good deal.
Most important is that the engine is in good shape. A compression test on the cylinders is advisable, and doesn't take that much time.

The automatics aren't as reliable as the manual transmissions, so you'll need a bit of luck there. You could consider some preventative maintenance like automatic cleaning, oil flush, new filters. There are some specialized companies for that. Gdavid summed it up already, I see now. +1 .

[jmo69]

Well guys i bought the car. I didn't get to read this in time but i will be checking for rust like you said. I paid $2900 for it which i feel was a fair price. The pre purchase inspection came back fine, i'm not sure how thorough they were (as it only took about an hour) but the mechanic said all the major parts are fine; timing belt, water pump, brakes/ties etc. ... I'm going to take it to my regular mechanic soon and have them give it a more thorough run thru.

Now that i've purchased it, what are some preemptive maintenance/upgrades i can give to it that will get me the most bang for my buck. Or rather, what are some important things i could check out that will save me money down the road. The headlights are oxidized or whatever so i'm thinking of getting new ones, which do you guys recommend? Also he said the brakes are about 60% on front and 80% on the back.

Really excited to have my new bimmer! Also thanks for the replies.Idk if I'd trust that mechanic if he said the timing belt was good. It has a timing chain.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Eric93se]

New headlights, you can get an H1 HID kit for it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DEPO-ZKW-Glass-Euro-Ellipsoid-Projector-Headlight-Wire-Adaptors-For-BMW-E36/152955057803?epid=17011095579

[Eric93se]

Get H1 5000k

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Xentec-AC-CANBUS-HID-Kit-880-9007-9006-H1-H4-H7-H11-H13-5202-xeno-Xenon-Lights/221533527104

[Eric93se]

For the high beams some quality xenon's are good to go with.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Xtec-H1-YELLOW-XENON-HALOGEN-BULBS-55W-PAIR/121095870029