Re: To buy or not to buy

[alex.fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxx]

"David Orr" <orrs@domain.elided> wrote:
> 
> The main reason I am writing is to ask about a 1988 735i / E32 I have a
> opportunity to purchase for 2K. [...] It has 174K miles on it.

Dave,
The first question you might want to ask yourself is how come such a nice 
car is going for so little? 
The answer is in the cost of maintenance, as the previous owner had 
discovered on trying to fix the door locks alone. BMW 7's are a nightmare 
to maintain on any sort of a budget. The 12-cylinder varieties are the 
worse, but the 6-8 cylinder cars still share all of the 
interior/electrical/suspension part$. Few problems cost less than four 
figures to fix due to the rarity of the parts and the multitude of aging 
electrical components in that car. 
What is your budget? How much time are you willing to spend under that 
car? 
If your budget can support $2+K/year in parts and you don't mind fixing 
the car in perpetuity, you are looking at owning one of the best highway 
cruisers out there. Just make sure you can afford it.

HTH,
alex f

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