New to the board How'd I do?

[jeffnj525it]

Hi everyone,

My name is Jeff and I've been an e30 guy until, well hopefully tomorrow. Currently I have a 1989 BMW M3 and I am rebuilding a 1989 325i convertible for my wife. I will be picking up a 1995 e34 525it possibly tomorrow morning. I've been a wagon guy for a while and this car seems to be the most logical next car for me. The original owner is selling it, it has 101,000 miles, dark blue with tan leather, automatic (for now) dual (working) sunroofs, heated power seats, its got the net partition that pulls up behind the back seats, dual airbags(which was one of my must haves). I'm pretty sure it has the premium package. The car is well taken care of and has reciepts for the mechanical upkeep, new tires, etc. The only thing I can see wrong with it is the rear glass won't stay up by itself. I'll be paying $4500, which I think is a decent price, what do you all think? Also being a 95 it has the wide grills side skirts and a few other nicer cosmetic things. Any other benefits of a 95? Any thing not so good on a 95?

Thanks,

Jeff

[winfred]

95 is pretty much the best of the 525s, some cars had low levels of options but that's how it usually goes for final year body styles, they are usually the fastest 525s too

[ScottyWM]

Replacing the rear glass struts is pretty easy, and well worth it. The only thing bad about the '95 is that wide grill....:D

[mattyb]

lol its the best part

[Macv]

lol its the best part

+1

This thread is going to turn into a war.

[SharkmanBMW]

Welcome,
I miss my wide grilled beast.
+2

You'll get all the info you could hope for here.
(just not from me!)

[Gayle]

I think you did well. The best way to buy an e34 in my opinion is to buy a good maintence history documented by a string of paper. You got that plus low miles (less than 10k per year) for $4500. I think you did very well.

The second way to buy an e34 is to go for a good body cause that is about the only thing you can't fix yourself and that is expensive to fix. If the paint and body are in really good shape then you got a real gem for a reasonable price.

And it is a touring....Not too many available and those that are available are coveted by the knowledgeable. One of the master mechanics who posts here just bought a touring. ttp://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=30854 (http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=30854) Two of the four mechanics that work at the indy that takes care of my car have e34 tourings. The e34 tourings are awesome.


Give yourself a pat on the back.

[Spasso]

Wide is FINE

[Spasso]

This one the day I brought it home. 117k miles.
Cosmetically challenged but good maintenance. 5500.00
It was given to my Dad for his 80th B-day last June (after extensive cosmetic refreshing in and out.)

I would love to have one, tinted, lowered,

[Alexlind123]

http://p.qrs0.net/alex/color5.jpg

[markus]

hey jeff. welcome to the board. where are you located? im in PA. sounds like you are buying a nice car. blue is somewhat hard to find on these cars.

as for wide vs narrow kidneys i kinda like the way the narrow ones look over the wide ones but I wouldnt spend money to convert to a narrow grille. I have other things to spend my money on.

[jeffnj525it]

Great, thanks for the input guys. Geez i didn't know there was so much animosity between narrow and wide grill owners:D I actually have alway prefered the wide grill, but trust me, I would have no complaints with a narrow grill either. Well, I'm waiting to hear back from the guy now, once he gets home I'll be running over there to get it. I'll post up some pics once I get it! I'm real excited about the color being dark blue and it being a 95, the car really looks good. Now all I need are some springs, shocks, wheels, 5-speed, forced induction, etc :)

Oh yeah, im in central NJ

[Macv]

Let me fix that for your Alexlind.....

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/1853/fixedithc1.jpg

There we go! ;)

[attack eagle]

Congrats... Should be both practical and a head turner once it is done

[Felixdacat]

Jeffnj, Wide grills are terrible on tourings. I think you should take it off and give it to me.:D Sounds like a great deal. Seems as though the PO knew how to take care of their vehicle. Post some pics when you get it.
Welcome to the wonderful world of E34's

[Boom n Zoom]

Jeff,

That sounds like a really nice Vehical, I hope that once you have 'corrected it' to your taste that you have many, many trouble free miles.
You should these things are great as is most equipment that is German designed and built, it's all overengineered within an inch of it's life (Just ask Rob101 :) )

From the engineers:

How big does this bolt need to be to not fail?

6mm.

Ok make it 10mm then!




Congrats... Should be both practical and a head turner once it is done


Oh stop showing off Eagle!!

;)


Macv: Nice work, everyone will be converted yet (well at least the pictures will :D )

[John B.]

Your new touring sounds like a good deal. I bought a 95 like yours last month & like it more every day. Can someone tell me what makes up the "Premium Package"? Ours has the power telescoping feature, heated seats & the rest of the usual stuff.

[jeffnj525it]

Thanks for the comments, yeah it looks like it was a pretty good deal, not that you can go buy it, but kbb.com valued it at $6500. So I got it home and I'm loving it! what a great driving car. Just a few things wrong with it that I found so far. The lights for the buttons on the OBC do not light up, the rear glass needs a new shock, and something is funky with the heat. It seems like when I slide the lever over to open the dash vents up I can only get cold air, but i can get heat from the defroster and feet vents. Oh the fog lights do not work, and thats pretty much it for now. Heated seats work great:D The guy I bought it from was a very nice guy, he gave me all the paper work, including the window sticker, the original sales brochure, and those little books about bmw safety, etc. Every receipt from the beginning to the last oil change. I don't think I've ever seen a car so well documented. Mechanically everything is up to date on this car, even the diff oil was changed recently! How does the ASC traction control work? any good? Is that a common option? It also has those luggage nets and i think having power headrests is the coolest thing ever! Well here are some pics, it needs a good cleaning and some daytime light for some better pics! Let me know what you think. Oh and the color is Orient Blue per the window sticker

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/jeffnjm3/1995%20525it/IMG_1816.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/jeffnjm3/1995%20525it/IMG_1814.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/jeffnjm3/1995%20525it/IMG_1811.jpg

[jeffnj525it]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/jeffnjm3/1995%20525it/IMG_1812.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/jeffnjm3/1995%20525it/IMG_1815.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a192/jeffnjm3/1995%20525it/IMG_1813.jpg

[Macv]

Nice pinstriping. Only thing I'd change inside are the floor mats.

[attack eagle]

you mean you don't like the vinyl protectors over the OEM floormats protecting the carpet?

It's triple redundancy... :)

[jeffnj525it]

I actually might loose the pinstriping. What you don't like old clear pep boys mats?:p The factory BMW mats underneath them are in really good shape, so its a good thing the guy bought those cheapo mats, well a good thing for me at least!

[attack eagle]

oh I forgot to say, the fogs are probably just burned out bulbs, and if so, they may be standard 9006 bulbs (dunno what a 95 has, but the 92 has 9006)... take all of 25 seconds to swap them under the bumper. It's easier to swap fogs than headlight bulbs!

[jeffnj525it]

cool I'll have to pull the bulbs and see. Right now i'm doing the first fix, charging the battery. The guy has been moving up to boston and the car has been sitting in the garage for a while. The battery was just changed in December, but I don't think it ever got a chance to keep charged. We'll see.

[Denton]

As I told you on Bf.C, de-pinstripe, Euro trim, and a bit of well-applied touchup paint will do wonders.

I'm sure you know that, with how beautiful your E30 M3 is.

[markus]

nice. glad to see u got one that was taken care of.

[jeffnj525it]

:D
As I told you on Bf.C, de-pinstripe, Euro trim, and a bit of well-applied touchup paint will do wonders.

I'm sure you know that, with how beautiful your E30 M3 is.


Yeah, i'm surprised how cheap the euro trim is only $90! That will probably be first since all of my moldings are messed up. I dont like taking off painted on pinstripes, i'm afraid it will always look like it was there. Thanks for the compliment on the M3:D