May I take another shot?
How about five favorites you can buy in nice condition for under ten grand?
I dailyed one just like this one for a few years back in the eighties. A very entertaining car to drive that was also quite cheap to run and not too troublesome for a guy in his twenties willing to get his hands dirty. Did around 60K miles without much drama. When I wrote that it was a daily that included winters, and the B was pretty good in the snow, had good heat and would start at ambients well below zero.
Later had one of these in about this color. A fun car that really handles well while wearing out the back tires in no time flat if cornered aggressively. The flat six sounded wonderful wound out while my car also had the unfortunate curse of two pedals and Powerglide. Put maybe 30K on this car over a couple of years and other than a fan belt it needed very little.
Had one of these in this color with a tan top. Bought from a micro sized GM dealer in a very small town to the North of us. A fun car to drive that was also really cheap to run. Did nothing to it beyond oil changes and I posted a UOA here from it if anyone cares to search for it. Did around 70K over a few years before parting with it. This was not a quick car with the little four, but the engine was willing to pull to redline without getting breathless and clutch and shifter were quite pleasant in use. Handling was of course good, it being a BMW after all.
We had one of these in this color. It did 160K with us until we sold it as a still quite useable machine. What can I say? Lots of room for what was a very tiny car, great clutch and shifter and an engine that would race for the redline in all four gears. Go-kart handling, of course. The 1500 didn't have anything close to high specific output, but it didn't need to given the lightness of this car. 12" wheels, incidentally. A cute little machine that I still remember fondly.
We had two of these 240Ds, one in this color. Slower than you could imagine, but very pleasant cars to drive. Outstanding suspension with a very good ride over the roughest roads as well as fine handling that always assisted the driver. There was one sweeper I liked to take really fast and the tail would drift itself out in an oversteering mode that was perfectly stable and not divergent with no help from the driver. The little diesel four sounded great at 70 mph or so on the highway and the whole car had a level of solidity to it that you just didn't get in anything US or Japanese made at the time. Would not start if left outside overnight at below ten degrees or so, so one learned to use the garage during the winter. 14" high profile tires, as was the German standard of the time. A very comfortable and capable no-nonsense sort of car. Did oil changes, brake jobs and tires and that was about it. Did have to replace the starter in one of them, but that was an easy job and parts were not expensive. Oh, and fuel filters, of which there are two. Mercedes thoughtfully built in a little hand pump with which to bleed off the system for when you changed the fuel filters or in the event that you ran the car out of fuel. Did love the enormous oil filter which even had a little wire handle so that you could easily lift it out of its housing. Oil was jet black with a very distinctive scent after not too many miles. IIRC it took seven quarts.
