Going to see a '92 325i Cabrio on Saturday...need some opinions/advice. New to E30s

[olly.yung]

Thanks for add, i'm in the USA. I have a question, I'm going to look at a late model e30 325i Cabrio on Saturday. Has 210,000 miles. Odometer has been fixed so miles are accurate. The good: new struts, shocks, bushings, brakes, hoses, rotors, exhaust, new tires. He says it's a good driving car. I have an e46 and e39 and have wrenched on them before, I don't know anything about E30s.

Didn't mention cooling system refresh, or timing belt.

Power steering doesn't work because steering rack "seals" are leaking? He currently has the power steering belt taken off and drives with no power sterring. How involved or expensive a job is that?

AC doesn't work

Right blinker makes buzzing noise when activated, but doesn't blink.

Top is in ok shape, but rear window is foggy. Interior is decent, but seats need to be redone.

I'm too busy to do much to this car besides change out the spark plugs and coils, everything else will need to be done by a shop. With that in mind, what am I looking at in repair costs to do timing belt and replace the seals in the steering rack?



He's asking $5000 USD cash or best offer for it. I'm iffy paying $5000 for an e30 with 210,000 miles...that hasn't had every single thing replaced. What do y'all think? What else should I look for. Thank you in advance for your help!

[ahlem]

Crawl around underneath and see what the bottom looks like. Sounds like a $15000 total bill if you have a shop do all the work.

[e30davie]

Its a 30yr old car with 200k miles. Unless its been replaced in the last 2yrs assume everything needs replacing. EVERYTHING. All you need to worry about is paint and rust everythingelse can be fixed with spanners. Paint and rust though thats where the big $$ is.

[Lefty_lifestyle44]

I know you've already looked at the car but, If you're still debating on whether or not to get the car, here are some stats you mind find helpful. In the CA market, a clean title, manual E30 in 8/10 overall condition (9/10 body 7/10 interior) will typically sell between 5-7k depending on the color combination. Black on black would be in the higher range, but that's with completely working mechanical elements. Power steering leak is fairly common, and i'm sure there are write-ups on it. The timing belt can be done in a few hours if you know what you're doing, but will most likely take a weekend if it's your first time. The first time I changed mine, it took me probably 5 hours one day to get everything off, then probably 2-3 hours the next day to get the belt on the next day, and another 3-4 hours to put everything back together. Unfortunately, it sounds like you aren't wanting to do those things yourself, so it'll be much more costly to do it at a shop. Personally, I probably wouldn't pay more than 3.5k for that specific car, just because I would have the intention to fix it and flip it, so I would need to make a profit while also getting the car looking and driving right. Hope this helps.

[Lefty_lifestyle44]

Additionally, if you aren't wanting to do any work yourself, you're going to have to pay more. If you can, I'd suggest either trying to find a one owner car that an older person is selling (because they are most always undervalued) or take the hit to your wallet and shell out 8k for a good example. For reference on a single owner car, there is a white automatic coupe in San Diego listed for $3950 with 195k miles (ODO works). The car itself is probably 8/10 or 9/10 based on the pictures. Paint's in good shape, interior is really good (even has a crack-less dash!), and comes with the original owners manual, tool kit, and spare tire. The AC works as well. The only downsides listed are that it could use a valve adjustment and front shocks, and there's an aftermarket alarm. If sold by anyone else, that car would probably be listed at 6k at the very least, but would more realistically be listed at 7.5-8k. If I didn't already have my current E30 I'm working on, I'd drive down from Sac right now to go buy it.

I guess what I'm really getting at is, if you don't need to get an E30 by tomorrow, wait it out and find one that's been well cared for and is listed below the real value. It may take a year or even more, but they come up every now and again. That being said, knowing one when you see it takes a lot of effort put not only into hunting for one, but becoming knowledgeable enough to know the true value of a car when you see it listed.