School me on 1994 bmw 318is E46

[Poknat]

Originally Posted by godwin

It is a 20 year old car, honestly the mileage starts to be meaningless and recent work is more important especially things with bushings.

I still have my 94 e36 that I bought new. A few things to take care of: make sure the AC is doesn't leak and well charged. If the shocks haven't been changed, you should do it afterwards, also all the mounts.. which are plastic should be changed out. With a 1.8 I doubt the rear suspension mount will be torn. Try the ignition switch, make sure it is makes definite clicks and don't spin around.

It is such a simple car (relative to today's).. parts are plentiful and relatively cheap too. Not to mention I think there are more BMW specialized shops in town vs a lot of other marques..

thanks for the info, much appreciated
i will watch out for those things when i get
to see the car and test drive

[tofu1413]

Originally Posted by Poknat

yup,they want $8900 ,thats why i havent pull the trigger yet lol
tofu1413 cars beautiful and set up nicely but it just has had lot of kms for me

thanks

higher kms, but headgasket, cooling system all done within last 50k kms. just did whole suspension with bilsteins/ H&Rs 2k kms ago....

drives pretty awesome. feel free to test drive mine after test driving theirs.

[bcrdukes]

Car that's driven > car that sat

[dared3vil0]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Car that's driven > car that sat

I forget where i read it, but there was an entire article (perhaps it was Jalopnik) regarding this, apparently a low km car that's 20+ years old is worse than an extremely high km 20 year old car that was driven... (i think the comparison was 60k miles (100km) and 250k miles (400km) So 80km on a rarely driven car with little to no recent work is most likely going to be worse than 260km on a car with a ton of recent work...

[bcrdukes]

It's all subjective, really.

You can have a niche product like aircooled Porsche 911s that may have 7600 original miles, sat in climate-controlled storage facility, it'll fetch some top dollar these days. But can you daily drive it? Maybe if you put some time/money/resource XYZ into it, maybe. Otherwise, it's as good as sitting in your living room show piece. Would I drive it? Maybe once a year and pray tell that nothing fails on me.

If I were to buy a car to drive, I'd buy one that's been driven and maintained, not a garage queen. But hey, different strokes for different folks.

[godwin]

I think in Vancouver, if you are storing indoors even just a house garage you should be fine. The problem is the UV from outdoors really etches and make things brittle. Just the heat and cold cycles alone do nasty things to gaskets since they are in contact with 2 different materials.

How long things last is also subjective to which particular cars too.. eg cars with cam belt and under tension and plastic as I have been repeating. Those things will get more brittle with age and smog. This applies to most exotic "garage queens" like pre 430 Ferraris. Most people get in trouble when the do Italian tuneups without checkout the car. especially mid engine cars which are prone to oil leaks etc.

Same with the fluids, proper type of coolant and maintenance is important.. especially those with plastic, since when the buffer limit of the coolant goes awry, it breaks a lot of things.

For e36.. I don't think it makes a difference as long as it is kept inside.

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

It's all subjective, really.

You can have a niche product like aircooled Porsche 911s that may have 7600 original miles, sat in climate-controlled storage facility, it'll fetch some top dollar these days. But can you daily drive it? Maybe if you put some time/money/resource XYZ into it, maybe. Otherwise, it's as good as sitting in your living room show piece. Would I drive it? Maybe once a year and pray tell that nothing fails on me.

If I were to buy a car to drive, I'd buy one that's been driven and maintained, not a garage queen. But hey, different strokes for different folks.

[Poknat]

Im currently driving a 1998 civic hatchback right now, bought it 2 years ago
with only 77,000kms on original clutch and timing belt, right now its sitting at almost 98,000kms, never leave me stranded yet! just did oil change ,spark plugs and transmission oil change and soon timing belt.
I just had a good experience owning an old and low kms car, i know its a honda and bmw is different especially on maintenance

[slicrick]

I had a 97 Cavalier handed down to me from my grandparents it was bought brand new from a local GM dealer and always maintained there and usually parked in the garage, in summer 2011 it was given to me as a birthday present with 102k on it and probably 20k of that mileage was being towed behind a motorhome. I was happy to have a car as soon as I got my N let alone for free, after 2 years of it sitting the all the fluids were changed before driving it again.

However so much stuff needed to be done/replaced, I know Cavaliers were never very good cars but nearly every gasket, rubber and plastic piece on that car was super brittle or broken and had all sorts of problems after I insured it and started driving it

Maybe I am wrong but it regardless of the low mileage it seemed like all the sitting it had done was the exact opposite of beneficial except for the body and paint were in awesome condition

[westopher]

Everyone with an e36 will 100% tell you that its not the mileage, its the maintenance. 9k is OK M3 territory. Buy Tofu's 325is. I am willing to bet its twice the car at 2/3rds the price of the 318is.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by westopher

Everyone with an e36 will 100% tell you that its not the mileage, its the maintenance. 9k is OK M3 territory. Buy Tofu's 325is. I am willing to bet its twice the car at 2/3rds the price of the 318is.

For reference, my previous M3 had 157,000 miles, which is roughly 252,667 km. All it needed was gas, routine maintenance, and a driver.

+1 on getting tofu's 325is.

[tofu1413]

Originally Posted by westopher

Everyone with an e36 will 100% tell you that its not the mileage, its the maintenance. 9k is OK M3 territory. Buy Tofu's 325is. I am willing to bet its twice the car at 2/3rds the price of the 318is.

I thought you wanted to buy it!

rofl

[westopher]

Haha I thought I'd have more time to save some goddamn money for it!

[kwy]

There are so many better ways to spend 9k than on an e36 318i, regardless of how clean or low mileage it is.

[Poknat]

Now you guys are confusing me lol

[european]

tofu's BMW is badass! Buy it!

[jpark]

9g for a e36 318i..............you know you can buy a decent e36 m3 for that much right?

[tofu1413]

^ and then spend another 9 to keep that M3 running / tip top shape

[westopher]

You'd have to get pretty lucky though, but they are out there. There is a higher mileage silver e36 m3 going for 8k on craigslist that has TONS of maintenance done to it. I'd buy that if I had 8k and was ready for the m3 ownership cost. If I wasn't, I'd buy tofus, but none of my options would consist of the 318 to be honest.

[hud 91gt]

That M3 has an interesting history. Repaint, US import. Swapped interior from another car, new head gasket at 230,000km's…. Just too many weird things which has kept me away. It's been on there for ages.

[hud 91gt]

I've seen the '93 318i up close, it's a pretty pristine example of an E36. One owner vehicle, blah blah blah. But I wouldn't pay more then 6g's. 318's are a dime a dozen.

[tofu1413]

hmm if I keep the e36 at this rate... gonna end up caming it and since I have the parts lying around, add 540I injectors / 3" maf...
Posted via RS Mobile

[ruthless]

Originally Posted by jpark

9g for a e36 318i..............you know you can buy a decent e36 m3 for that much right?

is this one good?
BMW M3

[GS8]

Originally Posted by dared3vil0

I forget where i read it, but there was an entire article (perhaps it was Jalopnik) regarding this, apparently a low km car that's 20+ years old is worse than an extremely high km 20 year old car that was driven... (i think the comparison was 60k miles (100km) and 250k miles (400km) So 80km on a rarely driven car with little to no recent work is most likely going to be worse than 260km on a car with a ton of recent work...

It's all true.

Mileage is just a number like applying age to a human being. The car is only as old as it 'feels'.

But a car sitting for years with occasional startup is just asking for trouble if one were to start using it as a daily driver. You can do all the preventative maintenance you need and still have something go wrong (as simple as a bushing). Some low mileage cars need their own restoration because the car is essentially a deathtrap.

Anyone who buys a car to 'sit on it' for financial gain is a tard IMO.

[godwin]

For opinion on a particular BMW on CL, there is no better inspectors than the peanut gallery at BCBimmers.

Originally Posted by ruthless

is this one good?
BMW M3

[hud 91gt]

I can't for the life of me get access to BCBimmers. I registered and all the forums are private. I emailed the forum dude and nothing. I also private messaged him. Nothing. Anyone have any suggestions? It's been weeks.