Check it out - www.anch.com/635csi

$18950 OBO

how hard is it to get parts/maintenance on the oldish BMW's? I have been thinking about buying one for some time and am curious.

You also hear that BMWs cost an arm and a leg, which isn't always true. If I want, and bust some butt, I can own 3 or 4 of them before I'm 20. Parts aren't really a HUGE problem that people make them out to be, you just have to know where to look, and what will work.

I don't have a 6er myself, but I've been seriously looking at gettign one, because they're sweet cars. In this case most parts from an 82-88ish 5 series will replace stuff that goes back on an 83+ 6 series. They were built from the same chassis, so they use the same suspension, and I think the same drive line. Also the 535i uses the same engine that the 635Csi does.

Maintenance you might be a little more pressed for. You're either gonna have to find a good specialty BMW shop, or learn to do it yourself. You can save yourself an arm and a leg by doing it yourself, but you only have your garuntee that it'll work. Good shops can cost a bundle, so look around at shops if you aren't going to do it yourself.

Since I've started DIYin my 82 320i, I've saved at least 3k in labor, and a couple hundred in parts since I've found good online stores. All told, older BMWs are great, but they can get expensive if you don't know what you're doing with them.

how hard is it to get parts/maintenance on the oldish BMW's? I have been thinking about buying one for some time and am curious.

Not Hard - Online there is a wealth of mail order parts houses.

Check your phone book for a used foreign parts yard, sometimes they can be a treasure trove for little bits and pieces (i.e. door handle trim) of our cars that are otherwise small and diffificult to talk the dealer into ordering... (for probably $40.00 for a small rectangular piece of handle trim, I don't really know the dealer cost, but i'm sure it's more than 5.00).

All the parts can be found, some are more difficult to get than others, but they can all be found.

I havnt had too much trouble with parts... for my 7 i bought two Parts car... bought a complete 1983 733i - running, i actually drove it home for $700 canadian - Sure its rusty and what not but for a parts car its excellent especailly with a running motor!

thanks for all the info, you guys are a great help!!!