Help Me Decide (BMW E91 Content)

This e91 has been my "daily" driver for the past year or so. However, between 3 cars, pandemic WFH situation, and a job change with lots more travel and permanent work from home, I've put about 2,500 miles on it since owning it. It's been a very BMW ownership experience, but I've had enough of them to know what to expect. After getting home from a 2 week trip and having this thing not be operational due to a coil, it's got me wanting to give it the boot. The car has been really well maintained, but has been causing me more time to work on it as of late than I'd like. Resorting to my 21 year old tundra as my "reliable" vehicle has been the extra kick in the pills. My question is, what do you guys think about selling it, and what should I ask in today's topsy-turvy market if I were to do so? Additionally this is a unique vehicle with a unique history. See below. Keep in mind that everything I'm listing that has been changed has less than 3k miles on it. (When I got the car)

Details:

• 2009 328i base (except for sunroof and heated seats)
• 132,750 miles
• 6 speed manual (originally an auto car)
• Cinnamon leather base seats. (I dyed them)
• VMR 18" wheels Brand new A/S tires (Hankook front, Dunlop rear)
• Full Bilstein B12 kit (wagon specific Bilstein dampers and Eibach springs) 
• M3 front bumper
• Aftermarket projector headlights with LED bulbs 
• 35% tint
• Maintenance items in the past 3k miles
  • Radiator w BMW coolant
  • PS pump, reservoir, and fluid
  • plugs, intake filter, cabin filter
  • Sachs clutch and flywheel
  • Shifter bushings, trans mounts, and guibo
  • Trans, diff, and brake fluid
  • Font wheel speed sensors

I'm sure there are some other things I'm forgetting. The interesting history of the car. I bought this a little over a year ago from Copart. It came with a branded title for minor damage, looks like it hit a dear. One headlight, headlight support bracket, a mathcing JY fender, and a front bumper and I was back on the road. I went through the proper and legal way to have the car inspected and registered and the car came back with a clean NC title. So I have, in hand, a clean NC title in my name. 

The car was also an auto. I bought a very wrecked manual 328 and moved over all of the parts. Everything works cruise, brake lights, everything. It's actually an easy swap with only needing to run two wires from the ECM to the footwell module. Both of which I did with BMW wiring, solder, and heat shrink. Everything else literally bolts in and you tell the computer it's no longer an auto. 

All of that being said. This is a unique vehicle, but it's not a unicorn sport package BAT type vehicle. What are your thoughts? Part of me thinks it would be dumb to sell it, part of me want's to move onto the next thing. 

Please excuse the awful dirtiness. This is only for GRM consumption. If I were to actually sell it I will actually clean the car.... I'm not an animal.

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Rhetorical question: If you decide you want a sporty manual wagon 5-10 years from now, do you think you'll be able to find something similar at a reasonable price? I would argue the odds are increasingly against it. I would also suggest that, at 132k miles, you should just replace the coils as preventative maintenance - it's easy and cheap. In short, if it were mine, I'd keep it.

On the other hand, how much?

In reply to 02Pilot :

How much is the question. Believe me, I'm not replacing it because of $130 worth of coils. There are other things like the SAS went out and took the front wheel speed sensors and a few other little issues. Between this and the wife's Touareg I feel like I'm always workign on Deustcha-mobiles. Especially for me putting less than 3k miles a year on something. 

I was honestly thinking like $10k? Does that seem like too much?

Some backstory on Mr. Nofive_0:

If you look through some of his older posts, you'll notice this is his second black E91. He sold the first one to me, regretted it, and repeated the EXACT same "buy front end damaged black e91 from Copart and restore with M-sport bumper" process. I jumped off the deep end and swapped both an N54 twin turbo and a 6 speed in mine. I've been trying to convince him to do the same but I think the 6 speed swap alone is great too. 

I am torn - I think you'll regret selling it. I KNOW you'll regret selling it. I have history on my side. But as most of us know, once the seed to sell the car is planted, it's almost impossible to get rid of. The incurable disease is flaring up and you can't make it go away. 

The market is stupid right now. List it for $12k and see what happens. I think the bigger issue is you won't be able to find anything you'll like for a similar price. 

I'd say branded title and miles on that car hurts it pretty badly especially considering the market for vase model manual wagons is already fairly limited.

Damnit if I would try to justify keeping it and selling the toureg..... its way nicer than any potential replacement you will be able to find for the money you will get out of it (my guess is around 6500 maybe 7500 bucks).

Gorgeous car btw. Would love to have any reason or excuse I could think of to be in the bidding! Love the leather color.

I like this tastyguac fellow's suggestion; attempt sale at $12k, see what develops.  Seems like a really cool car, understand wanting to sell and move on.

In reply to Nofive_0 :

Yeah, I understand the frustration of modern(ish) BMWs and their maintenance demands. I'm in a sort of similar place with my 128i, in that it needs a driveshaft to (hopefully) cure a vibration I've already chased to the tune of $3k in parts and labor. I haven't driven it much lately for a few reasons, mostly because I got a new Miata. But I also know the chances of being able to replace it are slim (128i, M-Sport, manual, full service history) if I regretted selling, and I suspect I would.

As someone else suggested, I'd sell the Toureg - much easier to replace with a similar, less demanding SUV.

At least you were smart enough to buy one with the normally aspirated engine. Those aren't too bad from the maintenance/reliability standpoint.

I must have been smoking crack when I opted for the early twin-turbo model (335xi) with direct injection, automatic gearbox, and AWD. Never gave me a day of peace. 

Hmm, the list of stuff you've had to replace on it is pretty minimal honestly.  It's an old german car with over 125k miles and you've had to do typical maintenance.  If that's bothering you, you need to dump it ASAP before it really gets a burr up its shorts and decides to truly break in a hissy fit kinda way.  Which is *totally* gonna happen! 

That said, it's a pretty hot looking package you've got there and I doubt you could replicate it for anywhere near what you'd sell it for.  The branded title is going to tank the value of it big time.  So take a little bit of time to ponder what you really wanna do...

Manual wagons are increasing in value don't let it go cheap.

Low teens. 

I was all about you selling it until I saw the pictures. Very, very nice with that leather color.

And then I remembered how annoyed I felt owning BMWs after reading 02Pilot’s post. It’s always f-ing something with BMWs.

I can imagine the right buyer paying around 10-11k for it. Key is finding that person who wants a MT wagon and doesn’t mind the branded title. Id guess there are a 25-50 people in that market. And they’re all on bimmer forums.

Again the title is clear. It will show up as being declared a total loss if you run the VIN, but the title isn't branded. DMV grey area. 

I think a few of you have hit it on the head. It's just always something. Remember, all of these fixes have been in less than 3k miles despite being over a 1 year timeframe. 

I also forgot to include a new harmonic balancer, belt, tensioner/idler pulley, as well as all the strut mounts.

The biggest thing making me want to keep it, which you guys seem to be pushing me towards, is the lack of any good option to replace it.

Nofive_0 said:

Again the title is clear. It will show up as being declared a total loss if you run the VIN, but the title isn't branded. DMV grey area. 

I think a few of you have hit it on the head. It's just always something. Remember, all of these fixes have been in less than 3k miles despite being over a 1 year timeframe. 

I also forgot to include a new harmonic balancer, belt, tensioner/idler pulley, as well as all the strut mounts.

The biggest thing making me want to keep it, which you guys seem to be pushing me towards, is the lack of any good option to replace it.

The title is NOT clear. The title is WASHED. Just because the NC DOT is clean doesn't mean you have a clean titled car. That car was salvaged and rebuilt so it would have the same value as a rebuilt titled car from any other state but North Carolina thanks to programs like Carfax that will hopefully ensure buyers are aware of previous totalled damages on vehicles being sold.

https://wlos.com/news/local/news-13-investigates-75000-nc-car-titles-washed-clean-of-damage#:~:text=According%20to%20Carfax%2C%20North%20Carolina,despite%20contributing%20data%20to%20it.

What OleMiss said.  That's not a clean titled car and any buyer with a brain in their head will figure that out in short order if you don't tell them ahead of time.  The previous salvage will negatively affect the value of the car, regardless of the current paper status of the title.

I'm aware that it negatively affects the value of the car, hence the question as to what we think it'd be worth. To be clear, I'm not trying to pull one over on anyone. I'm not sure what would happen if someone bought this and titled it in another state. If I were to sell it I'd tell them exactly what I've said here.  Purchase at your own risk type of thing. 

Edit: Found some photos of the damage that totalled it for reference. 

That is not a significant amount of damage. It could have had $30k in shoddy frame repairs in 2010 and not had the title branded, yet this accident brands the title just because the car was worth less at the time of the accident. 

I think the right buyer will know what they are looking at if you provide this image and let them know how you repaired it. It just sucks for you that the paperwork itself has such a big effect on the value. 

Still thinking low teens - branded or not, we aren't taking about a car that's been on a frame machine or chopped in half and welded back together. 

EDIT: for reference. Still 4 days left too: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2011-bmw-328-67/

Yeah, that only got totaled because of the cost of repair vs price the car cost at the time ratio.  You still hafta decide if you're willing to sell it given the fact that replacing it won't happen for the same amount of money...

Nofive_0 said:

I'm aware that it negatively affects the value of the car, hence the question as to what we think it'd be worth. To be clear, I'm not trying to pull one over on anyone. I'm not sure what would happen if someone bought this and titled it in another state. If I were to sell it I'd tell them exactly what I've said here.  Purchase at your own risk type of thing. 

Edit: Found some photos of the damage that totalled it for reference. 

Hey! You helped talk me into buying my nearly identical version of yours, haha. I've never sold such a car, but I did have an accidentally washed title on my Elise. Strangely enough, it came back as branded after registering it in VA after moving from MI (the state that washed it). 

I bought my '07 with 120k miles for $10k over a year ago. It has some cosmetic issues and the shocks were on their last lives. The oil pan was also weeping. Given your car's history but tasteful mods, I think $12k might be a good place to start if not a bit low. It sounds like you have no rush, so who cares how long it sits. Bring-a-Trailer seems to really love these cars, so that could be fun. 

That all being said, the only thing I could see me replacing mine with is a CTS-V wagon, and those prices are outrageous with a manual. Still, what else is there?

If this were 18 months ago Id have been all over this, also in NC. Basically exactly what I was seeking. So tempting!

You have put too much effort into this to unload it now. Especially if it's version 2.0 and you had regrets the first time. 

Thanks guys. As of right now I think you all have convinced me to keep it. The thought of selling it to get a stock GTI, or similar, sounds really boring. I may be moving a few states away for work at the end of the year. If that happens I may actually have a long commute and a real excuse for something more reliable/efficient. I'll reevaluate when/if that happens. When I sell it I'll certainly put it up here first for like minded individuals.

Well.... 

Changed my mind. I'm going to be home for the next ~10 days or so. I'm going to throw it up at $12,000 and see what happens. I'll clean it up and take some proper photos this afternoon. 

Edit

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/cars-sale/2009-bmw-328i-wagon-mine/184600/page1/

It’s a cool car, but I think it’s the move for less hassle in your life. Good luck with the sale!

Car sold today for $12k. Thanks for the input grm.