hey all,

I'm looking at buying my first BMW. It says I can't post weblinks so, if you don't mind doing a search on autotrader for 1997 328is in edmonton $8900 you'll see the car I'm looking at.

What major issues would I be looking at with a car highway driven w/ 262000km. Bearings, ball joints?

what is the typical longevity of these motors and transmissions??

is it a fair price??
thanks,

Barret

Sorry I could post the website.??

The engine lasts forever, but lots of failure items, just like any car with that kind of mileage. Anything attached to the engine could be gone, control arm bushings, wheel bearings, rear suspension mounts, shocks, the whole nine yards. Get it inspected first. I recommend a BMW dealership for inspection, as they are also looking for you to get the work done there and are pretty anal about checking things over. I would also recommend a compression test just be be safe.

Hi Barret,

Here is the link to the car you are looking at:
http://www.canadatrader.com/result/detailinfo.aspx?ID=29215464&pgno=1&srt=1

As with any of the BMW's you want to look at the past service history and maintaince especially on a car with that many KMs. I do not have any experiance with the 328 but you could do a search in the following forum as it is specific to the 3 series:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=189

You will have to get up to 20 posts before you can post web links or pictures. Good luck with the car hunting.

Regards.......Doug

The price seems OK. Take a look at e-bay and they're not much different, mileage will add/reduce the price range. The BMW dealerships lists one in BC for 18900 $, low mileage though.
Do a quick research and see how much you might spend on brake jobs, suspensions/front/rear end and you'll have a picture.

good luck

hey thanks gents!

how are these for the shade tree mechanic to work on?? fairly user friendly or do they do ignorant things were you'd have to take the whole motor out to change something??

I think I should look harder for a lower k car, but that also doesn't mean anything if they haven't changed the fluids since new?? definately need inspection and history on it.

can anyone inform me on the +/- of the 318 vs 325 vs 328 and so on so forth. is one really better than the other?? I know the engine size differences, but is one easier to maintain. What's the power like in each? gas mileage?

TIA

You can do most of the DIY repairs pretty easy. Basic maintenance isn't that hard. All I've found is you need to be gentle with clips, as they tend to break very easy, and are sometimes hard to replace.

Get yourself a Haynes or Bentley repair manual, and you won't be sorry.

At that mileage lots of little things will go wrong. Nothing too major but be prepared to work on it regularly. The good thing is if you don't mind wrenching they are very easy cars to work on. My daughter now drives my old 93 320i with 303k kms and no major mechanical failures. I would pay special attention to the transmission on that car as the autos are prone to failure at about that mileage and are not cheap to fix.

Good lord I want that Interior

The 328 is a stronger car than the other 3 series of that year. I have had a 328 1998 for 5 plus years abd it has been great. A few minor mechanical things recently, I have 270K on it now but the engine is the same one that is in the 5 series of the same years and is really strong in the 3 series e36.

gas mileage is close to 30 mpg on the highway driven at 115-120kms and about 16-19mpg in the city.
The transmission is still perfect on mine, I think mainly because I know how to drive it and I am the only one who ever does!

Here is a link to a pic on this site of my 328 1998.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273568

hey chrisfh,

your's is a std. trans correct? I'd preferr this!

The other one I'm looking at is auto. I thought I read somewhere the transmissions were built by GM is this true/??

5 spd all the way.

no gm here at all....german men maybe!

I must have been mistaken for something else.
I'll be it touch later this week.

sounds good

I had similar questions that have been answered here.

My daughter is mad about BMWs and is really Jonesing for one.

Took a look at one tonight, didn't like the RPMs dipping when I steped on the gas, then taking off. I think this would make learning to drive a standard very hard for her.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

That's post #1.