How much would you offer for this?

[iDemonix]

Hi all,

I posted this on Bimmerforums (http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f17 ... t-t374602/) before I found this forum, so I'll just copy + paste my post:

Hi all,

I sold my E90 320d last year and got a VW Transporter for my bikes, but I'm missing having a BMW and taking the van everywhere. I stumbled past this car when dog walking:



I love the look of it and fancy a project ever since selling my old classic mini years ago. It's a 94 Touring 'Lux', 105k miles, apparently it starts and idles but stalls under load, he reckons it's injector related. It's not been MOT'd for 4-5 years, tyres are pretty shot, obviously there's a bit of shrubbery growing on the bodywork and last MOT had advisories of:

Offside Front Front suspension has slight play in a lower suspension ball joint (2.5.B.1a)
light corrosion on exhaust system
front tyres slightly worn on edges

The owner has just said he's open to offers, what would you reckon something like that is worth? I wasn't really looking for a project, it just happened that I saw it, I do like projects (not done much with cars, done a fair bit with bikes though) so if it's cheap enough it might keep me busy this summer and teach me more about cars. I'm guessing parts aren't too hard to come by also.

More info from DVLA site:

Vehicle make BMW
Vehicle model 316 I TOURING LUX
Date first used 15 February 1994
Fuel type Petrol
Colour Silver

Cheers,
Dan

[jslot]

The thing about e30 tourings is the excellent visibility due all the glass. Sheds with excellent visibility are greenhouses.

Me, based on that photo, £250 should buy you either of those two greenhouses.

Seriously though we would need to know condition of bodywork.

[iDemonix]

Ha yeah it was kind of in someones garden so I didn't want to just go snooping around and the dog was dying to go play fetch, so I didn't really take much of a look around it or inside. The obvious exterior panels didn't seem to bad at all really, but I didn't look underneath or round the back, and obviously the MOT said the exhaust was rusting 5 years ago so that's probably toast by now.

For some reason the bloke hasn't got back to me in a while and all i have is his email, hoping he gets back in touch and hasn't changed his mind!

That amount sounds about right, depending on whether it's a rust bucket or not.

[ropeman]

I'd say £250 isn't an unreasonable offer for something that needs some work and isn't drivable. It's a good base point to start. If he wants more he'll let you know.

[kieran325]

I've got a 93 316 touring that's up for sale soon, nice little project to get it tip top.

[macas]

Be careful,magpie took covert pics of a car under a cover that wasnt his and got a rollicking on here

[iDemonix]

If it was under a car cover then I can kind of see why, but this is just sat in front of someone's house on a little patch of garden/allotment. I really wanted to look around it but didn't want to go on someones property!

Kieran, drop me some details. As I said in the OP I wasn't really looking for a project (got enough motorbikes that need a big sort out) but it just caught my eye and it would be nice to drive something other than the van (plus the dog vomits if he can't see out the bloody window).

Sent the bloke a final email seeing if he's still interested in selling, time will tell...

[kieran325]

It's not a project as such, just needs a few jobs that I've been putting off but I've just picked up another car and it needs a new home.

[iDemonix]

Drop me a few details (MOT, mileage, location, whatever else, price) just in case I can't get hold of this project, do love the silver but if I had to get a different colour it'd definitely be black.

[iDemonix]

Alright the bloke has got back to me and asked me to make an offer, will lowball and see what I get back.

Could anyone let me know how hard it is and how much it'd cost to replace a lower suspension ball joint myself? Want to get stuck in but if it's a big job needing a specialist tool then I'll have to find a local.

[Brianmoooore]

Suspension joint can be changed on its own, but the usual procedure is to replace the whole control arm, complete with both ball joints, but this will require a new control arm rubber bush as well.
http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/suspensi ... ion-joints

Avoid their cheaper parts - use Lemforder only, which are BMW parts with the BMW logo removed.
Simple DIY job, taking a couple of hours, and the only special tool you might want to buy is a simple fork type ball joint splitter.

[iDemonix]

Ahh shame, he's after at least £600. Now to decide whether to spend the money on my track bike instead or keep looking for an E30...

[pianist]

tbh £600 is what I was thinking it might go for, I bet if you cleaned that green moss of it, it would look quite a decent car, besides I heard that tourings don't rust as bad as rest of e30's so it might be a better option, anyhow it is your decision to be made

[magpie]

£350 - £500 is where that car is , i'd start the ball rolling at £300 .

all my 4-pot tourings have been under £500 , these are two of the most recent , red £450 with mot/tax drove it home, black £400 mot 5 month , starts but splutters,missfires and then takes off every gear change so trailered home .

[iDemonix]

Yeah I'd have gone up a bit, but not to £600. If you zoom in on the original pic I took you can see where the bumper meets the car there's lots of rust, and it's been sat on long wet grass for 5 years so I bet underneath isn't looking too clever.

I only really want an E30 touring because it'd be nicer for the dog than being in the boot of the Corsa my other half drives. Ah well, I've said come back to me if you'll take less, I'm going to setup some eBay alerts and see if anything cheap pops up. If it gets to spring I'll just throw the cash at my track bike instead.

Cheers for help all.