E30 Zone

noticed this for sale near where I live, but it has 223,000 miles on it. looking for a run about at the mo but the miles are putting me off, should it?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-BMW-316-MAUV ... 25630045d4

Yes I would and did.
Bought 1 owner 1998 323i Coupe.
Had 237k with FSH when I got it.
I did a few bits to it such as 328i exhaust,panel filter,M20 flywheel etc and generally ragged the shit out of it whenever I drove it.
Had it for around 2.5 years on and off(sold to a friend for 5 months then bought it back due to lack of use) and when I finally got rid of it for good it had just clicked over the 252k mark.
Mechanically and bodilly it was fantastic.
Leather Sport trim was in great condition with only the drivers footwell carpet showing real mileage wear and obviously steering wheel and gearknob showed plenty of use.
I replaced most of the suspension as this was where it showed its age.
I opted for good quality Lemforder wishbones,E30 M3 offset bushes,OEM rear suspension bushes etc.
I ran cheap coilovers for a while which were horrendous and generally ruined the car but when put on Koni adjustables it was a pleasure to drive.

Dont be put off by mileage,if its been looked after well im sure youll soon forgot how many its done.

Oh and for what its worth im currently driving around in a 2002 52 plate 318i Touring.
Again a low owner full history car that has just turned 272k.
This is on the original engine.

cheers for the reply, it does look like its been well looked after and by the looks of it its been serviced by the same place all its life, is it worth the money or would you try and knock them down a bit? Thinking of taking a look at it either tomorrow or wednesday.

Obviously make a lower offer as that is how they have chosen to list it.

Ye didnt notice the best offer tab.

What ya reckon its worth?

£500-£600 maybe?

I would buy it aswell mate.

Lance1a on here as an E36 with about 430,000 on it but unsure what motor is in it.

Thinking about it, I'd push to £650

I have COMPLETELY changed my stance on high mileage cars after being in Robs 433,000 mile 320i E36 Coupe - it looked drove sounded and felt like a car with 1/4 of the miles - a clear indication of whats possible with the correct care and maintenence.

Duke137 wrote:£500-£600 maybe?

I would buy it aswell mate.

Lance1a on here as an E36 with about 430,000 on it but unsure what motor is in it.

Thinking about it, I'd push to £650

Thats for sale now. He's got an advert on a 5 series forum for it.

http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=85&t=73133

my e36 is just shy of 180k now, and i bet if i knocked 100K off the mileage noone would ever guess.

how it's been driven and maintained has far more bearing on the condition of an old car than the figures on the clock! however, i bet if i tried to sell my car 99% of people who looked at the ad wouldnt even think to come and see the car because of it's high mileage.

my e36 316i was on 120k when i sold it and still felt barely run in!

harry_p wrote:my e36 is just shy of 180k now, and i bet if i knocked 100K off the mileage noone would ever guess.

how it's been driven and maintained has far more bearing on the condition of an old car than the figures on the clock! however, i bet if i tried to sell my car 99% of people who looked at the ad wouldnt even think to come and see the car because of it's high mileage.

my e36 316i was on 120k when i sold it and still felt barely run in!

Ye I agree, when i seen that it had 223k on it I was like . But if its only had 1 owner from new and religiously serviced ever 10k then it must have been a well looked after car, I will soon find out when i see it tomorrow.

My first E36 was a 234'000 mile 320i Auto on the K plate. It was a bit stonechipped and tired (it had no history or evidence of recent maintenance), but it still drove fine. They're a lot more robust that many make out.

223'000 for a well looked after M43 is fine. I'd be looking to pay £650 for that.

Thanks for the replies guys, will report back after viewing.

The only E36 I've had was a '97 316i. Got it back in 2002 with 30K on the clock and sold it on with 112K - it still drove fantastically and I regret getting rid of it. Given 6000 mile oil changes they should do 250K+ easily.

Well my 272k E46 will be up for sale soon as my M52 swap is finished so will see how the mileage deters folk.
No doubt illsee a profit on it though

My dad had a e36 316i with 12 previous owners And that did 250k before we got rid.
Never had any engine problems either.

jaymos wrote:Thanks for the replies guys, will report back after viewing.

Did you get it then?

I picked up a 323 last week from my local Indy with nearly 180k on the clock and you'd never think it's done that

Best E36 I've owned up to now as I don't really like them, and they've let me down in the past - but I really like this one tho.

Anyway I'll be the third owner as it's originally a SA car, the last owner has had it since 1998 and was just after a change!

4 Door auto, white minty leather, obc, cold aircon, nice 2 tone grey/black interior and no electrical issues!

I never take any notice of mileage when buying motors. As long as you check everything at the time of purchase you will know or at least have a really good idea as to how the car is.

I've got an E34 525i with 236,000 miles on the clock, that I'm using at the moment for a 'work' car, and have also thrashed it, towing around Northern Europe for three weeks at a time for the last two summers.
It has a bit of vanos rattle when hot, but apart from that, and a tendency to go for weeks using no coolant, then putting the light on in a couple of days, it works perfectly. Never needs an oil top up between services, and it feels like most, if not all, of the ponies are present and correct.
All I've done to the car in the four years I've had it, apart from routine servicing, is to fit a pair of new dogbones to the rear suspension.

No didnt buy it, went to where the guy works and had a look around it, wasnt too bad apart from a bits of rust in the usual areas and a fair size ding in the passenger side wing. Still plenty more fish in the sea.

my 323 touring is on 205k, been in my family since 100k ish, engine has never been opened up, only bit of engine related stuff it's had is water pump. suspension fell apart though, have had to have rear subframe off it and do literally all bushes at the front and rear. gearbox shows its age, its not had a clutch in my knowledge though!

My m50 525 is on 221,000 miles and she still pulls like a train and I have a heavy right foot and she always comes back for more! Nothin has been done to the engine, only rad, waterpump and stat these older engines will go forever

jaymos wrote:noticed this for sale near where I live, but it has 223,000 miles on it. looking for a run about at the mo but the miles are putting me off, should it?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1996-BMW-316-MAUV ... 25630045d4

Pah! only just run-in!

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

harry_p wrote:my e36 is just shy of 180k now, and i bet if i knocked 100K off the mileage noone would ever guess.

how it's been driven and maintained has far more bearing on the condition of an old car than the figures on the clock! however, i bet if i tried to sell my car 99% of people who looked at the ad wouldnt even think to come and see the car because of it's high mileage.

my e36 316i was on 120k when i sold it and still felt barely run in!

My E36 is similar, 190K on it and great condition, lots of owners but amazingly still got the book and all 7 owners get up the history, I'm going to need a new book soon.

Two cheats though, it had a new block thanks to Nikasil at 30K and I did get the rear arches done last year.

I have had a few with 180+ including an M and a drifter all of which got there fair share of abuse and they were sweet if not a bit wondery due to knackered bushes.

If the worse came to the worse you might well be able to claw some of you hard earnt back on any nice bits you could sell, plus the scrap of the car would be best part of 200, the cat would make 50-100, then the wheels, battery etc, also tax refund any ice too.

I'd guess half the E30s on here have at least a quarter million miles on them, despite the clocks reading a respectable 100k-ish..

i had a mk2 golf gti 8v on 198k, and iv now got a e30 320i with the same...Alot less rot on the e30 i have to say!