What's this e30 worth? Appraise it

[wodcutr]

You bet, if I saw this car FS on the side of the road I would certainly negotiate the price down as far as possible. I have no vested interest in this car. I just have a similar one much cleaner and lower mileage that I have FS and just listed on ebay. I can empathize with both sides of the table. The seller doesn't want to give the car away and the buyer wants to pay as little as possible. What is fair? IDK as each situation is different, but I know that if I owned that car I would not sell it for 2k because I could part it out for more than that. As far as the KBB or NADA we all know that that is just a bunch of BS. The KBB lists the value of an 84 325e as being the same as a 91 325i or within a few hundred dollars. We all know that a car that is in good shape is worth more than what the good book says. The KBB was created by dealers for their benefit not the consumers. Besides cars this old don't really have a set value...like I said earlier a car is only worth what a buyer will pay!

[th3blue]

i would ask 2350 and hope somebody counters with 2k. (but realistically take any offer over 1700)

[freeride53]

hey guys, here's the situation.
the car is under the name of my relative, who stopped using it a while back, as she got a new 335i e90. This car was garage kept its whole life (minus the last two years), previous owner (2nd owner) bought it used in 1992, from the original owner, which only put 1,500 miles on it. Original San Mateo car, bought brand new from Weatherford, in berkeley-everything is documented. As for the chain, how much would a job cost to get that taken care of? And the A/c is not messed up, blows cold-just that the knob only works past the 4th notch. Just wondering if it worth it for me buying it and putting it under my name, as I'm really looking towards doing a S50 swap on an e30 (or buying an e30 m3)

[2002maniac]

Are you sure it needs a new timing chain? Since you did not mention that it needed a new timing chain in the OP (you said, 'needs belt' and i understood that to mean one of the v-belts) I don't think you'd have to. A new timing chain tensioner would be a great idea though.

I would not pay over $1500 for that car since it is in rough shape and has higher mileage.

Would definitely make a good beater though if you can score it on the cheap side.

[wodcutr]

Most people do swaps to two door cars, but I have heard that the four door car flexes less as the b pillar is more centrally located. It is not unheard of to do that kind of thing to a 318i. The chain can be done for about 2 to 400 in parts depending how things look when you open her up. I would say that to pay a mechanic to do it my guess would be at least 700. If you are going to do a swap then doing your own wrenching is something you should be comfortable with so a pretty cheap fix IMO to have peace of mind. As far as the blower that is just the resister and is also a cheap fix. Given the history that you have of the car I would say that you probably have a winner and if you can get it pretty cheap like all the others have suggested then even better!

[Julien]

wodcutr: paragraphs. please.

[wodcutr]

wodcutr: paragraphs. please.

I did not know that this place required formal sentence structure. I will try to be better when posting longer posts! :p

[m3_eater]

I can report that a four-door makes a very good swap candidate. I enjoy the noticeable stiffness increase over my last E30 (an 1989 2dr).


.

[Alkasquawlik]

Offer $1300 and go from there

[StereoInstaller1]

Apologetically offer $1000.

Tell them it is likely worth more, but with so many issues to be fixed, plus MAJOR maintenance coming up soon, $1000 is fair.

[freeride53]

Haha just looking back at this thread and laughing at how little I knew about e30s. Well I ended up buying it for $800, and have spent maybe over a grand and half on parts. Everythings in check now, and it has been a very solid car. Do you guys think that an m50 will increase it's resale value?

[kingston]

Sure, a 24V swap will absoutely increase it's value.

[Streichholzschächtelchen]

Haha just looking back at this thread and laughing at how little I knew about e30s. Well I ended up buying it for $800, and have spent maybe over a grand and half on parts. Everythings in check now, and it has been a very solid car. Do you guys think that an m50 will increase it's resale value?

Dude just swap the problem parts out at pick n pull, not like they notice much of anything. Seriously yours isn't as close to a heap as mine is and I still see it as a candidate for an engine swap and future effort, as soon as I get the funds to do so.

[bernzpeed]

I would offer $1500 max because of the work involved to make it worthy of blue book value.
I bought my E30 for $700.

[freeride53]

I would offer $1500 max because of the work involved to make it worthy of blue book value.
I bought my E30 for $700.

Are you refering to the car as of the original post from 2 years ago? I have replaced too many parts on it to list, it looks, and feels like a whole different car... (see project thread in sig) ;)