If you could buy a somewhat entertaining car what would you pick

As someone who owns an older BMW, and fixes them for fun for family/friends, I would not buy a used Euro car unless you know exactly what you are buying. I'm talking about knowing what all the failure points are and how to fix them.

It's not that they break more often, it's that they are less forgiving if you (meaning a previous owner also) screw something up. When buying my car, I looked at probably 15-17 of them that had obviously been messed with previously and would need some money to get them "back up to par". The newest E46 is 14 years old (coupes).
 
IndyIan said:
Wow, that is good to know! 128i's are getting pretty cheap so I was thinking that might be a fun car to play with, so its good to know that a syncro change is not really an option.
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There used to be some shops like Korman Autoworks and Metric Mechanic that rebuilt transmissions- I don’t know if they still do. That said, the only BMW transmission I had to rebuild was the Getrag 4 speed in my Bavaria- primarily because a previous owner wrecked the bearings by running hypoid gear oil in it.
 
JHZR2 said:
He could bring it back to MO and sell it for $10k apparently!
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No no! I could sell it for $9,931.50
That was the settlement offer. This isn’t to you in general but it cracked me up that so many people said the dart wasn’t worth near that. The insurance paid it I negotiated with them for 2 weeks and they agreed to that number. Either I’m really good at haggling ( I am decent if I’m honest)
They’re completely stupid and should be bankrupt, or the dart was actually worth that amount. 🤷🏼
 
JHZR2 said:
+1.

OP, hate To sound pompous, but beggars can’t be choosers. I think I’d argue that you did pretty good and made prudent choices with the vehicles you have, but you seem to go through vehicles like it’s going out of style, and if you actually have $6k or whatever amount cash, you would be better suited to sit on it and roll it into a better, newer, safer vehicle when the time comes. It’s not a lot of money,mand may be better saved and put towards something in the future. At some point you’ll see diminishing returns in chasing newer, better cars, but not yet necessarily. New cars are a luxury, and older cars aren’t that much less safe necessarily. But Id argue you arent at the “knee in the curve” yet, and a bit more/better car next round might still be worthwhile to look into. Having more cash, rather than more projects and more liabilities might be a good choice.

What’s the status of the Ram, or actually two Rams, right? Your grandfather’s and then the other one you bought? Are they both 100%? I’ll tell you what, Im a car guy, own a lot of cars, and I’ve made my 96 Ram with 438k miles my daily driver recently. Literally parked my 135i in the garage, and haven’t driven any of my other cars. I just love driving The Ram diesel. It’s effortless and smooth and not that loud (do need to fix a door hinge though). I want to get a half million miles in it.

My point is, you have many irons in the fire, you don’t really have a lot of money, so whatever you buy will have so,e compromises, and need some work. I’m sure you can do it, but after you buy this mystical $6k fun car, you’ll have another insurance bill, and thst much less cash to do anything on the other vehicles you own. Plus, when it becomes time to replace one of your daily vehicles, you’ll have that much less to throw at a newer, better car, and will be caught in the same cyclic trap.
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The 01 is 100% besides imperfect paint which obviously I’m not going to fix. It’s a truck so that doesn’t bother me .
The 95 (my grandfather’s) ram isn’t 100% however I have an account set aside with about 8k to put into it. It runs it drive but I’d really like to make it nice. I’m going to get my ten year old son to start helping me with it in the spring and really re doing it so he can have it.
I could spend more than $6,000 on a car I just didn’t want to . I wanted to have plenty of money to really make it fun and make it mine ect. I like stuff that needs a bit of work. Buying something perfect is fun for all of ten minutes and then I’m bored. Just today I cut the exhaust off the sonic and am doing cat back on it. Not for more power or anything I just can’t stand how quiet it is. It doesn’t need to be obnoxious but I do want to hear the darn thing. 😂
The van is actually getting valve cover gaskets this weekend or Monday at the latest. And I’m going to redo the headliner in the spring it’s starting to sag a little bit. I like being busy.
its funny a friends wife was texting me today telling me how overwhelmed she is she has two young kids goes to school and has regular adult chores.
I have 4 kids full time student till next spring. I day trade penny stocks fix cars for people and tinker on my own stuff and find myself still having a relatively decent amount of free time. I also do all the cooking cleaning and adult chores and such. I make more money now then ever before and somehow am still bored. Maybe I am manic😂😂😂
 
ram_man said:
No no! I could sell it for $9,931.50
That was the settlement offer. This isn’t to you in general but it cracked me up that so many people said the dart wasn’t worth near that. The insurance paid it I negotiated with them for 2 weeks and they agreed to that number. Either I’m really good at haggling ( I am decent if I’m honest)
They’re completely stupid and should be bankrupt, or the dart was actually worth that amount. 🤷🏼
Click to expand...
now lets not confuse a settlement check for retail value.$
that would be like me paying sticker for my jeep that I got 10.5k off of.

and I must be a debbie downer too because critic could have quoted my reply from the other thread.

If I had 6000$ i'd hang onto it for abit.. what if you get the covid and cant work for a month.

What if you trip and break a wrist.. you have a fund for that anywhere?
 
MCompact said:
If you aren’t familiar with BMWs I would definitely recommend getting a thorough PPI performed by a tech who KNOWS BMWs. An E46 3er is one of the last analog Bimmers, and while the cars have their issues most are relatively easy and inexpensive to rectify. If you do land on a BMW I would definitely join BMW CCA and get a subscription to the British magazine BMW CAR, as both are excellent sources of technical and DIY information.
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I would not recommend this option.
At this age, the newest e46 you can find is already 14-15 years old and will need quite a lot of maintenance to be brought up to proper running order (CAB's, ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, shocks, struts, and who can forget the plastic cooling components, VANOS maintenance etc.).

Unless OP is looking for a garage queen, I'd suggest the many other non-BMW, MB etc options.
Sure, they might be cheap to purchase initially in the used market, but you'll end up paying sooner or later.
 
Oillover said:
I would not recommend this option.
At this age, the newest e46 you can find is already 14-15 years old and will need quite a lot of maintenance to be brought up to proper running order (CAB's, ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, shocks, struts, and who can forget the plastic cooling components, VANOS maintenance etc.).

Unless OP is looking for a garage queen, I'd suggest the many other non-BMW, MB etc options.
Sure, they might be cheap to purchase initially in the used market, but you'll end up paying sooner or later.
Click to expand...
What are CAB's?
 
MCompact said:
There used to be some shops like Korman Autoworks and Metric Mechanic that rebuilt transmissions- I don’t know if they still do. That said, the only BMW transmission I had to rebuild was the Getrag 4 speed in my Bavaria- primarily because a previous owner wrecked the bearings by running hypoid gear oil in it.
Click to expand...
I don't believe any of the 6MT's are repairable by Korman or MM. In fact, some folks with later model 6MT cars have swapped-in rebuilt 5MT boxes... or otherwise-OK 6MT or 5MT boxes. With a used box (and, believe it or not, to a much lesser extent, with a NEW 'box) you really can't tell how smooth or gravelly the synchro action is - until you drive it from cold. It'd be a bummer to swap in a used 'box and find out it is a "dud"... or at least a dud - for your degree of "pernickityness".

As for me, I am REALLY fussy about the "feel" of my manual transmissions. Gravelly-feeling 'boxes are a put-off for me. If I had the cash to buy a manual transmission BMW new, I would do it. But now, all but the M Cars are non-manuals... (presumably DCT's - i.e. dual-clutch automated-manuals or conventional automatics). The latter are, admittedly, very good as those types of transmissions go - but they are not conventional manual transmissions.

I have to say that I regret that BMW's (and indeed, other performance marques) have changed. Rather, the whole world has changed... and I am somewhat set in my ways :( .
 
Rand said:
now lets not confuse a settlement check for retail value.$
that would be like me paying sticker for my jeep that I got 10.5k off of.

and I must be a debbie downer too because critic could have quoted my reply from the other thread.

If I had 6000$ i'd hang onto it for abit.. what if you get the covid and cant work for a month.

What if you trip and break a wrist.. you have a fund for that anywhere?
Click to expand...
Of course I could, read above I said I had 8k set aside for my other truck . I have a savings . Let’s not confuse what I want to spend for a car with what money I actually have.
 
ram_man said:
The 01 is 100% besides imperfect paint which obviously I’m not going to fix. It’s a truck so that doesn’t bother me .
The 95 (my grandfather’s) ram isn’t 100% however I have an account set aside with about 8k to put into it. It runs it drive but I’d really like to make it nice. I’m going to get my ten year old son to start helping me with it in the spring and really re doing it so he can have it.
I could spend more than $6,000 on a car I just didn’t want to . I wanted to have plenty of money to really make it fun and make it mine ect. I like stuff that needs a bit of work. Buying something perfect is fun for all of ten minutes and then I’m bored. Just today I cut the exhaust off the sonic and am doing cat back on it. Not for more power or anything I just can’t stand how quiet it is. It doesn’t need to be obnoxious but I do want to hear the darn thing. 😂
The van is actually getting valve cover gaskets this weekend or Monday at the latest. And I’m going to redo the headliner in the spring it’s starting to sag a little bit. I like being busy.
its funny a friends wife was texting me today telling me how overwhelmed she is she has two young kids goes to school and has regular adult chores.
I have 4 kids full time student till next spring. I day trade penny stocks fix cars for people and tinker on my own stuff and find myself still having a relatively decent amount of free time. I also do all the cooking cleaning and adult chores and such. I make more money now then ever before and somehow am still bored. Maybe I am manic😂😂😂
Click to expand...

Thats good to hear all around. To me, $6k was not an arbitrary number, if it is, ok.

And if it is, and you have more funds, then I’d let your budget be more fluid..

For example, this:
www.ebay.com

1996 BMW 3-Series 328ic Convertible Auto Super Low 72K Mi Serviced Loaded | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1996 BMW 3-Series 328ic Convertible Auto Super Low 72K Mi Serviced Loaded at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

Heck, if you bought that, I’d drive it to you for free, just for fun! Yeah, I know, automatic... but an example of something nice for not much more than your budget.

Or maybe better, this:

www.ebay.com

1991 BMW 3-Series 325i | eBay

1991 BMW 325i Convertible - Manual Transmission - E30 - V6 - M20. Titled as a 1992 because BMW was still producing '91 body style early into '92. Specifically, this car was made on February 5th, 1992 in Regensburg, Germany.
www.ebay.com

E30 cars are easy to work on and pretty robust.

Or one of these to code and soup up?

www.ebay.com

2006 BMW 3-Series 325i | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2006 BMW 3-Series 325i at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

lol, I’d drive that one to you pro bono as well, just for fun!

Manuals will likely need to fall into your lap, or you’ll need to travel, potentially far, to get the right thing at the right price. You just need to keep looking..

Id be partial to E30 or E36 BMWs... but an older corvette, Camaro, mustang, etc. I think might be neat. But point overall is this: A million options out there, what strikes your fancy besides MT?
 
Last edited:
Oro_O said:
Around here you can get a really nice, low/moderate mileage late 90/early 00s Jaguar XK8. That's my pick and at some point I will. Can get two small kids in the back, not much more, though.
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The XK8 before 02 isn’t worth it, super junk transmission. The 00-02 4.0 XKR has a tough mercedes transmission but it’s dumb as a rock.

03 and up with the 4.2 motor and the 6speed auto are the best way to go
 
Cdn17Sport6MT said:
I don't believe any of the 6MT's are repairable by Korman or MM. In fact, some folks with later model 6MT cars have swapped-in rebuilt 5MT boxes... or otherwise-OK 6MT or 5MT boxes. With a used box (and, believe it or not, to a much lesser extent, with a NEW 'box) you really can't tell how smooth or gravelly the synchro action is - until you drive it from cold. It'd be a bummer to swap in a used 'box and find out it is a "dud"... or at least a dud - for your degree of "pernickityness".

As for me, I am REALLY fussy about the "feel" of my manual transmissions. Gravelly-feeling 'boxes are a put-off for me. If I had the cash to buy a manual transmission BMW new, I would do it. But now, all but the M Cars are non-manuals... (presumably DCT's - i.e. dual-clutch automated-manuals or conventional automatics). The latter are, admittedly, very good as those types of transmissions go - but they are not conventional manual transmissions.

I have to say that I regret that BMW's (and indeed, other performance marques) have changed. Rather, the whole world has changed... and I am somewhat set in my ways :( .
Click to expand...

Correct. BMW does not sell internal parts. Luckily, a new trans is not too expensive. Only about $4k.

As for OP, a BMW 128 would be a great choice! Throw a three stage intake manifold on and it really wakes it up. Such a small nimble car with a 3.0 L straight six is tones of fun. Or step up to the 135i for even significantly more fun. I am kinda biased though.
 
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