Buying an e30 next week!

[ClassicE30]

Hey everyone! I'm going next Friday to pick up an e30 and wanted to get some advice from those who have more experience than me with these cars. The car is an 89 coupe in alpine white. I know I should look for rust, and ask when the timing belt has been changed but what else should I look for?

Here is the exact description of what the owner calls things of concern, this is from his exact post.


The stuff of concern:

Power steering is a little stiff.
Needs minor alignment.
No inside door handle on the passenger side.
Locks are a little weird, but the car does lock and will stay locked.
The coolant gauge doesn't work but there is a custom one built in.
The driver seat is broken and is always in one position.
The dash is split in some spots.
The hood has hood pins so it will stay down.
The hood also doesn't have a prop bar, so I've been using a metal rod to hold it up.
The windshield fluid doesn't work.
The plastic trim is chipped in some areas.
The park brake sensor is messed up, so it goes off and on a lot. Nothing is wrong with park brake as far as i can tell.
Glove compartment door handle is broke so you can't open the glove compartment.
Radio antenna is broke, so the radio has terrible reception, but the radio does have AUX port.

[whitebulat22]

The power steering and alignment problems could translate into a few possibly time consuming repairs, but everything else I'd personally be more worried about anything he hasn't listed. They are all bargaining points for you to say that it is far from a mint e30 which is what helped me a lot buying my car, but I'd make sure they're not distractions from real operational issues of the car. If I was shining up a beauty e30 I'd probably replace most of those things he listed anyway and would be more concerned about being able to get steady driving time while I do whatever I'm doing with it.

What I've learned from my short e30 experience is that the lack of OBD is a bigger bitch than I could've ever imagined. I bought it with an intermittent starting problem (now permanent) a couple of months ago and still haven't figured it out, nor have 2 shops. It runs very well when it starts but something somewhere is off, if I was doing it again I'd ask about the last time the crank position sensors / wiring harness / distributor cap + ignition rotor and coil acted up or got replaced and it is ever has had any electrical or computer based errors that prevented it from running or starting correctly. It will be easy to tell if it's running shitty or not, and a replacement engine without much above 100k miles will literally only be 200-400 a lot of the time, but issues like that are very hard to diagnose and fix if they pop up.

[roguetoaster]

Keep in mind that the way an owner takes, or does not care of, the little things is often indicative of the overall condition of the car.

Run it, drive it, use every feature that the car has, and remember, it's grossly overpriced at $2000. If you really feel it is a solid car with all of those cosmetic issues shoot for under $1200.

[fiveightandten]

Keep in mind that the way an owner takes, or does not care of, the little things is often indicative of the overall condition of the car.

Run it, drive it, use every feature that the car has, and remember, it's grossly overpriced at $2000. If you really feel it is a solid car with all of those cosmetic issues shoot for under $1200.

Have you been in touch with current E30 prices? These days, a $2K late model white coupe has holes in it, and may or may not have 4 wheels and 2 doors bolted to it. For $1200, it probably wouldn't have an engine in it.

[ClassicE30]

He's asking 2k for it. Honestly the cars body looks straight and there is no rust. With whatever e30 I get in looking to make it a very good example, I.e I'm going to rebuild the engine trans and have the interior entirely redone. Ill post pics of it when I get home.

[roguetoaster]

Have you been in touch with current E30 prices? These days, a $2K late model white coupe has holes in it, and may or may not have 4 wheels and 2 doors bolted to it. For $1200, it probably wouldn't have an engine in it.

That's all fine and well. But the car is still worth $1200. It's an auto, with comforts, and nothing special going for it, and I assume it needs a lot of work.

FYI, the last late model I bought was a $600 '91 318is (bad paint, runs fine), before that it was a $700 '89 325i (dented door, bronzit). So, decent late models are out there, but you have to be diligent in your searching and move fast when you see one. Remember, these are still 22+ year old cars, which are not uncommon, so don't fall in to the "it's an E30, so it's worth a lot" mentality.

[nando]

The power steering and alignment problems could translate into a few possibly time consuming repairs, but everything else I'd personally be more worried about anything he hasn't listed. They are all bargaining points for you to say that it is far from a mint e30 which is what helped me a lot buying my car, but I'd make sure they're not distractions from real operational issues of the car. If I was shining up a beauty e30 I'd probably replace most of those things he listed anyway and would be more concerned about being able to get steady driving time while I do whatever I'm doing with it.

What I've learned from my short e30 experience is that the lack of OBD is a bigger bitch than I could've ever imagined. I bought it with an intermittent starting problem (now permanent) a couple of months ago and still haven't figured it out, nor have 2 shops. It runs very well when it starts but something somewhere is off, if I was doing it again I'd ask about the last time the crank position sensors / wiring harness / distributor cap + ignition rotor and coil acted up or got replaced and it is ever has had any electrical or computer based errors that prevented it from running or starting correctly. It will be easy to tell if it's running shitty or not, and a replacement engine without much above 100k miles will literally only be 200-400 a lot of the time, but issues like that are very hard to diagnose and fix if they pop up.

there's almost nothing to diagnose. there are only 3 critical sensors - the crank sensor, the AFM, and the coolant sensor. everything else is fluff.

my buddy had a non-starting E30 that he just bought. it was the AFM.. we swapped the horrid looking platinum plugs for NGKs, it almost started. swapped the coolant sensor, no change. the crank sensor was looking fine (it was getting spark). swapped the AFM - VROOOM!! nothing else really matters much.