On Tuesday. Has about 160k km on it (just under 100k miles). Burgundy on Tan interior, auto (yeah I know) certified, and in, quote "EXCELLENT" condition. $9000 CAD ( $7600 USD)

Is there anything I should check out or ask the owner while I'm there?

:cool

Sunroof. The dual sunroofs are usually finiky from what I hear.

Certified from a BMW dealer?

Sunroof (does it work smoothly and relatively quickly)
transmission (slipping? clunking?)
heater core (condensation on windshield when the heater's on?)
cooling system (how old is everything?)
belts (ditto)
thrust arms/bushings (any clunks, vibrations while driving?)
rear self-leveling suspension (does it work? is it leaking? still not quite sure if mine works actually)
A/C (does it work?)

I'm sure there are more....

http://www.bmwe34.net/ is good resource.

I would recomment the latter, but also.. just get a 540i!

Oh yeah... forgot about about the electronics in general... especially those to due frayed wiring in the tailgate...

I should post pics of what I found.. ridiculous.

I'm back from checking out the car. It was indeed in EXCELLENT condition. Very clean all over, and shiny :D . Everything was working fine, the car has all it's records, been serviced recently, new tires, etc. However, the interior was cloth, and the seats were so terribly uncomfortable. The back was horrifyingly uncomfortable. Also the exhaust was a little loud while accelerating.

This car is so beautiful, and in spectacular condition. It truely is worth it's price. But I can't stand those seats, they were just terrible, terrible, terrible.

I recall sitting in the back and front of an 89 E34 sedan with black leather interior, and it was very comfortable. I don't know how or why there is such a huge difference in the cloth and leather seats...

check to see if the window opens at the tailgate. check tranny if theres any slip or weird shifting.

I found this the other day.

http://www.trader.ca/Search/Details.asp?adid=4716413&ads=4716413%7C&awatch=1

It's 3 hours out of town and sounds pretty nice. Plus i have family out there. But I was wondering about the 265,000km (165,000 miles). It says in excellent condition, how are the E34's with over 150k miles? Is it worth checking out?

This one has the leather seats, and I think the leather seats in the E34 sedan are pretty comfortable, but are they pretty much the same in the wagon? Or do the leather seats in the wagon, feel just like the cloth seats in the wagon, which were REALLY uncomfortable.

Bump

Can anyone describe the difference with the cloth vs. the leather seats in the E34 touring? I, may be driving 3 hours out of town this weekend to check out one with leather, but I don't want to find out that it is just as uncomfortable as the cloth one. the last leather E34 seats I sat in were in an 89 sedan, and they were very comfortable. Can I expect the same for the wagon?

E34's didnt come to the states with cloth interior, except perhaps a few limited cars. So, I wouldnt know if there is any difference in the seats. My guess is the seats are the same, but there was some 280lb gorilla that used to own the car and he broke the seat down. It's easy enough to replace just a driver's seat. Heck, throw an M5 seat in there. They are great!
I went from a 94 525i sedan to my 93 525i touring and the seats appear to be exactly identical.

Good run down on the quirks of E34's and wagons in particular. The dual sunroofs are neat, but oh so $$$$$$ if they break! I plan on replacing my rear suspension with standard Bilsteins once the wallet says it is time to.
Like was stated above, the rear brake harness tends to get mangled at the pivot of the rear hatch. You'll know if this has knocked out your third brake light because ther will be a "brake light circuit" fault on the gauge warning system.

$7600 sounds fairly reasonable to me for those miles, I paid $2300 with 200k but have since added about another $1700 in random work and tires. AC compressors like to seize and the condensor seems to like to leak as well. They are solid cars though, like any E34.
Oh and dont worry about the auto thing, all E34 tourings came as autos. :)