The BaT thread for the cars we won't buy, but kinda wish we would

[JST]

Josh, see my analysis upthread. BaT provides a graph of where specific car models have sold over the years; the M5s that have gone in the 30s have had many fewer miles than this car. And this one isn’t really an M5.

But it’s a unicorn, so who knows? It was at 18k this afternoon, so it’s clearly attracted some people willing to jump in early.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by JST

Josh, see my analysis upthread. BaT provides a graph of where specific car models have sold over the years; the M5s that have gone in the 30s have had many fewer miles than this car. And this one isn’t really an M5.

But it’s a unicorn, so who knows? It was at 18k this afternoon, so it’s clearly attracted some people willing to jump in early.

Thanks for the info. It's at $28k this morning, and gets less interesting with each bid. There's not really a good comp for this. The last 540iT Msport went for $23,250 on there, but this is a whole different unicorn. Commenters, FWIW, expect it to zoom by $30k.
I guess thats why this thread is titled "cars we won't buy, but kinda wish we would."

For a fleeting moment I thought I was going to be the first of us to actually win a BAT auction.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by wdc330i

Ah, marriage.

I for one would not go backwards from a 135ic to an e36 M3C...

I wouldn't either. The idea would be keep the 135 for me until it starts becoming a problem and she'd drive the e36 as her fun car. The silver one we had was her first 'nice' car and she really loved it. When we talked about the wagon, her thought was if she couldn't daily it, then she'd rather just have something purely fun.

[JST]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

Thanks for the info. It's at $28k this morning, and gets less interesting with each bid. There's not really a good comp for this. The last 540iT Msport went for $23,250 on there, but this is a whole different unicorn. Commenters, FWIW, expect it to zoom by $30k.
I guess thats why this thread is titled "cars we won't buy, but kinda wish we would."

For a fleeting moment I thought I was going to be the first of us to actually win a BAT auction.

Yeah, it looks headed for $40K. It's a little bit of head scratcher at that price. I mean, it's a unicorn and so on, but it's also got 100K+ miles on it and you're probably not going to daily it, so what's the advantage of the extra utility?

A nicer actual M5 is almost certainly a better choice.

[robg]

Originally Posted by JST

Yeah, it looks headed for $40K. It's a little bit of head scratcher at that price. I mean, it's a unicorn and so on, but it's also got 100K+ miles on it and you're probably not going to daily it, so what's the advantage of the extra utility?



A nicer actual M5 is almost certainly a better choice.

Right. Any idea how much it would cost to build something like that?

[JST]

Originally Posted by robg

Right. Any idea how much it would cost to build something like that?

The big cost would be labor, if you weren't doing it yourself. I doubt you could recreate it for 40K, even if you were doing it yourself, but then again, it's pretty rare for you to be able to recover the cost of construction of cars like this.

[robg]

Originally Posted by JST

The big cost would be labor, if you weren't doing it yourself. I doubt you could recreate it for 40K, even if you were doing it yourself, but then again, it's pretty rare for you to be able to recover the cost of construction of cars like this.

For sure. It does seem like sticking with OEM parts for swaps like this helps preserve more value. Of this had an LS in it I bet it would struggle to get 20

[JST]

Originally Posted by robg

For sure. It does seem like sticking with OEM parts for swaps like this helps preserve more value. Of this had an LS in it I bet it would struggle to get 20

Depends on the LS...

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-bmw-528it/

[blee]

Originally Posted by JST

Yeah, it looks headed for $40K. It's a little bit of head scratcher at that price. I mean, it's a unicorn and so on, but it's also got 100K+ miles on it and you're probably not going to daily it, so what's the advantage of the extra utility?

A nicer actual M5 is almost certainly a better choice.

It’s funny how often you hear people say, “I wish BMW made an M* Touring,” then balk at the price when someone offers a conversion for sale.

Until the owner got a used x5, it was his daily outside of his day job (for which he has a 323iT that got an m3 drivetrain transplant). The way I see it, the value of this car comes from the fact that the conversion work is already done. I doubt the car will sell for more than the combined parts and labor that went into it, but only because it wasn’t cheap.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by blee

It’s funny how often you hear people say, “I wish BMW made an M* Touring,” then balk at the price when someone offers a conversion for sale.

Until the owner got a used x5, it was his daily outside of his day job (for which he has a 323iT that got an m3 drivetrain transplant). The way I see it, the value of this car comes from the fact that the conversion work is already done. I doubt the car will sell for more than the combined parts and labor that went into it, but only because it wasn’t cheap.

I wish BMW made an m touring so there were enough of them that depreciation was a thing and I could find one used at a price I can justify/afford.

In my mind, the BAT car is worth the money it will sell for, but I can't afford to pay that kind of money for a car that I can't consume (ie: not worry about driving it a-lot) without replacement.

Do you know the builder? I think I recall you posting some time ago about this car and his e46 m3 wagon build.