Need help pricing a 1995 Club Sport

[btonns]

I found a 1995 Helrot Red Club Sport. It has 197,XXX miles (yikes), but I plan on eventually swapping to a 2.5 or 3.2L engine. It comes with stock rims with winter tires, 6 series rims with tires, and M Contours. The paint is in great condition.

It has a lot of new parts-Dinan muffler, pads, rotors, timing gaskets and chain, clutch, belts, and 02 sensor.

He is asking around 8-9k for it.

I feel that that may be too high because of the miles. What do you guys think?

I will probably look at it tomorrow, so the sooner the advice, the better.

Thanks in advance for help.

[campaiar]

That's pretty expensive for those miles.

I didn't pay even half of that for a 1998 Sport 5-speed sport with 157k. Some could argue that the blown engine had something to do with that, but with 200k on it your probably not too far off, especially if you have a swap in mind.

I doubt the "Club Sport" membership warrents that price.

Is this in town? Haven't seen this car.

[DocDuvi]

thats a **** lot for a Ti for that money you can get an M3

[1996 328ti]

Way too high.

[btonns]

Originally Posted by campaiar

That's pretty expensive for those miles.

I didn't pay even half of that for a 1998 Sport 5-speed sport with 157k. Some could argue that the blown engine had something to do with that, but with 200k on it your probably not too far off, especially if you have a swap in mind.

I doubt the "Club Sport" membership warrents that price.

Is this in town? Haven't seen this car.

It is in Indiana.

[btonns]

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

Way too high.

What would be a fair price?

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by btonns

What would be a fair price?

I'm gonna sell mine for 6500. Figured I'd ask for 7k and settle around there. Mine has 178k and it's completely original with a new clutch, brakes, belts, tensioner, water pump and a choice of wheels.

[thesk8nmidget]

yeah 8-9 maybe for like int with under 80 thousand miles garage kept its whole life and one owner.

but not with that kind of mileage.

[krambjas]

I've been looking at the same car. I called the owner and he said the reserve was set at $10k. He's thinking way too high. From what I've seen, ClubSports with ~150k are going for $6500. With that kind of mileage, I figured $5k was pretty good, with the extra wheels and some small upgrades, maybe back up to $6k. I think he's insane for thinking he'd get $10k.

Damn....buyer competition. Lucky for you I can't afford more than $6k.

[thesk8nmidget]

haha no ****! its amazing what some people will ask for out of their cars. and its somtimes even more amazing when they get it!

[cooljess76]

ClubSports will hold their value a little better than sport, active and base Ti's for a few reasons.

1) There's not very many of them. Only 300 made and more than a handful of those have been crashed or driven into the ground. Out of the few ClubSports left, how many of the owners are members of this forum or even know of it's existence? Even further, how many of those have been kept original and unmolested?

2) Since they were only available in '95, they're OBD1. What's so good about OBD1? You can't "chip" an OBD2. If your car is '96 or newer, it's OBD2 and if you do anything to change the air/fuel ratio, timing advance, rev limiter etc, you'll need to send your DME(ecu) to a professional tuner to be modified so the engine will run properly(only 3 people in the United States can do it!). They don't make a shark injector for the M44.

3) The ClubSport has an M42. M42's have forged internals making them ideal for forced induction applications such as a DASC because of their durability. This is especially important because most 318ti's have higher mileage and if applying boost to a higher mileage engine, it's recommended to have the top end rebuilt prior.

4) LSD.

So pretty much if you want an Mtechnik 318ti with an m42/OBD1, well your options are limited to one car. Well, 1 of LESS than 300. Eliminate about 100 that have been wrecked or modified beyond recognition, and that leaves you a much smaller number. And finally, how many of those select few in decent shape are actually for sale? I bet I can count on one hand the number of ClubSports that are for sale at this very moment.

As with most 13 year old cars, one could expect the mileage to be well over 100k. Even at 200k, that's still only 15,384 miles driven per year. A well maintained 318ti will give you 300k.

[btonns]

Originally Posted by krambjas

I've been looking at the same car. I called the owner and he said the reserve was set at $10k. He's thinking way too high. From what I've seen, ClubSports with ~150k are going for $6500. With that kind of mileage, I figured $5k was pretty good, with the extra wheels and some small upgrades, maybe back up to $6k. I think he's insane for thinking he'd get $10k.

Damn....buyer competition. Lucky for you I can't afford more than $6k.

Yeah, it isn't worth 10k. I am willing to spend 8-9k because I have been looking for a Ti for a year and a half. The only thing that holds me back from spending that much is the fact that NADA is only 5k or so. I am very afraid that if I would wreck it, insurance would not cover the 8-9k I spent to purchase the car.

[cooljess76]

btonns, since you plan on eventually doing a motor swap with whichever ti you get, I'd advise looking for a sport or active model. Anything with decent mileage and a 5 speed of course. If you're into the Mtechnik thing, get a sport, otherwise a tastefully-tricked base or active would be nice. The ClubSports are good for what they are, but when you start swapping parts they lose their value. Regular Ti's can be had for cheaper anyway.

Unless you get a '99 Ti with super low miles, insurance companies will rarely give you what you put into it. They don't share the passion that we do, instead they just crunch numbers. These are cheap cars to begin with, about 5k average. So everytime you put money into it, you'll never see it again.

A set of wheels and tires will set you back a grand, suspension another grand, exhaust 5 hund, HIDs 3 bills, motor swap 2-5g's, SC 3-4 grand and so on. Before you know it, you'll have as much as the value of the car invested and when it comes time to file an insurance claim or sell the car, you won't get it back.

I purchased my '97 with 130k and a new motor from the original owner in 2006 for $4150. You've been extremely patient, the deals are out there and it really helps if you're willing to travel. Whatever route you take, I wish you the very best of luck and hope to see you behind the wheel of one of these great cars shortly!

[krambjas]

I agree. Granted I might be a bit biased since I want to buy the car too, but if you intend on doing an engine swap, don't do it to this car. The ClubSports are rare enough as it is.

With the mileage it has, the reason its not worth about $3k is because its a ClubSport. Because it is, it ups the price a few thousand. If the guy wants to get some of his money back, I think he should be selling the wheels separately, but the car itself still is barely worth $5k, IMHO.

[btonns]

Originally Posted by krambjas

I agree. Granted I might be a bit biased since I want to buy the car too, but if you intend on doing an engine swap, don't do it to this car. The ClubSports are rare enough as it is.

With the mileage it has, the reason its not worth about $3k is because its a ClubSport. Because it is, it ups the price a few thousand. If the guy wants to get some of his money back, I think he should be selling the wheels separately, but the car itself still is barely worth $5k, IMHO.

Yeah, I haven't decided on my offer price yet. I need to figure out what value my insurance company will appraise it at. Even if I wasn't buying the car to do an engine swap, realistically, the engine won't last much longer. I want a Club Sport model, but I don't want to drive it for a month and have the engine blow on me.