Which cheap car? (of these 3)

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

belteshazzar wrote: I disagree about e28 parts being expensive. fwiw. Snoop around on pelican awhile. It's all quite resonable in my opinon. At least when you factor in the idea that when you fix BMW stuff it tends to stay fixed.

Truth. Price the same Toyota parts before you go saying BMW is 'spensive.

I don't really find Toyota parts all that expensive either. Of course, i also have yet to own one that was newer than 1993. Ok, so my distributor from the dealer is like $250. If a new one lasts another 200k miles like the first one did, i'm cool with that.

No question in my mind that an e28 is the best choice, particularly with the eta motor and 5 speed.

It's easy to work on, new/used parts are widely available and cheap and it will be an awesome/economical/safe daily driver.

Just be sure to go over the car and make a realistic list of which repairs are imminent.

I miss my small blocks, and the land of kicking rocks to look for starters and alternators. Folks at parts stores just give them away from time to time...

Well, I've just bought the Bimmer . It's a 528i, not an eta, by the way, ansonivan.

Certainly does need some work, (mostly little, niggling issues that the previous owner has just learnt to live with.) For instance, the engine tries to stall when the steering is on full lock. The brakes are a tad spongey, and there's a bit too much free-play in the steering. Those are the first things I'll address.

On the plus side, the engine pulls hard to red-line, sounds bloody fantastic (thanks to aftermarket header/exhaust), and it came with a spare set of BBS mesh wheels/good tires. All for the princely sum of $1000 .

I'll post some photos when I get her home tomorrow night.

Heh, two out of three isn't bad! Unless you're planning to score the MR2 as well.

It's sold already, actually. Proving that it probably was indeed a good deal. Even so, 3/3 would've left me totally skint .

And so far the Corolla is only a deposit. I can cut my losses and walk away from it, if need be.

Both the steering and the brakes are power-assisted by a hydraulic system in that car; it is possible that that system is the cause of both the spongy brakes and the tendency to stall at full lock. I would flush the fluid (ATF) and change the filter at the bottom of the reservoir. Also check for leaks at the pressure switches and line connections. The hydraulic accumulators will fail on these cars, but thankfully they aren't too bad to change with a good strap wrench. Beyond that, the brakes are a normal system; a fluid flush is probably in order.

Bentley prints a very good manual for the E28 - I highly recommend it.

That Corolla's RWD? I'm confused. European front clip? Am I just ignorant?