i Thought It Was Hard To Find E30s With Lowish mileage

Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:58 am

Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:02 am

Mostly chromies tho

Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:29 pm

nothing too wrong with a chromies but the major is the 4 pot wrongness.

1.8's or 1.6

but the baur and the 323i look good!!! nice findings

Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:40 pm

Those turds are all low mileage because no one wanted to drive them !

Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:49 pm

I can sell you an E30 with any milage on it you want, no warranty though.

Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:53 pm

how about this one??!!!

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ic&t=98187

Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:27 pm

it is hard to find e30's with verifiable low mileage especially 325's except convertibles which tend to get driven less often. I have been looking obsessively at ads for e30's for about six years now and there seem to be more low mileage cars than there used to be the reason simple they are clocked. No paperwork non genuine mileage is the best rule of thumb.

Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:41 pm

I Like the red 323i but the blue one is priced a little optimistically ! - OK only one owner from new but its still done 94k and its a 4 door - with chrome arches ( sorry cliffy but chrome arches NOOOOOOO!!!! )

Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:29 pm

as pnd said clocking is rife on these. Most E30's should be on well over 200,000. But some can hide the miles but most now don't!

Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:32 pm

Mine had 32000 on when i bought it in 2006.

It now has 48000!

It was a lucky find.

Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:33 pm

milege is just a number!

Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:36 pm

Simon13 wrote:milege is just a number!

Yes but condition to match and the lack of 20 hero/nutter/bodger owners is nice to!

Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:36 pm

I spotted a 325i touring in white the other day with 80,000. Ok not mega low but a lot less than average. One family owned from new, 4 different family owners, would have probably had full history. Nearly went for it, would have been perfect for what I wanted.

Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:40 pm

Mine has done 47k. Its been in the family since new and serviced at the main dealer.

Engine is lovely and smooth and you can hardly hear it at idle, even from cold which surprised me when I got it.

I'm not fussed about mileage myself. I'd have had this car if it had 3 times the mileage.

The main issue I have is that I think it would look really good lowered over some 15/16" wheels, but my head is telling me its better to keep it standard - it still has the original wheel trims and radio at the moment!
The other issue is I cant afford to have it serviced at the main dealer this year. Seems a shame to not keep up the BMW history, but its hard to gauge if it affects the value or not now on such an old car.

Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:03 pm

pugboy wrote:Mine has done 47k. Its been in the family since new and serviced at the main dealer.

Engine is lovely and smooth and you can hardly hear it at idle, even from cold which surprised me when I got it.

I'm not fussed about mileage myself. I'd have had this car if it had 3 times the mileage.

The main issue I have is that I think it would look really good lowered over some 15/16" wheels, but my head is telling me its better to keep it standard - it still has the original wheel trims and radio at the moment!
The other issue is I cant afford to have it serviced at the main dealer this year. Seems a shame to not keep up the BMW history, but its hard to gauge if it affects the value or not now on such an old car.

if you're keen on the up keep of the service history then bmw do the 4 plus scheme which gives a good discount on parts and labour.

Some dealers do a 6 years plus scheme which is 30% off labour. I've just picked up a 220,000 mile 325i touring which has been serviced by the main dealer it's whole life. It shows in how the car drives aswell. It's worth checking with a few of you local dealers to see if they offer this service

Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:32 am

Value of the car now will be far more influenced by what model it is and overall condition rather than the extent of the service history. If you are concerned about retaining the history I would take it to a known BMW specialist and keep all the receipts.

I don't think there would be much of a difference in value between 2 identical spec cars where one had been serviced at an Independent specialist for its latter years and the other had been done at a dealer all its life - sure the dealer serviced one will be slightly more desirable - but then you have the dilemma you find youself in - paying dealer prices to keep the history going or getting effectively the same work done a lot cheaper by a specialist who probably knows more about E30's than the modern dealer anyway !

Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:16 pm

I don't think there would be much of a difference in value between 2 identical spec cars where one had been serviced at an Independent specialist for its latter years and the other had been done at a dealer all its life - sure the dealer serviced one will be slightly more desirable - but then you have the dilemma you find youself in - paying dealer prices to keep the history going or getting effectively the same work done a lot cheaper by a specialist who probably knows more about E30's than the modern dealer anyway !

You can fall lucky with dealership servicing, though. I once had my car serviced at Sytners in Sheffield, who gave the work to their most senior (in age and experience) technician, as the guy had been trained on the E30

Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:25 pm

I know someone who worked at a dealers when the E30 and E34 were big sellers.

If you need to know something about overheating, door adjusting or oil changes he's you man.

I dont have a lot of confidence in dealers. You often get good lads in the parts departments, more interested in projects and older cars. I once got so annoyed with a service rep in Coventry when we took my mates M3 in, I had to tactically walk away mid conversation so I didn't start shouting!