Should I trade a BMW for a turbo Miata?
 

I'm thinking this is in the right section, because this may all be BS and I've lost my mind. :facepalm:

Regardless, There's a guy local to me looking to sell/trade his turbo miata. He's only looking to trade for a 3 or 5 series BMW. I haz one of dem :idea: a 1996 318is

So I want a turbo miata, and have an NA one, the BMW is my winter car, so I would have to buy another car before fall.

The car itself is interesting.. It has hood risers and is a 1.6..:facepalm:
But I picked up the BMW cheap and it may work out anyways.

It's a repainted 1990 and has 140,000 KM, 87,000 miles. The ad reads:

-td05h turbo w/ front mount intercooler
- MEGAsquirt full engine management
- HKS ssqv BOV
- 3'' turbo back SS polished exhaust with Magnaflow muffler
- upgraded new 550cc injectors
- GM LS2 coil conversion
- turbosmart boost controller ( 10psi )
- stage 3 Bully clutch
- up-graded rear diff. and axels to the larger 1.8 (4.10 gear)
- subframe connectors
- EBC slotted front and rear rotors, and EBC yellow pads
- Koni "yellow" struts w/ adjustable dampening
- H&R Race spring
- autometer gauges ( not gonna name all )
- AEM wideband
- roll-cage
- spearco seat
- rota 15''x8" wheels
- nitto NT-01 tires ( one month old )
- 40mm fender flares


I like the parts list, mostly good equipment.

Pics should be attached.

It seems to be mostly rust free, with is huge around here.

What do you guys think?

This is the BMW.

It seems to me like that's a pretty well thought out car. The parts on it suggest that it was someone's baby. Needs more 1.8. Besides that I think you'd be silly not to trade.

Do it only if you want to have to re-do like 70% of what's done to that car. If you "like that mod list" you must be blind.

Are we looking at the same ad?

Well I'd say some parts on the list aren't terrible; megasquirt, ls coils, aem wb, nt01s.

As opposed to 8 powercards, msd box, stock o2 and all seasons. Which describes most cars in the area.

Maybe it's the condition I got my car in that makes this seem better then it is, I don't know. But I'm with the OP on the fact that it's not all bad stuff.

Oh yeah I'm not saying its a total lost cause. But those handful of things you mentioned seem to pretty much be the only things done right.

td05 turbo suggests that the manifold it sits on is likely an ebay special
the kid is too stupid to spell, and obviously hasn't a clue on what someo of the parts even are or are called.
its obviously re-sprayed, and judging by the blurry pics probably a terrible job
all the parts other than the handful already mentioned are garbage

I'm just sayin, unless your bmw is worth nothing, and/or you really want a very involving project, this thing doesn't look anything at all like its "done" or something you could just get and enjoy

99% of "these kind" of trades/deals usually result in having to go through and undo the absolute retardation that previous owner did and re-do it all correctly

Thanks for the more detailed reply 18.

The PO (not the lad that owns it now, but before him) appears to have been a member of my local motorsports club, so I'll see if I can get some more info from the club, maybe even talk to the old PO.

It's definitely not in show car condition, but I've still yet to go see it with my own eyes, so that may change things one way or another.

See: what Concealer had to do to his red NA. Lots of weight reduction, he took out ~20lbs of vamp clamps.

Run away. Unless you have to push the BMW to the exchange site, run away.

Just the pics make me wary. What's up with that hood alignment?

Link to full size images, for the curious.

And that car was in WAY better shape and had almost all good parts on it and owned by a non-retarded person too.

Good parts are only half the equation. The owner/installer is the other half.


That said, i personally wouldn't have much use for a 96 318i, so... i'd do the trade. Yolo and all that shit.

On one side, figure out the value of your 318. Then try to estimate the value of the good parts on that car (forget about the hotside parts, assume those are worthless because they probably are). If the value of the parts is more than the value of your 318, do it because you can at least part it out and get your money back if it's as big a POS as we suspect it to be.

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Knowing the components of it and seeing the general condition, what would you value this car at?

$3k-ish is what i'd pay for it ASSuming there's no blatant hackery and that 1.8 rear end is a Torsen.

Talked to some locals who know the guy who built the car. All of them own boosted miatas and seem to think it's a well built car.

Did find out though that the diff is open. Boo.

They mentioned that there was alot of work put into rust repair in the floor, but the guy was a welder by trade, so it may not be all bad.

The current owner claimed the complete manifold and exhaust were hand made, I find that hard to believe, but I'll try to find out/get in touch with him.

Iono. drive it. look at it. a 318 sounds like poo poo anyway so if the miata drives well seems like a solid trade.

That's sorta where I'm at. Giving it a chance, see how it is in person.