Re: Recommendations (archive)

Katey, I saw your earlier post. You said you had a friendly family bimmer mechanic. Just seek out the cleanest, lowest mileage, all maintenance records present car you can find. Avoid rust. And if you can't find a low mileage don't worry too much. These E-28's go forever.

Once you find a few candidates, spend the money for a pre-purchase inspection at your mechanic's. Virtually everything which can and does go wrong with the E-28 is well documented, and the financial consequences are well known. You can use whatever info your mechanic finds out to bargain down the price.

With your budget, you could find a pristine E-28. In my experience, the top end for normal (Non-M5) E-28's today is $6-7000 for exceptionally good cars. I suppose there could be some concours queens for more, but $6-7K will get you a really nice 87 or 88 model (last of the series) E-28. Expect to pay $4-5K for an '85 or '86.

Year is not so important. Get the records, and have it checked by your mechanic. And, IMHO, avoid automatics. To repair/replace one is very expensive.

Have fun. where else can you find this much class and performance and downright fun for $5 or 6K! A new Hyundai costs $10K these days - Ptui.

Rgds,
Chris Whitney
'88 535i

I'm interested in buying a nice E28, but I'm not exactly sure what is out there...money wise. I've got $6-$8,000 to spend. Our family has a friend in the car business, so it is just a matter of me telling him what I am interested in, but my problem is just that, I'm not sure what to tell him. Recommendations would be helpful.

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