Should I Buy This?

[j30]

I recently found this 1989 325i on CL. the guy selling it is asking for $1000. it looks like a solid car, clean interior and relatively low miles. i think he said it was going to be his project car but doesn't have time now. it does have some rust on the rocker panels but ill let the pictures do the talking. so do you guys think its a good buy?

i know that they are blurry cell pics but in his defense he took the pictures on the spur of the moment.

[george graves]

I could be totally off base on this - but just to be on the safe side, assume rust is like an iceberg. You can only see 10% of it above the water.

Run away. If that was in my driveway, I'd part it out with out batting an eye. But I'm in CA, so we don't have rust.

[der affe]

i doesn't look tooooo bad, but rocker rust can be bad news.
how are your bodywork skills or your ability to pay someone to fix it?


can you get it cheaper?

[mrsleeve]

what affe said, I bought mine and it only had a pin hole of rust in the rockers, but upon further inspection (aka full strip and respray) took a pretty good sized patch chuck of steel to fix it. also look around the bottom corners of the windshield if its got some there run away really fast. But for a northern car I have seen lots worse but have seen lots better, try an get him down to around 650 that that would be a better deal with that kind NE cancer.

[mikeedler]

if you can weld and it will cost nothing-- pick it up. if you don't know how to weld, let it go- these cars are unibodies and rust issues arent good.

[dashboardmonkey]

No...too much rust!

[blunttech]

why start with a piece of shit? unless youre looking for basic cheap transportation walk away. it may run great but thats a money pit if you want to make it nice.

[Julien]

if the rust is only on the fender (which I doubt) get it.. but check the floorboards/jackpoints and such thoroughly first.

[PhillyG]

Fuck rust, thats pretty much a good mentality to have.

[Huff]

That's too much rust. Leave it alone. I guarantee there are even larger rust issues on that thing.

[kway]

That car, and the word "solid" have no business being mentioned in the same sentence. When the lower corners of the fenders are rotted like that, they pretty much always have matching rot in the front floors. And like everyone else says, there's plenty more that you can't see.

If you're just looking for a beater, and it doesn't need a shitload of mechanicals, go for it. You can run it like that for a while. If you want a nice car, keep looking.

[TDE30]

There's never "some" rust or "a little bit" of rust, that's just sugar-coated bullshit terminology used by sketchy sellers.

[StereoInstaller1]

OK, you are in Rhode Island, right? Say you find a rust free car in say, Mississippi.

Bus down, drive back, sleep in a hotel or two, eat cheap, maybe even meet with a R3Ver or two, take a week off of work.

That trip would still be cheaper than fixing the rust on that car. Fuck, for that matter, you could fly to cali and get the car you want and drive it home...cheaper than fixing that rust.

[deutschman]

OK, you are in Rhode Island, right? Say you find a rust free car in say, Mississippi.

Bus down, drive back, sleep in a hotel or two, eat cheap, maybe even meet with a R3Ver or two, take a week off of work.

That trip would still be cheaper than fixing the rust on that car. Fuck, for that matter, you could fly to cali and get the car you want and drive it home...cheaper than fixing that rust.

+1
and its more fun :)

[j30]

thanx for the input guys. i i guess my solution is to see if i can get it for really cheap because of the rust and if not just keep looking. my plans for it are to have a nice good looking daily driver, but i dont want it to be pretty on the outside and rotted on the inside. NE sucks! i found a M42 with rust on the rocker panels as well but "everything else was good". it was real cheap too for a M42.