Please see the offer here:
http://charlotte.craigslist.org/car/549391641.html
I want to contact the seller. What could the loop holes in the offer be? How much would I end up spending on maintenance every six months for such a car? What should I look out for when I go for a test drive?
Please help!
Thanks and lot!
Just a heads up….. You’ll pay twice as much for parts, not to mention labor
OMG NO..DO NOT DO IT. The car has over 200,000 miles on it. The only car you should ever think about buying with that many miles on it is a japanese car.. not german. I have a BMW 330Ci conv and i love it but its newer… and its already giving me electrical problems. last week my passenger mirror just started moving up and down BY ITSELF… it should only go down when i put my car in reverse… i have no idea whatss happening… BUT DO NOT BUY THIS CAR. GET A HONDA if price is an issue
When ever purchasing a used vehicle, you don’t know how it’s been treated. See if the seller would allow you to take the car to a local mechanic that works on BMW’s and get a written statement from the mechanic of the possible problems the car might have. It will cost you a few bucks to get this information, but I suggest you don’t purchase a used car going into a deal blind. Get the car checked out by a professional first.
If your purchasing the vehicle from a used car lot, you have some recourse, but not with a private party. You could be purchasing someone else’s problems.
Personally I would buy it. I have a 1996 bmw 328i and that car refuses to die out on me. It’s insane, I’ve totaled it once, had to replace the whole front end and some engine parts and it ran fine after that. My bf even totaled the damn thing a year later and he had to do more work to fix it than the first time because the damage was more serve re. It’s still going and strong. I LOVE E36 BMWS, they are the sh…. oh and mine has 150,000 and it’s the only car that I’ve ever owned that hasn’t died on me ever, never broke down once. Drive it and see if it sounds steady like no motor knocks. And see if when the tranny shifts make sure that it doesn’t kick bump use the sport shift if it’s aquipt. Have fun.
Oh and it’s been really cheap for me to maintain because I do everything myself. Craigslist is a really good site for extra parts and everything you can think of for your car, as well as ebay. As long as you change your oil and other fluids yourself you’ll be all good on price, if not it’s going to cost high amounts.
Way too many miles on it i have 1995 325i with 80,100. and im thinking about selling it before it hits the big 100,000. There are a lot of problems that could go wrong with the car if not properly maintained. They are fairly heavy cars with a 2.5 I6 dohc. Performance work done to the car is not really worth anything except to the manufactures of the parts. Do some research and you could find a better bmw with less miles. A certified bmw dealer/service center will charge around $130/hr just for labor. Assuming that this is a 95 check this link. http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Reliability.aspx?year=1995&make=BMW&model=3-Series&trimid=-1 You can also find other years on there. Also if you decide to sink your money into that make sure you study http://www.bimmerdiy.com/
I would offer 1900, but tell him to include the rims, you don’t want to be rolling on stock’s if you don’t have to. If he says 2k then you still got 200 off, basic negotiation my friend.
Any car that has the word “Race” in the title is probably not a good car to buy. The previous owner probably ran it quite hard, therefore it will need more work more often. Also, there are too many miles on it for it being that old. 200,000 is a lot.
Expect to put about $7,000 minimum into the car, but most likely more.
Wow I would definitely avoid that car. Lots of miles and it looks kind of… well… riced out. That’s a good indication that the owner beat the crap out of it and drove it really hard. It probably won’t last that long and you’ll be paying out your @$$ in repair costs. If you’re looking for a nice German sub-$3000 car, I’d suggest a 1997-ish Jetta VR6, not a high-mileage BMW. Not to say BMWs are bad cars, because I love BMWs, but this one just screams “I have problems!”