Since this is my first post I'll do a little bit of an introduction.
Overall I am a German car nut. Like BMWs and Porsches most of all. I help run a German car show in PA, the Deutsche Classic. There were several e30s there so I would not be surprised if a board member or two from here was there. Here is the set for all to see. My current car is fail wheel drive 2000 Jetta. I also have a 67' at home(I'm a college student) that is a project car, if there is any interest I can post a build(?) thread of it, which so far has been rebuilding the brakes/new lines/some minor engine work. I've been wanting a DD more exciting than the Jetta since about I first got it(4-5 years ago). It had to be German, not FWD, not ridiculously expensive, not look terrible (bye bye 80s porsches), have 3 pedals, take some spirited driving abuse, and most importantly have some power. It was probably around mid 2008 that I realized the e30 was the way to go. I did the research and found that I wanted an 89+ 325i(s)(x)2 dr, 5 speed. Being in PA an IX would be ideal but they are fairly rare, require some pricey parts and the transfer case tends to give up the ghost with high power motors. So I've decided a stock IX for winter and a 325i/is for the rest of the year is the way to go. The IX will have to wait for now but I've checked out several 325i cars in the past year. Some were real nice and too much, some were misrepesented (long story short drive 300 miles to a "perfect" car, power steering was shot, ac was shot, interior was shot, learned my lesson on trying to buy a car before seeing it in person) and etc.
But here we are today and I have a question. I'm looking at an '89 325i. I checked it out on tuesday. It has 126K miles on it, the ad said alls it needs is a muffler and inspection. It said $1850 obo. I'm thinking this is on the low end, this should be a treat. Of course I get there at the agreed upon time and the owner is nowhere to be found. So I start checking out the car and 10 min later he rolls up. I look it over pretty good, I looked at several stickied threads of "Buying an e30 what to look for" and I've looked at a few e30s earlier so I wasn't a complete noob. Overall it wasn't too bad one of the first things I noticed was the the gap between the hood and pass fender wasn't even. Some very minor surface rust on the body. Some rust at the ends of both rocker panels. Underneath was fairly rust free, but the was a rust hole at the driver side floormat area underneath. The shock towers looked good. The driver's front fender is messed up, the guy hit a deer and did a so-so bondo fix on it and it had a long vertical crinkle by the driver door. The grille had some cracks in it but overall wasn't too bad. Then I got into the interior, which wasn't too bad besides the seats are fairly worn out and the top half of the handle being ripped off the door panel. So then I popped the hood. This car is alpine white, the engine bay was sand tan. The valve cover gasket looks like it has been leaking for years, and the entire block on that side has a oily layer of grudge. The thin sheet metal above the driver side head light was slightly crinkled from the deer's impact, nothing that couldn't get pounded out with at hammer and dolly. Then the drive. The guy fired the car up (which took like 2 seconds, is this normal for a ~25 degree start?), and it blew a fair amount of white smoke out, and not water vapor type of smoke. When viewed with bright white snow in the background the "white" smoke then looked kinda brownish. It had a solid idle and made the slight ticking that I've come to realize is normal of the m20. I got in to take for a spin, I noticed that the brake lining light is on, the oil change color lights are all on. As I'm driving it the clutch feels good, the brakes feel kinda mushy, I got the usual grin when I punched the gas pedal, shifter felt like it was do for a rebuild, steering felt a bit tweaky, probably needs an alignment and probably new tie rods and stuff. I stalled it once and had the key in the on position, and I noticed the ABS light was off while the rest were on, which is shady. The gas gauge needle was flying back and forth. And then came the best part.
I was halfway through my test drive when I noticed it was starting to overheat.
So when I got back I mentioned it to the guy and he turned on the heat and let it sit and idle for a bit and it came down a little but I've driven others and I know the needle sits in the middle. So know I'm thinking between this and the white smoke this thing has a messed up headgasket/cracked head (maybe, tell me what you think it is).
So I told the guy I'm going to run the vin and ask my one friend (mech at a bmw dealer) about seeing if he would look over the car (which he's pretty much told me to stay away from after telling him all this). So I ran the vin and whaddya know it has had a reconstructed title since 1999, which would explain the fender vins being mismatched to the car vin (forgot to mention earlier) and the uneven panel gap.
So other than the overheating/head problem, all the other problems are not absolutely critical and can be fixed in time. At this point I wouldn't pay more than $500 for the car. Which is a far cry from his $1850 price. So would you guys say even for 500 bucks I would get hosed or should I see if he would take 500 for it after telling him all the probs with it. Or would that be like too insulting. I've never bought a car straight from a person (the Jetta I got at an auto auction) so idk. Tell me what you think if you've bothered to read all this.
Overall I am a German car nut. Like BMWs and Porsches most of all. I help run a German car show in PA, the Deutsche Classic. There were several e30s there so I would not be surprised if a board member or two from here was there. Here is the set for all to see. My current car is fail wheel drive 2000 Jetta. I also have a 67' at home(I'm a college student) that is a project car, if there is any interest I can post a build(?) thread of it, which so far has been rebuilding the brakes/new lines/some minor engine work. I've been wanting a DD more exciting than the Jetta since about I first got it(4-5 years ago). It had to be German, not FWD, not ridiculously expensive, not look terrible (bye bye 80s porsches), have 3 pedals, take some spirited driving abuse, and most importantly have some power. It was probably around mid 2008 that I realized the e30 was the way to go. I did the research and found that I wanted an 89+ 325i(s)(x)2 dr, 5 speed. Being in PA an IX would be ideal but they are fairly rare, require some pricey parts and the transfer case tends to give up the ghost with high power motors. So I've decided a stock IX for winter and a 325i/is for the rest of the year is the way to go. The IX will have to wait for now but I've checked out several 325i cars in the past year. Some were real nice and too much, some were misrepesented (long story short drive 300 miles to a "perfect" car, power steering was shot, ac was shot, interior was shot, learned my lesson on trying to buy a car before seeing it in person) and etc.
But here we are today and I have a question. I'm looking at an '89 325i. I checked it out on tuesday. It has 126K miles on it, the ad said alls it needs is a muffler and inspection. It said $1850 obo. I'm thinking this is on the low end, this should be a treat. Of course I get there at the agreed upon time and the owner is nowhere to be found. So I start checking out the car and 10 min later he rolls up. I look it over pretty good, I looked at several stickied threads of "Buying an e30 what to look for" and I've looked at a few e30s earlier so I wasn't a complete noob. Overall it wasn't too bad one of the first things I noticed was the the gap between the hood and pass fender wasn't even. Some very minor surface rust on the body. Some rust at the ends of both rocker panels. Underneath was fairly rust free, but the was a rust hole at the driver side floormat area underneath. The shock towers looked good. The driver's front fender is messed up, the guy hit a deer and did a so-so bondo fix on it and it had a long vertical crinkle by the driver door. The grille had some cracks in it but overall wasn't too bad. Then I got into the interior, which wasn't too bad besides the seats are fairly worn out and the top half of the handle being ripped off the door panel. So then I popped the hood. This car is alpine white, the engine bay was sand tan. The valve cover gasket looks like it has been leaking for years, and the entire block on that side has a oily layer of grudge. The thin sheet metal above the driver side head light was slightly crinkled from the deer's impact, nothing that couldn't get pounded out with at hammer and dolly. Then the drive. The guy fired the car up (which took like 2 seconds, is this normal for a ~25 degree start?), and it blew a fair amount of white smoke out, and not water vapor type of smoke. When viewed with bright white snow in the background the "white" smoke then looked kinda brownish. It had a solid idle and made the slight ticking that I've come to realize is normal of the m20. I got in to take for a spin, I noticed that the brake lining light is on, the oil change color lights are all on. As I'm driving it the clutch feels good, the brakes feel kinda mushy, I got the usual grin when I punched the gas pedal, shifter felt like it was do for a rebuild, steering felt a bit tweaky, probably needs an alignment and probably new tie rods and stuff. I stalled it once and had the key in the on position, and I noticed the ABS light was off while the rest were on, which is shady. The gas gauge needle was flying back and forth. And then came the best part.
I was halfway through my test drive when I noticed it was starting to overheat.
So when I got back I mentioned it to the guy and he turned on the heat and let it sit and idle for a bit and it came down a little but I've driven others and I know the needle sits in the middle. So know I'm thinking between this and the white smoke this thing has a messed up headgasket/cracked head (maybe, tell me what you think it is).
So I told the guy I'm going to run the vin and ask my one friend (mech at a bmw dealer) about seeing if he would look over the car (which he's pretty much told me to stay away from after telling him all this). So I ran the vin and whaddya know it has had a reconstructed title since 1999, which would explain the fender vins being mismatched to the car vin (forgot to mention earlier) and the uneven panel gap.
So other than the overheating/head problem, all the other problems are not absolutely critical and can be fixed in time. At this point I wouldn't pay more than $500 for the car. Which is a far cry from his $1850 price. So would you guys say even for 500 bucks I would get hosed or should I see if he would take 500 for it after telling him all the probs with it. Or would that be like too insulting. I've never bought a car straight from a person (the Jetta I got at an auto auction) so idk. Tell me what you think if you've bothered to read all this.
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