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The new to me commuter

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  #1  
Old 11-23-2010
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The new to me commuter

1992 BMW 318i 5spd. She's not perfect, but with a little tlc she'll get there. Biggest issue is paint fading on the hood/roof/trunk. Come first of the year the car will be going into primer. Has 253k miles, but runs/drivers like a dream and gets 30mpg! Couple of small things that need attention. I already ordered new headlights/corners and fog lights. They are all needing replacement. Need a new lock mechanism. The one in the car is temperamental. Need to clean the windows tracks and/or align them. Front windows have a hard time going up or down. Front seats need to be recovered, but thats later on. Other then a few loose trim pieces it's a great car. Runs great for an almost 19 year old. Got it for $1,700. Talked her down from $2,000.

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Old 11-23-2010
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awesome! i have a newer 328i. youre gonna love it
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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That car is in awesome conditions.
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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Originally Posted by shadow905
awesome! i have a newer 328i. youre gonna love it
I'd love a newer one at some point. Either a 325i/328i/330i doesn't matter, but I'd REALLY love an M3 lol.

Originally Posted by 03crewcabranger
That car is in awesome conditions.
I wouldn't say awesome, but its a very sound car. Just as typical aging issues.
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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Wow
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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Originally Posted by Sonic04Edge
I wouldn't say awesome, but its a very sound car. Just as typical aging issues.
Dude, I wish I could get a car like that for that price and in that conditions.
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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time for a f22c swap y0
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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Originally Posted by xp1ik99
Wow
Wow as in?

Originally Posted by 03crewcabranger
Dude, I wish I could get a car like that for that price and in that conditions.
Just gotta look.

Originally Posted by ES894x4
time for a f22c swap y0
I'll pass lol.
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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i almost bought a 325 a few days ago. but once i got up under it the floors were gone. it sounded to good to be true at 500 bucks and it was.
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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you must me single cuz you have way too many toys to be married
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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Originally Posted by Offroad02
i almost bought a 325 a few days ago. but once i got up under it the floors were gone. it sounded to good to be true at 500 bucks and it was.
That's why i'm glad I live in the south lol.

Originally Posted by Johnson14
you must me single cuz you have way too many toys to be married
Nope I'm engaged.
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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then your fiance is the best
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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that is nice for $1700 bux
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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Looks pretty good!
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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granted its all wet from rain to tell how bad or what condition in photo's, but before you put something in primer which actually is porous and holds water. try wheeling out the paint with some cutting compounds you would be surprised at what could be done


also you sell the 3.0L ranger already?
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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MAN i need me something like this soo bad. I cant carry my little girl in my truck.

Is there an aftermarket option for those ambers up front?
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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Looks great man. Seems to be in pretty good condition overall.

Just out of curiosity, you bought this "beater" just to get you from point A to point B cheaply...right? Why dump a bunch of money into it with primer/painting and adding the extras you plan to add when in reality you probably won't get your money back out of it when you plan to sell it. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of buying it to save money?
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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Always liked the look of the e36's. Though I haven't heard many good things about the 318s. Definitely a sharp car though. I would kill for an e46 m3 though.
 
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Old 11-23-2010
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Originally Posted by Johnson14
then your fiance is the best
She is!

Originally Posted by JoshK
that is nice for $1700 bux
It is!

Originally Posted by KLC
Looks pretty good!
Thanks!

Originally Posted by Redneckstone
granted its all wet from rain to tell how bad or what condition in photo's, but before you put something in primer which actually is porous and holds water. try wheeling out the paint with some cutting compounds you would be surprised at what could be done


also you sell the 3.0L ranger already?
There's no compound that could bring it back to life. Its so badly faded its down to the original primer in area's. Yeah the old ranger is sold to a buddy of mine.

Originally Posted by Taylor
MAN i need me something like this soo bad. I cant carry my little girl in my truck.

Is there an aftermarket option for those ambers up front?
Yeah i'm ditching the amber corners.

Originally Posted by wyldechild
Looks great man. Seems to be in pretty good condition overall.

Just out of curiosity, you bought this "beater" just to get you from point A to point B cheaply...right? Why dump a bunch of money into it with primer/painting and adding the extras you plan to add when in reality you probably won't get your money back out of it when you plan to sell it. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of buying it to save money?
It really wont cost me that much, but I take care of even my beaters. If this car treats me well enough over the next year I may hang onto it. To keep the miles off the other cars.

Originally Posted by 05blackranger
Always liked the look of the e36's. Though I haven't heard many good things about the 318s. Definitely a sharp car though. I would kill for an e46 m3 though.
I love the all 3 series from this body style to current. I would kill for an m3! Luckily the 318's are very plentiful so parts aren't to hard to come by. Little more expensive then say a civic, but not that bad.
 
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Old 11-24-2010
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you're going to need window regulators and probably motors as well. as you own a BMW you learn they love eating up regulators all the time.
 
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Old 11-24-2010
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Why not just drive one of the other 3 vehicles you own? If you rotated driving them you wouldnt put that many miles on any of them....
 
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Old 11-25-2010
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Originally Posted by Robin Hood
you're going to need window regulators and probably motors as well. as you own a BMW you learn they love eating up regulators all the time.
Yep this I know. Its on the list of minor replacements. Luckily the car has great heat/air so it's not a rush situation.

Originally Posted by Lord Of War
Why not just drive one of the other 3 vehicles you own? If you rotated driving them you wouldnt put that many miles on any of them....
I bought the car for MPG's all 3 of the others do 15mpg in city and 17 on a good day on the hwy. This car avg's 30mpg no matter city or hwy. I do rotate the other 3, but they aren't helping on the mpg's lol.
 
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Old 11-26-2010
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Okay so I did some more math to figure out how long it would take me to start truly saving money with this car after the purchase.

This is if I drove one of my other vehicles

15mpg
3000k miles a month avg
200gal of gas a month
At $3.00gal
= $600 a month in gas. In 3 months I spent what I paid for the bmw.

Now comparing the bmw.
30mpg
3000k miles a month avg
100gal gas
At $3.00gal
= $300 a month in gas


Cuts the gas bill in half. It would take me roughly 5.5 months to recoup what I paid for the bmw. Anything after that it will save me $300 a month in gas. Which is a savings of $1,800 in the first year. Now if my commuting did happen to stay the same say for another year. That would save me $5,400 in the first 2 years of owning the car. Now given some of that savings will have to go to normal upkeep and what not, but that's still a decent chunk of change that would remain in my pocket. On top of that it will allow me to keep miles primarily off the ranger as it was my primary transportation until I got the bmw. So that saves me 36,000 miles on it. Which if I did drive it would put the ranger over 100k miles in a year. It is currently at 70k right now. Which saves me from potential costly repairs on it.


Which another reason I bring up why a 30mpg will allow me to earn more money when I go back to dominos doing delivery. When I was working there last. We were getting $1.16 a delivery in gas reimbursement. One delivery could be anywhere from 1-2 miles or up to an 18 mile round trip depending on where we went and at close to $3.00 a gallon. It doesn't take much math to figure up the savings.

However we will do a little more math.

Ranger
10 deliveries
100miles
1.16x10=$11
at 15mpg that is 6.6gal of gas
$3.00x6.6=$19.8
I would end up having to pay money driving the ranger at work.

BMW
10 deliveries
100miles
1.16x10=$11
at 30mpg its 3.3gal of gas
$3.00x3.3=$10


I would roughly break even. Which means I dont pay out of pocket. However there are plenty of nights where I do more or less in miles. However driving the bmw I dont lose anything. Driving the ranger it starts effecting my income. Now I have had nights where I have only taken 10 deliveries and driven like 40 miles. So you see why if you really want to make money in deliver you drive something that gets good gas mileage.

If I did this exact avg 5 nights a week. In one month I would save $176 by driving the bmw vs the ranger.


Now I know some are probably thinking. Why bother doing delivery? Well I will put it this way. Doing delivery in my area you make minimum wage+tips. I can literally make 2-3 times what I would working at minimum wage job or one that makes $9-10 an hour. Which without a college education around here. Your going to be stuck with maybe at most a $9 an hour job. Anyway that concludes this math lesson lol.
 
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Old 11-26-2010
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LOL!!! if you own that many cars and what not, you shouldn't have to worry about auto repairs, mileage, mpg's, and trade in values down the road...just like the guy that goes and buys a 120 ft yacht doesn't worry about the $150k a yr docking fees and crew pay....lol

BTW: i dont have have a college edu...but my last to last job i was making $16hr and last job i was making $22 hr....but i did have to bust my butt for it as far as the work went.
 
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Old 11-26-2010
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LOL all those vehicles for one person. What do the neighbors think?
 


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