Author Topic: Talk about your buying experience (Read 128512 times)

Poooobaa · « **Reply #60 on:** February 08, 2008, 10:04:39 PM »

Bought mine from a Craig's list ad. Not running. College guy who loved it but had no money to fix it. I traveled a ways to see it and turns out it is a pretty decent car. 132k Diamond Swartz on black 1991 m42 5speed 318is. No rust, no bends, good interior, 2 documented owners. California and Colorado, Bought it for $1,000 and towed it home. Turns out the college guy pulled the plugs to tune it and got the wires crossed going back. Runs great. Love the deal!

swiss318is · « **Reply #61 on:** February 09, 2008, 08:49:27 AM »

three short storys about my 3 cars!!

NR1: my first 318is e30 was our second family car. my dad bought the car back in 96 ? with 30000km, from first owner. now the car has 240000km on the clock and is still running....well, a second head, the first one cracked on the highway at 140km/h :-) bang!!!pfffffff....
no abs, no ac, no electric windows, power steering, alpinweiss II, ALL ORIGINAL

NR2: the second car was in a internet advertisement listed as an 318i with 100hp. but on the pictures i saw that the car was too low and didnt seem at all as an 318i, so i called the seller and he told me the code of the car...a 318is!!! he didnt know that there were different 318, i didnt say anything and i bought the car for 700.-$ with 4 14"bbs alu rims, a stinking interior and 180000kms. its gonna be my streetlegal racing car! discovered at 5pm and bought the other day at 9am 300km away and 8hours of working between...!!no, i didnt see my bed this night...
no abs, no ac, no electric windows, no power steering, alpinweiss II, NO ANYTHING and stinks :-(...

NR3: i was just walking around on the yunkjard looking for an e46 dashboard when i saw a red e30 bmw.. with 180000km, a damage on the rear and on the front, no rearlights, fuelpump and half of the interior missing. i walked around the car and it was a 318is... unbelievable, because the 318is e30 is a very rare car here in switzerland!! so i bought it for 600.-$ incl. shipping to my carshop 100km away and with a dead rat or whatever in the enginebay! ;-)
ABS, no ac, no electric windows, no power steering, red or so?, DEAD ANIMAL

TomO2UT · « **Reply #62 on:** February 11, 2008, 06:09:42 PM »

Years ago my brother visited us in Wyoming and I privately snickered at his "cheapish" 1991 318is, which of course he loved. I was raving on about my '90 735i--certainly great on the open road. Two years ago we moved from wide-open Wyoming to urban Utah and my wife and I decided to downsize. We first tried a 91 535i beater but it didn't get any better gas mileage than the 7, and it was only a tad more nimble. During a trip to the Pacific Northwest we saw my BMW-mechanic brother-in-law's three e30s, one of which is a track 318is, and another a nice 318is he found abandoned in a vacant lot. Then I found this website. I got the bug. Bad.

I started looking on ebay and autotrader, and after a few weeks I saw an Autotrader ad for a charcoal 318is about 15 miles from home. I called and arranged to meet that evening. It was dark by the time we arrived, and another shopper was still there, trying to decide if he could get it past his wife. We test drove the car; it seemed to run OK if a bit rough, and with a broken exhaust pipe it was hard to know. I tried to look it over objectively--the windshield was cracked and the driver's seat was roached but the rest of the interior and exterior was otherwise good: i.e., no rust. The other buyer was still lurking around, talking on his cell phone. My wife loved it so I just told the seller we'd take it. $2500, full price.

The seller was a high school kid who bought it from an acquaintance who was fixing it up until he was disabled in an industrial accident. The kid decide to stick with his VW Golf instead. I left a down payment, wrote up a bill of sale with signatures, we made a photocopy, and I brought cash and got the car and title the next day.

In the daylight it turned out the underside was massively coated with oil and gunk, but the leakage was mainly from the cam position sensor and p/s lines. Since then it's been exhaust, windshield, license plates, radiator/fan clutch, bad idle/air control valve, coil pack, control arms, and junkyard seat--and then the speedo croaked. I'm currently into it for about $2000 in parts, but that might include tires and 15-inch wheels and more tires.

Meanwhile I noticed a post here at M42 club from a member in Washington state regarding a friend's red 318is on Craigslist in the SF Bay Area. The photos looked great so I emailed for more photos. After a couple of days I realized the seller lived 25 miles from my brother. I phoned and had a nice chat. Once again, there was another interested buyer, this time in San Diego. So I said I'd buy it, full price ($2600), assuming it was as advertised. My brother test drove it, phoned me to say the car was great and so was the seller, who was with his wife and two kids. We figured they wouldn't cheat me so I wired the money, my brother picked up the car a few days later, and I flew out, got the car, and drove if back to Utah. So far almost no problems except new radiator and goofy speedo.

We love both cars and they should be ready for autocrossing by spring. Meanwhile the red car sees 500 miles per week with my wife's job.

Choking Hazard · « **Reply #63 on:** February 22, 2008, 07:14:52 PM »

i wish i had two, you gluton.

e30Andym42 · « **Reply #64 on:** March 28, 2008, 03:45:59 PM »

I had a horrible time finding my first car. What a chore. I wanted something higher class than a ghetto messed up ford focus. I wanted something that I would enjoy driving, something that I would dream to drive. For 6 months, I searched 3 websites: buffalonews.com (online version of the newspaper auto classifieds), autotrader.com, and craigslist.com. I came across many cars I was interested in. At first, there was a Porsche 944s for $1600, but it needed cams (about a thousand bucks each 0.0), then there was a 1987 BMW 325, which sat on eidbach springs. It was all nice and everything, especially the gold Koing spare rims that came with it, but the interior was junk. Several trim pieces were missing, the whole cluster didn't function, and when we got around to driving it....wow. It had an idle problem, no big deal, until we got on the street, stepped on the clutch to go from first to second, not in a hurry, and the RPMs must've jumped to 5500! I was scared I was going to blow the engine. There were plenty of other electrical problems and such, but I wont go into much detail. Then I looked at a, get ready for a surprise, Ford Ranger. $900...it was in good shape, etc etc...I was ready to take it to a mechanic to check it out, and the guy sold it from under me. (Glad he did now) Then i was checking craigslist, and there it was, my 318is. It was for sale for $2200. I was pleasantly surprised by its condition, considering I live in freakin NY. It only needed brakes at the time, along with replacement of hoses. It had 99,000 miles on it. Now, 3 months later, it is sitting in my driveway waiting to be driven, and I still haven't done the breaks yet, I replaced the hoses and air filter, and it now needs a timing chain tensioner. Blah blah blah, I am happy I got my beautiful e30 and cant wait to drive it legally =), no insurance, registration, plates, inspection currently.

318isfolife · « **Reply #65 on:** March 29, 2008, 01:26:50 PM »

i was moving to florida to go to school and wanted to trade my civic in but did not know what to get. then one day my neighbor pulled this thing out of his garage and stuck it in his yard with the for sale sign. i checked it out drove it around and was extremely impressed with the 69000 miles it had the awesome handling and of course that bmw screem this m42 makes. so i went to car max the next day traded my civic for cash money and went to his house. 3400 dollars later i had a smile from ear to ear and was ripping 3rd pinned around turns. then i come to find out that this car is a collectors piece and i had the super nice 318is. ever since then its been like peanut butter and jelly i love my car and would not trade her for anything .
this one is going to the grave with me 318isFOLIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Artem · « **Reply #66 on:** March 31, 2008, 12:52:22 PM »

I thought I posted it.

Well, here is the story of my car - a friend of mine found this thing on CL, said 318, dead tires, needs been sitting a while and needs a good cleaning. A nice woman was selling it having bought a newer mini a while ago, this car made it all the way here from california and sat in her driveway ever since the mini.

Well, I dropped her an email, not expecting anything, and got her number - then we set up a meeting with her the next morning, and I drove out and came to her place.

The car was a 1991, 318is debadged from california. Had less rust than my friend's red 318is that he got for $3.5k with a dent. So right away I was happy, dropped the price down to $700 on the spot. Hood was up, the fenders had dents from the hood being forced to open through the back (go figure - some friends the PO had), ran loud as hell, misfired occasionally, but the unibody was flawless, and I took another test drive, having said that the brakes need to be replaced and the exhaust - she agreed to let it got for $600 if I picked it up right away.

Well, I threw my plate on it and drove it home, and there were some pics of my car as I picked it up. Naturally, I was and still am at school and couldnt focus on its repair, so I ended up taking care of things bit by bit until the oilpan cracked and I got a new motor. It still runs fairly well, just a bit loud. I will post some audio when i part out or sell my motor. As of now, it has most of minor problems gone, and im getting it into a nice body shape.

-Artem

Artem · « **Reply #67 on:** March 31, 2008, 12:56:01 PM »

Some pics

-Artem

RouteZeroDesign · « **Reply #68 on:** April 11, 2008, 05:59:00 PM »

I thought i might as well contribute to this thread..
So heres my story...
My E36 318is is my third car in three years of driving.
My first car was a 4 door 1.6 civic which was nice, but civics have a bad reputation and are too easy to break into.

After that i bought a 1.4 5 door mk3 vw golf off of my friends parents. They were just about to pay €300 to have the car scrapped because it was running like a dog but instead i offered to take it off their hands, with the idea being to drive it until it goes BANG!!
Well i had it a week before i took the head off, and it turned out one of the core plugs had rotten so it was a €25 fix and it ran like a dream after that...

In may of last year i had enough with driving the white lunchbox and looked into buying something else. The shortlist was AE86 Corolla, KP60 starlet and any bmw.

As you can see they all have a common theme, under 2litres and rwd.
With my earliest experience of drifting being in an e30 318 the bmw seemed like the best option...and then we came across my one.

It was sitting in an Opel/Vauxhaull garage looking very sorry for itself, missing grilles, tatty interior, bald tires, missing most of its trim and spewing oil from the diff.
But underneath that was a very solid car with no rust and a fantastic little engine.
So far ive fixed all the little problems and kept it on the road, saving and planning for this summer where i can take it off the road and give it an overhaul.
To date the only modifications are a crappy headunit, 16inch e46 wheels and a fogged airbox.

But enough about me, tell us about you!

luckysnafu · « **Reply #69 on:** May 28, 2008, 08:28:03 AM »

Here is my story. I have been wanting another e30 for awhile now after giving my 84 318i to my parents a few years ago. My dad drove that until the engine died and then it went through a flood that ruined most of the car. I wanted an e30 for an autox/DD/track car to keep some miles off my e46. I have been looking on craigslist for a few months and found a Diamond Swartz 91 318iS for sale about an hour from where I live with 165K miles. It was listed for $1200, but was not inspected and hadn't been driven in over a year. I drove out and looked at it, it started, drove and revved nice. It has a few dings from tree branches and the driver's side front fender was replaced (with a gold colored one). The owner bought the car from the original owner and then his son drove it for the past few years. Apparently it is chipped and has an LSD. Interior is MINT, no cracks in the dash. Has some rust spots around the car and the drivers door is rusted out on the bottom. Needs new tires and a muffler to pass inspection I believe. I offered the guy $1000 but he wouldn't take it. Fast forward a month and I get an email from him saying he will take my $1000 offer. I bargain some more and get him down to $950. Just picked it up on Monday and had it towed to my house. I'm gonna do a tune up, replace the plugs, water pump, T-stat, belts, gaskets and timing chain tensioner. Get some new tires, new muffler and get it inspected. Then get new suspension (I think the original suspension is still on the car) and get it ready for autoX. Here are a few pictures.

luckysnafu · « **Reply #70 on:** May 28, 2008, 06:21:29 PM »

double post somehow...

She loved E · « **Reply #71 on:** August 11, 2008, 12:44:37 AM »

Got mine yesterday

I found it through a former coworker who is a BMWCCA driving instructor. I've been keeping an eye out for the right car for 1.5 years. This was a bit too soon (I would have rather waited until Dec/Jan), but the deal was too good; 10+ years of records and a meticulous PO, lots of recent work (service II, tires, rad and water pump, lots of misc stuff), and the price was right.

Big ups to m42club and to a lesser extent the other forums... if it wasn't for the active online E30 community and knowledgebase, I think I would have ended up with another Benz or a crotch rocket. My IS will be a daily driver, but I also want to use it to learn how to wrench on my own cars, so every little bit helps.

Kyle

swiss318is · « **Reply #72 on:** August 13, 2008, 04:55:31 PM »

"she loved e"... super nice and clean car.. congratulations!! i like the oldschool graphics on the side of the car..!
on this cars you can easely learn how to wrench.. its like LEGO for older childrens.. (check it for body rust around the rear towing-hook)
best regards from switzerland..

Angus1211 · « **Reply #73 on:** September 28, 2008, 05:07:57 PM »

I blew my sebring's motor at the track when my fuel solenoid for my NX kit became "ungrounded" and threw in a rather large DRY shot... blew 3 pistons. So I didn't have the money upfront to take it to a shop (these motors are really, really expensive!), or a place to pull a motor myself, so i just left it, sitting in my driveway there till my buddies in a auto tech class can swap motors for me for free, pretty soon actually.

So I was looking for a cheap, temp replacement. was looking at jeeps as I know those are bullet proof as I had one previously. But then I came across my local chicago auto club's (http://www.thechicagogarage.org) for sale section and someone was selling a "good beater" car. It was there and i saw some others post that it was a god deal for $1500 and I was getting desperate for a ride. So the next day i met up and bought it. Had plenty of cosmetic problems, like interior and pass door latch and paint fading, but after i fix my sebring, this is my new project car.

It's not bad, parts aren't a problem as some have told me they would, and it's a nice car for being 15 years old...

btw, I think i have a 92 (may be a 93, I don't know) e36 right? so do i have a m42 or m44? and do i have an airbag since it says SRS on the steering wheel?

thanks guys and I hope t build this car back up to good condition.

Oh and this car is 10x's easier to work on than my sebring...

big e · « **Reply #74 on:** March 06, 2009, 04:04:20 PM »

hi im in the uk and i got my e30 318is 2years ago it cost me �1400 and it is very tidy it has covered 147,000 miles but the engine still feels good. it had a few electrical prpblems with the elec windows but i found this was due to the alarm i have sorted that out and had no other problems. i love this car, i think its the best car i have owned. i am slowly modding it hoping to turbo it soon.