My new 325i ('89)

[tommtb]

Sorry for another attempted valuation but im looking at trying to buy an E30 and want to be sure its worth the cash, or as sure as i can be anyway!

Its a 1989, Dolphin green, 325i coupe (manual), was a showroom car so has all possible extras, it has full black leather interior(very clean), 15" BBS, LSD, stainless exhaust, full history, recent service this year, 11 months MOT, Mtech1 rear spoiler, Mtech1 steering wheel, no rust visible from the outside at all not even bubbles and 4 near new tyres.

Im looking at paying 1900-2 grand at the moment, is that a sensible figure?

Cheers everyone and anyone.

[SPADGE]

That'll be this one then
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=004
Looks ok but needs to be seen in the flesh really before a proper value can be put on it.

[tommtb]

the search goes on, was trying to do a deal with him but looks like itll sell on ebay!

a clean 325 or tech1 is proving bloody hard to find.

Cheers

[Ziggy]

Where is the rust (assuming you've been to see it)? If there's none, then he's missed a trick by not putting the fact in huge bold letters at the top of the ad.

[SPADGE]

the search goes on, was trying to do a deal with him but looks like itll sell on ebay!

a clean 325 or tech1 is proving bloody hard to find.

Cheers

How do you know you won't win it for your 1900-2000 figure?

[Ziggy]

the search goes on, was trying to do a deal with him but looks like itll sell on ebay!

So bid for it if you want it?

[tommtb]

im not bidding on a car ive not been to see i dont fancy that risk, i was told to check under the arches and from inside the boot on an E30 for rust?

ill watch it and bid if its going to stay cheap, whats a good price to take a risk on as its mechanically sound?

cheers guys, youve nicely convinced me, its a nice one right?

[SPADGE]

im not bidding on a car ive not been to see i dont fancy that risk, i was told to check under the arches and from inside the boot on an E30 for rust?

ill watch it and bid if its going to stay cheap, whats a good price to take a risk on as its mechanically sound?

cheers guys, youve nicely convinced me, its a nice one right?

If its as good as he says it is its worth 2k all day long.
If its not as good as he says then walk away its quite simple really.

[Ziggy]

E-mail him asking where any rust / bodywork damage is (as well as anything else you'd look at if you went to see it). That way if it turns out to not be as described, you can walk away even if you win the auction.
Again - you can't tell if it's a 'nice one' from those pictures, but it looks like it could be!

[tommtb]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1987-BMW-e30-325I ... 286.c0.m14

what do you reckon to this one? its alot closer to me, like 100miles closer lol

might just have to leave the dolphin one ive got a busy few weeks coming up with music festivals and holidays, cant do with the hassle of going to Norwich!

the one above sounds really good, looks quite good apart from the rear lights and alpina badge..?

if i could get proof of all the work done and some history itd be a great buy? then sell the tech2 kit lol

[AlexBaur325]

Id ditch the steering wheel too....and but some black sports leather in, job done (assuming everything else is cool)

[Ya55lne]

No matter how good the car may look or sound every e30 will have some sort of problem mate. If you can get the 1st one for a good price i would go for it, as said by Spadge if you win it and it dont look as described then walk away simple as that, we all done it before. End of the day its your money your spending, but the car looks and sounds worth 2k so just go for it.
You never know you may get it cheaper then 2k so you will have extra money to spend on it if needed to.

[tommtb]

looks like ill be paying it a visit with a deposit at the weekend, if its all sound and works well on the test drive ill give him a deposit and hopefully pick it up next week!

ive looked at the buyers guide ages ago as ive been looking for a good 325 or some sort for a while, but should i jack it up and look under each corner to be really sure?

aslo a quick question about the seats, im not a fan of full leather so how much does the half leather sport interior usually go for second hand?

cheers guys!

[SPADGE]

Why didn't you buy that first one it went for under your original figure.
Looked like a very well spec'd car for the money to me.
I don't think there is a 'half leather' sports trim unless its been re-trimmed.

[tommtb]

oh sorry wasnt too clear on that was i, i am going to look at the original 2 door one, he didnt sell it on ebay in the end as it didnt make more than £1900, so we are planning on doing a deal.

i mean cloth sports interior then sorry mate, any ideas on prices? plus how much would the leather fetch?

so is jacking it up and having a proper look under the arches recommended if possible?

ta

[SPADGE]

So he had a mate run it up then as there wasn't a reserve
All the info re checking it over can be found in the link below
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ic&t=22543
VGC sports leather is worth around 400 quid and you may get a decent deal with someone who has cloth and wants leather.

[Jon_Bmw]

So he had a mate run it up then as there wasn't a reserve

Good old private listings

Why ebay still allow this is a joke. Purely to make more money I suspect from higher listing fees when stuff inevitably goes for higher amounts.

Someone who makes a proper 'ebay' will make a fortune.

[tommtb]

it all turned out like this because i saw it for sale on a website first and asked about it, not knowing it was up on ebay, i only found out about the ebay yesterday lol...had made him an offer before i saw the ebay, but youre right it shouldnt be allowed to happen. He shouldve take the private adverts off websites before putting it on ebay too.

cheers for the advice on seats, ill give the buyers tips a proper read before i go to see it.

[e30bmlover]

That'll be this one then
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=004
Looks ok but needs to be seen in the flesh really before a proper value can be put on it.

tommtb why didnt you give me a pm?? i live 5 mins away from this car! i did post this info in the ebay section of the site saying i will go and look at it if someone is intrested.

[tommtb]

christ, didnt notice that at all mate otherwise i wouldve done, im heading over for a look at 10am (ish) saturday morning, dont suppose you fancy giving it a look over with me? my girlfriend cant be any help shes just there for the drive lol...

is it easy enough to get into that part of Norwich? never having been anywhere near there in a car...

cheers mate

[e30bmlover]

didnt it sell then?? the auction ended @ 1800???

[e30bmlover]

i just phoned the bloke... he isnt going to sell it to the winner because the winner didnt keep up the deal( i.e the deposit within 24hrs ) hes keeping the car for a bloke from nottingham( i presume you ) so even if the winner does turn up he wont be driving it away. im not doing anything saturday so that will be fine mate. drop me a pm and i will give you my phone number. do you have satnav???

[tommtb]

nope it didnt, very long and silly story but he had already agreed with me to sell it at a price, i didnt know it was on ebay at the time...so he agreed to sell it to me if it didnt make a certain price on ebay, which it didnt so im heading down for a look with a deposit on saturday, long trip but itll hopefully be worth it.

would appreciate a bit of knowledge on E30s there to back me up if you were able mate? it does seem like a pretty good one so far, just cant be too careful i guess.

[e30bmlover]

tommtb you have a pm.

[tommtb]

well i bought it in the end thanks to all the guys that replied to the post, special thanks to e30bmlover for helping with the viewing and some sound advice!

looks like an absolute cracker of a car so ill get some pics up later in the week and a bit of info

cheers

[jbh]

does look a good one in the pictures ill be looking forward to seeing some better pics of it

good luck with e30 ownership btw

[e30bmlover]

my comment copied from the ebay thread......
the condition can only be described as time warp... it was an ex demo car for bmw, m tech 1 rear spoiler, black recaro leather, lsd, battery in the boot?, full obc, sport suspension, 15'' bbs, sunroof, tec1 steering wheel.... the car DIDNT HAVE A SPOT OF RUST ON IT and i mean NOTHING! i said to the bloke if tom didnt buy it i will! tom bought it though... treat her well tom treat her well!!!

[tommtb]

cheers mate good description, honestly couldnt believe how clean it was either..!

not sure what to do about the front seats as the bolster on the drivers is warn through in a small patch?
theyre heated so might not want to get rid of them but im guessing its expensive to repair?

also has cruise control which works and could be a bit of fun to get used to, never seen it before...

ill give it a full shine up this week and get some pics up after that, ill look after it like a child! also will be on here religiously for advice and opinions, like should i put an IS lip on do you reckon, to balance out the spoiler?

[e30bmlover]

yeah an i.s lip would set if off a treat, as for the bolster a re trim is the only way to go, although it will be expensive. the reason why my interior has kept so well is because i dont slide out of the seat, i grab the steering wheel and pull myself out of the car insted of sliding on the side of the seat. its fully loaded mate and i couldnt get my head round the tec 1 rear spoiler on a facelift car... it looks @ucking good! all you need now is some se skirts and she will be finished!! although you could get the whole underside of the car undersealed to stop the damn rust!

[tommtb]

i was thinking an IS lip and SE skirts yeah, will go for the lip first i reckon to see how it looks as i already love the way it looks as is...

was thinking of putting some Ronal LS wheels on as ive seen some on an 325i up near me and they look awesome, like BBS just with a nice bit of dish to them.

how much is a full underseal going to be? roughly
because thats a great move seeing as the condition is so good

so id need a re trim on both fronts so it matches? how much are u guessing at?

[jbh]

if you do the underseal yourself its only the cost of the materials you need to worry about and your time also means you know exactly what its like underneath and you also know that its all been done and nothings been missed.. as for the re-trim if you go to a good place I'm sure they could do the bolster on its own where as you wont notice it. if need be you might need to shine the rest of the interior up and get some leather treatment on it to bring the colour up but that would be a lot cheaper than re-trimming both front seats

[tommtb]

how do i go about undersealing it myself? no idea what it involves as a process as i have never needed it done or anything...
good point about knowing its a thorough job though, might be the best option unless someone knows a recommended place up near sheffield/north derbyshire?

i was planning on giving the leather a good going over for now and getting some products for it after seeing a thread today, so ill do that and see how it looks, just the bolster couldnt cost much? what sort of figure would you guess at and do you know anywhere to go to for a quote?

cheers for the info

[tommtb]

just need to insure it now as well! going to get some classic quotes today if i can...im just 23 so it shouldnt be too bad im guessing?

[e30bmlover]

how many years ncb do you have?? a classic policy is the way to go mate.

[tommtb]

no ncb cos ive only been a named driver so far, but my mates classic policy for his cosworth said they dont count ncb..?

ive got it insured on my dads policy for a month so i can enjoy it for a bit while i look for classic quotes
ive heard HIC are a really good, but i will check the insurance list on the forum...

ill get the pictures sorted out thursday/friday, might have to post a pic of it with my mates new 205 dimma 4x4 too, pretty special car!