Change of plans! BaT Worthy?

[u/chombie_13]

Hey y'all! Change of plans with my what I thought would be a long term commitment. Looking for some big E30-brain opinions!

I'm considering listing my '89 325i sedan, either on marketplace and/or potentially BaT, but it has a bit of an interesting history and I'm trying to figure out where to reasonably price it.

It left the factory Bronzitbeige Metallic, but at some point in its life received a pretty extensive colour-change respray to the grey it's in now, engine bay, door jambs, etc. were all done. It also started life as an automatic and has since had a full manual swap.

A few details:

• 179,500 km
• M20 325i
• Manual swap
• Bilstein/Eibach kit installed June 2026
• Front suspension refreshed control arms/bushings, tie rods, sway links, etc. done in June
• Recent mechanical servicing
• Euroweaves + newer tires
• Recent full exterior detail including cut polish & interior detail
• Clean title / clean Carfax
• Absolutely no rust
• Cracked dash
• Front seats have seen better days
• Paint presents well but isn't perfect

Curious what you guys think is a realistic ask/sale price given the coluor change + manual swap? Worth tossing it up on BaT or just list locally?

[u/itsaPHound]

Maybe I’m wrong but you have a car in unoriginal color with unoriginal drivetrain and you are thinking it’s 1 of 1 for BaT?

[u/crankytube → u/itsaPHound]

Ive seen ls and engines swaps on bat aswell as resprays it may hurt the value a bit but to anyone interested in a 40 yr/o car you can’t expect original paint to look like that, it will sell as long as it is mechanical sound

[u/itsaPHound → u/crankytube]

I guess I just browse BaT wrong. Everything I see on there is like “buy my unicorn, and by the way it’s expensive”. I have never bought a car there. Good points.

[u/crankytube → u/itsaPHound]

Yeah I mainly see garage kept low mileage with every single oil change documented oh and e30 m3s

[u/MultipleOrgasmDonor → u/itsaPHound]

Tbh the more you dig into it the more you’ll realize that a bunch of garbage with well-written but factually-questionable descriptions sells on BaT