Need Advice: New car for 5-7k

[sacbmwdriver]

M50 e34 5 speed will be fun enough. An reliable as long as the cooling system has been replaced in my opinion. I had a 1993 525i before. I don't really like e36 except for m3. But I am biased toward e34 haha

[Pantless Spency]

here man, take it or leave it might be ugly but sounds well put back together and for a price you can't really argue...
and it's still a bimmer!

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/2309226310.html

[Pantless Spency]

or this, fix whatevers wrong, good gas milage ;) and not autotragic

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/2310731320.html

[Pantless Spency]

or you could buy this, truly classy, exterior looks good but not to sure if its running

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/cto/2299425400.html

[kingston]

My E36 (`94 325is) was very reliable. I did the usual cooling system upgrade those cars need, and had to replace the coils. Other than that, just drove the crap out of that car, and loved every second of it.

The 328 doesn't really make any more power than the 325 unless you go to the trouble of swapping the 325 manifold over to the 328 (PITA...

[ill4noreason]

You could just spend 1000 bucks on a reliable DD and not finance.

Agreed.
Whatever you choose drive a few different cars to see the difference. I had an 03 civic. It was reliable but slow as shit and handled horrible in stock form. It felt so plain. Especially after having come from an 07 gti... I don't know but personally I won't buy another car unless it is fun to drive. After 3 months of the civic I hated driving it...

[nando]

Civic/corolla? gross!

an E36 doesn't sound bad if you leave it stock. They're basically reliable cars, and they're getting cheap. Maybe even a 318i?

[Kershaw]

^ my thoughts exactly.

try not to finance a $3000 car though. i had a friend pick up a very good condition 318ti that someone had broken into and smashed the ignition cylinder. $1300.

[5spoke]

Get a cheap civic and call it a day. Having two cars that require work is a pain in the ass. As soon as you fix one thing on one the other is going to need something. Its nice to be able to enjoy getting around without having to work on things constantly. This makes working on the car a hobby, not a necessity. Typically when something becomes required, it becomes much less enjoyable and much more of a pain in the ass.

[JRowe]

e34 540i with six speed manual. End of discussion.

[herbie]

How about an e46?

[Earendil]

I was in a similar boat recently. I ended up buying an E46 for 6K. It's a 2000 328i.
Here is why:

1. Not a rocket ship, but fast enough to not annoy me trying to get on a freeway.
2. Handles curves without being scary.
3. Safe.
4. Two BMWs in my driveway
5. All my tools work
6. Pretty solid community around it
7. I can keep shopping at bimmerworld and Pelicanparts.
8. It's familiar


But that said, I was prepared for the weak points. Window regulators, subframe ripping, VANOS issues. But if you are prepared to do a motor swap, you can probably take care of these once a decade issues if they haven't been taken care of already.

But that's me. I still have an E30 for a weekend fun car. The E46 is just good enough to not but me while I drive it, while being an amazing daily driver in general. Some people wouldn't be annoyed by driving an Accord, I would.

[herbie]

i was in a similar boat recently. I ended up buying an e46 for 6k. It's a 2000 328i.
Here is why:

1. Not a rocket ship, but fast enough to not annoy me trying to get on a freeway.
2. Handles curves without being scary.
3. Safe.
4. Two bmws in my driveway
5. All my tools work
6. Pretty solid community around it
7. I can keep shopping at bimmerworld and pelicanparts.
8. It's familiar


but that said, i was prepared for the weak points. Window regulators, subframe ripping, vanos issues. But if you are prepared to do a motor swap, you can probably take care of these once a decade issues if they haven't been taken care of already.

But that's me. I still have an e30 for a weekend fun car. The e46 is just good enough to not but me while i drive it, while being an amazing daily driver in general. Some people wouldn't be annoyed by driving an accord, i would.

+1

[b*saint]

Nothing German.

[F34R]

Buy something cheap, that is dead nuts reliable.

Civic/Accord/Camry/Corolla/Altima/etc.

It's nice to not be worrying about your DD, when you are messing around with a project car.

1+ on a Honda. I loved the MPG I got from my 91 hatch. Cheap to fix when something went wrong. Cannot beat a Honda, I would take one again no problem =)