For The Car Buffs...

[rawfuls]

Well... It's the time for me.. And not for the month

So, now I'm looking into driving! Oh yipee.
I was officially 15 and a half in June or so, but I totally forgot about Driver's Ed.
So now I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving Break so I can work on Driver's Ed, since my parents want me to do it when I'm NOT in school.

Anyways, my Uncle recently bought a new Maxima, fully loaded, very, very nice.
And passed his old Maxima on to his wife, and since my Aunt no longer needs her bimmer...

So now on with the details.
It's a 1993 BMW 525i in white with 130k miles on it.
The main reason for their new car was to get rid of this "problematic" car.

Symptoms:
1. Engine/Tranny Light Occasionally On
2. Apparently bad MPG than normal
3. Says no go when the gas is pressed down (Only a few times)
4. Dead power steering
5. Apparently one time it stopped in middle of the highway (I assume it just shut down, and cruised to a stop, otherwise they would've gone crazy if it just locked up in middle of the highway)

~~

I talked this over with a few of my car buddies (Just 2..) - They both agree of these answers, give or take.
#1 - Unknown, but could be by anything under the hood..
#2 - Could be a bad O2 Sensor
#3 - Electrical Issue? :/ - Or maybe user error.. Doubtful user error, spark plug?
#4 - Low/No Fluid - Fluid hose, belt, or maybe even entire power steering system
#5 - User error, overheating... spark plug

~~

Now here's the thing..
I kind of want the car, I won't lie, but I don't need a car that's going to be breaking down every month (given it's about 17 old, maintained about every 2 years or so whenever it broke down). Given, I do understand BMW's are incredibly high performance cars, and should be maintained often, and I would like to, and if I want to get reliability, get a Kia, Honda, blah blah blah.

Thing is, my parents refuse to buy used cars from others besides family. Since I'm not too set on convincing them otherwise, this is a main issue because this is about the oldest car that's going either to the junkyard, an old shop that's offering money, etc. The next car being passed down throughout the family is about 4 years out so..

I also don't want a new car, since, well, I don't want to wreck my first car.

I'm quite interested in the things I may need to fix/replace IF I do pick this car up. I know good condition 93 525i's go for roughly $1500. So I'd mostly likely be getting this for under 1k.

Also the things that need to be replaced as soon as picked up, prices, etc.

O2 sensor for the '93 525i's are roughly a hundred, a power steering setup is $300 (If it is the system itself and not belt or fluid, I'm droppin the deal.. ), and a spark plug for like 10 dollars.

Anyways, I'm basically wondering the price of it getting fixed up and worth it to keep it for a few years (or for awhile), or if I should just drop it.

I definitely don't want to be just another asian driving a Honda, KIA, Hyundai, Toyota, etc. :p

EDIT: By the way, I don't have a diag tool, so I can't just plug it in and check it out.
This is pretty much all the info I have on the car thus far, and if I do get some more confidence to pick it up, I'll go back and talk to the uncle..
He first told me he doesn't want to sell it due to it's issues, and it being a headache, etc.

[PBO]

Ah...your first car. You will learn a lot, mostly the hard way!

"The main reason for their new car was to get rid of this "problematic" car"

Run for the hills. If your family are telling you this, you don't need to ask anything else

I'd buy a Subaru or something like that & for the same money, you'll get half the trouble & a car half the age/mileage

[rawfuls]

Originally Posted by PBO

Ah...your first car. You will learn a lot, mostly the hard way!

"The main reason for their new car was to get rid of this "problematic" car"

Run for the hills. If your family are telling you this, you don't need to ask anything else

I'd buy a Subaru or something like that & for the same money, you'll get half the trouble & a car half the age/mileage

Well see..
I'm asian, and so are my Uncle+Aunt.
Asians have a tendency to not fix things until they're broken..and not fix things if they break until they ..well.. stop working?
In other words, it's been terribly maintained (I know, BMW's need to be maintained a LOT, and if not, run for the hills) but... it does seem like just a simple O2 sensor and Sparkplug, but don't want to pick it up, fix minor things (water pump, o2 sensor, spark plug, thermostat), and then run into something bigger...

[PBO]

Originally Posted by rawfuls

Asians have a tendency to not fix things until they're broken..and not fix things if they break until they ..well.. stop working?
In other words, it's been terribly maintained

On that basis, that's probably why they build reliable cars

Again, I quote you "it's been terribly maintained"...get out of the basement & ask Linc, he'll set you straight

[What's_nitro?]

Honestly man, if your parents are basically forcing you into driving this sh!tbox then they should foot the bill to fix it, not you.

[whitrzac]

buy some worthless POS compact car from the 90s for $500, they have some sort of magic around them that keeps people from crashing into you...







run it until you graduate, don't worry too much about fixing it up, and before you go to college buy something nice...




*knock on wood...

[ZippyBasher]

Let me put it nice and simple for ya, YOU DO NOT WANT A FIXER UPPER FOR A FIRST CAR. Unless you are in auto class or are doing this as a project car...

Listen now or Learn the hard way...

^^ the guy up there knows...

$300 Toyota Tercel Drive it for 2-3 Years. Save the $ and put it down on a Nice car... LOL Exactly what I did..

Then Sold it 2.5 years later for $300. LOL Sweet,

[rawfuls]

Agh, except my parents are 200% set on not buying any used cars unless it's from family.
Both my brothers, including myself have already tried to get them to do otherwise... never happened..

[reno911]

Well take it from them, make sure your folks are on the same page as you. Sell it, take the money and buy something on your own.

I had a similar scenario. My parents were given a car. Plymouth Neon. 130+ miles, leaked oil, had some fixing needed done. They were going to refuse it, but I reminded them I was sort of in need of a car. I took it from them, they said it was officially my problem, I.E. repairs and such, than I sold it. Got 1750 for it and turned that money into 5600 by adding savings and put a down payment on a brand new car.

I imagine you should at least be able to get some money in return for it, especially if you put some wrench time into it finding out what some of her problems are. That way you can turn it around for something a bit more reliable.

[Finnster]

Dont get that car, at least not to keep. German cars are extremely expensive to maintain, and they insist on doing things overly complicated and troublesome. You will pay far more than avg to.fix it, and if you have to go to a mech who knows how to fix german cars or they will F it up.

If you dont want to be "asian", make friends with a redneck family and buy their old f150. More reliable than that pos and the parts are cheap and easy to repair. Lol, prolly really well maintained too. ;)

[What's_nitro?]

Go find yourself anything with the GM 3800 Series II V6 engine and you'll be all set. I'm still driving my first car- a '95 Bonneville which has racked up 208K on the original engine and transaxle. 25 MPG highway aint bad, either.

[josh9mille]

Stay away from european cars all together, especially the Big Money Wasters and Mercedes. Get an older asian made car for cheap, drive it, wreck it, total it, and not a big deal (just dont get hurt) When you are an experienced driver and you have the money then step up to a newer asian car.

[Desert Rc]

Honda FTW

[snellemin]

I'm with Finnster. German cars cost way to much to maintain and way more to repair. It's not the car to have as a youngster. Later when you graduate and earn some good mula, you can then buy yourself a new German car to show off to your peers, and brag about how much it cost for brakepads.

[Finnster]

Another thing to consider if you are thinking of doing DIY repairs...

Tools: You likely don't have enough, and I doubt your parents do (by the judge of things)
Tools are expensive and take time to accumulate. Where would you even fix this car? Do you have a proper floor jack, car stands, etc? Let alone chemicals and other stuff you will need to even attempt a big repair (like power steering) on a car that old. 17 yrs of rust means siezed parts, bolts, etc. I have tons of tools, exp fixing my own car, and I wouldn't attempt doing that job. PITFA.

Diag tools can only tell you so much. Esp on an older car like that its more vague. You will get some error code, ie emissions failure/catalytic converter, but that doesn't necc tell you what needs to be fixed. Could be a huge number of things. Maybe simple o2 sensor, maybe a leaking ring or gasket that is fouling the sensor and ruining the cat. Maybe a whole bunch of things in between or crazy stuff particular to BMWs that you won't even think of. If your buddies are 15 or so too, they don't know sh!t really. (again, been there.) It could be easy to spend more fixing the car than you bought it for.

Honestly, get a older compact car for cheap, get a decently reliable and safe one, and just drive it. Its your first car, you are going to do stupid stuff to it and abuse it, and you don't want something thats going to drain all your money, get you into tons of trouble, or leave you stranded somewhere. You have plently of time to get a nice car later.

Besides, getting a chitty car for your first car is a right of passage. Its a piece of crap, but you will love it anyway, will have tons of fun and will always look back w/ nostalgia. Getting a super nice car for a first car will not get you laid. Get that out of your head right now. (You are 15, so its in there somewhere.) If anything, where I grew up, the kids w/ too nice of cars looked like jerkoffs and their parents looked like irresponsible tarts.