How much to offer, 1-owner e30 318is w 44k km??

[Willjams]

Hi,

I found this e30 for sale.  He is asking $15k for it.  He is the only owner and has babied it, never saw a winter, basically a Sunday driver.  Only has 44,000km which is insane.  He kept everything original.  I'm very interested in this car but what should I offer him?  I think $15k is way over priced.

Thanks,

Willjams

[cristimm]

Only a M3 is worth 15k.

[Warsteiner]

High retail is around $5,900.  I agree that if you had a decent shape E30M3 it would be worth $15K no problem. The 318is is a different animal. You could rebuild your own 318is better and faster for $15K.

Cheers,
~Ralph

[DesktopDave]

I agree - that's collectible territory for an e30.  Maybe if it was an M3, Evo or 333i?  No M42 is a museum piece and IMHO (sadly) never will be.  They were way ahead of their time, it's a crying shame, I totally disagree...but it's the truth.  Our cars are definitely exceptional BMWs, but that's not the consensus opinion.  There are a lot of other cars in the 318is 'fun car' category from the 80/90s that may never attain collector's status.  For instance, here in NA there are a bunch.  Just to amuse myself, here's a few of my favorites, in no particular order:

M-B 2.5/16, 560SEL, UrQuattro, 635CSi, Z3, e36 M3, Westphalia Vanagons
CRX Si, RX7 T2, AE86 Corolla, Galant VR4, Eclipse turbo, WRX, Supra
Pontiac Grand Nationals, Fox-body 5.0 Mustangs, GMC Typhoon & Syclone...

[cyborgben]

wow, could be the nicest original in the country....
however, i would go buy the second nicest in the country for less than half of that and pick up an extra wrx as a winter "beater!"
to answer your question though - i think about half of the asking price would be a place to start. you are getting a new-quality car, and even 15k doesnt buy much on a new dealer lot...
 I could just imagine the car you could build for 15k...how about an e30 with one of those new turbo 4s in the 328?

[Willjams]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  I've offered him around half of that but he is not budging.  The market will eventually let him know what it is worth.  I agree that it is not really worth collecting this car.  I want a good example to start with but I would like the money to make it a high performer.  And as soon as you start modifying it, I guess it loses its collector appeal.  

The e30 318is does seem to be really rare though.  Even searching in Europe using mobile.de, an e30 318is search gives about 4 hits while e30 m3 search gives about 15.  Most of the m3s are around 30k euro.

Cheers,
Willjams

[Geoff]

and,  in my humble opinion,  you are not really getting a like new car.   While its nice that the mechanical componants have the low miles on them, fact is time takes a toll on rubber seals and such,  and I would not be surprised to find that a car like that still needs a few things to be a daily driver...hence it is no better than any other really nice e-30, which makes it worth , as previously noted, about 1/2 of what they want for it.   just my 2 cents worth
                                                                       Geoff

[tfrain]

I agree with Geoff.  The age counts.  Old rubber is old rubber and old plastic is old plastic.  The motors in these cars are super cheap to buy outright, so you have limited value in the powertrain being less aged in mileage.

Now once these cars are 40 years old instead of 20, condition starts making more of a difference

EDIT: I predict that he will end up selling it for 10k.