Knackered or a potential bargin?
 

It really does depend on what has been done service wise, if it had had a new clutch, belts (timing belts on these???)bushes, dampers springs disks and such over the last 20 or so k miles then yes maybe. You do have to wonder why the owner is selling, maybe it needs a lot of work doing.

Also how many miles do you intend to put on it, if 20+ k per year then perhaps not for you.

Engines and gearboxes are pretty robust and check for long as it has verifiable and complete history

Electrics, etc should be 'all good' being a BMW.

Check everything works if you view and i do mean everything.

Looks pretty sound - but be warned, those wheels are an absolute slag to keep clean!

Nice car at a nice price - Buy it quick or at least view it before someone else does if I were you.

Price most likely reflects the rocket ship miles imo. As already said, check everything works and check it twice. I bought a 6 cylinder bmw with 140k on it and got bitten. The top end went within a few months and cost a pretty penny to sort out.

If it's been looked after could potentially do double the milage however I would pay for a full AA or RAC inspection before any money changed hands

Rear wiper isn't parked properly, M badges in funny places and the front lights look funny?

No mention number of owners , its not particularly cheap either ?

We've got some half price cracked ice and miles and miles of carpet tiles,
T.V.s, deep freeze and David Bowie L.P.s,
Ball games, gold chains, whatsnames, pictures frames and leather goods,
And Trevor Francis track suits from a mush in Shepherds Bush,

Bush, bush, bush, bush, bush, bush, bush ...

No income tax, no V.A.T.,
No money back, no guarantee,
Black or white, rich or poor,
We'll cut prices at a stroke......

God bless Hooky Street,
Viva Hooky Street,
Long live Hooky Street,
C'est magnifique, Hooky Street,
Magnifique, Hooky Street,
Hooky Street (to fade)

I hadn't spotted those fake M badges - Nooooooo!!!

Definitely had some kind of headlight conversion - using blue clingfilm by the looks of it.

Could be the reflection off some "xenon effect" blue coated bulbs.

One thing with Beamers is one can quickly assertain a dog from a decent one just by driving it (and there are alot of dogs out there). Drive a good one first (bit difficult these days for an e46 as most are past their prime) then drive that one. if it feels sloppy and inprecise, its going to need money spent on the suspension. Somtimes its not much (especially if the car has a load of old invoices), but if its not had anymoney spent on the supension in the last 50K/5yrs, then chances are its going to need some wedge spending on it (at the least the rubber bushings, as they perish quite badly). Hesitance or a dead spot on the first 1" of throttle pedal movement when pulling away is often a dying MAF and/or a cam sensor(s) on its way out (or a sticky/lethargic Vanos), an inconsistant on/off throttle response is often a vacuum leak (presihed intake hoses) or blocked breathers. Especially if the check engine light comes on or a throttle re-adapation event is triggered (you will know when that happens as the throttle pedal stops working).

Engines are more tricky. BMW longlife servicing really pushes these engines to the limit. The problem is they sludge up. These becomes even worse should a dealer fill it with the wrong non-longlife oil (it has been known). Breathers block, top end starts ticking, and the vanos units may give a buzzing noise at fast idle. The question is how long can it go on like that for. I've had to flush out the breathers on M54 engines with less than half that mileage.

The fake M-badges (please, if one is going fit M-badges, at least fit them in the correct place :rolleyes: ) and silly blue bulbs is a indicator of the more "aggressive" driver. This can have a negative effect on the car's mechanical longevity depite it being washed and waxed regulaly. Having said that I could be wrong, but for me its proven to be a good rule of thumb to work on when buying second hand.

Oh, and watch our rust on the tailgate across the bottom edge of the lift up glass apature.

The rest is pretty much a gamble like most cars; Electronics can go iffy (cam sensors, MAF, air quality sensor, boot/rear glass electrics etc), thermostats can stick, and waterpumps and belt pulleys do go noisy with age. But all these seem to be pretty random though, so not really reflective on the age/mileage.

One simple question.....how long did the last owner keep it?

If a short time then it is a shed; if a long time then expect at least one major expense in the near future. Nobody sells perfect high mileage cars.

I'm not seriously considering it as I'm spending me money on a house (when I find the right one) I was just doing a spot of browsing as I fancy a new car and would love one of these, but the real thing of course!

Imagine an M3 Touring - I'd get one if they ever made one!