What to look for...

[declantg]

Right so I have actually found a car a like, within price range and fairly local. Viewing it Sunday with a mate.

What should I be checking for and asking about?
Also if its a private seller can I legally test drive it or?

Cheers xx

[Jenkosowls]

Depends on the car regarding problems. As long as the car is taxed and tested and you have insurance for the said car you can drive it. Or if the car is insured and you have third party cover you can also drive it with consent from owner

[Niall]

Will help if you tell us what it is then someone can tell you specific problems. In general though, check all tyres for tread, drive it (if you have third part insurance). How does it feel? stiff clutch? (creeping clutch if its hydraulic??). Does the wear on the seats, doors, steering wheel etc match the mileage? a 20k car wont have massive holes in the leather and if it does and its genuine mileage, its been f*cked! What sort of history does it have? Been serviced recently? When is the belt/chain due?
Oh and of course, pay a fiver for a HPI. Could save you a lot of money!
How many keys does it/should it have? Do they look original or are they locksmith copies? If so, wheres the original?
Does the guy have the logbook? If not, walk away!
If the windows are security stamped, are they all matching/there? if not, why not? Broken glass in a car can cause issues and you never get rid of it all!!

If its a BMW like i think you are getting, They are known for suspension bushes as bad as 306s are so look for receipts for these. If not, id be expecting to do them soon!

[1616six]

Check for noisy diff, bmw water pumps are shite so check for a wet block, I've got a bmw diagnostics if you want to plug it in...

[Niall]

Also another point to make, you may be able to afford to buy the car but are you sure you can afford to run it? I made that mistake with my saab. Payed for it with savings and had to sell it 9 months later due to high tax, insurance and 20mpg plus if it did ever go wrong, the cost of parts even second hand was out of my budget and i was on a good wage for my age at the time! Tyres? What size wheels is it? BMWs normally have large wheels so tyres will be expensive and buying cheap ones is a false economy imo.
We all moan about repairing these 306s but we are very fortunate that they are one of the cheapest cars about at the moment to repair both new and second hand parts! Just be careful and be sure you can afford to run it because ill tell you, i was gutted when i had to get rid of mine! And dont think it wont go wrong. You may be lucky and it might not but BMWs are not as reliable as people think.

[ozonehostile]

just remember when it comes to beemers, if it seems too good to be true thats because it is. most desirable badge in the automotive world so lots of associated risk because of it.

ive been to view a couple of bmw's in my time and both of them i had to walk away from, first one was blatantly stolen, bits of broken glass in footwell and door pockets, no logbook or history, the other one was a write off that had been repaired cut and shut style and had new plates and missing vin numbers.

if you can get a good look underneath do so, lots of bmw's get into accidents and are badly repaired, check for evidence of welding, mis-aligned panels, check wheels all sit straight in the arches on both sides, look for odd suspension components etc

[declantg]

It's a BMW 325 ci se coupe 2.5

Yeah I have thought it through but I'm fairly happy I can maintain/ afford the car.
It's done 107,000 miles

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Also worth a mention got mot til next deb, tax next month though

[Billyjames1987]

Previous owner of 3 BMWs all e36, had 2 318is and a 328is and all of them had problems with the actual climate control unit which is not a good thing to find cheap and BMW say it costs £600 from them as they try and say its to be set up to the car or something. Also BMW are bad for rotting under the boot. BMWs are great cars especially 6 cylinder beast. Might want to do away with the standard diff and put on a LSD and some nice wide wheels

[declantg]

Yeah wheels are definitely on the list, after a cheeky remap

Jordan when I pick the car up can we give it a scan? X

[Billyjames1987]

On a 325 you be needing a set of 17-19s but better to be 235 on back and 225 on front. Big arches to fill on BMW lol

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Remap is a waste of time on a BMW. Ecu is already well tuned by BMW so be lucky to see 5-7 bhp gain. Only way to get more power from BMW is forced induction or buy an m3 lol

[Jake]

Seriously... If you get a 325 don't bother with a remap... You will get a gain of like 10-15HP. For what??? £200.

Spend money elsewhere on a decent exhaust setup or handling upgrades.

Edit: yeah what he said^

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Forced induction you say.....

http://bit.ly/10uKa13

[Billyjames1987]

Spend the money on an LSD . Will give you more fun than any amount of bhp will

[declantg]

Definitely need to get it lowered a tad not too much, then I need to find nice wheels, don't really want to be drifting in it though!

[Billyjames1987]

Wouldn't worry to much about lowering it until you have drove it. BMW coupes are very low as standard aswel. I lowered my 318is and regretted it as couldn't get over speed bumps without scrapping them ha. Being the se model it will come standard with m-sport kit I'm presuming. And I think the se models are slightly lower than normal ci models aswell