WTB M3 found this on Autotrader...

[sniskanen]

Is this decent deal? It seems a bit steep to me for a 120k mile 97... What should I look for/ ask about when talking to the seller?
I'm located in Portland BTW. Thanks!

link: http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=190047823&dealer_id=56974871&car_year=1997&model=M3&bkms=1129010288800&lang=en&isp=y&start_year=1981&certified=&search_type=both&distance=75&make=BMW&min_price=1&address=98663&advanced=&end_year=2006&max_price=17000&cardist=15

[NSM]

Wow that car has an AA Gen I exhaust ... old school. Anyways, I'd talk him down about 2 grand or at least try to. The cars mileage isn't bad at all and the car looks like its in great shape. The only thing you have to worry about is by the mods on the car you don't really know who owned it previously and how hard they drove it. Try and see if you can get some maintenence records etc..

[sniskanen]

Yeah, the kbb value is a little under $13k (if the car were in excellent cond), but I guess the car is sort of a rare.

How old school is the exhaust setup BTW? Is that setup really that much better than stock?

thanks for the input

[///M LIFE©]

That car is not really rare. 4 door stick M3 is quite common, but was only made after 97-99.
Take him down on price and do get the maintenance history

[sniskanen]

Maybe I just can't find any in my area (portland).. I'm thinking it might be worth it to get one under 100k miles, but I am still going to check this one out.

[TAMUmpower]

HAHA, Yea all 120K miles are "highway miles". I love when people try to tell you that. What they mean is .....maybe 20% are highway miles...

[sniskanen]

yeah, that's not really possible. I wonder if he's trying to cover up the fact that he mashed on it...

[///M LIFE©]

HAHA, Yea all 120K miles are "highway miles". I love when people try to tell you that. What they mean is .....maybe 20% are highway miles...

I think thats worse. That means more rock chips etc.

[sniskanen]

I'll check it out later this month..

[bob martin]

My car has 134,000 miles, almost all highway. When I pull out of my driveway, I am on a rural highway. I then drive 3 miles to the freeway. I then drive 48 miles on the freeway. I get off the freeway and drive one mile of surface streets to work. So, other than a few extra miles going to the hardware store and etc. (mostly done on rural highways), my car is all highway miles.

And I have the stone chips to prove it!

Bob Martin

[NickSimcheck]

The way I look at it, highway miles are a bad thing.

Stone chips, everything is spinning faster so the tranny gets hotter, the diff gets hotter, suspention gets to hit bumps at twice the speed that it usually would, etc.

[John V]

The way I look at it, highway miles are a bad thing.
Stone chips, everything is spinning faster so the tranny gets hotter, the diff gets hotter, suspention gets to hit bumps at twice the speed that it usually would, etc.

Ugh. No. Highway miles are some of the easiest miles you can put on a car.

The high-wear miles are city miles. Stop and go is harder on the engine, transmission, brakes, suspension and clutch due to all the accelerative forces. On the freeway, you're at a constant speed.

It's cheap to get a bumper resprayed for rock chips. (Better yet, get some clearbra).

It's expensive and time consuming to go through a car's suspension and replace every bushing, tie rod, and ball joint.

[Danny K]

i just bought my 97 hellrot 5spd coupe 2 weeks ago. GREAT shape, much better than ones i was looking at asking 19,500$. I paid 17,200 and had it checked out by a local BMW dealership. It has black interior with just a little bolster wear on the vaders (MUCH less than others i went and looked at). It is all around great looking and running car. Thats just to give u a small comparison. So in my mind, that price you are lookin at is steep. Good luck.

[John V]

FWIW, I just sold my '95. 73k miles, and literally mint inside and out. A few performance mods. $17,000.

[NSM]

The AA Gen I exhaust was one of their first systems. It's a good system. The gains on it are pretty good. Obviously the quality is good because that system is at least 4 years old.

[Eli at Pelican]

Lots of miles to consider..... Maybe if the car had 75-85K IMO......

-Eli

[JETninja]

I do 70m a day every day. When I say Highway I mean it. I put over a 100k on my cars in under 5 yrs. 98% of it is nice easy cruising at 80mph on the 405 freeway. Car is running cool, tranny is not being rowed, no clutch action, minimum steering input, smooth road surface so suspension is not getting worked out. Easiest miles a car can see. I'd take a 120K car driven like that over any 70K car driven back and forth to 10 mile away job in the city.

[Eli at Pelican]

I do 70m a day every day. When I say Highway I mean it. I put over a 100k on my cars in under 5 yrs. 98% of it is nice easy cruising at 80mph on the 405 freeway. Car is running cool, tranny is not being rowed, no clutch action, minimum steering input, smooth road surface so suspension is not getting worked out. Easiest miles a car can see. I'd take a 120K car driven like that over any 70K car driven back and forth to 10 mile away job in the city.

80 MPH on the 405? When 2AM :eek:

-Eli

[JETninja]

6am South OC to Long Beach (last couple miles slow down) and out at 3:30 at the latest..first few miles are slower in a couple spots. Any later and lots of slow downs...not a bad drive usually at the times I go....

[Eli at Pelican]

Only way I can swing those times is in the carpool up the 110..... :)

-Eli

[Azaka]

That car seems way overpriced. I bought a '98 sedan, white, completely stock, one owner, in very good shape for 12.5k. I'd drive it and then try to talk him down quite a bit.

[Eli at Pelican]

That car seems way overpriced. I bought a '98 sedan, white, completely stock, one owner, in very good shape for 12.5k. I'd drive it and then try to talk him down quite a bit.

Your buyer must have not known much about what he had. He might have tried looking under KBB for a 3-series not M3......

Sounds like you just lucked out.... Provided that you didn't purchase it with 150,000 miles.... :stickoutt

-Eli

[sniskanen]

kbb value is approx. $ 12,950 for this car.

[Azaka]

125k miles on it, mostly highway. The car is in extremely good shape. I've put about 3k miles on it since I've had it for a little over a month and had it on track once (have another event this weekend). There are good deals out there but they might not be easy to find.

[Eli at Pelican]

125K is the reason...... :) Thought it was too good 2b true.

[sniskanen]

I think I'd rather buy a stock or almost stock m3 so I know that it hasn't been mashed on... I've seen a few m3's that are in my price range w/ superchargers or turbo and a bunch of other mods done, but I can't help but assume that those cars are going to break down soon, since they all had like 120k+ miles on them... bottom line, I want a car that I can drive every day without ever being stuck on the side of the road! thats not too much to ask for, is it?

[m3rdpower]

Wow im selling my 97 for 9k, only got 175k miles.

[fcocca]

Is this decent deal? It seems a bit steep to me for a 120k mile 97... What should I look for/ ask about when talking to the seller?
I'm located in Portland BTW. Thanks!
link: http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=190047823&dealer_id=56974871&car_year=1997&model=M3&bkms=1129010288800&lang=en&isp=y&start_year=1981&certified=&search_type=both&distance=75&make=BMW&min_price=1&address=98663&advanced=&end_year=2006&max_price=17000&cardist=15
Hey sniskanen,
I own a 97 M3/4 120,000 miles (mostly I-95 highway MD-NYCity plus dozens of track events) on it that I bought from the original owner with 13,000 miles. It is my understanding that BMW produced 7,000-8,000 M3/4's for North America; not rare IMO. At 111,000 miles this year I spent about $3,500 in parts&labor on preventative maintenance which included: rear OEM wheel bearings that had never been replaced; rear OEM subframe bushings; rear OEM trailing arm bushings; rear TMSport control arms; differential OEM bushings; OEM guibo (my 3rd one); OEM shift-linkage bushing; new transmission mounts. The car now drives as new as I think I'll ever get it. This on a car that I replaced front bearings, radiator & water pump on at 60,000mi.

So, check major body panels for presence of the desireable BMW black&white barcode label or the undesireable orange D.O.T.-R replacement label. If you find a D.O.T, pay a neutral professional to look it over. Test-drive your prospective M3/4, operate every concievable electrical doo-dad on it, check the soft parts mentioned above for distress while the car is off the ground. Also I personally would not pay KBBook value on a 120,000 mile because I'm aware of the value-added cost of refreshing the maintenance items. I think even KBB disclaims that car values in the "fair" category vary widely. If it meets your expectations, negotiate your price. If not, there are a few thousand other M3/4's in circulation.
Good luck, FRed

[sniskanen]

thanks for the good advice, fred. I'm gonna get a checklist going for when I start actually checking out cars in person. I'll definitely add yours to the list! I definitely want to know what I am facing as far as maintanence is concerned, especially on a car with this many miles... This information is invaluable to me! thanks