JettaGT

hey guys...my brother crashed his prelude si and is looking for a new car. i found what appears to be a clean 89 535 with only 70k miles. anybody have opinions on the car or the motor. i will be going through the boards and all but wondering if i can gather up some personal experience stories. let me know.thanks

andrew

Onehots2k

You better put your flame suit on.

Anyway, why a 89 5series and not another civic or of the like?

JettaGT

i have two brothers..neither of which are into cars so much. so when it came time for them to drive, i did all the research and such. the only reason he wound up in a prelude si was because i happened across one on a particular day that was meticulously maintained and cheap. im just perusing craigslist looking for stuff that pops out now. this 535 looks like it might be nice but i dont know enough about them.

he is looking at cheap cars in general. not japanese or euro only. on that note if you have any suggestions for cars under 7k, shoot them over too. thanks

CalBear

I like them. The e34 5-series is a "good" car, meaning it's more reliable and less $$ to keep up than other BMWs with the similar vintage. You will have nothing to worry about with the engine. That engine will last forever, at least over 200K miles or even 300K with proper maintenance. I remember the weak part of the car being the HVAC system. A lot of the time it doesn't work perfectly.

As with ANY used car (esp with BMWs), make sure the car comes with a stackful of service records. If the current owner does not have them, walk away. Good luck.

rockville

Anything that old scares me. Way to many "old" parts to break. Even a car as good as a Civic becomes problematic at that age. If reliable is the name of the game LOTS of newer, less interesting cars would be a better choice.

JDM 4shot

BMW motors good even at very high miles. Have close to 150k miles on my E36. The car going to look good even with just minor mods,..rims/wheels, exaust system, few trim parts.

CalBear

Just so the OP would know: e34s are a lot more reliable and better built than e36s

E36Ap1

It cheap to fix older BMW because they don't have to many electronics. I used to have a e36 and it was pretty cheap to maintain. But to make it go fast is what cost you. To make it grip is not to bad though.