e36 M3 advice needed....

So, I'm NOT in the market for a car, but I came across a 30k mile (yes really) Dakar yellow 1998 M3 coupe....for 10k CAN (~8k USD). Called the owner, and it's a salvage title car (explains the price) with the driver rear 1/4 replaced.
Now, even taking into account that it's a salvage/repaired car.... is this as good a deal as it seems? The car has never seen winter, which is a pretty big plus in my books. I hope to take a look at it on Monday night. I'd imagine a car with that low mileage wouldn't need anything, but is there anything to look out for other than bad repair/workmanship? Am I making a mistake? It it reasonable to think that should I decide not to keep it more than a year, I should get my money back out of it? I've always LOVED the E36 M3.....

If this isn't a "great" deal, I'll pass, and wait until another comes along. For reference, a clean title M3-sedan is listed at 14900 with 65k miles. Thanks All!

I don't seeit as a great deal. Good maybe, but not once in a lifetime.

I think it will depend on how well the repair work was done - a good body shop can make the new work undetectible from the old, but a bad body shop will slap the quarter on there with a few pop rivets and a bucket of bondo.

These cars are at the bottom of their depreciation curve and they will probably start creeping back up... but not with a salvage rebuilt title.

Well, I drove one last week: my first M3 (98 Cosmos sedan with 87k miles for 5200). Colour me impressed.
And I finally know what my next car will probably be....

Frankly, I didn't like the interior as much as the e30, and prefer the way I sit in the e30.... but darned if the M3 wasn't simply great in every category! There are a couple salvage titles in the area, and it's a car I'll keep long enough not to worry about the resale: I'll definitely be keeping an eye out, and plan on looking at the sedan again with my wife. The car's been fixed properly, with a LOT of new parts, and a dirty Dove Grey interior. I also want to look closely at the rear suspension, as it looks like it's sitting slightly low in the rear. I'll also look into the Dakar coupe: while I prefer the 4-door's, 26k miles is REALLY tempting. The car looks like brand new in photos. Update to come in one week or so. :)

I'd figure $8k is probably about the going rate for a salvage title M3. Depends a lot on what the extent of the damage was.

If it just had a quarter panel replaced, I'd say that's a pretty good deal. If it were $5K, I'd say it was a darn good deal.

I'm not 100% sure about problem areas on the M3's. But I recall new rear shocks are commonly needed. I've also hear mention of rear sub-frame weakness in the E36's, but not much about that.

Call me cynical, but I am often skeptical of ultra low mileage cars. If I was buying from the owner and they had lots of records to prove it, it might be a different story. Even so, it's pretty easy to swap gauge panels, or intermittently disconnect the cable. My college roommate kept his speedometer disconnected almost all the time in his FC RX-7 (except for long drives where he wanted cruise control). He could reconect it reaching under the dash with one hand while driving. As a result his car only gained about 1500 miles a year. Definitely not something I condone or support, but it's made me skeptical ever since. As a funny aside, when he did hook it up, at first the speedometer was very slow from lack of use. He'd be up to 60 and the gauge was still at 30 and slowly climbing.

Nice clean E36 M3s are now selling for around 10K with clean titles. I'd think you'd be better off in the long run buying a 100K or so mile car that has been well maintained, and has no issues.

My 98 has 130K on it and is every bit as strong as it has ever been. The interior materials wear pretty well if the car has been taken care of. Sure you'll have to replace crappy plastic door handle surrounds, and misc. pieces, but a dedicated owner would have taken care of these minor issues as they occur. I wouldn't touch one that has a ratty interior as this is a signal of how meticulous the owner has been.

Unless the seller has a documented explanation of what happened, and how it was repaired, I'd walk away.

There are plenty of sub-100k M3s out there for around that price (between 8-10k) - a salvage car needs to be under 5k

^ Remember that those prices are in the US. The Canadian market is fairly different. BMW Canada has made it prohibitive to import cars from the US, so that's no longer an option. They charge ~$1000 for the necessary paperwork, and are the only "licensed" option for the "federalization process". This is a relatively recent development that stems from a large number of imports when our dollar was stronger. I'll look at both, and get back to all of you.

I spoke with the owner of the sedan at length. It was imported from the southern states (ie: rust free) a few years ago, and was in an accident not long after that. (light hit, front and rear). Bumpers were replaced, as was the trunk. He seem straight up, and I'll be spending a lot of time under the car to verify the story.

The low mileage coupe is a Canadian car that I've yet to see in person, but hope to within the next day or so.

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-BMW-1998-BMW-M3-W0QQAdIdZ91138422

Ok, so I looked at both again (with my wife). Dakar yellow is really....yellow. The car was extremely clean, and the mileage/history of the vehicle is verifiable. That said, the rear 1/4 was replaced: and while the repaired exterior looks great, the workmanship inside the trunk didn't. Pass.

We spent some more time with the 98 sedan: the car was cleaned up a bit, and looked great. All steel panels (minus the trunk) are original, but the bumpers were replaced. The previous owner of the car went to have the car repaired 2 years ago, and couldn't afford to pick it up. It's been sitting at the shop since. New rubber, fresh brakes, and the fact that I can get it for ~$5kUSD with a good alignment makes this just about a no-brainer. It's going in to have pro inspect the suspension and ensure everything is straight, and we'll pick it up if everything checks out!