Car buying frustration

"kanadanmajava1" (kanadanmajava1) 01/15/2016 at 11:40 • Filed to: None

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On Monday I went to buy a car (E34 530i Touring). I made a post about it but it got Kinjad. But here’s an update.

I went to see the car Monday but the clutch pedal’s hydraulic system broke in the same morning and I couldn’t have a test drive. Otherwise the car was nice. Not perfect but nice. The seller was also unwilling to sell the car in that condition. So he trailered the poor BMW to his trusted mechanic to be fixed.

So I have been waiting for the news about the car but I haven’t anything in two days. The seller promised to keep me updated as soon as he knows what’s going on with the car. I would have been perfectly ready to fix it myself but buying a non-running car requires big discount to make it tempting. Seller didn’t want to come down with his price for that reason. There were two other guys (or girls?) that had been inquiring about the car.

My colleague is insisting that I should get a E36 323ti Compact instead as there is one locally for sale with similar price. Now I don’t know if I should wait for the 530i to be fixed or go for the 323ti. 530i has semi large cargo room and tow hitch (the second highest tow rating of the cars that I have owned) so it might actually be useful car. 323ti is more economic and my brother might even stay on the road with it as it has some kind of ESP. My brother uses my cars quite often but he hasn’t been practicing RWD driving much.

The main reason for my hurry is the nice and cold winter season that we are currently having. We didn’t have this nice winter in the last winter season at all. So I have an urge to get a manual RWD car really quickly. If I wait for too long the snow will melt into horrible salt ridden grey slush where I’m not going put any car that hasn’t been really carefully protected or that has estimated lifetime exceeding one year. And who knows how much I have to wait for the next proper winter.

Stupid professional car mechanic. Fix the poor BMW faster! I would have done it in two hours.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > kanadanmajava1 01/15/2016 at 11:50

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Don’t get the 323ti. They are very disappointing.

kanadanmajava1 > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 01/15/2016 at 11:53

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Oh! Too weird weight distribution?

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > kanadanmajava1 01/15/2016 at 11:57

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Yeah, very front heavy.

Are you located in Europe? Because the 323ti was never sold in North America.

Party-vi > kanadanmajava1 01/15/2016 at 12:03

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It is a turd with a BMW roundel on the hood.

kanadanmajava1 > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 01/15/2016 at 12:13

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Good to know.

I’m located in Finland. The 323ti didn’t sell very well here. One BMW enthusiast page told that less than 20 were sold. Our car taxation system was quite harsh at some point and the top end models sold in really low numbers. But a lot of 90's and 00's cars have been imported from Germany over the years.

That certain 530i was imported from Germany ten years ago and very likely the 323ti too. I guess I’ll need test drive before deciding if I really want a 323ti.

kanadanmajava1 > Party-vi 01/15/2016 at 12:19

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In Europe some brave guys are still rallying with these.