I've been driving an E36 3-series for 13 straight years. You won't regret it. And the heated seats are the bomb-diggity.

Best advice I have is to decide what you want to pay for the car, offer a little less, and see what happens.

That sounds like a good strategy. Simpler is better, I guess.

Stupid question, does it require premium gas? I've gotten conflicting answers on the web. You're the first owner I've come across.

I thought *I* was the one. /me sobs into her Laphroaig

Fly your ass out here and you can do donuts with me in the frozen Home Depot parking lot. We can open the sunroof and use the heated seats. It will be badass.

Buying a 9 year old performance import by phone would take more guts than I have. Condition is everything in used car deals, particularly for cars of this type and vintage. The KBB retail price range (from your link) of 45% of the low end confirms this, simply because many times, these cars are driven pretty hard, and serviced badly, because service can be expensive.

If you haven't done a thorough physical inspection of the car (normally would take a competent guy with a lift about 1 hour to 90 minutes, and wouldn't include mechanical inspections or diagnostics), you're really not in any position to make an intelligent offer. It's vital to check the car for repaired collision damage, corrosion, interior condition, agreement of apparent wear to odometer mileage, etc. Otherwise, you're simply relying on the dealer's good faith representation of the vehicle, which is going to be cold comfort if you've bought an auction queen. Especially from an independent dealer.

At the very least, you need a money back inspection contingency on any offer you make, to have time to do such an inspection, or take it to someone to have done, within 24 hours of taking delivery of the vehicle. Lotsa luck with this. No point trying to talk a BMW devotee out of the marque...

Is there any reason you're not considering a BMW Certified vehicle?

Yeah, I have a garage all lined up for the pre-buy inspection. I'm not going Certified because I'm not looking to pay more than 10k. This car is secondary transport behind my motorcycle, so it's not crucial that it be super-expensive. But I also don't want a junker that will fall apart in 6 months (I tried craigslist and very nearly got severely ripped off). And if I'm going to shell out more than a few grand, I want it to be something that will be fun when I do need to drive it. The BMW also has the advantage over a rust-eaten Civic, lets say, of being something I can be unashamed of when entertaining business clients. This is the best middle-ground I've found.

FWIW, "driving a red car gets more tickets" is an urban myth. I've been to traffic school twice: once for following too closely far under the posted speed limit in heavy traffic, the second time because I turned left in front of someone who was speeding who hit me. Most people had white or blue cars--only one had a car which was fire-engine red. The first time I was driving my black Honda, the second time I was driving a green Korean rental.

Fly your ass out here and you can do donuts with me in the frozen Home Depot parking lot. We can open the sunroof and use the heated seats.

woo! *books ticket, packs leathers* Um...you did mean on the bike, yeah? Oh, the car would be cool, too.

I'd hit it. (but what I really want is an 1991 318is (e30). I dig 4 cylinder engines in a tiny RWD chassis.)

If I had my heart set on finding a specific whatever and no particular deadline, I'd watch the enthusiasts' forums online; the best cars always trade within the fanboy community. However, I've bought cars from small used lots on several occasions without headache or sorrow.

I don't expect it'd take premium fuel; only turbos and high-compression-ratio NA engines need the 'spensive juice. This is because octane actually slows the combustion event down, which better guards against early detonation in the flame front that can damage piston heads. Lower-octane gas burns "better".

Watch the hell out for the MA insurance "industry". The big insurance agencies won't do business in MA due to the heavy regulations; the available firms will be "JoeBob's House of Inshurance (and Bait)". A story to illustrate:

As I was packing my house to move to CA, my terrestrial-echinoderm of a neighbor backed into the front quarter panel of my Audi S4, creasing the metal above the wheel, smashing the washer-fluid bottle and popping the intercooler off of it's mounts.

The insurance folks explained that I had to take it to a State-designated adjuster. So I turn up at the adjusters' office, which turns out to be some 19 year old working in an office consisting of little more than a door thrown over some saw-horses to make a desk. Mr. Mouthbreather walks outside, looks at my car from 20 feet away, makes a few notes on a clipboard, and turns to go back inside. I called him back, and pointed out the damage to the metal, and the washer bottle, the $11/bottle Audi oem spritz that I had in there, and the intercooler. He grunted a few times, went back into his office, and returned shortly thereafter, bearing a blanket estimate for the repair of my car:

$500. WTF? Professional autobody guys won't even get into their tyvek coveralls for that little.

The worst part was that my car was scheduled to be put on the truck to go to California in 48 hours. Had I been staying in MA, I might have been able to find a competant adjuster, but as it was, I had to take the car to CA and deal with the damage there. In CA, I got several itemized estimates to repair the damage: $2000 for a new quarter panel, paint match and reassembly. JoeBob's house of Inshurance was unwilling to work with the CA body shops, and so my car remains damaged to this day, and I got a check for $500 from JoeBob, which I spent on cigareets and whusky to drown my frustration in. In summary:

Screw You with a hot poker, MA Auto Insurance Industry.

The key to successfully negotiating w/ used car dealers is to make sure it gets well inspected, run the VIN through Carfax, and be willing to walk away. Be cheerful, but if you don't get the price you want, just say, Here's my number if you decide you like my offer. Then leave. They'll call you a few days later and meet your offer.

As far as I know, Eide, the 323 is tuned for 89, higher octane doesn't really do much. I used to put 89 in my 325 with no problem.

The M3 wants 91, which is really a dent in my pocketbook lately. The instruction manual explains it all but you have to know that the weird octane rating they use in Germany is two points lower than the one in the U.S.