Advice on this 1991 bmw 318i alpine for sale

[xcx4x]

Hi Everyone!

I came across this listing on Craigslist and was wondering what your opinion was on the recent maintenance relative to the listing price of the car. Is the recent maintenance the owner listed justifying the $3000 (1900 pounds) price tag?

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/cto/4055456228.html

Speaking to my brother, he says this car would be more in the range of $1500-$2000 (950 - 1266 pounds)

However, I am willing to pay up to $2500 (1581 pounds) for this car because it has 4 main things that I want in my e30:
1. manual
2. white on black
3. 4 door
4. 318i

What do you all think of
1. the price. what would you pay for it?
2. the amount of mods/maintenance hes done on it. be wary?
3. my 4 main things i want in my e30. do you think any of these are "unecessary" or "not a big deal?"

Thanks!

[series88]

I personally think its a bit much. ad talks about all the mods that he spent on, but he took all of those out. seems like it has issues as well

[absolutdog]

I've bought 2 318i for less than a grand a piece...
honestly the 4 door 318 is generally the cheapest of the e30 pack
though just like this one you'll more thane likely swap in a coupe interior to get the interior you want... I'd wait for doors that work too..as that likely means the selinoids are frozen and when you remove them to get the back doors open the rear power locks won't work until you replace them

[xcx4x]

I personally think its a bit much. ad talks about all the mods that he spent on, but he took all of those out. seems like it has issues as well

ohhh this i did not notice. so from the pictures you see none of the things he listed? then if i do check out the car this weekend i should notice if the pictures are different from what he has on the car at the moment. because from the ad, it seems like he put IN all these things, and that what i am buying comes with all of this. To be honest, i don't know the weight of a lot of the things he listed...

I've bought 2 318i for less than a grand a piece...
honestly the 4 door 318 is generally the cheapest of the e30 pack
though just like this one you'll more thane likely swap in a coupe interior to get the interior you want... I'd wait for doors that work too..as that likely means the selinoids are frozen and when you remove them to get the back doors open the rear power locks won't work until you replace them

yikes...do you think this is a costly fix?

thank you all so far for your replies. it has already helped me tremendously because it gives me more things to think about.

[absolutdog]

all the mods he lists are in the pics... judging the ride height it isn't sitting stock...
and it shouldn't cost much to by a couple of used part to fix the rear doors

though hard to tell from the pics the drivers seat looks a little beat...6buttlon lcd is cracked
and there are 2 steering wheels pictured... the one in the last pic is more valuable but has no airbag
has a rear plate filler ($60) and it looks like someone 'red'ed the tail lights

[word is bond]

Well - you'll want sports seats, but it doesn't look like the ones in there are in great condition. Maintenance probably means more than mileage, but 250k is still quite a bit. No word in the advertisement on timing components or mess under the intake.
How long have you been looking? When I was looking for my 318is about a year ago, 318i were pretty undervalued. You get same DOHC M42 so basically, if you do what he did - suspension overhaul, is lips for front and rear, plus sports seats, you've got the same car with four doors (it's not even bigger since 2 and 4drs are the same length).
There's plenty of E30 buyer's guides, so look for rust in all the usual places, and if you aren't under any time pressure to buy a car, don't be a afraid to be patient.

[KIRIEIW]

I remember seeing that car parked in Burlingame before i even owned a e30, or was for sale. went to go check it out and some 20 year old girl comes running out of store in a shitty attitude saying "what are you doing to my car?!?!" and I just reply "admiring it, it's a nice e30" and she didn't even know what a e30 was. I think she replied something along the lines of "no it's a BMW, my dad bought it for me". It's a 318 dude it's not that cool even though it's stanced

[3vilE30]

You can find numerous 325i/is/es's in great condition for the same price as this. The first picture seems very appealing, but then again on the following pictures looks like the wheels were changed and the roof rack was taken off as well as the euro smileys. IMO the
"thousands" he spent on this was taken back. I've seen this car up for a while its been taken down then back up few months later, I say pass on it unless you really want a 318i

[xcx4x]

all the mods he lists are in the pics... judging the ride height it isn't sitting stock...
and it shouldn't cost much to by a couple of used part to fix the rear doors

though hard to tell from the pics the drivers seat looks a little beat...6buttlon lcd is cracked
and there are 2 steering wheels pictured... the one in the last pic is more valuable but has no airbag
has a rear plate filler ($60) and it looks like someone 'red'ed the tail lights

Thanks for your input. I didn't notice the ride height and two different steering wheels pictured nor the tail lights. When people say "stanced' is this to do with how the car sits? is it a specific wheel or does it have to do with the struts?

I remember seeing that car parked in Burlingame before i even owned a e30, or was for sale. went to go check it out and some 20 year old girl comes running out of store in a shitty attitude saying "what are you doing to my car?!?!" and I just reply "admiring it, it's a nice e30" and she didn't even know what a e30 was. I think she replied something along the lines of "no it's a BMW, my dad bought it for me". It's a 318 dude it's not that cool even though it's stanced

lol. Thanks for the flashback.

You can find numerous 325i/is/es's in great condition for the same price as this. The first picture seems very appealing, but then again on the following pictures looks like the wheels were changed and the roof rack was taken off as well as the euro smileys. IMO the
"thousands" he spent on this was taken back. I've seen this car up for a while its been taken down then back up few months later, I say pass on it unless you really want a 318i

Funny thing is I too have seen this up and down, once. The first time the seller listed it for $3600. This time, $3000.

In conclusion, thank you all for all the insight. It helped me make a decision to pass on this. Trying my hardest to be patient!

[3vilE30]

When people say "stanced' is this to do with how the car sits? is it a specific wheel or does it have to do with the struts?

Stance is stance. Lol it how a car "sits". Little to no fender gap #hellaflush

[mikeedler]

low ball him with a max. of $2000 and see where he goes. looks kinda like a piece of crap car that has been hacked on quite a bit. Me personally, I would stay away from it unless it was super cheap. Hell, he is too lazy to take some recent pics of it to sell it, I don't even want to know how lazy he was changing parts back and forth.