(Long) Tale of woe: BMW was a mess :-(

Stu ( snipped-for-privacy@home.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If you look at the front/interior shot, you can see the holes for the phone kit, on the side of the centre console about level with the gear lever.

OSR photo seems to show what could well be the lower bumper scratch, too. Side of the bumper, from the wheel to corner?

With those visible - once you know what to look for - the guy starts to look a smidge less dodgy - they'd not be difficult to photoshop out, so it does seem as if he's just an optimist rather than seriously bent.

If you look at his username - a1valets - you'd *expect* the car to be shone up *damn* well...

If the item is not as described , then the seller will have difficulty selling the item at the same price on ebay.

Adrian wrote in news:Xns96AA8766E7486adrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.244.170:

That's 'em

Yup. Quite a nasty scrape it is,too. Never spotted it when I didn't know to look for it, though.

Perhaps, but I find the photos a bit cagey. He says the alloys are immaculate and gives a photo of the rear wheel with a good tyre. The front wheels, however, are dirty in between the spokes, with scuffed tyre walls.

It was.....but to use a cliche, all that glitters is not gold.

"Avanti" wrote in news:h22Je.10585$ia4.2902 @fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk:

It isn't. None of the scuffs or scratches have been declared and one would not expect to find these on a car described as 'clean and tidy'. Nor would one expect to find screw holes in an 'immaculate' interior (even though the interior was decent).

Mine was like that too. If it were the only paint problems you could factor in the cost of a partial respray, as I doubt you'll find a perfect one easily.

Was the windscreen badly stone marked too?

Mainly suspension, but cooling system and expensive to fix oil leaks too.

Yup. As well as being the most common it's the pick of the early ones. A later 530 6 will be outside your budget.

Probably similar to the state of the bonnet on my car before the previous owner had it resprayed. He did say it was badly stone chipped, and the w/s had been replaced. Whether at the same time, I don't know, but it's not the original.

Don't take this the wrong way, but it does occur to me that despite his, shall we say, optimistic description, it could still have been a good buy, especially at £1400, rather than the £1500 sale price.

I paid £2500 for mine, 18 months ago.It was obviously in much better condition cosmetically than the one you saw. No dents or scratches, and only a few minor stone chips on the front bumper and valance. If I were seling it, I would expect to get near what I paid for it. IMO it is an exceptionally clean car. It looks as good in the flesh as it does in the photo's on Yahoo that you saw.

Given that in the same condition the one you saw would command a similar price, or conservatively say £2000, taking into account the holes in the centre console, that in effect would have allowed you £600 to spend on it, before the buying price became unrealistic.More than enough IMO to get the damaged panels professionally resprayed.

Like you I know what I want, especially when buying a car. If a car I'm thinking of buying is not in the condition I'd like, I estimate what it would cost to get it in that condition. If the sale price and estimated repair price are on the right side, I'd still probably buy it. Not every one thinks that way, but often the owners of a damaged car or one that needs some mechanical work, overestimate the cost of fixing it. They're possibly basing it on the quote they've had from a main dealer, or up market garage.

The car I sold to the MOT guy, I baught very cheaply. It had a smashed front wing, and damaged front suspension, but it had recently had a new engine, which I intended to take out and fit to a similar car my wife owned. It was the only reason I baught it. The engine in my wifes car was OK but it was a little tired. I intended to scrap the rest of the car after I'd removed it. Thing was that, other than the damage, the car was in good condition, so rather than scrap it, I fitted the old engine, found a sound old wing at the breakers, resprayed it, and repaired the front suspension. It took time, but only cost me a few quid. I finished up with a low mileage engine in my car, and made a handsome profit on reselling the car.

BTW, I did tell the MOT all this before he baught it, so he paid particular attention to the suspension repair, and resprayed wing.

The point I'm really making, is that the car would have been a good buy on it's own. Despite the damage. Something that might be worth thinking about when looking at a prospective purchase. Mike.

That sort of thing... :)

I'd probably avoid a V8 if I was doing lots of town miles.

Perhaps if we all email the seller asking for pics of the damaged paintwork... (I just have)

Dave Plowman (News) ( snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Is the front of the E39 prone to them?

The scrapes and scratches *might* be doable by one of these "chip-retouch" outfits, but it does sound as if the bonnet would benefit from the tender ministrations of the spraybooth.

"A lot of these had made it all the way to the windscreen, as the lower half of that had quite a few chips, too."

I've only had V8s and have had no problems.

The V8 is not significantly if at all heavier, just taller, wider and shorter...

The R&P steering is apparently sharper and more communicative but the V8s steering is still good.

"Mike G" wrote in news:42f4b6ee$0$91523$ snipped-for-privacy@ptn-nntp-reader04.plus.net:

I see your point and would have factored a partial respray if that would have made it an immaculate car. However, this was not the case, this car required a full respray and and a new windscreen. I expect this would cost well over a thousand pounds, making it a dear price for a 160k mile E34.

Besides, SWMBO has now excersized her authority and the E34 shape has been dropped from the equation. With this in mind, I'm still after an E39 but have turned towards Audis for an alternative powerful German cruiser. Undecided about the A6 but I did narrowly miss out on an A4 2.8 Quattro. Not quite as big, but still comfy, powerful and a bit lighter, hence a better power-weight ratio. 4WD, too. This one was a private sale, fully loaded, 97 model with 117k for £3250ono. Thoughts? (here we go again ;-)

Stu ( snipped-for-privacy@home.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

New windscreen? Fifty quid...

If you want a cheap-ish A4, buy a Passat.

And if you want a cheaper A4 buy a Superb. Or is that more A6?

New Passat isn't Audi platform anyway...

Superb is more A6, but A4/6, Passat and Superb of that era all share the B5/B5.5 platform.

Passat sits neatly between the A4 and A6.

No, it's a stretched Golf platform. Eurgh!

Of course, if you must have a longitudonal engine at least get a car with rear wheel drive!

GOOD FOR YOU. If you get a neg, get E-Bay to remove it - your argument being that the car was nothing like the description. Also neg him putting that the car was a wreck.

No stalemate - NEG HIM.

Feedback Negative

Reason: Car not as described. Alot of paint damage and holes in interior.