Talk about your buying experience

[M42boy]

Ebay, some 3 years ago.

Bought it from a fellow in Minnesota for $4000.

Please STOP IT>>>  Why in gods name was something like this not for sale when I was trying to buy one.  Holy god, some people got some killer deals out there.  It's costing me more than what you paid to put all that same stuff in my car!  

I keep hearing about people buying built-out cars for cheap or M50 conversion cars for $5,000 and I found nothing but wrecked beaters for the six months I looked.  :mad:

[sheepdog]

I keep hearing about people buying built-out cars for cheap or M50 conversion cars for $5,000 and I found nothing but wrecked beaters for the six months I looked.  :mad:

Tell me about it!

[Choking Hazard]

I paid $3500 and had a buncha bad loooking stuff (little body whacks all over), but a really good interior.  I'm sure that was $1K too much, and I've dropped another $3000 in suspension, timing chain, exhaust, etc.  I still think it has a lotta driving fun and a lotta practicality for old honda level expenditure.

[Interlocker]

I'm not sure how many people saw my first post on this board, but I was originally looking at a 318is that ran well, but was just in OK shape overall, with some hideous wheels and painted side moldings that I wasn't too keen on.  This was my original post:

http://m42club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=482

The car was going to be sold, then it wasn't and then it was again, but the owner was going to need to wait for a while to sell it.  Just for giggles, I checked out all the California Craig's List pages and came across a nice-looking example up in NorCal.  Long story somewhat short, the seller had JUSt put it up and I was lucky enough to be the first to contact him.  I live in SoCal, however, so I had to act quickly.  On Friday morning he agreed to my offer if I were to fly up (I was hoping to offset the price by the amount of airfare and fuel for the drive back).

Middle of the day on Friday, I decided I was going to buy it, pending inspection, but I had to do it THAT night, as he was leaving town for a week and I'd be out of town next weekend.  I booked a flight out of LAX, left my other car there (still there and I need to get back to pick it up ASAP) and had a friend pick me up in San Jose when I landed.  Three of us went to look at the car within 30 minutes of landing and we had a 3-page list of questions as well as a jack and stands to get under the car.

The dent in the pic looked a little worse in person, but not enough to deter me.  Same thing with those BB gun scars and some minor scratches and rust here and there.  I just kept thinking of the price I was paying, and it made things better.  (pics can be seen in the "Member Profiles" section under "Interlocker")

It was the original owner, had only 129K, has the LSD and runs really well with only very minor things needed, but nothing out of the ordinary for the age/mileage, and nothing that needs to be done right now.  Everything works and works well, and it's in better shape than the other one I was looking at for slightly more money.

I'm really happy with the purchase and am looking forward to several years of daily driving glory in this car.  Of course, it will see some minor track time, as part of the reason for getting it was to teach my girlfriend how to drive stick and have something fun and safe to use for the rare track weekend she can get to with me.

Good times ahead!

Here's the rundown of my Friday and Saturday this week:

1) At work Fri morning with emails from the owner agreeing to my offer if I were to fly or drive up this weekend.

2) calls to rental car places but no one has a car available for 1-way trips with such short notice.

3) Flights on Southwest are cheap and plentiful, so I book one.

4) Can't find a ride to LAX so I have to drive my car and leave it there.

5) Get to LAX JUST in time to get on the flight.

6) Land, get picked up and head to pick up one other friend for the purchase inspection.

7) Meet owner, check out car and buy it.

Take friends to dinner for the incredible amount of help they were.

9) Get to my sister's place in San Jose which she moved into THAT day, and visit for about one hour before falling asleep at 1am.

10) On the road at 5:30am Saturday to get to a BBQ I promised to be at in San Pedro, which is 1.5 hours further than my home destination and actually got there on time!

11) Slept like a log last night and off to wash and wax the "new" car right now.  

(Oh, and the car only cost me $1,800 with a $127 flight, $80 for dinner and beer for four people and $40 in gas for the drive home... Not too freakin' bad and possibly the deal of the year!)

[brooklyn318]

Got my Alpine White '91 on ebay with 133k. It looked great in pictures and not bad on delivery. It was some dealer in Gainsville Florida. I was completely ripped off. It needed brakes, complete front end, timecase/cover, waterpump, steering rack, exhaust, centerbearing, guibo, it was even low two quarts of oil, the spare tire rim was bent out of shape, and the dash had a severe crack. Worst of all, after a few hundred miles the head blew on a back road in Vermont. Turns out someone had Mickey mouse welded it just to get it running for sale to a sap like me. I paid $3500 for the car but when all was said and done, I am into the car at least $9500. Don't laugh! The dealer took no responsibility, basically told me to stick it. Anyway, wish I paid less but I love the car and would not sell it now even for all I put into it.

[mrpoonerson]

I just picked up my red 91 in portland on saturday.Found it on it on ebay. Looked good in the pictures, interior was immaculate and he showed all the angles and damage in the pictures. The front fender needs to be replaced and has some dings, normal for its age, and there is no structure damage and a clean carfax. We had talked on the phone and he is known on r3vlimited so it set me at ease a bit. Flew up there from LA, couldn't get a hold of him because his phone was off. Had told him I was flying up on saturday and he had got it mixed up with sunday... ALMOST got screwed on that.

Picked it up and he hadnt fixed the things he said he would have (ac pump, fan switch, window switch) aside from the diff that he had changed out. He just didnt have time because he thought i was flying in the next day. So we spent sometime doing the oilchange and changing the wheels out. Aside from that, it runs really well. The car has 127k on the motor and 190k on the chassis (the engine had blown up so it was swapped out) and it runs flawless. Interior is REALLY clean.. except i spilled some hot chocolate when i walked out to check tire pressue, so i have to get it shampooed.

Aside from the fact that i had driven for 18 hours straight, it was fine. He is saying he will send me the parts he didnt have a chance to put in and he threw in some ellipsoids and a new IS lip. I think he got a good deal out of it, paid him 3900. Probably higher in the 318is range being that it wasnt immaculate. However he has all the receipts from the previous car the motor came off of and some from the previous owner. He also threw in a bentley although it doesnt cover the m42 motor :-(. I am pleased though, just need to fix the problems he wasnt able to, remove the god awful purple tint, shampoo the interior, and throw on my wheels and coilovers.

[FL318is]

...on ebay.  I was really looking for a 325is but the prices asked did not match what I wanted to spend.  My car was located in VA but was originally purchased in FL. My first plan was to put in a bigger motor but after driving it I realized it was a fun car as is.  Right now I am in the process of repairs and mods.  Loving the drive.  Paid $2200.

[dude8383]

Got my Alpine White '91 on ebay with 133k. It looked great in pictures and not bad on delivery. It was some dealer in Gainsville Florida. I was completely ripped off. It needed brakes, complete front end, timecase/cover, waterpump, steering rack, exhaust, centerbearing, guibo, it was even low two quarts of oil, the spare tire rim was bent out of shape, and the dash had a severe crack. Worst of all, after a few hundred miles the head blew on a back road in Vermont. Turns out someone had Mickey mouse welded it just to get it running for sale to a sap like me. I paid $3500 for the car but when all was said and done, I am into the car at least $9500. Don't laugh! The dealer took no responsibility, basically told me to stick it. Anyway, wish I paid less but I love the car and would not sell it now even for all I put into it.

I just picked up my red 91 in portland on saturday.Found it on it on ebay. Looked good in the pictures, interior was immaculate and he showed all the angles and damage in the pictures. The front fender needs to be replaced and has some dings, normal for its age, and there is no structure damage and a clean carfax. We had talked on the phone and he is known on r3vlimited so it set me at ease a bit. Flew up there from LA, couldn't get a hold of him because his phone was off. Had told him I was flying up on saturday and he had got it mixed up with sunday... ALMOST got screwed on that. Picked it up and he hadnt fixed the things he said he would have (ac pump, fan switch, window switch) aside from the diff that he had changed out. He just didnt have time because he thought i was flying in the next day. So we spent sometime doing the oilchange and changing the wheels out. Aside from that, it runs really well. The car has 127k on the motor and 190k on the chassis (the engine had blown up so it was swapped out) and it runs flawless. Interior is REALLY clean.. except i spilled some hot chocolate when i walked out to check tire pressue, so i have to get it shampooed. Aside from the fact that i had driven for 18 hours straight, it was fine. He is saying he will send me the parts he didnt have a chance to put in and he threw in some ellipsoids and a new IS lip. I think he got a good deal out of it, paid him 3900. Probably higher in the 318is range being that it wasnt immaculate. However he has all the receipts from the previous car the motor came off of and some from the previous owner. He also threw in a bentley although it doesnt cover the m42 motor :-(. I am pleased though, just need to fix the problems he wasnt able to, remove the god awful purple tint, shampoo the interior, and throw on my wheels and coilovers.

paragraphs dudes, paragraphs!!!

it hurts my eyes to read!

[mrpoonerson]

sorry, i normally switch off editorial writing skills when i get on these forums. fixed for ya

[dude8383]

sorry, i normally switch off editorial writing skills when i get on these forums. fixed for ya

cool...just remember that a lot of people do read the threads.

[rfritz]

My little E30 didnt come with a sunroof though, The seller and I both thought this is odd.

You have a rare slicktop e30. I have one as well. People always comment on it and I like it a lot. Less is more!

[achtungE30]

I too originally wanted a 87-90 325is, until my best friend informed me how great the 318is was...I went searching on autotrader and found a few 325is's for sale, but they were all 150mi away...then I found mine...a diamondschwarz 318is.  i found it at a german car mechanic in clifton, nj. It was actually the owner's son who since found a deal on an MR2 turbo and realized the M42 didn't have the same modding potential. They had a small used car business outside the shop and mostly worked on BMWs. What got me was the interior was super clean, no rips in the vinyl sport seats and it was schwarz (always had a thing for black-ish BMWs). Got there, found a ding on the pass fender- drove it, had bearing noise and sputtered some when mashing the pedal between first and 2nd - they were original asking $2900, but talked them down to about $1900 due to shock suspension, bearing noise, fender damage (u can see it below in my sig) and made them give me a tune-up with parts I brought over.

On the way home, my odometer gear went and my wipers stopped, but a quick tug on the arms fixed them - linkage was loose.

For the next 2 weeks, I drove it everywhere without issues. 7mo later, I replaced the suspension and worn bushings, redid all the vacuum and coolant hoses, fixed the wheel bearing, replaced the fuel pump/lines, full tune-up, cleaned the engine bay and powdercoated the intake manifold, new headlights, fixed the pass side fender, wet sanded the whole car (looks a lil better/shinier) new stereo and very soon new wheels. Thanks to m42club, checking out all the possible nightmares - timing chain, oil pan gasket issue etc...

[jpod999]

My dad had one a few years back.  Alpine White 318i 4-door.  He did the whole suspension, and then got bored with it.  So he bought an E36 318i auto and immediately wished he had the E30 back.  

So we went on the hunt for another E30 and it took us FOREVER!  Finally one day we were just driving home and see another Alpine White parked on the side of the road.  So we get out and look at it and see that it is a 318i 5-speed.  So we drive home and my dad writes a note saying that he is interested in the car blah blah blah.  I jump on my bike and stick the note under the wipers.

6 months later we are eating dinner and get a call.  My dad talks for a little bit and when he hangs up he told us that it was an older women calling us about the car.  We go look at it and pick it up for $3500 the next weekend.  

This lady ordered the car here in California, picked it up in Germany where she was going to be living for a year.  When she came back to the U.S. she had it shipped over and had been driving it ever since.  It had 210,000 miles on it when we bought it and I have only put another 10,000 on it.  

So I am the second owner of a 1991 318i with cloth seats.

[Noel Higa]

I'd been messing with a few older 318i coupes for a few months because I found 'em real cheap and they were fun cars to drive and tinker with.  Having owned Acuras and Lexuses for the last decade or so, it was a real joy to look under the hood and to be able to actually identify the parts of the engine.  Even better was having the feel of the road again.  

So, I started reading more about them and became convinced that I was wasting my time with the '84s and '85s.  I had to have a '91 318is.  I started scanning Craigslist every morning and night.  I found several, but nothing that seemed quite right.  Then in the Eugene, Oregon Craigslist, I found it.  A 318is with a broken out back window and an interior with "issues" (his dog got pissed and ate half the interior).  The good news was that it had only 145K miles and was in good condition on the outside.  Only problem is that I'm in northern Washington State and Eugene is halfway down the state of Oregon.  So, I negotiated with him via email and bought it sight unseen for $1,500.  

A friend from Portland went down to pick it up.  I already had the interior and rear window glass I needed, so it was a one day repair.  In the 9 months I've had it, I've had to do some repairs, throw-out bearing and timing chain tensioner, but it's now a great running and very fun car.  Hopefully, over the next few months I'll get it into prime shape.

Noel

[318idol]

I was sorta half-heartedly looking for a 318i, wanted a low-key 4dr.  I drive by an independent BMW repair shop in Portland on my home, and decided to stop in and put a note on their bulletin board.  As I parked I noticed a grey 318i parked in the lot.  The owner of the shop asked me what I wanted, I said I was looking for a car.  What kind?  Ah..one of those, pointing to the 318i.  Well. it was a customer car and they just bought it from the owner and were planning on selling it after they fixed a few things.  Really?  I paid $3000, but it's a 110,000-miles, two-owner car with all the records. It's straight and clean. Only slight driver seat wear.  Basically, I got lucky.

Hey, Hamann318is -- I wrote that story in Roundel on the budget e30, my 1989 325is. It was originally a build-up in Eurotuner magazine, but Satch at Roundel asked me to condense it for Roundel.  Glad it was an inspiration!  It was a great car, but I like the 318i better.