Faults:

Water pump, fan & wheel bearings.

General Comments:

I paid very little for the car, and it is the only car I did not check or look over good.

Not the car my Grand Marquis was, nor should it be. 1999 vs 1987, both have over 100k. $118.00 to get 1400 miles at $3.22 a gallon. WOW!!! The pick up took $700+ for same trip.

Buy one only if you can steal it.

Faults:

Where to begin?

Ball joints and tie rods.

Clutch fan.

Shortening electrical system thanks to my brother-law's 3 years of ownership and his poor wiring of a stereo (This is now fixed).

The AC has not worked since I took possession of the vehicle back in 1998.

The car was just recently repainted since it was looking very aged.

An O2 sensor back at 105k.

The muffler and the exhaust pipes have rusted out.

New brakes and rotors at about 130k.

Driver seat is made of vinyl and is starting to show wear.

My clock works, but it does not light up like it once did.

Trunk leaks during heavy rains.

The sunroof crank has been broken (Brother-in law again).

General Comments:

I am lucky that I know how to change parts on this vehicle. I purchased a junk 325 so that I could use those parts on my car. This was a very good investment. ($250)

Fortunately, many of the parts that are on the junked 325 remain in my garage.

I have rewired the vehicle since it was basically electrocuted by my brother-in-law when he owned it for 3 years.

I have changed the suspension to tokico gas shocks and eibach performance lowering springs. The car has always handled well, but now it is tight. This was a great upgrade that I did myself.

I also painted the car at my cousin's body shop. It looks great now.

Faults:

Radiator.

Water pump.

Steering box.

Head gasket.

Oil leaks.

Door lock.

Air conditioning.

Odometer stopped.

Instrument cluster lights.

Electrical problems.

Glove box lock.

Inside door handle.

General Comments:

It takes experience to shift the 5-speed smoothly. I don't think it's the best 5-speed to get.

The vehicle handles really well.

It's reliability is well below average, mainly due to its age and mileage.

Parts are expensive.

BMW are not suitable for beaters.

The mileage is not very good in city driving, less than 20mpg.

The M20 engine in 325i series is very underpowered at low speeds, has little torque.

To get moving, you have to rev it to 3,000 rpms or so. From the stoplight, it's very slow and even a 4-cylinder Ford Escort is faster, except when you get to the 3rd gear and rev it pretty good, it's very fast. I think they improved it with later engines after '91.

But this engine is noisy, weak for a 6-cylinder, and thirsty AND needs constant maintenance such as regular timing belts, valve adjustment. It will tick like a Zinger sawing machine no matter what you do with it, apparently this is normal and doesn't hurt anything.

The interior is made with horrible, brittle plastic parts, for example the glove box got stuck and when trying to open it, the handle broke, and now there is no way to access it.

I think its reliability is below domestic or other imports.

It handles very poorly in rainy weather. I cannot imagine how it drives in snow, probably not an experience you want. In fact, the PO wrecked it on snow.