Seekig Input On Price of Car FS

[Brandon89]

Hey R3v Community,

I haven't posted in a while, but still drive my e30. A friend is considering a car that I came across, and I'm curious if y'all think the asking price is reasonable:

1992 325i Cabriolet 5 speed, 135k original miles

recent valve job, all engine maintenance current, new front suspension (struts & control arms), correctly redone front seats (heated), perfect dash, hard top option, 14" Weaves, completely redone A/C system, new clutch about 20k miles ago. Body and paint (Kashmiri Beige) perfect and original, except for some repair work on left rear 1/4. 1 owner, and maintained by my mechanic (with complete service records).

Asking $7,900

[UlrichFennec]

Pics would be nice tbh.

That hardtop alone is worth a pretty penny.

[IRON-E]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and ask for pics.

[Brandon89]

Photos are my quickies. The car's dirty, but you get the idea. It looks great in person. Valances are straight and unchipped, fogs are clear and unchipped, and lower "i" lip is intact. Obviously hard top is not on the car right now.

[UlrichFennec]

I mean, the hard top bumps up the value and so does the 5spd, since you rarely see verts with anything but the dreadful slushbox, but I wouldn't pay more than 6k imo. There's just not a big market for verts. They're slower, they're floppier and they're not the most practical things in the world.

Sure, they look great, but for the price he's asking, you could pick up a similar condition 325is and not have to deal with the issues of a vert.

[2mAn]

Ive never seen that color before. It looks more like a 4900 car if anything

[lukeADE335i]

All depends on whether you really want a vert I guess. If you're desperately seeking a good manual 325i vert with a hard top and you're going to keep it a few years, then why not go for it?

Much cheaper than a new civic on a payment plan :)

[mr2peak]

That color is good for $3k off the asking any day, probably more

[Das Delfin]

would have been nice if the car was clean with that asking price

here's what the car has going for it:

hard top
A/C conversion
complete records
rare color
late model
new clutch & recent service
no rust (CA car)

a hard top alone is 1500-2000 if you wanted to buy it separately. So without that this would be a 6k car. A clutch job would be around 800 to do. An A/C conversion could easily be 1k. So that brings it down to roughly 4k. Which is what I paid for mine and it has none of those things. Most cars need more work than this does, which it seems like is reflected in the price.

The nice thing about convertibles is they're generally in better shape than coupes because most of them were extra cars owned by affluent people.

You want to do a ton of research and make sure the A/C conversion has the correct sticker and that it works. And just give the whole car a good look over and get accustomed to it.

Personally I wouldn't get a hard top because there's really no need for it. I drove through new england winters with snow falling on my soft top and the car was fine. But lots of people like the top so you could easily turn around and sell it and effectively pay 6k for that car.

A BIG thing for convertibles is to make sure the interior is in good shape. If you have to redo the seats it's like 1k minimum.

Either way I think 7900 is a realistic asking price considering what this car has that others don't but I would check the car out and if it looks good offer him 7k

I can tell you my car had none of those things and I'm into it for more than his asking price

[reelizmpro]

The color is uncommon for a reason. Hard top in CA is pointless but people seem to go crazy for them so they are of value. Looks like a nice honest car but who really knows until you get it up on a lift. 92 5 speed facelifted vert is definitely a plus though.

[uturn]

That color is good for $3k off the asking any day, probably more

I'm going to take offence to this comment... lol
my kashmir beige e30 is worth just as much to me as my alpine mt2 coupe. And it's Kashmir beige, stop calling it bronzit.

[fight4life28]

I paid for red 92 vert two years ago for $3800, Came from cail 07 and had zero rust.
Good,
Came with tan interior
hardtop, stand, bmw oem wind screen, bmw oem e30 car cover, and many other accessories
husco armrest
100K on dash somewhat working odo and recordes
14" Weaves
r134 converted recently

Bad:
Needed rear window, was cracked and broken, original top
Auto:/
Blown struts

I would say $6500 or so is nice price for the car...I would say if you got it and it was mint then there asking price would be worth it....but I see you are still going to have to work at it abit to make it mint,

[Brandon89]

Thanks for all the feedback -- very useful. We took the car for a test drive today, and it feels great. Very responsive, tight, idles smoothly.

All the important parts of the interior are perfect -- seats (fronts redone correctly), dash. A mild/moderate detailing would make it near perfect. Personally, I like to keep cars as cosmetically stock as possible, so my only real issues were the aftermarket radio, door speakers, and armrest. Otherwise, it's turnkey.

They cleaned it up since the other day, so I could see the condition of the paint more clearly -- it's excellent throughout.

Like I said above, my mechanic (whom I've known for more than 10 years now) is brokering the sale for another long time client. He's done all the work, knows e30s well, and vouches for it's condition. And yes, the A/C R-134 conversion was complete and done correctly.