The 78k mile BAT money pit - 1989 325iX

[ZeKahr]

ACHTUNG: THIS THREAD IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

I have been too lazy for months to make this post so I thought I'd kick a bad habit this fine evening of 10/13/2023. After my ownership fiasco with the snooty Schwarz shitbox (which I dearly miss), I sought out to buy an actual nice E30 for once. As much as I wanted another Schwarz 4-door 325e with a tan interior and an automatic transmission (cuz I like things that look pretentious and I'm too lazy to drive a manual), after viewing the E30 landscape as to what was for sale, the results were... disappointing. I forced myself to be more open-minded and broaden my search. After about 2 months of looking and doing PPIs on seemingly nice West Coast cars only to find things were broken, I stumbled upon this 78k-mile 1989 325iX that somehow got bid up to $20k on BAT. Car was located at a dealership called Sky Motor Cars in Pennsylvania. Before driving the car, I did a visual inspection of the body, undercarriage, and engine bay - passed. I went there and test drove the car, everything worked pretty well with the only issues being a low 500 rpm idle and a dead temp gauge. Even the cruise control on this thing worked. After test driving the car, I told the sales guy I'd buy it if they fixed the temp gauge when suddenly coolant started spilling out from the car. They fixed all of that and I drove the car home.

Here's the car in my parking lot when I first got it back in March. Yes, I know I'm a criminal for keeping it outdoors. But I like E30s goddamnit


Here's the odometer reading as of yesterday. Wait, he actually DRIVES this thing??? You sure as hell bet your keister I do. Like I said, I'm a criminal. I estimate (pulling numbers out of my ass) that 80-90% of those miles are me burning the NJ Turnpike and Interstate 287, and the other 10-20% were spent bullying asshole NYC pedestrians and asshole NYC drivers out of the way (cuz BMW driver. And seriously NYC is full of assholes) in Manhattan when I was going to my favorite food places in the city.


Aaaaaaaand here's the first maintenance bill. Ouch. Most of it was replacing incorrect parts the dealer used. More carnage to come shortly

[AWDBOB]

I owned an identical automatic '89 Alpine/Tan 325iX with 130k miles, I believe. Needed EVERYTHING. I manual swapped it, did a ton of work to it, and sold it for $6500.

May the iX gods have mercy on your soul. If you can find a RWD E30, you should do so before all the insanely expensive and hard to find iX stuff starts failing. Or, start collecting that stuff and embrace it. Get a spare transfer case with a working VC, 2 pairs of spare front axles, at least one set of spare front strut housings, a good viscous rear diff, 2 spare front driveshafts, one spare rear driveshaft, a spare front diff, a spare iX oil pan, a rebuilt iX steering rack, iX control arms (inner ball joints if you can find them), and I think that should do it.

That's what I went through daily driving my old iX year round in the Philly area for a few years.

Hi, I'm AWDBOB and I actively push people away from iX ownership, lol

[ZeKahr]

I owned an identical automatic '89 Alpine/Tan 325iX with 130k miles, I believe. Needed EVERYTHING. I manual swapped it, did a ton of work to it, and sold it for $6500.

May the iX gods have mercy on your soul. If you can find a RWD E30, you should do so before all the insanely expensive and hard to find iX stuff starts failing. Or, start collecting that stuff and embrace it. Get a spare transfer case with a working VC, 2 pairs of spare front axles, at least one set of spare front strut housings, a good viscous rear diff, 2 spare front driveshafts, one spare rear driveshaft, a spare front diff, a spare iX oil pan, a rebuilt iX steering rack, iX control arms (inner ball joints if you can find them), and I think that should do it.

That's what I went through daily driving my old iX year round in the Philly area for a few years.

Hi, I'm AWDBOB and I actively push people away from iX ownership, lol

Well, shit. Around what mileage will the iX-specific stuff start to go? Or is there no average figure for this?

I assume you did lots of stop-and-go driving in the Philly area. That probably shortens the lifespan of the AWD components I'm guessing. I'm expecting my Crypto portfolio to blow up in a few years, so I'll budget $10k a year for routine maintenance

[roguetoaster]

I'm too lazy.

Clearly, and you'll pay for it happily.

[AWDBOB]

Well, shit. Around what mileage will the iX-specific stuff start to go? Or is there no average figure for this?

I assume you did lots of stop-and-go driving in the Philly area. That probably shortens the lifespan of the AWD components I'm guessing. I'm expecting my Crypto portfolio to blow up in a few years, so I'll budget $10k a year for routine maintenance

It's based on age/environment/neglect more than mileage. I'd venture to say no iX is safe from those looming failures, as little can be done to prevent them, outside of lubricating the front driveshaft and changing fluids regularly, making sure you don't let the front CVs run dry from a ripped boot, etc.

Regarding my iX, actually a ton of long trips. I used to no joke bring spare axles with me on trips and had to use them more than once.

With that said, nando is on his original front axles with some 300k miles on them. I didn't have such luck.

[ZeKahr]

It's based on age/environment/neglect more than mileage. I'd venture to say no iX is safe from those looming failures, as little can be done to prevent them, outside of lubricating the front driveshaft and changing fluids regularly, making sure you don't let the front CVs run dry from a ripped boot, etc.

Regarding my iX, actually a ton of long trips. I used to no joke bring spare axles with me on trips and had to use them more than once.

With that said, nando is on his original front axles with some 300k miles on them. I didn't have such luck.

Did you drive the car hard or did you baby it despite doing long trips? I baby mine. It's just a daily driver (and I guess a toy) for me.

And if it comes down to it (this question will probably piss someone off but I don't care), can I just rip off the AWD parts off and sell them if/when the AWD fails and drive the car as RWD? I already pulled the trigger on this car and threw all this money into it, so it would be pointless to sell it so soon. I'm thinking of just taking it past the 100k mark (was previously against the idea, but stopped giving a shit once the paint chips started accumulating and it started having some dumb electrical issues) and keeping it for maybe another 7 years or so. And any other E30 on the market these days can have hidden surprises (even if it looks nice). I don't necessarily care about having working AWD, just a nice to have IMO.

This car has a nice interior, body work, and the AC/heat/sound system worked well. It's leagues better than my previous E30. It was literally the nicest E30 I could find in my area when I was looking and I got to test drive the car (the idea of importing a car I haven't driven from another coast scares me lol)