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      08-08-2015, 09:52 AM   #1
Rat3d ///M
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Drives: 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Germany

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1998 520i "estate" car in Germany. Good price?

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I am currently looking for a cheap daily driver to go back and forth to work in for the next 3 years during the rest of my stay here in Germany to keep the M3 out of the bad weather and keep the miles down. My stipulations are:

1. $2500 as an absolute max price
2. Must include summer/winter tires (winter or all season tires are required by law in the winter months here and I don't want to deal with buying new tires in a few months)
3. Must be reliable
4. Must be cheap on insurance
5. Must be fairly low on miles (under 150,000)

This is what I looked at today:

http://ramstein.bookoo.com/i/54713825

1998 euro spec 520i Estate (wagon). The ad says it has 130,000 miles, but I believe the odometer read 181,000km, so it is actually closer to 110k miles. There is a chip in the windshield that will cause the car to fail the inspection here in Germany, but he said he will replace the windshield before I even buy it. He guarantees it will pass inspection, and will fix anything that it fails for. He also won't make me pay until it does pass.

It has coilovers (I didn't look very closely, but he said they are height adjustable, so I am assuming it's coilovers. All I could see was yellow springs in the front). The headlights are obviously aftermarket, and right now it is on summer tires, but he says he has an extra set of winter tires and wheels he will include. I drove it, and it drove okay, though I could not get it up higher than 3rd gear because it has no plates so I couldn't leave the back roads around his shop. The brakes were a bit squeaky, but he said it's been sitting for a couple weeks, and the suspension seemed to make a creaking sound, but having coilovers and being dropped on its nuts I sort of expected this.

Truth be told, I am not looking for an amazing car. Just something that will last me the 20 mile round trip drive back and forth to work 5 days a week. We have the M3, and my wife's Jeep Cherokee, so it's not like this is meant to be a family car. Just a daily beater for me. My biggest concern is buying a car for $2400.00 and having the engine or tranny go out in a few weeks. If the car lasts me 3 years trouble free then blows up, I couldn't give a shit less. I would just junk it the day before I moved back to the US (can't take it with me anyways).

For what I am looking for, does this sound like a good deal, or should I keep looking? I looked on Mobile.de for similar cars, and found 54 in this area. They ranged anywhere in price from €500,00 for a wrecked junker to €4500,00 for a fairly pristine example. Most were around €1500,00 it seemed with high miles, so the price isn't too outrageous. The car has it's small dents, slight rust spots, one or two broken AC vents, but all in all, everything seems to work, the interior is in good shape for being nearly 20 years old, and mechanically it seems to be where you would expect a car with 110,000 miles to be. I believe he said he was flexible on price given the body rust and dents, and if it doesn't pass inspection, he guarantees it will pass so he has to fix anything that it fails for.

Should I go for it, offer him less, or keep looking? I was thinking about offering $2000.00.
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Last edited by Rat3d ///M; 08-08-2015 at 09:58 AM..
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