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Opinions/Advice on BMW 325ix?

I'm thinking of buying a 1989 BMW 325ix with auto trans from a neighbor. It's been fairly well maintained and appears to be in decent shape...interior looks good, body is straight but could use paint (it's an Arizona car so probably no rust), decent tires, brake rotors look good, most everything works, don't see any leaks. etc. It has about 175k miles on it....about 35k on the timing belt. It drives pretty well but I'm sure it could use suspension bushings, etc. He'll take about $1800 for it. So, anything special to consider about the car? Any particular weaknesses to look for? Am I crazy to even consider it? I really like BMW's and have owned (and worked on) a couple 2002's and a 1600, so I'm somewhat familiar with them. It would be kind of a project car but I'd like to be able to drive it regularly but it would not be my primary vehicle. I don't intend to restore it, just refurbish where necessary. Any advice would be appreciated...

Reply to
M.M.
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Go for it. It's just like any other E30 only it has more drivetrain and a few odd body parts (those wheel lip flares). 175K is not too many miles on that engine, but it may be close to plenty on that slushbox. Are you handy enough to bolt in a 5 speed?

-- C.R. Krieger

Reply to
E28 Guy©

And if you *are* handy enough to bolt in the 5-speed, there's plenty of help on the 325iX Yahoo group. 175K is low to normal mileage for those guys.

Reply to
Dean Dark

Yeah, the trans is my main concern. If it was a manual I'd snap it up. OTOH, he's had the car pretty well maintained by a good independent German car shop and they told him the trans was fine a few months ago when they did a fluid/filter change (he has receipts going back a few years). I could probably do a trans swap but I think it'd be more work than I would really want to do, not to mention locating all the parts. He's gonna let me take it for a couple days so I'll probably put it up on ramps and look it over pretty close. Except for the sunburned paint it's in real nice condition cosmetically so it's very tempting...

Reply to
M.M.

Thanks for the pointer. I'll check them out...

Reply to
M.M.

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