What did I do? Just bought a TI!

[breukelen]

Hi all - this is my first post on this forum. At 4pm today I was looking through the local Craigs List car classifieds and came upon a 1995 318ti for sale, just posted earlier in the afternoon by the seller. I left work early to check this car out and by 7:30pm, I had shaken hands with the seller and I am now the owner of a new "used" 318ti. What just happened? I was actually looking for an e30 325i or 325is in a stick!

Having said that, and having had only an hour to research the car beforehand, I walked away feeling a little bewildered after the deal was done. The car is black (metallic) with tan leather, manual shift, with 52k miles. One owner. The car is basically in anywhere from very good to excellent condition: tan leather with little to no wear, cruise control, manual shift, clean carpets, am/fm cassette (no cd), alarm and keyless entry, sunroof, and everything else standard in the "active" package. The outside is in overall good condition, but not great. The paint is not very shiny and needs a serious polish/wax. There is no bumper rash but 7-8 small dings on the drivers side door and 2 dings on the driver side front fender (mind you this car is in NYC), but the passenger side is perfect.

Honestly, I don't know a great deal about this specific bmw, other than being told that the m42 engine can develop a head issue (?). So... what am I in for? What should I watch out for? Did I get a decent, fair or average deal? I looked in kbb.com and edmunds, and I paid more than book...

[breukelen]

Failed to mention the price, the seller was asking $6300 and I paid $6k. I was prepared to pay less, but it turned out that I knew the seller within 2 degrees which made it awkward for me to lowball ;)

[m44ic]

sounds like you got a good deal Ti's are fun

[marcus2116]

tight

[maurolin]

Well.... here's my opinion:
That's Badd ass!!!!!!! I was going for an E30 as well to build... and I came accross a Ti, metalic black (Cosmos) 1995! 88K miles $1200 Don't ask how!. (Theft recovery. if u want to know more I can post my car's story)
But DEFINATELY! a Ti has the Best of the E36 and E30! CONGRATULATIONS!

[city]

Congrats on the Ti and welcome to the Ti family, This site has everything you need to know about your Ti plus anything else you could possibly want to know about modifications, DIY's, etc. Have fun with it and rep it hard;)

[L84THSKY]

You said the car was in NYC, where do you live?

Failed to mention the price, the seller was asking $6300 and I paid $6k. I was prepared to pay less, but it turned out that I knew the seller within 2 degrees which made it awkward for me to lowball ;)

[sKunkman]

I dont know if anyone answered his question.

I think you got a pretty good deal. A ti is one of the best daily driving cars to own, not to mention how much damn fun it is to drive. I paid 6400 for mine, and my car has 2x the mileage! You said yours was an m42 so I'm assuming its a 95 or so, and even with that its a good deal. Good times :)

[robcarync]

good deal :)

AWESOME CAR!

[Three_eighteenTiGuy]

Congrats on the new ride. Look forward to the most fun driving experience you'll ever have. These cars are awesome. And you got a decent deal on the car. With the leather interior, and its condition, you paid a fair price, I paid 6500.00 for my 97' , that was a one owner, garage kept with only 60k miles, however, mine has the cloth interior, and an automatic transmission.
As far as problems, dont look too hard, these cars are known to be solid. Just keep up with the maintenance, and pay attention to her, and you should be just fine.

[mickd]

The head issue you mention is the profile gasket, don't remember what year BMW fixed it, but our '95 ti's with the M42 don't have that problem.

[cali-ti]

i've owned my car since about 300 miles (oct 1996). damn reliable. DO keep up with the maitenance (you can learn here and with some "required" manuals such as the bentley manual) and it'll be your trusty friend and won't strand you (mine never has and i haven't kept up with maintenance like i should have). fun car to bang through the gears in (even if it isn't the most powerful car on the planet).

[breukelen]

Thanks for the very warm welcome. It's really cool to see a 318ti-only site on the web, and to see such a group of enthusiastic owners. I just picked up the car this evening and drove it home. This being the second time driving it, my impressions are very positive although it takes a little bit of getting used to a 4-cyl again after a 6.

mickd - as for the profile gasket thing, I'm VERY glad to hear that. some e30 guys were making me worry about it

L84THSKY - i live in the brooklyn - just a tad more room to breath

I did find one thing wrong already, my buddy noticed that the reverse lights are not working - perhaps its a fuse. I don't know how I missed that one. Anyway, what the car REALLY needs is a nice wax job

[sKunkman]

Both of those are easy to fix. Not sure if the reverse lights are on separate fuses than the rest of the rear lights, but its probably a bulb. Few dollars, open up the back (unscrew the light cover) and youre good to go.

[robcarync]

my reverse lights werent working...but it was just a bulb that wasnt in all the way...id definently check out the light bulb first

[L84THSKY]

I'm on Long Island, on the Nassau/Suffolk county border. Maybe we can hang sometime. :biggrin:


Thanks for the very warm welcome. It's really cool to see a 318ti-only site on the web, and to see such a group of enthusiastic owners. I just picked up the car this evening and drove it home. This being the second time driving it, my impressions are very positive although it takes a little bit of getting used to a 4-cyl again after a 6.

mickd - as for the profile gasket thing, I'm VERY glad to hear that. some e30 guys were making me worry about it

L84THSKY - i live in the brooklyn - just a tad more room to breath

I did find one thing wrong already, my buddy noticed that the reverse lights are not working - perhaps its a fuse. I don't know how I missed that one. Anyway, what the car REALLY needs is a nice wax job

[vwt3]

Hey breukelen sounds like a good deal mine's a 95 brought used in 96 with 7600 miles on it, rolling 120k now only big thing for me was a new steering rack at 110k,just normal stuff like brakes,belts,waterpump BMW used plastic crap, paint I would clay bar it get all that drit and stuff out of paint,do mine twice a year shines and feels like glass,great little car I drive it every day :)

Good luck & have fun with the car :biggrin:

vwt3