Give me your opinion of this 325

[icebrick]

I'm looking at an 89 325 to buy, I have a few odd questions . This car has the battery located in the trunk. Is it like this from the factory?
It has a spoiler on the trunk, car is burgundy, spoiler is black. Add on?
The car is undercoated, even the rear axle. From the factory?

Now questions about value.
Car has about 105K miles.
It is a very nice solid car, but aren't all E30's?
Radio is missing, and I'm told the speakers need replacing.
Drivers door does not unlock, the car needs to be unlocked from the trunk.
Drivers seat worn out on the left side bolster. The interior otherwise is very nice.
Two of the power windows don't work.
The drivers door does not close with the same effortless ease as my volvo. I'm disappointed.
Original paint very nice but clear coat is peeling on trunk and hood. ( They were clearcoated from the factory?)
No repair history on the car, so the timing belt needs to be changed.
Engine doesn't appear to leak, but it does have a good cake of oil on the cross member.
Has an Automatic Trans.
The car will pass an Ontario MOT safety check.

Am I nit picking? Aside from these faults, it is a beautiful car. Any comments are appreciated.

 

[echothreezero]

In answer to your first few questions - yes they came like this from the factory. 320's and 318's had the battery in the engine bay, 325's in the trunk with some exceptions of course. The rear spoiler is made of rubber and is black. Some up-specced models had painted spoilers, or larger plastic ones as on my car.

BMW do a pretty good job of undersealing but can't say I've seen the axle sealed, but either way it is unlikely to be a bad thing, and it wouldn't surprise me if BMW did it for colder regions.

Also yes to clearcoated from factory.

Its an auto. so FTL for me, but sounds liek your average e30 - needs a bit of maintenance to bring it up to scratch. What you'll discover is there are two types of e30 owner - those that exploit the BMW durability and drive it for years with little maintenance and sell it when it starts to look tired, and those that meticulously maintain their cars and replace anything that rattles or doen't do what it should and try to make their 20yo e30's like they were when they left the factory. Most of us in this forum fall somewhere near the second type.

Sounds like the car you looked at may be closer to the first type. Its probably a sound car, but should be priced at the lower end of the market as it sounds like your basic model in need of some TLC.

 

[E30m42cab]

I dunno, most of those problems don't sound major... the windows could just be the switches (or the circuit breaker if it's only the rear windows that don't work). Other than that it's your typical ontario E30. I see more of them that look like crap than ones that look good. My main concern around here is the body. If the body is strong, the rest can be fixed in time. That list of stuff is what you can see at first glance, but wait till you get the car for a couple days, and you'll likely have your hands full. Burnt out interior lights, dead 02 sensor, the list goes on. Just check everything... of course it can all be fixed, but the more crap you find wrong with it , the cheaper you'll get it. What's the asking price?

Are you going to do most of the work yourself?

 

[icebrick]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm totally a noob to BMW. The battery in the trunk bothered me most, if it's not factory, it says "boy racer" to me,( been there), as well as an added on spoiler would. This car had supposedly mature owners so I thought those discrepancies would point otherwise.
The body is solid, and very nice, with the odd tiny door ding. I agree that this car has not received the love it deserved.
The car is listed at 5K, and I think the owner believes it is worth it. I will need to see what those repairs may cost, and go from there.

Yes?

Edit: I'll do whatever work myself that I can, and some things I'd rather not tackle anymore

 

[E30m42cab]

The battery in the trunk is stock... the plastic cover is too. Part #10 is the battery cover http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=1423&mospid=47322&btnr=51_1754&hg=51&fg=65 See if they'll fix the locks and windows, and then maybe it's worth $5K. I paid $7K for my cabrio, and it was bone stock, beautiful condition, and my parents paid $8K for the finest bone stock, single owner, low km's, perfect everything, E30 I have ever seen. So $5K seems high for crappy paint, no radio, windows that don't roll, locks that don't work, and no timing belt history for 107,000km's. You can buy old E30's like that for $2000, even less. Can you post some pics of it?

 

[echothreezero]

Sounds very high. I'm not sure what prices are on your side of the world, but on the exchange rate, I would expect to pay less than 2 grand for it which is in line with Scottys estimate.

 

[cliff]

I would guess that seems pretty sound...the battery in the trunk sounds a little strange to me for a NA model (mine is in the right front engine bay) but otherwise seems reasonable. The door lock thing is fairly normal, the worn out seat bolster thing is typical, the stereo was junk anyway...with no apparent leaks I (there will always be crap down there) agree...good car...the automatic (a ZF4 HP-22) is fairly robust, but if a rebuild is required figure around $1500...but a really nice auto tranny, the finish is outstanding as well. I'd offer $2500 for the car myself
and plan on putting another several hundred into for stuff like a timing belt, tune up, tires, exhaust, stuff as required...if you can get the guy fixed like you like it for less than $3500 with 105K on you have a bargain on your hands...good luck...cliff


lUOTE=icebrick;204157]I'm looking at an 89 325 to buy, I have a few odd questions . This car has the battery located in the trunk. Is it like this from the factory?
It has a spoiler on the trunk, car is burgundy, spoiler is black. Add on?
The car is undercoated, even the rear axle. From the factory?

Now questions about value.
Car has about 105K miles.
It is a very nice solid car, but aren't all E30's?
Radio is missing, and I'm told the speakers need replacing.
Drivers door does not unlock, the car needs to be unlocked from the trunk.
Drivers seat worn out on the left side bolster. The interior otherwise is very nice.
Two of the power windows don't work.
The drivers door does not close with the same effortless ease as my volvo. I'm disappointed.
Original paint very nice but clear coat is peeling on trunk and hood. ( They were clearcoated from the factory?)
No repair history on the car, so the timing belt needs to be changed.
Engine doesn't appear to leak, but it does have a good cake of oil on the cross member.
Has an Automatic Trans.
The car will pass an Ontario MOT safety check.

Am I nit picking? Aside from these faults, it is a beautiful car. Any comments are appreciated.[/QUOTE]

 

[E30m42cab]

I would guess that seems pretty sound...the battery in the trunk sounds a little strange to me for a NA model (mine is in the right front engine bay) but otherwise seems reasonable. The door lock thing is fairly normal, the worn out seat bolster thing is typical, the stereo was junk anyway...with no apparent leaks I (there will always be crap down there) agree...good car...the automatic (a ZF4 HP-22) is fairly robust, but if a rebuild is required figure around $1500...but a really nice auto tranny, the finish is outstanding as well. I'd offer $2500 for the car myself
and plan on putting another several hundred into for stuff like a timing belt, tune up, tires, exhaust, stuff as required...if you can get the guy fixed like you like it for less than $3500 with 105K on you have a bargain on your hands...good luck...cliff

Yup, so there you have it... approx. $2500 as is, or$3500 fixed up a bit. $5K is no good.

Cliff, the battery in the trunk has nothing to do with North America... it is factory for all 2.5-2.7L 6 cylinders. On all convertibles the battery is in under the hood, regardless of engine (4cylinder or 6). Actually, I dropped a tool down my passenger side rear quarter panel when I was fixing my locking gas door solenoid, and found that there is a "brick" of metal with rubber dampers in the place that usually houses the battery on all coupe's and sedans. Check it out: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BA73&mospid=47325&btnr=51_1764&hg=51&fg=80 $600 for a giant chunck of steel!! I took it out to get my tool from underneath, but I never weighed it Cliff, your cabrio will have it too.

 

[Big Daddy]

The battery in my 91 318is was in the trunk, from the factory!

 

[E30m42cab]

^^ There ya go. Didn't know that. It must be under the hood on M10 318i models? (nobody know's 'cause no one ownes one any more!)

 

[icebrick]

One other thng I didn't think to ask, will this car use regular or premium fuel?

 

[E30m42cab]

I've always run 91 octane, but my cars are always chipped. Both my parents use 89-91, never 87.

 

[cliff]

that explains the battery thing...thanks...also might explain why the 325ix and ic are 6 inches longer than the hardtops... cliff

Yup, so there you have it... approx. $2500 as is, or$3500 fixed up a bit. $5K is no good.

Cliff, the battery in the trunk has nothing to do with North America... it is factory for all 2.5-2.7L 6 cylinders. On all convertibles the battery is in under the hood, regardless of engine (4cylinder or 6). Actually, I dropped a tool down my passenger side rear quarter panel when I was fixing my locking gas door solenoid, and found that there is a "brick" of metal with rubber dampers in the place that usually houses the battery on all coupe's and sedans. Check it out: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BA73&mospid=47325&btnr=51_1764&hg=51&fg=80 $600 for a giant chunck of steel!! I took it out to get my tool from underneath, but I never weighed it Cliff, your cabrio will have it too.

 

[Doughnut]

My 323i didn't come with a $600 battery brick, had to make one

 

[echothreezero]

I run mine on 95 octane, but I'm pretty sure that over here they boost the octane as the fuel is lesser grade, and our 95 is similar to your 91. We don't get 89 or 87. We have unleaded 91, 95, and 98 plus recently E85 with around 98 octane.

Basically on a naturally aspirated car, you should be running the higher octane on anything around a 10:1 comp ratio or higher. Especially on vehicles without modern knock sensors.