A most ridiculously long ad on craigslist I looked at. Not looking to buy the particular car, I just look now and then for a bargain, but just a bit too much blah, blah, blah for a 2004 325i.
Posted 2 days ago, and to note, it is in real good shape according to the photos, you can read it, or the better choice would be to scroll down and see how long it is:
I am a private owner and recently purchased this beautiful BMW 325i from a business executive who purchased it in 2014, drove it for 5 1/2 years back and forth from Desert Ridge to Tempe putting 55,000 miles on it, and wanted to purchase a 2006 Mercedes E-350 I had for sale. He needed to either sell the BMW, or trade it for a Mercedes I had owned for 10 years and was selling.
Even though I am not in the car business, I took this as a trade-in because it had absolutely no rust, and no problems that couldn't be easily fixed. This is one of my favorite type cars I have ever owned in the past. Our sons drove these type BMW's for over a 10 year period of time (one still does), and there is no doubt they are one of the best BMW's ever made. So I was actually excited to have one again and make it like new!
If you are a dealer or someone just looking to flip a car and making money, this car probably isn’t for you. However, if you are looking to be in style in a very nice luxury car that will take you 150,000 miles very inexpensively, then this car is for you.
Because of the businesses I have been in for over 35 years, I can get actual BMW parts for these cars cheaper than most repair shops. I can then go completely go through such a car very inexpensively bringing it back to new. And this car is no exception. The only thing I didn't take care of to make it perfect was the “road chaff” you probably won't even notice from the car driven down the interstates they all get in the Phoenix area. Everything else has been brought up to be like new. The interior in this car is immaculate, and even the leather seats were invested into so the interior would look like new. There isn't a single crack / blemish in any of the burled walnut wood, something I have never seen before. They all usually crack over time, but not this one! When you look at the paint, you'll notice it is all original except for the rear. That means it was garaged, and didn't sit in the sun.
There is a reason there were more BMW e46’s (the body style this is and was for the “3” series from 1997 – 2006) sold than any other BMW. It is much like the Porsche 911 which has a body style that is timeless and lasts forever. People even comment today on how they like the looks of them back then better than they do the new ones.
This series is conservative enough to be an appropriate vehicle for a business man / housewife to drive as a main car, yet flashy enough to be the car for a high school or college student. I have owned lots of Mercedes and loved them, but I always considered the 3 series BMW to be a cooler looking car for someone young.
And this particular car being “silver” with a most beautiful interior is a most appropriate car for an executive that wants to spend very little looking like the executive when he is going to work each day, without damaging his main car. It could be a very convenient second or third car for that person that doesn’t want the main car destroyed going down the 101. It could be the ultimate safe / inexpensive vehicle for a high school or college kid driving in style and probably costing much less then the friend that was driving a jeep! These cars cost nothing to keep going if you know anything about them. If I didn’t already have a Range Rover, newer 5 series BMW, and a Porsche 911, I’d keep it. But it doesn’t serve a purpose.
I included a picture of a brand new BMW 325i to compare to. Interestingly enough, I showed the new and old to a few people, and some like the looks of the old better. Some of you may want to spend $45,000 for a new car, but then some of you may be more interested in spending only $6,000 for something that has almost all the amenities of the brand new car, but with much less expense to have the same look and feel driving down the road. I have actually put state of the art navigation systems in my sons cars with the back up camera, and would do it for someone purchasing this car if they wanted for a fee.
My personal opinion is this 2004 BMW 325i feels and handles better driving down the road that a brand new one. You would think that since cars cost more these days to purchase, they also cost more to make. But manufactures are always trying to figure out ways to make the same thing for less, such as trying to convert expensive hydraulic / mechanical devices to inexpensive electromagnetic instead, such as steering. You will often find the very first year of a model has thicker vinyl and moldings than the last year made, because manufactures tried to cut costs.
My reference point is a brand new BMW 5 series we drove as a loaner vehicle a few weeks ago while our 535i was getting worked on. I was shocked at how cheap it felt and looked inside especially.
Yes, it had the “turbo”, but I’d rather have the naturally aspirated engine that comes in this 2004 325i. The older BMW's have much more torque, with a much better initial response to stomping on the throttle. Yes, the turbo will give you more power in the end, but when you often don’t need it anymore. And turbo’s are basically a mechanical turbine spinning tens of thousands of revolutions per minute to blow air. So guess what goes wrong first on a car with Turbo’s? And guess what is one of the most expensive repairs you’ll have to make? You’ve got it, the turbo charger.
Our 535i only has 53,000 miles on it, and we have to spend $1,500 for a “direct injection high pressure fuel pump”, required for the turbo to work. It would be hard for me to imagine anyone having to spend $1,500 on this 2004 BMW 325i car in the next 5 years. .
I called the Motor vehicle department, and the exact cost to license this car for property taxes and licensing fees is less than $100.00 And insurance is almost nothing since there are so many of these on the road, and so many spare part options available from different manufacturers that are very competitive with each other. It would shock you how inexpensive parts can be for these cars.
With new headlamps, grilles, and things that provide for a “new” look, this car looks like brand new from even 5 feet away. It isn’t till you get right up close to it that you see the road chaff in the left side of the front bumper from driving down the 101 back and forth to work for the gentleman I purchased this from. The leaks were fixed so your garage floor should always look like new. A brand new “oil filter housing gasket” was most recently put on (again, one of those things that goes wrong on 100% of these cars). New motor mounts, transmission mounts, carrier bearing, steering boots, sway bar links, control arm bushings, rotors, brake pads, and flex disk. Even all the window regulators were replaced. Two of them were already bad, and so I just replaced all of them to make sure they will last another 15 years (2019 - 2004). If you “scan” for OBD II error codes with a shop's scanner, nothing comes up, which is very rare. Even my wife’s new BMW has codes that show up. The dealer says, "Don't pay any attention to them". But this car has none showing up at all with the most advanced scanner.
It would have easily cost someone over $6,000 to do the things to this car I have done to it to have it running and feeling like new. Even the cabin filter was replaced that most would never take the time to do and instead save the money. But I wanted this car to be such that anyone who purchased it could just drive it for another one hundred thousand miles and not have to worry about it.
I have only owned this car for a few months, and only brought it on board to sell it. Like I said at the beginning of the listing, I was selling a Mercedes I had owned for 10 years, and the gentleman that was purchasing it needed to sell this 2004 BMW 325i. He is very willing to be called and speak of the car to anyone who has any questions at all. He can also speak as to my honesty and integrity if you have any concerns as to whether I know what I am doing.
I have owned BMW’s for over 35 years, and have had several of the E46’s. And so I know these cars very well, doing 100% of the mechanical work on them when owning them.
I am an Electrical Engineer, but more importantly grew up on a farm where you learn the trade to be a mechanic without ever getting the official title. I always tell everyone you don't tow your tractor into town to have it worked on. You walk back to where your truck was left at the end of the field and then pull out the tools to fix whatever went wrong. It becomes a mentality that sticks with you for life.
In my garage right now is a complete tear down of a Porsche 911 engine, with the block split, crank out, and in a thousand pieces. It isn’t a challenge for me where most people would not know where to start. This BMW isn’t even a challenge to fix anything on it for me, and I actually hope that whoever purchases it stays comfortable in calling me before spending a single penny on fixing anything. . It is rare that fixing anything on this car should cost more than a couple hundred dollars at best. But that is only if you know what to do, and what not to do.
“Scanners” are used all the time to diagnose these cars, and while they can be a useful tool, they are wrong as often as they are right. And if one things fails, the impression can be others have gone bad as well when they haven’t.
In fact, some of the diagnostic procedures BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, and Porsche mechanics use originated from over the decades of doing my own work and running into things that aren't in the manuals. So recognizing that the gentleman I was purchasing this car from took exceptional care of it, I took it as “trade in” you might say. I only have a 3 car garage, and had no room for the Mercedes I had owned for 10 years which was something special. And as great as this car is, I do not have a need for it with the other 3 we have (Range Rover, Porsche 911, and BMW 535i).
The reason the gentleman was looking for a different car was that items needed to be updated / repaired, and he is a top level executive working for a public company making too much money to rationalize trying to save money in doing the repairs himself. I have been retired for 23 years, have all the time in the world, and look at tasks like this in bringing a car back to life as fun, not work.
If a car has any rust, I won't touch it. If it has been overheated, blows blue or black smoke, or has a cracked head, I won't touch it. If it has ever had frame damage, I won't touch it. This car had none of those issues, and I have gone through this car from top to bottom. When you drive it, you will feel like you are driving one better than the new ones. “Instant torque”, and no lag when you stomp on the gas pedal. The new cars all have a very recognizable lag. 120 miles per hour down the road feels like you are only going 55.
Please keep in mind that you can't use Kelly Blue Book or Black Book to find a value for a car like this, and so if that is your plan in trying to negotiate a price, please go on to the next person that has one for sale. Such reference points aren't really applicable with cars more than 8 years old for the most part because there are so many variables involved that they can't take into consideration. And it isn't even close in this case, because they don't take into consideration extensive preventive maintenance that has been done to take a car another 150,000 miles without significant expense. They value cars on the existing condition, not cars prepped for the future.
Again, if you want to use these values for a reference point, then please go to a dealership and buy their car. They do not have a car like this for sale, and if they did it would be over $12,000. I have looked at most of the other cars for sale and know what is available. The fact is, you can't find a decent car for less than $10,000 these days that doesn't need a lot of work. I am quoting dealers in that statement.
And lastly, it is very hard to find a car 15 years old that hasn't been in a slight fender bender, and this car is no exception. You will see when I provide the car fax or auto check report this car has most fortunately been in two small fender benders from the rear, none from the front, and no frame damage.
One of the best ways to find out if a car has frame damage is to have a simple 4 wheel alignment done since the only thing adjustable is the Toe-In on the BMW e46's. Camber (the vertical angle of the wheels / tires to the ground), and caster (verifying front wheels are the same distance from the rears and that one front wheel isn't in front of the other) are not adjustable. So if a car has ever had any frame damage, it will most likely show up when the 4 wheel alignment is done.
When having this 2004 BMW 325i aligned at Firestone over the weekend, they were shocked to see only the Toe-In for the front wheels was out. There comment was that Camber and Caster are usually out, but they weren't in this case. The second you get behind the wheel and take it down the road, you'll see it tracks perfectly.
In fact, in looking over the car, it appears that it was probably just the rear bumper, deck lid, and tail lights both times, because they are like new in construction. If you can find a car 15 years old that never had a fender bender, then power to you. I like the fact the tail lights look like new, and everything else, so I actually consider the last one a gift to the car.
My phone number is listed, and so feel free to call me if you have any questions. It is a home number, AND WON’T ACCEPT TEXTS. If you call me and speak to me, I’ll know you are a real person and be happy to give you my cell number for texting in the future. But I will want to know I am speaking to a real person the first time around. Too many people are trying to run scams these days, and I find that if they are willing to call you, they are more often than not legitimate.
I just want to sell this car, but feel very strongly from the feedback I have gotten it is worth at least $6,000. But take a look at it and make an offer.
We live in Cave Creek, but I'd be happy to meet at a place convenient for you if needed to see the car.
do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers
Posted 2 days ago, and to note, it is in real good shape according to the photos, you can read it, or the better choice would be to scroll down and see how long it is:
I am a private owner and recently purchased this beautiful BMW 325i from a business executive who purchased it in 2014, drove it for 5 1/2 years back and forth from Desert Ridge to Tempe putting 55,000 miles on it, and wanted to purchase a 2006 Mercedes E-350 I had for sale. He needed to either sell the BMW, or trade it for a Mercedes I had owned for 10 years and was selling.
Even though I am not in the car business, I took this as a trade-in because it had absolutely no rust, and no problems that couldn't be easily fixed. This is one of my favorite type cars I have ever owned in the past. Our sons drove these type BMW's for over a 10 year period of time (one still does), and there is no doubt they are one of the best BMW's ever made. So I was actually excited to have one again and make it like new!
If you are a dealer or someone just looking to flip a car and making money, this car probably isn’t for you. However, if you are looking to be in style in a very nice luxury car that will take you 150,000 miles very inexpensively, then this car is for you.
Because of the businesses I have been in for over 35 years, I can get actual BMW parts for these cars cheaper than most repair shops. I can then go completely go through such a car very inexpensively bringing it back to new. And this car is no exception. The only thing I didn't take care of to make it perfect was the “road chaff” you probably won't even notice from the car driven down the interstates they all get in the Phoenix area. Everything else has been brought up to be like new. The interior in this car is immaculate, and even the leather seats were invested into so the interior would look like new. There isn't a single crack / blemish in any of the burled walnut wood, something I have never seen before. They all usually crack over time, but not this one! When you look at the paint, you'll notice it is all original except for the rear. That means it was garaged, and didn't sit in the sun.
There is a reason there were more BMW e46’s (the body style this is and was for the “3” series from 1997 – 2006) sold than any other BMW. It is much like the Porsche 911 which has a body style that is timeless and lasts forever. People even comment today on how they like the looks of them back then better than they do the new ones.
This series is conservative enough to be an appropriate vehicle for a business man / housewife to drive as a main car, yet flashy enough to be the car for a high school or college student. I have owned lots of Mercedes and loved them, but I always considered the 3 series BMW to be a cooler looking car for someone young.
And this particular car being “silver” with a most beautiful interior is a most appropriate car for an executive that wants to spend very little looking like the executive when he is going to work each day, without damaging his main car. It could be a very convenient second or third car for that person that doesn’t want the main car destroyed going down the 101. It could be the ultimate safe / inexpensive vehicle for a high school or college kid driving in style and probably costing much less then the friend that was driving a jeep! These cars cost nothing to keep going if you know anything about them. If I didn’t already have a Range Rover, newer 5 series BMW, and a Porsche 911, I’d keep it. But it doesn’t serve a purpose.
I included a picture of a brand new BMW 325i to compare to. Interestingly enough, I showed the new and old to a few people, and some like the looks of the old better. Some of you may want to spend $45,000 for a new car, but then some of you may be more interested in spending only $6,000 for something that has almost all the amenities of the brand new car, but with much less expense to have the same look and feel driving down the road. I have actually put state of the art navigation systems in my sons cars with the back up camera, and would do it for someone purchasing this car if they wanted for a fee.
My personal opinion is this 2004 BMW 325i feels and handles better driving down the road that a brand new one. You would think that since cars cost more these days to purchase, they also cost more to make. But manufactures are always trying to figure out ways to make the same thing for less, such as trying to convert expensive hydraulic / mechanical devices to inexpensive electromagnetic instead, such as steering. You will often find the very first year of a model has thicker vinyl and moldings than the last year made, because manufactures tried to cut costs.
My reference point is a brand new BMW 5 series we drove as a loaner vehicle a few weeks ago while our 535i was getting worked on. I was shocked at how cheap it felt and looked inside especially.
Yes, it had the “turbo”, but I’d rather have the naturally aspirated engine that comes in this 2004 325i. The older BMW's have much more torque, with a much better initial response to stomping on the throttle. Yes, the turbo will give you more power in the end, but when you often don’t need it anymore. And turbo’s are basically a mechanical turbine spinning tens of thousands of revolutions per minute to blow air. So guess what goes wrong first on a car with Turbo’s? And guess what is one of the most expensive repairs you’ll have to make? You’ve got it, the turbo charger.
Our 535i only has 53,000 miles on it, and we have to spend $1,500 for a “direct injection high pressure fuel pump”, required for the turbo to work. It would be hard for me to imagine anyone having to spend $1,500 on this 2004 BMW 325i car in the next 5 years. .
I called the Motor vehicle department, and the exact cost to license this car for property taxes and licensing fees is less than $100.00 And insurance is almost nothing since there are so many of these on the road, and so many spare part options available from different manufacturers that are very competitive with each other. It would shock you how inexpensive parts can be for these cars.
With new headlamps, grilles, and things that provide for a “new” look, this car looks like brand new from even 5 feet away. It isn’t till you get right up close to it that you see the road chaff in the left side of the front bumper from driving down the 101 back and forth to work for the gentleman I purchased this from. The leaks were fixed so your garage floor should always look like new. A brand new “oil filter housing gasket” was most recently put on (again, one of those things that goes wrong on 100% of these cars). New motor mounts, transmission mounts, carrier bearing, steering boots, sway bar links, control arm bushings, rotors, brake pads, and flex disk. Even all the window regulators were replaced. Two of them were already bad, and so I just replaced all of them to make sure they will last another 15 years (2019 - 2004). If you “scan” for OBD II error codes with a shop's scanner, nothing comes up, which is very rare. Even my wife’s new BMW has codes that show up. The dealer says, "Don't pay any attention to them". But this car has none showing up at all with the most advanced scanner.
It would have easily cost someone over $6,000 to do the things to this car I have done to it to have it running and feeling like new. Even the cabin filter was replaced that most would never take the time to do and instead save the money. But I wanted this car to be such that anyone who purchased it could just drive it for another one hundred thousand miles and not have to worry about it.
I have only owned this car for a few months, and only brought it on board to sell it. Like I said at the beginning of the listing, I was selling a Mercedes I had owned for 10 years, and the gentleman that was purchasing it needed to sell this 2004 BMW 325i. He is very willing to be called and speak of the car to anyone who has any questions at all. He can also speak as to my honesty and integrity if you have any concerns as to whether I know what I am doing.
I have owned BMW’s for over 35 years, and have had several of the E46’s. And so I know these cars very well, doing 100% of the mechanical work on them when owning them.
I am an Electrical Engineer, but more importantly grew up on a farm where you learn the trade to be a mechanic without ever getting the official title. I always tell everyone you don't tow your tractor into town to have it worked on. You walk back to where your truck was left at the end of the field and then pull out the tools to fix whatever went wrong. It becomes a mentality that sticks with you for life.
In my garage right now is a complete tear down of a Porsche 911 engine, with the block split, crank out, and in a thousand pieces. It isn’t a challenge for me where most people would not know where to start. This BMW isn’t even a challenge to fix anything on it for me, and I actually hope that whoever purchases it stays comfortable in calling me before spending a single penny on fixing anything. . It is rare that fixing anything on this car should cost more than a couple hundred dollars at best. But that is only if you know what to do, and what not to do.
“Scanners” are used all the time to diagnose these cars, and while they can be a useful tool, they are wrong as often as they are right. And if one things fails, the impression can be others have gone bad as well when they haven’t.
In fact, some of the diagnostic procedures BMW, Mercedes, Land Rover, and Porsche mechanics use originated from over the decades of doing my own work and running into things that aren't in the manuals. So recognizing that the gentleman I was purchasing this car from took exceptional care of it, I took it as “trade in” you might say. I only have a 3 car garage, and had no room for the Mercedes I had owned for 10 years which was something special. And as great as this car is, I do not have a need for it with the other 3 we have (Range Rover, Porsche 911, and BMW 535i).
The reason the gentleman was looking for a different car was that items needed to be updated / repaired, and he is a top level executive working for a public company making too much money to rationalize trying to save money in doing the repairs himself. I have been retired for 23 years, have all the time in the world, and look at tasks like this in bringing a car back to life as fun, not work.
If a car has any rust, I won't touch it. If it has been overheated, blows blue or black smoke, or has a cracked head, I won't touch it. If it has ever had frame damage, I won't touch it. This car had none of those issues, and I have gone through this car from top to bottom. When you drive it, you will feel like you are driving one better than the new ones. “Instant torque”, and no lag when you stomp on the gas pedal. The new cars all have a very recognizable lag. 120 miles per hour down the road feels like you are only going 55.
Please keep in mind that you can't use Kelly Blue Book or Black Book to find a value for a car like this, and so if that is your plan in trying to negotiate a price, please go on to the next person that has one for sale. Such reference points aren't really applicable with cars more than 8 years old for the most part because there are so many variables involved that they can't take into consideration. And it isn't even close in this case, because they don't take into consideration extensive preventive maintenance that has been done to take a car another 150,000 miles without significant expense. They value cars on the existing condition, not cars prepped for the future.
Again, if you want to use these values for a reference point, then please go to a dealership and buy their car. They do not have a car like this for sale, and if they did it would be over $12,000. I have looked at most of the other cars for sale and know what is available. The fact is, you can't find a decent car for less than $10,000 these days that doesn't need a lot of work. I am quoting dealers in that statement.
And lastly, it is very hard to find a car 15 years old that hasn't been in a slight fender bender, and this car is no exception. You will see when I provide the car fax or auto check report this car has most fortunately been in two small fender benders from the rear, none from the front, and no frame damage.
One of the best ways to find out if a car has frame damage is to have a simple 4 wheel alignment done since the only thing adjustable is the Toe-In on the BMW e46's. Camber (the vertical angle of the wheels / tires to the ground), and caster (verifying front wheels are the same distance from the rears and that one front wheel isn't in front of the other) are not adjustable. So if a car has ever had any frame damage, it will most likely show up when the 4 wheel alignment is done.
When having this 2004 BMW 325i aligned at Firestone over the weekend, they were shocked to see only the Toe-In for the front wheels was out. There comment was that Camber and Caster are usually out, but they weren't in this case. The second you get behind the wheel and take it down the road, you'll see it tracks perfectly.
In fact, in looking over the car, it appears that it was probably just the rear bumper, deck lid, and tail lights both times, because they are like new in construction. If you can find a car 15 years old that never had a fender bender, then power to you. I like the fact the tail lights look like new, and everything else, so I actually consider the last one a gift to the car.
My phone number is listed, and so feel free to call me if you have any questions. It is a home number, AND WON’T ACCEPT TEXTS. If you call me and speak to me, I’ll know you are a real person and be happy to give you my cell number for texting in the future. But I will want to know I am speaking to a real person the first time around. Too many people are trying to run scams these days, and I find that if they are willing to call you, they are more often than not legitimate.
I just want to sell this car, but feel very strongly from the feedback I have gotten it is worth at least $6,000. But take a look at it and make an offer.
We live in Cave Creek, but I'd be happy to meet at a place convenient for you if needed to see the car.
do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers
