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I am seriously considering buying a G reg BMW 325i touring with 189,000 miles on the clock. The car has had one owner from new and full BMW service history. The miles have mainly been clocked up on motorways. The asking price is £2,250. Am I mad or could this be a very shrewd purchase?
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Jo,
Get it nearer its true trade value of perhaps £500 - £750 and it may well be a shrewd buy.
The mileage is fine with that history.
Others may advise better on specific BMW traits.
MM
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It's an old car and lots of things could go wrong with it - due to its age more than its mileage. After all, it's only done 14k a year or so, which is barely above average.
MM is right about the car's trade value - though most of us can't expect to pay trade prices, at least not for anything a little bit unusual. However you look at it though, £2250 is way over the money for this car.
On the other hand, it does have a six cylinder engine, masses of service history and still a little bit of kudos - more than the saloon at least. If you want a car like this, offer £1500 for it, which the seller might view as derisory but it's a realistic price for something that will soon be old enough to go and buy its own cigarettes.
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Seems very overpriced for such an old car?
Not worth more than a grand, surely?
Have you checked Glass' Guide or similar?
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Look at Autotrader. 3 series Tourings are like hens' teeth and my suggested offer of £1500 is probably below what the market would take.
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Jo
It may or may not help to tell you that last August I bought a 4 year old S reg 318iSE Touring with 134,000 miles, FBMWSH, 1 owner, fully loaded, excellent condition for £5,700.
If you can afford a bit more you could get a much newer car with a high mileage, and I think that would be a better buy.
Regards
Pat
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I agree that the asking price is way too high. I wouldn't expect much more than that for my top condition 1992(K) 525iSE Touring with 119,000 miles. I wouldn't want to pay much more than £1000 for a G-reg 325 Touring with close to 200,000 miles.
Ancilliaries like alternator and starter motor could be getting towards the end of their lives at that mileage but the engine itself should be able to take the miles with ease. However, the later (1990-1996) M50 engine is much better, being more powerful and almost indestructible. And it has chain-driven camshafts!
Incidentally, the term Full Service History often misleads buyers. It tells you when the car was serviced but *doesn't* tell you that it was serviced when it should have been. A careful study of the service booklet is needed to be sure of this - the service indicator on my car calls for servicing at around 7500 mile intervals and I would expect a Service Record to reflect similar intervals.
David.
p.s. A colleague bought a car with FSH believing it to mean Front Seat Heating!
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p.s. A colleague bought a car with FSH believing it to mean Front Seat Heating!
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Now that IS funny, even I know what FSH means!!
HF
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Now that IS funny, even I know what FSH means!!
Female Silly Humour?
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[snip] - the second comment like that will involve the removal of your registration. Have some sense, please.
Mark.
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I agree with Dizzy about FSH. For example a car with plenty of service stamps is often described as having FSH, but if it's done 200k and the specified interval is 10k then there should be 20 services, not 19 or 18 or less. Okay, BMs have a variable service interval so a little judgement is called for.
Also on a car of this age and mileage, FSH will also mean that the service book is stuffed full of reciepts. At the very least there should be some for tyres and exhausts.
Also at this age and mileage watch out for suspension and steering wear. For example, my own car had 90k up when I bought it and had done most of these miles travelling to Sth France. It drove fine around the country lanes here(just me in it), but on the motorway with the family and luggage it was a bit loose. This would seem to be because on smooth motorways the shocks just wear at one point, according to where the suspension sits under its most often used loading condition. When I replaced them at 116k this was bourne out on the bench - I could feel by hand that they had just worn at one spot.
Sounds like it could be a fine buy, you just need to get the price right.
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I am no expert but surely with a Beemer of this age you are buying a potential liability/headache. If one thing goes wrong its going to cost a bomb. I have a 1996 BMW in good condition and only 40000 miles but I worry a lot about something going wrong - even small items seem to cost a lot to fix. Judging on the postings on this site, I would of thought japanese is the way to go!
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How the car is at the mileage depends on how it's been maintained and treated. I drove my brother's newer shape (K plate) 325 last weekend and have to admit it felt absolutely great. About 150k miles IIRC. BMWSH up to about 100k and independent specialist since.
A few bushes and half an exhaust were needed for the MOT soon after he bought the car (4 years ago) and absolutely nothing beyond routine serviceing since then.
Those 6 cylinder engines are fantastic, sound beautiful and rev so smoothly! Makes me tempted!
hth
Andy
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Sorry, I just have to ask: why buy a car that you worry about the cost of maintaining? Is the allure of the kudos of owning a BMW greater than the worry?
All cars are complex mechanical machines. Throughout their useful life all cars are likely to need some maintenance beyond just routine servicing (shocks, bushes, clutches, HT leads, batteries and all fluids are service items in my book). IMO anyone who runs a car, whatever it is, needs to accept this and put some money aside to cover 'extras'.
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I agree with items like that being service items - it's what happens when a car gets old.
As for this particular car, I wouldn't give £1500 for it, even though my post might give that impression. On the other hand, there are lots of cars I wouldn't buy and to get hold of a car like this in any kind of useable condition, £1500 is a minimum you'd have to budget.
The saloons, by the way, are much cheaper - as much as half the price in some cases.
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At this age and mileage it will go need repairs and unless you can sort out some DIY it will be expensive.Pay less and take a gamble or pay a lot more for a better car
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