Thinking of buying a 95ti with 74K miles - opinion

[marcsonu]

Hi, I am a new member to 318ti board. though not a new BMW owner. have had e30 325i, e34 525i and e39 540i. just sold the last one. been a BMWCCA member since 1997. best car in the above was e30325i(manual) though lost as a friend totalled it. Also a DIY kind of owner.(have had manuals for the above 3 cars and did quite a few things myself)

was interested in this little car

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1995-...em230128880505

Looks like clean and have a good feel from the owners history perspective.
single owner car. Don't know much about 318ti though have been reading a lot since last couple of weeks.

Have read some common problems. looks like nothing major. have had similar history with my previous cars so I am prepared. Any thoughts for this one . any thing to look out for.

this is located in Swannanoa, NC. Anyone knows about this one.

Thanks for the help. I am also on the "friends of BMW " list so if you are in Houston and need something do look me up.

[ATF]

I ran a CarFax on it for you

http://www.carfax.com/viewEmailRepor...siB9bDgDaCTSi3

[marcsonu]

Thanks for the carfax. Saw it . looks nice. Any guesses for a fair dollar value to be offered or to be mentally prepared.

thanks again

marc

[wasabinuki]

Looks pretty good - but I'd be afraid to buy a car sight-unseen without a test drive. Still if you can get it for less than $5500 it seems like a good deal. I wish my car had 74K miles on it.

[gobbstopper8923]

thats my exact same car! but mine has 126K miles on it.. and clutch just got replaced for 1000bucks.. but the driver before me (uncle) drove it like a real man.. so it makes sense. but thats how much i got mine for. so it looks like a good deal. if your gonna do stuff to it.. try and find one near the same price with out the grey and cloth interior.. cuz your going to end up hating it like i am.. hence the new body kit.. and next year im gonna get new interior.

[zboot]

aww. . you still paid the $1k for that. . .

[Sergey]

Note that it has the ABS and the airbag lights on. The guy is not telling the whole story. May be he got quotes for those repairs and is now selling the car.

Regards,
Sergey.

[Zacki]

Originally Posted by Sergey

Note that it has the ABS and the airbag lights on. The guy is not telling the whole story. May be he got quotes for those repairs and is now selling the car.

Regards,
Sergey.

dude
most all the lights come on when the key is in accessory position.

[ATF]

Originally Posted by Zacki

dude
most all the lights come on when the key is in accessory position.

I think he's saying even when the engine's running

[Zacki]

Originally Posted by ATF

I think he's saying even when the engine's running

it wasn't look, seet the temp gauge is at 0 and the time till next oil change/tune up thing was on that only comes on when you are about to start the car up. Learn you car, jk lol gl with the buy.

[ATF]

Originally Posted by Zacki

it wasn't look, seet the temp gauge is at 0 and the time till next oil change/tune up thing was on that only comes on when you are about to start the car up. Learn you car, jk lol gl with the buy.

The RPM's are at ~900, meaning he just started the car so it's still cold. Maybe the lights turned off, maybe he got the picture right after he started it and they didn't shut off yet. Who knows, I'd def'n look into it though.

[Sergey]

Look at this pic http://i1.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/9f/28/41f3_12.JPG, the engine is idling. On my car anyway, these two lights go off in like a second or two after ignition on.

Sergey.

[plinker]

I test drove one of these the other day (now buying it), and the used car salesman said the airbag light just needed resetting as the battery had gone flat. Radio also needed a code entering (battery will be replaced)

Do they all come with 6 cd autochanger in the boot (trunk)? And traction control?

His face was a picture when he opened the boot and found the autochanger. It wasn't listed on the spec sheet he was using to sell the car. I took it he genuinely didn't know as when I asked about the spare he lifted the boot carpet and stared at the jack for a moment or two before saying it was under the car (lol).

BTW, I'd like to introduce myself. I am the garrulous 'plinker' and will be picking up my 318ti on monday evening (gmt).

I never considered purchasing one of these, until i test drove an awful hyundai 2litre coupe (so cheap interior), and saw the beemer. But since then, everything i have read says they are corking.


Steve

[windnsea00]

To the original poster: Holy crap, the bidding went to $7.1k...I hope you didn't pay that much! That should be no more than ~$5k.

In terms of reliability, the car is literally an E36 from the b-pillar forward and a E30 from behind. So overall it's pretty reliable and easy to work on. There is a myriad of options when it comes to modifying these cars down to suspensions, superchargers, engine swaps and so on...a really fun platform to start with.

[windnsea00]

Originally Posted by plinker

I test drove one of these the other day (now buying it), and the used car salesman said the airbag light just needed resetting as the battery had gone flat. Radio also needed a code entering (battery will be replaced)

Do they all come with 6 cd autochanger in the boot (trunk)? And traction control?

His face was a picture when he opened the boot and found the autochanger. It wasn't listed on the spec sheet he was using to sell the car. I took it he genuinely didn't know as when I asked about the spare he lifted the boot carpet and stared at the jack for a moment or two before saying it was under the car (lol).

BTW, I'd like to introduce myself. I am the garrulous 'plinker' and will be picking up my 318ti on monday evening (gmt).

I never considered purchasing one of these, until i test drove an awful hyundai 2litre coupe (so cheap interior), and saw the beemer. But since then, everything i have read says they are corking.


Steve

The airbag light issue is common with the Ti, the passenger seat sensor is known to fail. The 6-disc cd changer was an optional accessory in the US, probably the same for the UK. Was the changer a BMW model?

ASC was standard on US `97 and newer Ti's but not sure about UK models. The switch for it would be located on the right side of the lower dash for your model.