1983 BMW 3 Series 320 from North America - Comments

Slave clutch - $270.

Coolant hose and oil leak - $100.

First lets look at the outside, it is hard not to notice the elegant shape especially the nose. To this day I have not found a car from the same era that looks as good. In fact people compliment the car on its looks.

Performance wise, well you have to remember that this is a car from 1983 and therefore don't expect a high performance car from 2006. In the city you don't notice the difference, but driving on the highway shes most comfortable around 110 km/h.

The car I have is beautiful on the exterior with not a blemish, the inside of my car has seen better days, but if you look closely the luxury is there, after all this is a BMW. The front seats are in poor condition so I use a seat cover and the original stereo has been removed years ago. Also the door handles are a bit flimsy, but I love the way they open and a screw driver will fix most problems.

My dream would be to spend some money on her, fix the interior and tune the engine and if someone was to do all that you would have a car that not only looks but feels better than most new cars especially lower range American ones.

However due to the age I've had some problems with her and the two repairs I've done came at the most inconvenient times, but as another reviewer said that's part of the thrill of owning this car when she works you're overjoyed and when she doesn't youre left in despair.

To summarise, if you want a car that is going to be cheap to buy good on gas and good on the eyes then this is a car for you. One last suggestion though, find a good mechanic who can work on BMW's, not a BMW mechanic because most people can't afford them. If you can then that's the best thing though.

As a last comment be aware that any replacement parts are very expensive for example my blinker doesn't work nor does my emergency light, the emergency light would cost over $300 to fix and the blinker would cost $250. If you can get this from a junk yard though, well then you're laughing.

My final suggestion? Buy this car, but have money in the bank for surprise repairs.

To fisk the turn signal and emergercy flasher is to replace the emergercy flasher switch. That will fisk the electrical problem. The cost for the switch is around $50.00 bucks. I love the car, this car was a one owner with 181,000 miles on it. I bought the car for $100.00 the car had a cracked head, bad water pump, too bad piston. I completely rebuilded the engine and you can't amagine how well this engine preform. This is a great mechine, no dents to the body, interior is excellent new tires, shocks, struts, fuel pump, steering wheel, emergecy flasher, wiper motor, fuel filter, shifter knob, repaced the front seats with 1985 3 series seat with minor adjustment to the seat track that looks great. I drive it every day.