318i Touring Buying advice please.

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   Hi guys (and girls),
Just found you, so I hope I can beg a little advice from you.
Depending on a test drive and an independent inspection, I am about to buy my first BMW, and any advice you can give would be most helpful. Its a 1991 BMW 318i Touring, with 98k miles on the clock and a full MOT. The alloys are good with no chips or bumps, Car is nice and clean inside and out, no dents or obvious signs of impact, small tear (1 inch) in the drivers seat by the off-side hinge point. Air cleaner has some sort of aftermarket cone shaped element instead of a plastic box type thingy.  Exhaust looks and sounds ok, but there is some rust on the pipe in front of the back box. Biggest problem for me is there is no service history whatsoever and I'm tempted to walk away now.  
But the car looks a treat for its age and apart from the air cleaner, appears to be completely standard and it starts on the button when cold.
What do you think its worth? Is it too much of a risk without a service history? What should I be looking for on a test drive? Any faults I should look for on a ramp? In fact any advice would be much appreciated.
TIA, Trev. 

Edited by Bamba

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Bamba Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 05-January-2005 Location: Deeside, North Wales Status: Offline Points: 1	Topic: 318i Touring Buying advice please. Posted: 05-January-2005 at 17:52
	Hi guys (and girls), Just found you, so I hope I can beg a little advice from you. Depending on a test drive and an independent inspection, I am about to buy my first BMW, and any advice you can give would be most helpful. Its a 1991 BMW 318i Touring, with 98k miles on the clock and a full MOT. The alloys are good with no chips or bumps, Car is nice and clean inside and out, no dents or obvious signs of impact, small tear (1 inch) in the drivers seat by the off-side hinge point. Air cleaner has some sort of aftermarket cone shaped element instead of a plastic box type thingy. Exhaust looks and sounds ok, but there is some rust on the pipe in front of the back box. Biggest problem for me is there is no service history whatsoever and I'm tempted to walk away now. But the car looks a treat for its age and apart from the air cleaner, appears to be completely standard and it starts on the button when cold. What do you think its worth? Is it too much of a risk without a service history? What should I be looking for on a test drive? Any faults I should look for on a ramp? In fact any advice would be much appreciated. TIA, Trev. Edited by Bamba

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