RE: Is this good? -1990 325is

["Fadeev, Alex" <alex.fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

macdowell@domain.elided [mailto:macdowell@domain.elided] wrote:
> 
> My doctor is selling his 1990 325is. It has  92,000 miles on it and
> is in incredible shape. I can't find anything wrong with it to talk 
> him down in price anymore than I already have, and now its going to 
> go to my mechanic to be checked out. 

Adam,
Well cared for E30s are getting VERY hard to find. If you really want this
car and it passes the pre-buy inspection, it would not be unreasonable to
pay a bit of a premium for it.
However, beware of E30 automatic transmissions (ZF4HP22). Unless the car
comes with documented transmission fluid and filter flushes every 50K miles,
you have a 75% of shopping for a new auto tranny sometime in the near
future.

> I looked at kelly bluebook.com and autotrader and they value the car
> at ~8k from a dealer.  Is 7500-8000 too much to pay for this car?

KBB (www.kbb.com) is notoriously high on car values. I will use it when time
comes to sell my E30.
Edmunds (www.edmunds.com) is the exact opposite - great bargaining tool if
you are shopping for a car.
NADA (www.nada.com) is closest to the truth, but even NADA pads its retail
prices with some dealer profit.

Here is what NADA says:
  Low Retail:       $6,475 
  Average Retail:   $7,975 
  High Retail:      $9,200 

So, $7.5K is not unreasonable, but it better be perfect!

good luck,
alex f

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