New here. No TI (yet) but looking

[6cyl]

Hello New guy here. I have not owned a 318ti or any e36 for that matter but am not new to BMW's either. I currently have an '85 325e with a hopped up 'i' swap that I was autocrossing until rust got bad. I have a clean e30 shell that is about to get the motor and drive train swapped into and a few parts e30's cars. I have also owned an '92 e32 740il and an '98 e39 528i. My winter beater is a 2002 VW Golf. My dad owned and raced a half dozen 2002's in the 70's and 80's. I grew up with him talking about the virtues BMW's and fun, light, practical, rwd cars. I've been wanting to find a 318ti for a couple years now. However, I havn't really be searching much until a TI purchase fell through a few weeks ago Thanks for having me! Looking forward to finding one and starting my next project!

[two30grain]

welcome fellow E30 pilot!

I have a '90 325i that turned into a garage queen after getting the ti.

Good luck finding your ti!

[Disast3r_Ti]

Welcome and don't give up.. It takes awhile to find the right one.

[jca]

Don't be afraid of hopping on a plane and driving the right car back home. It sounds like you and your dad have plenty of car savvy to determine the condition of a car by using pics and conversation with the seller. I have done that successfully on three occasions. Good luck and keep us up to date on your search. John

[6cyl]

Originally Posted by jca

Don't be afraid of hopping on a plane and driving the right car back home. It sounds like you and your dad have plenty of car savvy to determine the condition of a car by using pics and conversation with the seller. I have done that successfully on three occasions. Good luck and keep us up to date on your search. John

Thanks. Yeah I have been looking nation wide. Flights are super cheap right now. I have had a few that were close to what I am looking for but had bad Carfax's. I have been tempted on numerous occasions to ignore that and buy anyways but I've had bad experiences buying cars with reconstructed titles. I also have a limited budget so I am not looking for the cleanest or lowest mile example.

My current criteria:
- Must:
- - Manual
- - Less than 240k miles
- - No rust

- Ideally:
- - Sport seats
- - Heated seats
- - M bumpers
- - dark color interior
- - not a swapped car
- - '96-'99
- - $2,500 or less (I can go higher but am trying to keep it under that amount if possible)
- - Owned by BMW enthusiast

I am running nation wide craigslist searches, have alerts set on ebay, have joined several forums, checking BMWCCA classifieds regularly, checking the bimmer forums Panjo classifides. Am I missing any places? Where else can I look?

[jca]

How do you set up a nationwide Craigslist search??

[6cyl]

Originally Posted by jca

How do you set up a nationwide Craigslist search??

I was using searchtempast and running several searches that may result in finding a TI including: 318ti, BMW hatchback, BMW 4 cylinder 1995-1997, BMW 3 series 1995-1999, and a few others from time to time.

Ended up finding a car by putting out feelers on several east coast/New England Facebook groups. Someone sent me a link to a fresh cl add and I took a trip down to RI to check it out and it was pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Disast3r_Ti]

Originally Posted by 6cyl

I was using searchtempast and running several searches that may result in finding a TI including: 318ti, BMW hatchback, BMW 4 cylinder 1995-1997, BMW 3 series 1995-1999, and a few others from time to time.

Ended up finding a car by putting out feelers on several east coast/New England Facebook groups. Someone sent me a link to a fresh cl add and I took a trip down to RI to check it out and it was pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

So did you end purchasing the vehicle ?

[6cyl]

Originally Posted by Disast3r_Ti

So did you end purchasing the vehicle ?

Yes I found one and brought it home tonight!





The good: A little over 200k miles but very clean on the outside. Interior is decent but the seats are a bit weathered. Armrest, roof rack, Remus exhaust and Bilstein suspension (one rear will need to be replaced). Came with 2 additional full sets of wheels.

The bad: Bad headliner but have a friend who has done several headliners. No parcel shelf but I can track one of those down. Needs a windshield as the current one is cracked.

If the ad is still active there are a few better photos of the car. http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/5420364809.html

[Disast3r_Ti]

Congratulations and welcome to the family. Very nice looking car, hellrot has always been one of my favorite colors.

[Disast3r_Ti]

Don't feel bad about the mileage. I saved mines from scraper... 263k on original m44. Not much known about previous Maitenance. Still running strong.

[Stealthbeam]

Very nice find! Looks great

[skimmer]

Mines hellrot also.Hated at first but it continues to grow on me.
It appears your rims are off a z3?

[Sphinxe]

Hellrot herr too! Welcome to the forum and very nice addition.

[6cyl]

Thanks guys. Yeah I never thought I would get a red car but I really like this red on this car.

The wheels it came with where BMW style 18, style 35 (on the car) and style 42 2-piece (3-piece?) wheels. I like the style 35s that are on the car. I think ill probably sell the other ones. At first I thought the style 42's were gross but the more I look at photos of them online the more I like them and maybe they just need a refinishing.