Just bought this on Ebay..what do you think?

[Chris-W]

Colour coded bumpers and mirrors were no standard.

[lukescott]

Get it checked out and if it's ok then buy it. I have a 318i Lux cab and it goes as fast as I want it to. Driving a convertible is like owning a Harley Davidson........ Part of the fun is people looking at you.... . If you want to go fast buy a hard top not a cab. Did you buy the car ?? Did the deal go through ??

Edit...... This shows also how the UK E30ers view cars & value. Irish buyers would see this car as very good value. It would be worth around ┚¬9,000 here based on a main dealer valuation here in Dublin. The car would lose it's UK cat C or D tag as soon as it goes on Irish plates.

[Z3I]

Should be picking it up this week...pics to follow!

I have a 1991 catalogue, which shows the standard 318i with all black bumpers and mirriors. The colour coding was an option, but standard on the 320i/325i.

Interior looks as good as any ive seen....

[lukescott]

Interior looks as good as any ive seen....

Mine has 24,500 miles on it. The leather is as new. The 318i is great fun to drive so dont be put off by testosterone filled comments about bigger engines. Enjoy it and keep it stock. Dont turn it into a polished turd (lots of mods)

[Bailey]

Had this occured in 1995, then its a different matter, but in 2004, no

This is exactly the point! It's when a car was written off that matters, not what cat. is was.
Any E30 written off, cat C, in 2004 would be likely to have very minor damage. Just light damage to two or three panels would be enough.
Anything that required just painting would be a cat D.
Most people have no idea how little damage it takes to write off a car!
Saw a 325 Sport on a cat B up for breaking a while ago. Couldn't even see any damage on it!

This is very true! I bought my mk6 escort from a salvage yard which was cat d, and all i did was replaced the rear wing. i mean, i've heard of insurers writing off cars just because they need new locks.

[FraserM]

Here's my 2 pence worth, last year some twat ran into the back of me, pushed the bumper off the runners and chipped some paint off it, dented rear panel and cracked lights. Written off as a non economical fix, the price breakdown was crazy, new tech 2 bumper £350, rear panel £100, lights £40 each finally the paint and labour £1500, the car was not twisted just facial damage. I aked the inspector why it being written off and he said any car older than 5 or so years, depending make and model etc was written off for any minor work as it causes more hassle for the companies, therefor not all written off cars should be condemed.

[Z3I]

This is all good to read.

The guy selling the BM sounds gutted that its not 100% kosher, as he had believed. I think for the money it will be a good buy. I'm really like "original" cars that havn't been messed with, and apart from the new wing which could have happed at any time, it looks 100% original. Roll on the weekend when I'm hoping to pick it up...

[Jon_Bmw]

Here's my 2 pence worth, last year some twat ran into the back of me, pushed the bumper off the runners and chipped some paint off it, dented rear panel and cracked lights. Written off as a non economical fix, the price breakdown was crazy, new tech 2 bumper £350, rear panel £100, lights £40 each finally the paint and labour £1500, the car was not twisted just facial damage. I aked the inspector why it being written off and he said any car older than 5 or so years, depending make and model etc was written off for any minor work as it causes more hassle for the companies, therefor not all written off cars should be condemed.

Because all it is, is an estimate. For example your car is worth £3k, and damage comes to an estimated £2k which is roughly boarderline (2/3rds of its value) write off territory. Imagine on repair the damage is worse, or a lot worse than originally estimated you can see the costs spiralling upwards and out of control which is exactly what the insurance company is protecting themselves against by writing the car off.

By no means am i siding with insurance companies, in my opinion it is daylight robbery, just saying what it is like.