Thinking about an (a specific) e30 for my dad...

[Vivek]

I was dead serious.

This guy is on this board:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1988-BMW-325is-classic-Meticulously-Maintained-Excellent-condition-must-see-/270857599605?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f105efa75#ht_852wt_1165

This car was at $7500 with a few days left before the lister pulled the listing (I'm assuming he sold it locally):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd=ViewItem&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649&item=300664531344&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT#ht_558wt_1165

However for an e30 to be worth $7k it has to have 1 or 2 owners, either has to be mint with low miles or mint with service records. No BS. I see new paint, I instantly assume that the old paint either look like shit because it was not well cared for/garaged or that it was in an accident. I wouldn't want to pay a lot for a car that had even an sub par paint job ($7k is a lot considering you can get a new car for $11k). Lets be honest e30s aren't the most practical daily drivers, so things like paint definitely matter, especially at that kind of price. If your pops is the type who doesn't give a shit about what his daily driver is buy a Honda Civic instead of an e30. FWD, 30 mpg and you can beat the shit of em all the way to 200k miles. If he's considering that kinda money for an e30 you can do a shit load better for $7k. Hell my car was $7k with 120k miles and service records and I have 1 of the 18 authentic 5 spd sterling mtII verts that the us received.

Thank you for the best, most respectful advice in this thread. I showed him the brillantrot 318ic on here for 7k, but ultimately, he'd rather spend that kinda money on an e46. Something like http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/2859654016.html would be the best for him, I think.

[CrusherCurtis]

You do know he said that in a mocking way, right?

I was dead serious.

This guy is on this board:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1988-BMW-325is-classic-Meticulously-Maintained-Excellent-condition-must-see-/270857599605?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f105efa75#ht_852wt_1165

This car was at $7500 with a few days left before the lister pulled the listing (I'm assuming he sold it locally):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd=ViewItem&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649&item=300664531344&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT#ht_558wt_1165

However for an e30 to be worth $7k it has to have 1 or 2 owners, either has to be mint with low miles or mint with service records. No BS. I see new paint, I instantly assume that the old paint either look like shit because it was not well cared for/garaged or that it was in an accident. I wouldn't want to pay a lot for a car that had even an sub par paint job ($7k is a lot considering you can get a new car for $11k). Lets be honest e30s aren't the most practical daily drivers, so things like paint definitely matter, especially at that kind of price. If your pops is the type who doesn't give a shit about what his daily driver is buy a Honda Civic instead of an e30. FWD, 30 mpg and you can beat the shit of em all the way to 200k miles. If he's considering that kinda money for an e30 you can do a shit load better for $7k. Hell my car was $7k with 120k miles and service records and I have 1 of the 18 authentic 5 spd sterling mtII verts that the us received.

[Vivek]

are you looking at this car for your dad or more geared towards your taste?
chances are your dad knows nothing about e30's and to pick out a car you want is a bit selfish.

sources: i remember being 15/16 looking for what i thought my dad may like which in reality really ended up being what i wanted.

He had a '91 e30 wayyy back when so he knows/likes them. I do understand that he would rather have an e46 for the price of the one that Farbin posted.

[RUFFLZ]

are you looking at this car for your dad or more geared towards your taste?..i think it's the latter
chances are your dad knows nothing about e30's and to pick out a car you want is a bit selfish.

sources: i remember being 15/16 looking for what i thought my dad may like which in reality really ended up being what i wanted.

[Vivek]

Me, personally? No. Not for that price.

That's fair. He wants what he put into it which i feel is not gonna happen, but he's obviously not willing to negotiate much.

[Danny]

Me, personally? No. Not for that price.

[Vivek]

You obviously are not well versed in e30's, and are not willing to listen to people that know more than you. Go ahead, buy the car, then spend thousands of dollars trying to fix the cluster.

I'm trying to learn no need to be so rude. I'm more than willing to listen to people, I'm just trying to understand why EVERYONE is against this car so much with such little evidence against it. Trust me, I look for every reason to not buy a car, but I want to make sure it's a valid reason before I pass up something that could have been a nice car.

I don't get why you're so quick to say that I'm not willing to listen. I feel like everyone was so quick to pass judgement on the car that they didn't even give it a change. Do you not feel that way?


Tell me this: if a PPI finds that the owner is not lying about the cluster, it idles perfectly at 7-800, and everything else is perfect as he says, would you buy the car?

[Farbin Kaiber]

You obviously are not well versed in e30's, and are not willing to listen to people that know more than you. Go ahead, buy the car, then spend thousands of dollars trying to fix the cluster.

[Farbin Kaiber]

You do know he said that in a mocking way, right?

[Vivek]

It looks nice, not for that kind of money though. I would not pay that kind of money for something with bottle caps and a shitty paint job. However whether we like to admit or not a well maintained 5 speed coupe is a $7k dollar car at this point (or at least per ebay).

Finally, someone on my side. The paint honestly isn't terrible. I didn't see it in the daylight so I really couldn't tell much. It was decent. Better than most e30's for sure. It's not something my dad really values so it's less of a factor. I feel like maybe there is just something wrong with the cluster based on the speedo.

To me, there's no proof that this car isn't built amazingly and we may just be making a big deal out of something my dad and the owner never even thought about.

[CrusherCurtis]

It looks nice, not for that kind of money though. I would not pay that kind of money for something with bottle caps and a shitty paint job. However whether we like to admit or not a well maintained 5 speed coupe is a $7k dollar car at this point (or at least per ebay).

[Court M3]

Never heard of a miscalibrated tach. there is a vacumn somewhere causing that higher than normal idle.

[Vivek]

How do I know that guy didn't cut any corners? I'll talk to my dad about that one but I like the car you linked (saw it for sale when it was first posted)...at least the body and paint is better, but from the pics that's all i can really see.


Basically, i can get an e46 in almost as good condition as the e30 above for like 10k, and then it's just...where do you draw the line? I don't get why everyone thinks the car is fishy. Is a miscalibrated tach completely unheard of? If i can verify that it idles at 800 would you guys have a different opinion on the car?

[Farbin Kaiber]

For that much coin, I'd either save another $2,000 or bargin down that really nice e30 going for $9,500.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=229208

[Vivek]

He just resealed the engine top to bottom, my bet is a vac leak somewhere, if that's the case, what else did he do wrong? Enjoy your can of worms if you buy it.

That's what i'm worried about. He says he's 100% confident in the work and to go ahead and have a shop check it out, which we may do. For all i know, he could be telling the truth (which I really want to believe), and my only tip off is that the speedometer at rest is higher than any other e30 i've seen (it's at probably 2-3 MPH, the one on my e30 is like -5). If it doesn't check out okay (vacuum leak or otherwise), it's just another nice car that's slightly overpriced.

What do you guys think of that logic?