Hi there. I just saw a beautiful, rust-free 1991 BMW 325i convertible in the parking lot with a for sale sign hanging in the window.
I’m a sucker for early 90’s European convertibles. I used to have a '91 Saab 900T but it died a sad death (entire exhaust system literally fell out of it) after I had spent $1000’s of dollars in maintenance and replacing parts.
Would you say the BMW’s of this time period are more or less testy than the Saabs? Am I getting myself into a pickle just thinking of buying this car?
Of course, I would have a mechanic look at it first. It does have low miles (45,000) and a clean carfax.
Thoughts?
Sorry. It’s a 318i, not a 325i.
I’d say it’d be pretty comparable to your old Saab, though the parts are probably more expensive. When you own a car like this, you need to be ready for multithousand dollar repairs. It sounds like your old Saab didn’t really “die” but you just got tired of throwing money at it. This BMW might be an okay second car for you, but if you drive it every day and need to rely on it not to leave you with expensive repair bills, I wouldn’t count on it.
Anything that old will likely be “testy”, your buying a 17 year old car which is past typical design life.
It’ll be really slow, but that might not bother you. Test drive it and see if you like it. You don’t have to negotiate a sale at all to test drive it.