What do you think of an '85 735i?

[aceswerling]

A guy near my house is selling a 1985 735i. It's got 208K miles on it and he's asking $3500. I usually wouldn't consider any car with that many miles on it. However, he's got a ton of service records and it looks like he maintained it pretty well. The interior is in good shape, especially for a car with that many miles. Kelly Blue Book says it's only worth $1900. The seller has to already know that.

What do you guys think of this deal? I figure I should talk him down some. Should I just pass on it? Are there any known weaknesses to these cars? I know 208K miles is high for most cars, but I've had friends with E30s that have gone 300K easy. Is this 7 Series built like that? What should I look for?

[autogunner]

I have a 86 735I that I have had for over five years now. When I got it it had 145000 miles on it; it has over 200,000 now with very little work. Their are some commen problems though, I tried to charge my a/c last year and let the car run for a long time tring to get it to take the freon and the next day my transmission started going out, the pump in the transmission only works when the car is moving so keep this in mind. Parts are hard to find sometimes,some can be found at your local chane store but some have to still be bought at the dealer. I actually have two 86 735I's,I paid $1500 for the first and $650.00 for the second one. If it were me I would not pay over $3000.00 for it unless you just have to have it. Thats just my two cents worth thank's autogunner.

[lowridder11]

If it was well kept and everything checks out i would say go for it. Actually r u using this for a commuter car or just a grocery run car?

[aceswerling]

This is basically a third car for me and my wife. We have two smaller cars and could use something bigger. I'm a consultant so I go to the airport all the time. I was thinking I *might* use this car for that.

Do you think it makes a difference? Are you thinking about reliability?

[lowridder11]

Really, my dad is a consultant for Deloitte Consulting. I was thinking about reliability but, only to the airport, and the fact that u have 2 other cars. I say do it but, talk the price down. Show him the blue book value.