For Sale: 1985 325e, one owner, $6950, MO (Kansas City area)

[AustinCooper]

Pictures and a couple of videos here.

For sale is my beloved 1985 325e, 6-cylinder, 2.7 liter engine, 5 speed stick shift. I bought it new from a US dealer who arrange for "European delivery", so I picked it up in Munich in June 1985. I have always done all oil changes and all BMW recommended maintenance religiously. This means oil changes every 3,750 miles, and all services recommended by BMW (various levels performed every 7,500 miles, 15,000 miles, 30,000 miles, and 60,000 miles.) I have all service records.

The car has 276,000 miles. The engine was changed at about 180,000 miles. The original engine was destroyed after the oil pan was cracked by a slide on ice into a curb, and the oil light was not working, causing the engine to run out of oil with no warning. The replacement engine was taken from an identical car with about 30,000 fewer miles than my car. At that time the engine and clutch were overhauled to replace any worn components.

It has black leather seats. The finish on the leather is worn on the driver's side, less on the passenger's side, and almost no wear on the back seat. Except for 2-3 years when it was new, the car has always been garaged. It was never driven in bad weather (I have always owned a Jeep for bad weather driving). There is no rust anywhere. The clear coat is starting to wear off in a few places.
Various other points:

• The interior is in good shape, headliner is great, no cracks in the dash.
• The car has limited slip differential.
• The finish on the alloy wheels has largely worn off.
• It has Michelin Pilot Exalto tires that have about 12,000 miles on them but these tires are at least 10 years old.
• The instrument cluster has been replaced, causing the odometer to read far fewer miles than are actually on the car.
• Right turn signal indicator light on instrument cluster is burned out (indicators still work fine).
• The temperature gauge is a little sticky but still works (if you tap it when the car warms up).
• It has an FM/Cassette radio which is virtually worn out. The cassette part does not work, and several of the radio control buttons are wearing out.
• Cruise control turns itself off sometimes when you hit a bump and cannot be turned back on until the car is turned off and restarted.

[AustinCooper]

Hi friends, me again (the seller)... if any of you have advice for me regarding how to sell my 325e, I'll be glad to hear it. Thanks.

[John Adkins]

I love my 84 325e, the torque and the mileage. Fairly price, IMO. Good luck with the sale.

[cabin]

Looks like a solid E30, it's almost the same spec as the one I used to have. The 325e is just a tough sell in general as far as E30's go. Couple that with the mileage and paint issues with this example, I think you may be a touch high on the price. If I was in the market, I'd probably put this in the 5-6k range. It's also not a great time of the year to sell one of these, so maybe try and hold out until spring.

[AustinCooper]

Sounds right. Thanks for your thoughts.

[rotokim]

Great looking E30. Lots of great information for an informed buy. Good luck with the sale!