bmw for under a grand

OldGregg1889

Thanks for all the replies chaps. I'm after something to hopefully last me about 12 months whilst i save for something newer. Because of this the less i spend on it in repairs the better so sounds like a bimmer wouldn't be the shrewdest move in this respect. I've just seen a couple of 1.6 se 1998 a3's on the trader for about the £850 mark. I used to have the same age/model motor but bought it for about 3 grand and sold it for 2 about a year ago. The price of these makes me suspicious, safe to assume they're shot at that price? I probably will foucs on the foucs so to speak and have a look at vectra/mondeos and the japanese numbers as well. I've not had a ford before, is there anything in particular to look out for when buying over and above the usual? Cheers OG

OldGregg1889

Nev, i posted that last reply before I read your post. You've put a cat amongst the pigeons with that one ha ha. Thanks for your input, it's much appreciated. Can you give any pointers to help in finding a good un? Thanks OG

CrazyRatLady_2

We bought a 1997 BMW 318i SE with M3 extras back in October after our car was nicked, for just £485 on ebay. Excellent car - body work very good for the age, expensive alloys, so comfortable, very reliable, does 50mpg while cruising. Plus it sailed straight through the MOT in November. Absolute bargain.
FYI I also have a 1994 VW golf CL.

Weird_Nev

Argh! typed a long reply and a firefox crash deleted it!

Ok, E36 buyer beware points:
The Nikasil engine problem isn't really a problem any more. It got them a bad reputation 10 years ago because the engines had an advanced Nickel Silicate engine bore lining. Some (cheap) UK fuel had high sulphur content and this knackered the bore of the engines. It was a 6 cylinder problem. BMW changed many engines under warranty for Iron linered ones, and some nikasil engines survived if run on premium fuel. basically, if a nikasil engine was going to fail, it would have done so by now. Surviving cars are either "good" nikasil blocks, or replaced iron blocks. Fuel no longer has the sulphur, so it's nota problem:

Knocking front suspension: Front lower control arms need replacing, it's £100 in parts and £250 ish all in to fix.
Knocking rear suspension on cornering: Rear trailing arm bushes have perished, about £150 to replace both sides.
Rear brake lines corrode: They loop up and over behind the fuel tank, in a little upside down "U" which is visible inside the front of the rear arches. This collects mud and then corrodes, and they fail you MOT's or just fail leaving you brakeless! Look for them having been sorted or else check that you can see the pipes both side and they are clean and crud/corrosion free.
Heater fan speed not workign: Resistor pack has gone, and easy and well documented fix.
Heater fan is weak: Needs a new cabin filter, £7 part and 10 mins to fix but often neglected.
Water pumps are weak: early cars had plastic pump impellers which fails overtime, leading to the engine overheating. Look for signs of coolant leak/headgasket change in the documents. Budget £100 for pump and belt change at next service if you can find no evidence of it having been done.
Rear arches do rust on Coupes more than saloons and Estates, but Coupes will likely be out of your price range.
Beware clocking! these cars do tend to get clocked as they wear their miles well and people stop looking at them after 150k, so it's tempting to knock 50k miles off them as a smaller trader. Paperwork and milage tamper lights:
(in the blue circle) wil linform you of clocking.
Should drive nicely. 4 cyl cars are fine (look for the 16 valve "is" 1.8 engine over the 8 valve "i" - more powerful and more efficient). The 6 cylinder cars are really, really nice.The M52 is one of the great engines ever made. Refined and quiet when cruising, nice roar when pressing on. Autos will use more fuel. Not much in it between the 323i and the 328i. The 328i is a 2.8 six which was ham strung to stop it competing with the M3. The 323i is a 2.5 six that was down badged to stop it stealing the 328i's thunder! All are fine cars, buy on condition rather than anything else.


General car buying advice:
Good service history with oil changes at least every 10k miles/one year
Fewer owners - purely on the basis that people who keep cars longer tend to look after them better. Always served me well.
Check brakes, suspension for maintenance/replacemnt as high milage cars feel their miles in the suspension really.


Overall they're good robust cars with plenty to choose from so you can get a good example.

Happy hunting!

OldGregg1889

Brilliant Nev. Very good of you to give such a detailed and informative reply once, nevermind twice! I'll be printing and saving for reference if i do decide to go after a bm after all. What sort of mpg would i be looking at on a 323 or 328?

harveybobbles

flang wrote: »

Also like to add that parts for older BMWs are no different in price to fords, Peugeots etc.
Expect to pay more for tyres and oil though!

Tyres are tyres and oil is oil. Simples.

Weird_Nev

OldGregg1889 wrote: »

Brilliant Nev. Very good of you to give such a detailed and informative reply once, nevermind twice! I'll be printing and saving for reference if i do decide to go after a bm after all. What sort of mpg would i be looking at on a 323 or 328?

Manuals should return around 30mpg in relaxed/mixed driving. Mine has returned that as an average over 16,000 miles, and I'm not a slow driver but neither do I drive round town much. Many have an onboard computer which is about 5% opiomistic (though you can correct it). Autos, 27-28mpg for a well maintained one, but they do drop more if you boot it.
5 Series are worse as they are heavier, my mate reports 25Mpg from his 5 series 523i Auto, but they're arguably more car for the money (but more electrics to go wrong than a 3 series).

rodenal

OldGregg1889 wrote: »

Brilliant Nev. Very good of you to give such a detailed and informative reply once, nevermind twice! I'll be printing and saving for reference if i do decide to go after a bm after all. What sort of mpg would i be looking at on a 323 or 328?

Realistically mid to high 20s, drive like a nun and you'll get low 30s. Anyone telling you an e36 under a grand will be a shed knows nothing, I ran an e36 328 coupe and it was a brilliant car, still felt absolutely solid and cost me next to nothing in maintenance. Suspension problems and rust are your biggest issues. Don't buy a 316, 318 if you absolutely must have economy but its a very slow motor. Also don't pay any more than about 800 for eveb the nicest e36 you can find that isn't a genuine 328 sport (at which poibt youre looking at 1600+ or m3.)

avantra

CrazyRatLady wrote: »

We bought a 1997 BMW 318i SE with M3 extras back in October after our car was nicked, for just £485 on ebay. Excellent car - body work very good for the age, expensive alloys, so comfortable, very reliable, does 50mpg while cruising. Plus it sailed straight through the MOT in November. Absolute bargain.
FYI I also have a 1994 VW golf CL.

50mpg from the 318 petol lump?? that's magic! what are you running it on?
Same model (1998) is used by my lab technician tho he say it's roughly 20-30 mpg top:eek:

rodenal

Should be getting high 30s to low 40s at a push in the 318, they're will dull dull but pretty economical