discussion 2004 325ci manual

[stephen]

Looking for some advice.

My brother in law has been offered a 2004 325ci manual with about 140k km's on the clock, FSH, owned by a retired BMW mech. Alpine white and fairly neat for its age, some minor parking dents on the body otherwise no paintwork and no other major cosmetic issues. I believe the rear window rubbers need replacing and the roof lining is sagging.

The vehicle drives very well with what seems to be 0 mechanical issues.

What questions should he be asking the seller and what should he be looking out for?

Assuming the condition is as described, what would a good offer be? The seller is asking 100k.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tinuva]

Assuming this is an e46, thats quite a high ask. He would have to give a very detailed list of what maintenance has been done.
But going by, no photos, sagging roof, need door rubber seals, I reckon A LOT more needs to be done.

I wouldn't offer more than R65k to start with, and thats only because its a ci. For a sedan I would probably drop it to R40k.

Don't let the "ex bmw mechanic" fool you. Its not about who serviced the requirements to keep it going, its about the additional maintenance done to get it to that asking price.

 

[stephen]

Assuming this is an e46, thats quite a high ask. He would have to give a very detailed list of what maintenance has been done.
But going by, no photos, sagging roof, need door rubber seals, I reckon A LOT more needs to be done.

I wouldn't offer more than R65k to start with, and thats only because its a ci. For a sedan I would probably drop it to R40k.

Don't let the "ex bmw mechanic" fool you. Its not about who serviced the requirements to keep it going, its about the additional maintenance done to get it to that asking price.

Very good points, much appreciated

 

[Jive_E46]

Looking for some advice.

My brother in law has been offered a 2004 325ci manual with about 140k km's on the clock, FSH, owned by a retired BMW mech. Alpine white and fairly neat for its age, some minor parking dents on the body otherwise no paintwork and no other major cosmetic issues. I believe the rear window rubbers need replacing and the roof lining is sagging.

The vehicle drives very well with what seems to be 0 mechanical issues.

What questions should he be asking the seller and what should he be looking out for?

Assuming the condition is as described, what would a good offer be? The seller is asking 100k.

Thanks in advance!

Speaking from experience - it’s a top buy!

Agreed with [mention]Tinuva [/mention]

Consider offering R80k because of the mileage. The engine is basically brand new!

Look out for a small dot on the OBD screen to check if the mileage has been tampered otherwise I would keep an additional R15k on hand once it’s bought. Do a VIN check for accidents etc. That way you can start attending to the small issues immediately.

Otherwise it sounds like you’ve found a diamond in the rough


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[Tinuva]

Speaking from experience - it’s a top buy!

Agreed with [mention]Tinuva [/mention]

Consider offering R80k because of the mileage. The engine is basically brand new!

Look out for a small dot on the OBD screen to check if the mileage has been tampered otherwise I would keep an additional R15k on hand once it’s bought. Do a VIN check for accidents etc. That way you can start attending to the small issues immediately.

Otherwise it sounds like you’ve found a diamond in the rough


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Anyone with a laptop can remove the tamper dot. Easiest thing to do. Easier than tamper with the mileage.

Changing the mileage on the cluster is hard. You need special programmer and skills to desolder the chip on the cluster.

To remove the tamper dot, just use pa Soft to sync the mileage from cluster to lcm and it's gone.

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