Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:17 pm
Just keep your eye out for a tidy 325 - if you can buy before you sell all the better. I would think there would be a ready market for your car as and when you want rid, though I think £2k ono would be a realistic starting point, and 18-19 hundred a reasonable selling price. If I could find an unmolested, fully historied sub-120k 325i for sensible money, I'd buy it, but they are bloody rare, even rarer for sale. You have to be prepared to pounce (and to travel).
I have a minty(ish) 76k 320i with truly exceptional history (1 previous lady owner, every bill inc original bill of sale, serviced every 6mths with no expense spared) and I would part with it for an adequate sum, but only, only, if I already had a 325i with similar provenance already on my drive as a replacement - in a similar boat to you really. It isn't all the car, or even all the e30, that I want, but it is so straight and honest I feel really lucky to have it, just as I am sure you feel with your excellent iS.
The trouble is with e30s, the most cared for cars are usually the more 'old person' variants - moredoors, luxor/bronzit/cirrus cars, autos, carb 316s, 320s - and it then feels almost naughty to molest them in pursuit of proper pace, handling and appearance. I could, and have, owned less well preserved examples, but I couldn't fall for one in the same way as I have this particular one. I regret losing it's immaculate cloth interior and feel torn about potentially firming up the boat like ride, giving it more poke, or junking the stupid 4-turn steering rack, all things I would like to have done.

"doughnuts - power braking in circles" Peterborough Evening Telegraph
