I'm going to look at this tomorrow, it looks gorgeous and will probably be my next car.

Anyone know which engine code its likely to be ? ( I just need to know if it needs a cam belt change or not)

The metric wheels are with the car, but its had another set put on with new tyres for the mot

I've never seen the "double sunroof", anyone any experience ?

The advert says :

5 Doors, Manual, Estate, Petrol, 88,000 miles, Metallic Montreal Blue. ABS. Insurance Group:13, -FULL BMW SERVICE HISTORY! -12 Months M.O.T- LAST OWNER 9 YEARS- LOW MILEAGE ( 7 K PER YEAR) A RARE treat for any BMW enthusiasts in ths flawless condition. Manual gearbox and 1800 engine makes for surprisingly good fuel economy.Rare electric FULL LENGTH Front/Rear sunroof option. Electric windows x 4. Original BMW business rds sterio. Walnut facia. Timewarp condition interior with dark velour in remarkable condition. Never towed, no pets, non smoker owner. Boot cover with unused dog guard. Complete book pack with all original keys. Looks and drives like its 12 months old! Alot of car for under £2000.Viewing essential

It will cop some dog hairs, but not the fag smoke ( I hope).

After my recent accident I've been told I must stop, as they consider smoking to be part of the cause, I'm also told I must lose some weight.

I'm actually at the doctors on Monday regarding both those items.

There is another one on autotrader for less than a grand, its 133 miles from me, and if we're lucky it may be in your direction.....I'll check

Here we go, it doesn't give a location, just a number, although he says he's a trader.

This one is better spec, but the blue one will do me :

reg. 85000 Miles, 12mth MOT, R/CL, E/W, PAS, Air con, Alloys, Stereo, Tow bar and electrics fitted, excellent condition, PX taken. £995.

OK guys, I take your point.

I'm going to see it tomorrow, I do know he's had to buy some new(er) wheels and tyres to get it through the mot, as the one's in the piccy are metric.

I like it as its a large estate that will replace the Ovlov, do a few more mpg, and it looks good.

The other one has a towbar (so I guess its been used for towing), and it seems to have E39 wheels on it (for the metric reason I imagine), which if I remember correctly will mean it has some sort of conversion kit to enable them to fit

The dearer one (the blue one) also doesn't have the 11 stepper motor climatic control air con unit (which I consider to actually be an advantage)

I think I will ring the 2nd one, see where in the world it is.

The 2nd one (the cheaper one) is in Paignton.

The chap seems a lovely guy, and he's offering to meet me at Taunton, which is only an hour away.

He has just had some dampers replaced, pads & disc's all round, he says the drivers door has been grounded, and if you get down there is some rust there, there is some wear on the drivers seat, and the aircon doesn't work, and it has no sunroof.

Decisions desicisions ..............

My car trade mate tells me to go for the blue one & hopefully knock him down £200.

He says I could very easily spend £5 - 600 making the cheaper one good, and we have no indication that the miles on the cheaper one are at all correct.

He doesn't like beemers much, but even he thinks that blue one is exceptional

Cheers Rhys.

I can do that too ! If you look at the first service stamp, it my old mates.......Robert Sterns

Double sunroofs are trouble - even according to the dealer network. It was a gimmick that was soon dropped from the E34 range.

Sealing seems to be the problem.

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a check over.

It wasn't dropped that quickly, as the whole range was dropped by the time that one was redgistered lol

I paid him the screen price of £1,775 !

It is gorgeous, I'd checked it all out with Robert Stern BMW, it is exactly as it was supplied (except the wheels).

I am also getting the original metric wheels

To sell it to me he's replaced the back box, wheels (2nd hand modern 17" 5 series wheels with brand new dunlop tyres.....I don't actually like the wheels so will be looking to play swap with someone for a set of 15" or 16" cross spokes), and front disks & pads.

It has a new MOT

Its also had a replacement radiator (its about the right age for that to fail)

It has one very small ding in the nearside rear wing, and two very small chips on the upper surface of the rear bumper (Robert Sterns maestro is waiting to see it, he does the dents out stuff!)

It has a few polish swirls.

The interior is absolutely mint, exactly as it was supplied.

The central locking bounces (one of my earlier E34's did that, so I'll sort that), and the dampers for the tailgate window are pretty useless (sterns already have them for me £20 the pair!)

Its 12 years old, and has just been issued its first "year" plate, it has two previous owners, and has been on private plates.

Its the nearest I've ever been to having a new beemer.........and I'll get to drive it all the time, rather than the weekend toy my previous ones were

Just my 2 pennorth, my double sunroof works a treat and I have been told silicon spray is best for the runners so mine gets the full treatment at least twice a year.

Just make sure you open each half individually and spray the runners and all joints, hinges etc and you should have trouble free usage. I think the troublesome ones are the ones which aren't maintained as the sunroof isn't usually a place that needs it.

Looks good Nige, no reason not to go for it, I doubt youll be disappointed.

Good luck

Mike

I don't have it yet K, I'll pick it up on Thursday or Saturday.

I'll post you some more pictures then, but like I said (rather like the one you were looking at), I'm not keen on the wheels, looks a bit too "chavvy" for a 47 year old bloke, also smacks of trying to make a 518i look something it isn't 

Nice one Nigel.  I'm definitely in the camp of paying what many would consider as "mad money" for cotton wool wrapped older BMW's.  Your pal is right, it wouldn't take long to spend the difference between the cheaper one and the dearer one doing small repairs/replacements.

I bought a '93 325i coupe recently for "mad money" but its probably the best car I've bought since my 1997 523i 5 years ago.  I've put 5k completely trouble free miles on it in 3 months and my specialist did an Insp 2 last week that needed NO items over and above the std schedule and precautionary 2 year fluid changes for diff, antifreeze and brake fluid.

All this (buying and Insp 2) for less than my first year of depreciation on the 5 (or my '00 330Ci).  Best bit is that the 325i still has less than a genuine 40k on the clock.