gjm

Unless the PO craned it in an out of the garage and on to a trailer to take it for WoFs, the recorded odo reading would have changed, if only a little. And that would be refelected i the WoF reports. That it hasn't changed at all is a dead cert giveaway that the odo stopped working (as Kyu said - very common in E30s). I'd be adding 100000km to that reading. Have a read through the thread where discuss E30 values. It needs to be a good E30 to be worth $6k. The one you've posted pics of is OK, nothing unusual in the issues that have been spotted, but they do detract from the value. Lots of dreaming E30 sellers out there, sadly presenting a poor case for those who genuinely have an excellent example they're keen to sell.

At least twice what it might be worth. (IMO, etc, etc...)

Do you know Zee? I know he has a set.

We'll be nice to this ^ sales guy !

Depends on the mods, but typically I agree - no resale value in modifying a car. Fancy wheels, brakes and suspension, aftermarket seats, unusual paintwork will add interest, and may improve sale opportunities, but doesn't (normally) translate into more $$$ at sale time. Many mods can significantly reduce value - I won't look at a 'cutties', 'superlow', 'juddies' vehicle. If the owner can't fit decent suspension, what are the chances of them actually looking after the car? And E30s really suffer from this. If buying - check underneath. Stock suspension is often fitted to a "stock motor, mate" car in order to attract more interest.

Abs'lutely no chance of that! ? Some salesfolk are genuine, stand-up people. Many are not - they seem to have checked their souls and morals at the door and will do literally anything to gain a sale; customer service is a distant second to commission.

I don't recall if the rim spec was mentioned in the listing - it is a Style 23, how hard is it to find specs for someone genuinely interested? - but there were a series of very clear photos displaying all the info anyone could ever want. It's simple sheer laziness that leads to questions like the one mentioned. Listing the detail in the text as well would probably help, but then you'd get the question "will these fit my xyz123?" (which would have the wrong stud pattern). It's Sunday. May the good Lord protect us from f**kwits.

Disappointing to hear about the Eonon. Forgot to update! Got it all out, moved one connector from what looked like the correct position to what is the correct position, and all works well. Instructions are no help with that - it does look self-explanatory but as is so often the way, there were two ways to do one connection and I got the wrong one. Only issue we've noticed is that the mic gain on the handsfree is a bit low. Not sure if relocating the mic will help with that but we'll give that a go. Other than that, works as it should. Playing music from phone and a call comes in? Music playback either mutes or pauses and the call can be connected. There's a remote control which is about as pointless as a spare fuel tank in a canoe which could be used but is unlikely to ever get out of the glovebox. Miss M is happy.

People who claim to have 'good' cars but who evidently cannot be bothered to do the most basic of research, like actually looking at the advert. Guy selling Style 23s. One of the pics shows '7 1/2J x 17' stamped on the rim - first question asked is "Size and width?" I stopped reading (I don't want a set of 23s) but I suspect the next question would have been "Offset?" assuming the time-wasting question-setter actually knows about things like that. Of course, the answer is et41. All genuine Style 23s are et41... As the simplest bit of investigation would reveal. Selling stuff these days is more like a war of attrition than a chance to recoup some funds.

I saw a pair of door cards for a coupe being advertised for $250. Just the cards - no trims or similar.

Some readers will know I have a closer relationship with E30 sales and prices than most people do. And no - I'm not a dealer/flipper/valuer! E30s are tricky to price. There are many variables to consider. Many people look at 4 vs 6 cylinders, coupe vs 4-door, cloth vs leather interior, manual vs automatic (and whether it is a factory manual) and use that to come up with their personal) valuation. The truth is that little of that is especially relevant in the current market - condition is ***everything***. The best-specced late-model 325 manual is virtually worthless if it's running in a rusty shell. 4 cylinder cars are often overlooked in favour of 6-pots, when the reality is that they are typically better balanced and nicer to drive. Less power (in most cases) but also far easier to work on because of more space in the engine bay. That makes them, imo, a good buy in the current market. There are a few E30s worth more than $6k. And a few worth more than $10k. But it is a few. Most - the majority - simply are not. Most have significant shortcomings in one area or another which will require love, attention, and significant time and $$$ to correct or even just bring up to scratch. There is a world of difference between a 'good' WoF'd and rego'd E30, and an excellent one. (I'm leaving dead rego cars out of it for now.) Bear in mind also that what a car - any car - is actually worth, and what it sells for, can be very different things.

That's a bitter little pill!

Hopefully it's not like doing the sump gasket on an E30 M20 - that's an hours long job. Can certainly be done at home, but an extra pair of hands might be useful at times. http://welshman187.blogspot.com/2013/07/e46-n42-sump-gasket-replacement-diy.html

Experience: a comb life gives you just after you lose your hair.

Get a 2000/2001 E46 318i (M43 engine). There are some very good, low mileage ones around that have been used, just not too extensively. Economical, simple, reliable (get someone to check/sort the cooling system pipes and thermostat) - look after it and it's good for 300k++. In bold - sad but true. Most people see a new-ish, low mileage car as a good buy. That's the only reason there are s many Tiidas and similar on the roads - and there's a reason they're shipping out of Japan by the ship load at just 12 months old. They're not serviced, they're not looked after. This is (imho) excellent advice. At the very least, look into it, consider it. Try one. Leafs aren't the only option, of course. And yes- there are battery replacement costs to consider, but (and Andrew can do the math) it doesn't work out to be expensive over the use and time period that'll be needed, especially when taking servicing and running costs of an ICE car into account. I'll have a 20-30km each way trip for work soon, and this really starts to make a lot of sense in that scenario.

Oh, my. I start a new job (at last!) in a couple of weeks. A couple of months too late for this, perhaps.

Grrr. Spent what seemed like forever swearing about random bits of unnecessary plastic filling the back of an E46 dash. Finally gave in and removed the HVAC unit (anyone who has done this knows it means working up from the gearstick) in order to move some plastic housing to make room for the combined blocky connector and wiring. Hands scraped, cut and gouged, but we got there. And... It doesn't work. There's the usual big blocky connector, and a smaller 10-pin one. The 10 pin one (on the new kit) has just 4 wires to it - we may have this the wrong way around. Just to make life more interesting, a previous owner (not the wonderful chap we bought it from!) has butchered, bu88erefd, fT^&Eed, mangled, trashed and generally ruined the wiring behind the head unit. FFS! Why spend so much time and effort ruining something when it'd be easier to do the job properly? It'll come apart again tomorrow. I might have broken something this evening.