Used E34 questions

[pmulry]

I've found a '94 E34 525i that I'm interested in purchasing, but I'm wondering if there are any age-related problems I should be looking out for. I've owned an '81 320i and a '92 E34 525i in the past, that body style is really my favorite of all the 5-series.

The car's 10 years old. But it only has 53k miles on it, Carfax certified, and only one owner, no wrecks. Automatic tranny. Somebody has had this car and barely ever drove it, or had an exceedingly short commute every day.

I'm not too worried about wear, but I am concerned about any problems that are either age-related (rubber rot, brittle plastics) or underuse (internal engine rust dure to not heading the engine sufficiently on a frequent basis?) related.

As you might imagine, the car is quite fairly priced, even given the low miles.

So my question -- what should I look out for on an older but low mileage car? Other than peering at the dipstick to make sure there's no water in the oil, how would I know if there's an internal engine problem (assuming it test drives normal)?

Thanks in advance from a forum newb....

[Silver4evr]

I owned a 320is for about ten years and purchased it with 39k miles on it. If a car is only driven short distances the oil should be changed about twice as often under normal driving conditions. Can you find out more info from the owner as to the distances driven on a daily basis? If if was maintained at a local dealership their computer should have some info available.

Mechanically you can have a compression check done to determine if there has been premature wear on the motor by comparing the current compression readings to the new specs.

[dubumb]

check this site out... it should be of some help to you...

http://www.bmwe34.net