Need R3vs advice once again..

[TooTall90]

you guys may recall me asking for advice on a 97 540i that my brother wanted to buy. well he is asking me to "ask those smart BMW people on that website" if his recent find is a good one.

the contender is a 1993 325is, 5speed, 2dr alpineW II.
i wont bother posting the CL ad cause its pretty empty it has 163xxx miles. i drove it today and it felt good, body is clean (florida car)interior is 6/10 has a short shifter installed (for w/e thats worth). asking price is $3200. i know the earlier e36 have more problems or atleast thats what ive heard. heres what i want to know...

1. hows the price?
2. any common problems (i.e. timming belt for m20)
3. are the expensive/high maintenece.
4. how can i tell if the m50 has VANOS?
5. any other useful info or things i should look out for?

i wish i could be more help to my brother myself but i spent a very long time getting to know e30's, and only e30's. i can't imagine spending the same time learning about the e36's etc., so im asking R3V to help me out again. thanks

[shiftbmw]

well he is asking me to "ask those smart BMW people on that website" if his recent find is a good one.

the contender is a 1993 325is, 5speed, 2dr alpineW II.
i wont bother posting the CL ad cause its pretty empty it has 163xxx miles. i drove it today and it felt good, body is clean (florida car)interior is 6/10 has a short shifter installed (for w/e thats worth). asking price is $3200. i know the earlier e36 have more problems or atleast thats what ive heard. heres what i want to know...

1. hows the price?
2. any common problems (i.e. timming belt for m20)
3. are the expensive/high maintenece.
4. how can i tell if the m50 has VANOS?
5. any other useful info or things i should look out for?

i wish i could be more help to my brother myself but i spent a very long time getting to know e30's, and only e30's. i can't imagine spending the same time learning about the e36's etc., so im asking R3V to help me out again. thanks

1)Price seems a tad high...the regular E36's are going for next to nothing nowadays. If you get it for between 2600 and 3k you're probably doing ok.

2)Ya, there are some common problems, as with any car. THe M3's have shock tower issues, waterpump issues, etc. I'm not certain about the regular cars...perhaps someone else can chime in.

3)If you get a well maintained car regular maintenance isn't too bad. If you get a neglected one, catchup maintenance is expensive.

4)I believe they got vanos motors starting in 93. Unless the motor has been swapped, it likely has it.

5)Just make sure it's straight and in good shape. It's cheap and easy enough to work on if there are minor things so don't sweat the small stuff.

Good luck.

[e30slut]

to tell if it has vanos, look at the front of the head like where the distributr would be on an m20. If it has a large portruding metal cover...... its vanos. If its flat then no