Would You Take A Chance On This Temptingly Cheap BMW 330i?

We stumbled across this very temptingly cheap BMW 330i and just had to ask the question: for the price, would you risk it?

The metallic blue SE model should be nicely comfortable. Classy grey leather seats look in decent condition but for a clean, and if the wonderful 231bhp 3.0-litre straight-six has been serviced reasonably regularly it should have loads of life left. There are only three pictures but the front left wheel arch looks properly rusty, which is a shame.

It’s an auto so we’re definitely dealing with a powerful cruiser rather than a cut-price M3, but in its favour it seems to have some kind of USB charging port adapter fitted, plus electric windows, cruise control and some other goodies. We can even see an indicator stalk, so this must be one they actually fitted them to.

The seller, an independent garage in Basingstoke, clearly wants nothing to do with it, saying it came to them as a part-exchange and that they’ve given it no mechanical inspection. That could mean exactly that, or it could mean they’ve had a look underneath it and found a horror show…

The asking price is £1195, ‘sold as seen with no guarantees’. Bearing in mind that they’ve not prepared or even inspected the car at all, there has to be wiggle room in the numbers. They can’t have offered the previous owner more than half that price when they took it in (probably less, owing to the extensive rust), and it’s cost them nothing in the meantime. It’s the sort of car they’d be happy to shift for any profit at all. A hard bargain is there to be struck, if you’re up for it.