How much should I pay? '98 318ti 70k
 

If you haven't already, please check out my post of question asking if I should get a 318ti or if I should purchase a VW GTI.

So it might come down to value, right now I'm looking at the 1998 BMW 318ti BASE model (aparently no keyless entry, heated seats etc.). The dealer is asking $9,700. This seems to be about $1000 higher than KBB, and a little expensive to me. Am I wrong in that?

sounds a little over priced to me too.

That car in excellent condition should really sell for around 8k. In order for the car to be considered excellent condition there should not be anything wrong with the exterior or interior and the car should have full service records. If it doesn't have those, it is good condition at best which is probably valued around 7500. At auction the car probably sold for 5k-6.5k. So you should have plenty of room to negotiate them down on that price.

At a dealer auction, it was even less. :wink:

Just in case this is helpful:

http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthrea...t=buyers+guide

Thanks, I did see the "how much did you pay" posting, but it had been many years since many of the cars there were purchased, and i didn't find many that had been purchased with the milage/age that the one I was looking at had. Thanks guys for all your input.

I haven't updated in a while. But KBB, Edmunds, the buyer's guide here are just, well . . . guides.

Sadly, there's no formula you can plug in, because a car is worth exactly the amount you are willing to pay. On the upside, this gives you some room to haggle.

LOL, it is definately a formula....plus it is hard to find a decent TI anymore for a good price.....IDK if you guys learned a trick or two from gas stations or what, but when you look for a long time and find only junk or way overpriced ti's, it kinda makes a person wonder. The biggest variable is condition plus what the sellers want.....most know the car isn't worth too much, so if they can't make way more than it is worth, they'll keep it. I've had 2 people do that after I talked with them.... I just know in my mind I will not allow myself to get screwed over.....I mean I got a 01 focus, fully loaded with 14k miles on it from a ford dealer for less than most 160k+ mi ti's are listed for on cars and autotrader.com....lol. Just keep looking for a good one, hopefully you find a fair seller, and just keep in the back of your mind, If you can not find a good shape TI for the fixed price, shop around, you can easily find something just as good if not better.
Andrew

Getting a focus for cheap isnt a hard thing to do..... if i remember correctly, the Focus was and still is the most recalled car ever.

The thing about buying a TI is that its a bmw and dealers sell it like one. The thing is they are older cars and they need serviced and who knows after the first or second owner its status, and if its at some random dealer who knows what he did to make it look presentable. I would recommend to haggle down to what you want to pay for the car, not settle on a higher price just because you want the car. I shopped for my car basically from 4-5 different states, NY/CT/MA/RI/PA. It kept the car prices way high due to being these states, but i waited and finally found one with low milage and for what i wanted to pay.
So i cant tell you what you should pay... just decide what you want to spend, and take your time finding the right car for you.

This is exactly what happened to me. I bought my TI for 9500.00, 61k miles, and too many problems with the car. It was a dealer that made me want the car so bad. I don't regret it though, its just that I could have gotten a lot cheaper price.