A Reasonable Offer for 320i E46

[GPGrobler]

Hi all,

Spotted this E46 yesterday, went back today to take a closer look. Started car, bad miss on engine, white and black smoke from exhaust , so it would be a good guess that the motor is shot.

What would be a reasonable offer for this BMW, bearing in mind that these engines are gonners once they have overheated.

The seller is asking R40k, but after what I saw today, what would you guys offer?

Car is a 320i 2005 E46.

 

[Gizmo]

Well R40k plus R25k for replacement motor plus R10k labour to install is over R75k already. Then you finally get to drive the car to find a whole host of other issues to attend to. It ends up costing you close to R100k... what is book value on a good one? Probably half that...

 

[GPGrobler]

Thanks Gizmo,

I do not know how he is going to sell the car, maybe to someone gullible who does not know BMW's or cars in general?

 

[GPGrobler]

So a reasonable offer would be around R15 - R20k, not more, to change the motor is going to cost be around R15k, I know a good mech working with a team of guys who will do the change for me for around R2-3k.

Car is still running, so I can go and pull codes if the seller will allow me :roflol:

 

[zaleonardz]

BMW would offer you about 10k on the car on trade.

I would not offer much more then 10k, 15k is max,

As even after these repairs,, its still an "old" 320, market is flooded, and its now a 10 year+ old car, so you wont get much trying to sell it.

There is hardly any profit to be made here, if thats your goal..

 

[moranor@axis]

15k + V8 = :rollsmile:

 

[zaleonardz]

Now there is an idea.

I know of somebody that has a spare twin turbo V8 laying around...

---

GP, if he is trying to recover his money break the car for spares..

 

[GPGrobler]

No, it is a dealer, only one in my town, so he is betting on the fact of the "scarcity" of the vehicle locally.

I also did not want to buy the car and sell it to make a profit, I wanted to drive it.

I looked on Junk Mail - most of them selling for R70k+

 

[Waseem 333i]

Walk away. If motor went its most likely because it was not cared for. There will be other problems also and even though parts are not very expensive it will end up to be a big cost at the end. Also those 320's were not very quick with auto box.

 

[GPGrobler]

Yep, but it is a pity for a true fan like myself to see any BMW suffering like that, also too far from many forum members to attempt to save the car.

 

[Bugger]

Maybe a fanatics run to see it :rollsmile:

 

[GPGrobler]

Anyway, if cost or budget was not an issue, I would really have enjoyed turning this car into a Merc eater. It already looks menacing enough with the black paintwork, so it would have been a perfect "sleeper" if I had the money to stick a reworked E39 M5 motor under the hood ...