Purchase of a '90 325is...?

[CHA914]

Hey guys,

I have been lurking for a few weeks now as I am in the hunt for a new daily driver. I got turned on to the e30's by a friend and after reading that article in the recent GRM I am set on getting one.

anyway, I have found a 90 325is with 154K it has been in the same family its whole life so they have all the records. However, the guy who owns the car now is not much of a car guy and couldn't tell me much about the car.

This car sounds like just what I want, I am bascially asking what should I look out for both on the car and in the records when I go to look at it?

any tips or questions to ask would be great.

Thanks,

Tony

'74 914 2.1L

[Bry]

Hi,

Where in Austin are you? I'm in the Lakeway area (More west of austin).

In the records, make sure the car has been taken care of, basically, there should be lots of little things that have been replaced. Look for the timing belt, it should be done every 60k miles. If it has not been done recently, it probably needs to be done (if it breaks, and it does break, it will be $$$ to fix all the bent valves and other things that might happen). Just make sure that there has been lots of preventative maintence.

On the car, check for rust. Rust is your enemy, places to look are under the windshield (actually that is more for the M3), check around the tail lights (in the trunk), around the license plate (rear), and in the trunk. Look in the engine bay and hopefully it won't look like a pigstye. The interior will probably be kind of worn, because of all the miles (just regular wear) so don't be suprised, although it shouldn't be all torn up. Make sure the paint is okay, and most of all, run a carfax. www.carfax.com it can save you a lot of money. Buy a carfax, run the VIN# and make sure the car has a clean title. If it doesn't have a clean title, I wouldn't care to look at the car, unless I could get it for dirt cheap.

Also, inspect the paint, you are going to have to live with the car, and you don't want to have to repaint the car, unless you want to spend the money.

Drive the car around a lot, check to make sure there are no abnormal noises, and make sure everything works. Also, look at our previous threads in this e30 forum, go to the bottom and make sure it shows all threads from the 'beginning.' We have lots of threads about car buying.

Good luck!

[CHA914]

Bry,

I live in south austin off of Brodie ... good to see another austin guy :P

Here is the info on the car so far:

154K, the car has been in the same family so they have all the records on it, and from talking to the guy it sounds like they took pretty good care of it. It has been repainted, but I had a friend take a look at the car and he said the paint job was a good one and also no sign of a wreak. The interior was in good shape (some wear but nice overall). Also, he said he recently replaced the A/C compressor and it has a year warrenty.

He is asking 4300 for the car...how does this sound for the car described?

It sounds pretty good to me, and I guess the only thing left is to go drive it...any more tips are welcome, and I will do some more searching on the forums.

Tony

[bmw325is]

$4300 is around the average asking price for an e30. If it's in pretty good shape it sounds like a good price. I paid 3400 for mine and the only problem was it needed a valve adjustment but i dont think that sell that low too often.

[Bry]

The motor with 154k miles will probably last quite a bit longer. I would say it is a good buy if everything else checks out. A/C problems can get expensive (I'm having one right now...) so that is an extra + that it has just been fixed up.

I would say the car sounds like a good deal. Bargain him down a little and see what you can get it for. Try to point out the bad parts of the car before buying it. Make 154k miles sound like a lot!

[prolepsis]

If I were you, I'd bring it to a mechanic (not one that the current owners bring it to) and get it compression tested and generally looked over. I believe the factory values are 175 per cylinder. The engine should be within 10% of factory values for a solid engine, (tested value/factory value x 100). Also, if you give me the VIN, I'll run it through carfax for you. I've got an account until the 8th.



-Drew
'89 245DL
'91 325iX


prolepsis@softhome.net

[CHA914]

Well,

thanks for all the help guys...but unfortunately a local buyer bought the car before I could even go see it...bummer, sounded like a good one.

I am sure I will have more questions as the quest continues.

Tony