Looking at a 316is in MN - advice from US wanted

[Mav1]

What are these cars worth. The one im looking at is a 1980, has a good body, m10 engine I believe... Just looking for a ballpark... Thanks.

[Mav1]

bump

[Jeroen]

Where on this planet are you located? And some more info on options, mileage, condition, photos perhaps? There's always someone here that knows your local market!

[Mav1]

Sorry for the lack of detail. I am in Minn, USA. Here is the listing:

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/c ... 53302.html

Thanks for your input.

[Jeroen]

OK well sounds like a lot of work was done already, sadly no pics of the engine bay. But with that setup the basis should be good. I'd give her a test drive and if she feels as fresh as the ad tells us then 2K doesn't sound too bad. But check for rust (see buyers guide as well for details what to look for).

Modified the post title to draw some more attention from US owners as well

[Mav1]

OK well sounds like a lot of work was done already, sadly no pics of the engine bay. But with that setup the basis should be good. I'd give her a test drive and if she feels as fresh as the ad tells us then 2K doesn't sound too bad. But check for rust (see buyers guide as well for details what to look for).

Modified the post title to draw some more attention from US owners as well

Thanks! It sounds like this has the m10? This is the 2.0 if I'm correct?? Im going to try and get some engine bay pics from the seller...

[Jeroen]

Most likely to be the 4 pot M10 engine that was available in a range of sizes, 1.6-1.8-2.0 litre. Seller claims the 2 litre version from a 2002 is in there. Believe that's hard to check as the engine code is near the bell housing, and from the outside all M10's look similar, but engine code should read something like 204XX (2.0 litre 4 cilinder with a two digit production code).

These engines are pretty strong and use a timing chain with no real wear issues. If the seller is not exaggerating this must be fun to drive and in Europe a car like this will fetch quite a bit more than 2K I guess. Con: 4 speed box, you may want to switch to a 5 speed with matching propshaft at some point. And it looks like the car was lowered indeed as seller claims. Not to extreme, will only help handling.

Is a 316 special? Over here it's not as it was the base E21, and the chassis is all the same for all models. But it looks pretty decent as far as you can judge from a few stamp size photos. And at least this one's got the Euro bumper provisions instead of the butt ugly US conversion.

[Danny043]

It looks like a good example indeed. I'm not sure what it's worth. Sometimes a good 320i fetches only $1000. With all the work done to it, $2000 seems like a fair price if the body is hard.
This is pretty much a 316 converted to a 320i, without the US emission crap maybe? The 316is badge is unoriginal, there were no E21 'is' models.
Go check it out! You'll probably love it.

[Mav1]

Thanks for the information guys. I will keep you updated if anything happens with it.

[uwbuurman]

And how did you do? Now beeing three weeks later, I guess that you testdrove it?

[Bill in MN]

Just ran across this post and the link to CL won't work. Any news?

From the description I'd say someone rebadged a 320. Does it have the emission control crap? As for price, there was a real clean Henna in Mankato for somewhere in the $2500 range that had had some very tasteful upgrades done to it. On the other end of the spectrum we paid $200 for a running '83 that's now our Chump car. e21's don't command a lot of $$ up here.