ok. i need you guys to be as honest as you can based on my situation. please dont say buy it just cuz of what it is. ill explain further in a second.


i found a 1989 M3 with 88,000 miles on it at a local dealer for $11,995. id really love to have an E30 M, but i dont know if im the right person to have it. its in very nice condition, and obviously half price. but the thing is is that it would be my daily driver for the next year until i go to school next fall. but im really hesitant about having something that nice as a daily driver. after i get to school im ganna get a beater to drive. im thinking i should let someone who will be able to take really good care of it have it. it will be garaged tho. rarly parked out side for any length of time.

so whats your opinion? im really leaning towards buying it but im not sure if that would in my and the cars best interest. i would die if i saw this thing go to waste at my hands.





:help

I would get the car. You will be taking care of it as a DD and when you go away, it will be covered and taken care of. It seems like a low mileage car, but do a carfax to make sure the mileage is correct.

Tell the dealer since they deal in KBB, you'll give them low book for it. After all, who wants to buy such an old car. :D

im now hearin its got major problems... but it might still be worth it.

can someone run a carfax for me?

Vin Wbsak0303kae33038

I wouldn't buy it

Here's an opinion, since YOU asked for it.....MAKE A DECISION and quit acting like a pussy. Have you ever made a solid decision like a man to this point in your life? Have the dealer run a CarFax, and oh by the way, CARFAX only reports what has been reported.

Grab your balls.

im now hearin its got major problems... but it might still be worth it.

Explain 'major problems'-what did you hear?

As you well know from reading these forums and others, these cars are not cheap to maintain in the long run. I know it has been said before, but it is worth repeating. I recently purchased an '88 M3 with 141k miles (not the car in my sig) and had an expensive PPI performed by a well respected shop where the car was located. Most everything checked out fine, but two months later I am about to have close to $2000 in parts alone for things that need replacing that the shop missed. I got a very good deal on the car, so even with the parts cost I am still in a good overall situation. But still, you must be prepared to depart with $500 at any point and time for things that suddenly arise.

The $15-17k rule applies no matter what.

i dont know what the problems are im still trying to find out.



thanks for the input BONO. i ask an honest question to some people who know a hell of alot about them so i dont piss away 11 THOUSAND DOLLARS and i get flamed for it. thanks buddy.

Here's an opinion, since YOU asked for it.....MAKE A DECISION and quit acting like a pussy. Have you ever made a solid decision like a man to this point in your life? Have the dealer run a CarFax, and oh by the way, CARFAX only reports what has been reported.

Grab your balls.

Stop acting like an ass.

To the OP, listen to Eric. Any kind of problem will be expensive on one of these cars, let alone a major problem with the drivetrain (which I'm assuming it is since the body/chassis seem to be in such good shape). Find out exactly what's up and report back.

That is a KILLER price for a clean car with 88,000 on the clock.

my bad, not 88,000 its 91,000. still low as hell.

but i read in the local forum that the guys around here say $8k tops for it.... they say MAJOR problmes and its not worth the time. im trying to get in contact with one of themabout it.

I almost bought the car yesterday. I don't have time to go into everything here but basically, some KC guys have seen the car and it looks like it has been repainted several times, with a poor job done on one of the last times. Also, the body panels in the front aren't original, I was told. Carfax doesn't show any wrecks but I have personally seen several instances where there have been massive wrecks and rebuilds that weren't reported to insurance. I'm not going to say that this car was in a massive wreck but I would not say that it is free of suspicion of 3 panel knock up. Not so excited about the car upon hearing this but I still plod on.

Then I find out that there is a big odometer discrepancy shown on Carfax. The dealer told me that to the best of his knowledge, the car only had the odometer disconnected for a week.

The Carfax shows something more significant than that. It shows that it's possible that the car has much more mileage than 91k.

I asked him what the Carfax showed and he said that he printed it out but hasn't looked at it. That's a bit curious. Who doesn't look at the Carfax after they print it out, especially when they know there's an odometer issue? It's not like if they've had the car for a day. Well, maybe he didn't look. Then, when I told him that I've seen the Carfax myself, he started to tell me that it was wrong (so had he looked at it or not?). It's possible that the Carfax is wrong, absolutely, but I am not so into the deal at this point. Too many stories. For the record, I need to look at the Carfax again to see the mileage intervals. I remember seeing 53k, 113k, 68k or something like that but I did not look at the intervals.


The final and biggest straw was an issue regarding my putting a deposit on the car that made me uncomfortable about buying the car but that's another story. I think that I've owned enough nice sports cars at this point to trust my instincts. If you're the person that considers everything from Carfax and the KC members "hearsay," (which I am not) this one instance was the deciding factor for me.

Now I am not saying that the car is a total piece of crap. I have no idea. All I know is that it quickly seemed that this was not the car for me and after discussing the deposit, the dealer left me with the feeling that the due diligence on my part was going to have to be 120% not the normal 100%.

Besides, I want a good car. I have adopted a policy of only buying keepers: any significant sports car that I buy, I want it to be a car that I will keep forever and not sell. To that end, I want a "no stories" M3. I did this before on another sports car that I have - I looked for 11 months before I found the car for me. I thought that it would be easier with the M3 because there are more of them but I guess that I'm wrong. I can be patient, I guess.

I heard the car was sold.

Heres my opinion on buying an E30 M3. If your going to spend that type of money for a high mileage car, buy one from an old guy that took care of it and didnt beat the hell out of it. Most of the younger cats that have these cars beat them to death. There is a lot of old school guys who have nice cars that are for sale, but have in the upper 90's to over 100,000 miles on them, but they have been well cared for, and not modded and beat to all hell. Look in roundel and roadfly, the nicest cars seem to pop up on those two sites in my experience.

Keep on looking, im a fairly young with a e30 m3, but i saved up for it since god knows how long ago, i saw a dtm race in 90 in germany, and iv wanted one since then, i will tell you that its such a good investment. I plan on saving this car for the rest of my life, and then find a perfect concourse car. The decision comes down to you, but it wont be a mistake in any way.

Yeah, with that info, I'd pass myself.

I wouldn't trust that dealer. As for my car, Carfax shows an odometer discrepency and it is correct. I have the records for the past 8 years as it was owned by my mechanics customer, him, another customer and finally myself. The motor is from a wrecked M3 that had lower mileage and the cluster went with it to keep track of the true mileage on the motor.

Well done, Sherpa 23. I would wish that car on only a select few of my worst enemies! Multiple crap paintjobs and non-original front sheetmetal, then BS from the dealer, were a sign for you to walk, and you were right to walk.

There are not that many GOOD E30M3 cars around. Way better to buy from the owner. If the current owner does not want to deal with selling the car, and won't look you in the eye...that's telling you something!!

For a daily driver in your area, with salted winter roads, you need something else anyway. The M3 is not the best car for a student to own, unless that student is rich or has a rich and tolerant sponsor...While in school, a Jap beater is hard to beat.

I agree that while in school, a Jap beater is very hard to beat. I had a honda in college and that was great. I had an old Land Rover in grad school and that was not as good as having the Honda.

At any rate, Mitch, I didn't go into the dealer BS here but believe me when I tell you that it was pretty ridiculous. And when I say ridiculous, I mean that it sounded like a scam as soon as it came out of the sales guy's mouth. It was a definitive and complete deal breaker even if the rest of the car was flawless. As it was, it just confirmed my worst fears.