There's one more zero in the price than I'd want to deal with.

Could be brakes - many things could do that.  Also suspension problems,
possibly due to the wreck.  Most things like that are fixable.

That's the way it's supposed to be.

I've seen 525i s for as little as $2500; $4000 might be a little high.

FloydR

for that price that wasn't wrecked, it's simple.
That car could need $4000 to get it right.

Nothing to worry about.

Correct operation.

Make sure the tyres match especially at the front.  Get the wheel alignment,
tracking etc. wheel balance checked and corrected by a good tyre place.

I am in the UK, but $4k sounds like a lot for a car of this age and this one
is has been written off (UK for 'totalled'), so I would be disinclined to
give much more than the parts value (probably ~$1k).

A salvage title can also mean the car has been flooded. What salvage really
means is that a previous owner filed an insurance claim, and the insurance
company decided that the needed repairs exceeded the value. Given the labor
rate and cost of body parts, a reasonably minor crash on a car this old (a
recent crash) can result in a repair bill of 4 or 5 thousand dollars.

Somebody with good fabrication skills can take such a project on and make
the repairs and sell the car, the profit in this scenario is in the form of
"sweat equity." Insurance settles the claim for <whatever> and allows the
owner to retain title. The owner finds a freelance body guy that can fix the
car cheaper than the insurance company's body shop, and then turns around
and passes the car along to another owner. Frequently, the body shop will
physically buy the wrecked car, do the repairs, then sell the car to make
money.

In any case, if you don't have to fight with the car to keep it on the road,
then it is put back together as straight as it can be done. A salvage title
should shave a few hundred from the purchase price.

This is normal, the temp guage is not supposed to move.

It's all on you my friend. YOU are the one that has to be comfortable
driving a car that the insurance company elected not to repair. Personally,
I'd look on www.kbb.com (Kelley Blue book) or any of the equivelent sources,
and find the Private Party value for the same year, make, and model with all
of the same options in POOR CONDITION. A salvage title can turn an otherwise
Excellent car into a Poor car, no questions asked. Keep in mind that once
you buy a salvage titled car, you might never be able to sell it because
most people will not drive salvage cars. This alone is a good reason to
drive the price right into the basement.

Ben, all these other posters that are saying $4k or more to repair
are assuming that it's currently wrecked, I believe.

There's currently a '89 535i in the Seattle papers for $4200, so the price
is about right, especially considering that the manual is rare (and
desirable
IMHO).  It really depends upon the quality of the repair - you
need to find a high-end body shop and have them inspect the repair.
It would be useful if you had the repair order.

FloydR

MAINTENANCE RECORDS????????????? This is a must have.

don't touch it without a real inspection by a BMW specialist.

I would really think you could find another that doesn't pull, and has a
non-wrecked title, but an alignment may fix it.

$4k is good, but it depends if it has been maintained, if not you'll be
sorry as it will eat a hole in your wallet.
Front end parts are commonnly required - if they are new great, if not a
suspension overhaul could be in need.

E34 are amazing, but a bad one (read: neglected) will cost you dearly.

I see that the Kelly price for this car is $4400 from a private seller and
$6700 from a dealer so the price doesn't seem to be completely out of line
although you might use the salvage title to ask for a 10 or 15% reduction.
It would probably be prudent to run the VIN through CarFax or some other
Vehicle History Report service.  It will tell you if the car was out of
service for a long time, where the car spent it's previous life, and perhaps
some indication of the level of damage that led to the salvage title.  Check
the glove compartment for the owners manual package.  It very often contains
the original owners name and address which you might be able to use to get
the full story on the incident leading to the salvage title.
I would see if I could take the car for a fairly long test drive.  Many time
you won't notice small defects immediately.  Drive on some rough roads and
do some emergency stops.  Take your time and systematically make sure that
everything works.  You can often get very good value on the salvaged title
cars just because so many people are afraid of them.

Good Luck
Jack

I'd not touch it until thoroughly checked - especially since I presume it
has been repaired but not correctly?

Heavy impact can cause suspension pick up points to become out of
alignment. To correct this needs skill and expensive equipment and must be
done before any cosmetic work.