"Tricky "Dilemma with E30 M3

walter,

IMO the car youve looked at is well overpriced, for £9000 you should be looking for something 'mint'. from what ive read i wouldnt pay much over 6k for it, but thats just my opinion...

it took me about 12 months to find my car and i looked at some pigs which were described as 'mint'.

the problem is that you dont see that many 'good' cars advertised anymore and you may have too wait and do a bit of travelling to find one...good luck.

I paid £9500 for my Cecotto 89F with 72k miles and quite a bit of history. It was outside of my budget but after travelling around the country and being messed about by people i bought it as it was by far the best one i found. I went with my heart and gut instinct and am really pleased with what i got. If you want to spend £9000 then i would wait and see what comes up. The difference in prices and condition of the cars i was looking at was a country mile. All good things come to those who wait.   

I've made an offer, but it hasn't been accepted .

Time to sit back and wait now  Patience is a virtue !

As you guys have said I can't see people beating his door down to buy at 9K.

The owner is of the opinion it's an appreciating classic, whilst I'd agree with that statement to a degree I feel it's more a case of them holding their value than actually increasing in value dramatically.

As regards the "how long I would own it" question, well I've owned two other M3's as previously mentioned. One high mileage Evo 2, ruined by a previous owner with some horrible Group N springs, rock hard Bilsteins and 17" Hartge 3 piece split rims, good to drive in the dry but a real handful in the wet !! also fitted with a nasty Scorpion exhaust system and a Griffin M/Sport tuned engine.

Two years ago I bought a good genuine 215hp G plate car off ...............................ML, I had the box rebuilt (not by them !) and put some decent pads,discs and braided lines on it and enjoyed driving it as weekend car. I was always impressed with how well it rode and handled with the totally stock suspension (in comparison with my Evo 2) but became "bored" with its lack of grunt (I've since driven 3 other cars an Evo Sport, which felt a lot quicker and more torquey, a  standard 215 hp car which had recently had its top end "refreshed" really crisp and torquey,and the J plate I drove yesterday) which was most likely the slowest of the three !!

If I could find a nice genuine car I'd most likely not let go of it.

The car I viewed yesterday ticked most of my boxes apart from the service history (which isn't the end of the world ,as you have all pointed out) and the price !!

But never used them obviously

neo1 wrote: Send me your email addy and i will send you a picture.

Oh! Isn't this the finished product then?

Edited by thepits

I've just paid £8k for mine. 1990 with 95k, UK car with recent history. It had a respray last year, non original but mint 17" wheels, Cecotto interior and everything working.

There two things to think about.

1. How long will you own it, thus when will you be selling. If 2-3 years how much will you have spent/lost? If longer it makes more sense, as you will build history.

2. What do you plan to do with/to it? It sounds like a fast road/trackcar to me, so most poeople will buy on condition and spec.

If you spend £3k plus after purchase which is quite possible you can work back to what you need to pay.

To me it's worth c£6k but no more.

There will always be another one and at £9k it would need to be ready to go with little or no further big bills.

Bloomin heck ive just done a full restore of mine inside outside bodywork, everything and have £6000 worth of receipts for parts alone from the last 6 months, never mind the 700 hours labour to restore it, and i would only want a about that for mine

Thats pretty expensive.

Especially without having any history.

Or without being a ltd edition of any kind.

 

How do you know it hasn't had any paint?

I would not pay £9000, that's for sure.
But how much is it worth??? Very difficult to answer.
I would not pay more than £7000 for it. Prices have dropped IMO, doesn't matter if people are asking for £9.5 etc.
Asking and selling are two different things.

Thanks for all your  input/views guys.

Ther car is currently on the market at ..............................£9000. Which seems over the odds in view of the exhaust, brakes, gear lever, a couple of rear bumper scuffs,  brake vent missing out of front bumper , headlamp W/W not working, incorrect steering wheel and other small problems. None of which are expensive except the exhaust.

However as a whole, the car is what I'm looking for, ie it's unpainted, has original panels, a colour I like (Diamond black) and more importantly is rust free,  I prefer cloth interiors, it also has the benefit of a good quality suspension kit and the added bonus of Alpina 8 X16 wheels (original wheels are not with the car unfortunately)

Someone posted on a thread recently about a car Wayne at German Cars has due in (a 1988 ? Evo 2 in Macau Blue with similar miles) I spoke to Wayne about his car and he thought it would be ITRO £9500.

Having owned a "leggy" on miles Evo 2 previously I don't feel the need to do it again (and the Evo would be 3 years older anyway)  even though I realise the Evo is a rarer (more sort after?) car.

M5player you are correct in thinking AC imported it and  I'd have to agree with your description of the quality of cars he imports, always good quality stuff.

So back to business. What does everyone reckon it's worth ?