54K Original Miles: 1994 BMW 525i Wagon – Sold?

August 23, 2023, Update – We confirmed the listing for this “ClassiFIND” expired, so with no replacement found, we’re assuming this ride is “Sold?” While this one got away, please reach out either by email or call us directly if you’d like to be informed when we come across something similar.

July 10, 2023 Update – With three straight months without a sale at a $17,900 asking price, the seller replaced their sixth Craigslist ad with a fresh posting with the price lowered to $15,777.

June 19, 2023 Update – Another month, another no sale at $17,900.  Despite this, the seller replaced their sixth listing in as many months.  The pictures, description and $17,900 ask all remain the same.

May 30, 2023 Update – The seller of this low-mileage ’94 BMW 525i Touring we’ve been tracking since January replaced their expired listing with their fifth Craigslist ad. The pictures, description and $17,900 ask all remain the same.

April 11, 2023 Update – The seller replaced their latest two-week-old Craigslist ad with a fresh listing. Despite no sale last month after lowering their asking price to $16,700, the seller decided to raise their price to $17,900.

March 28, 2023 Update – two weeks after replacing their expiring Craigslist ad, the private seller of this 54K original mile BMW lowered their asking price from $17,500 to $16,700.

February 15, 2023 Update – The seller replaced their expiring listing with a fresh Craigslist ad.  The description, pictures, and already-lowered asking price of $17,500 all remain the same.

February 4, 2023 Update – The seller lowered their asking price from $19,950 to $17,500 in their original listing.

When you have a semi-rare car for sale that is not quite a collector’s item but certainly a hard model to find in any condition, it can be difficult to establish an appropriate price baseline. This is a struggle on a car like this clean bronze1994 BMW 525i Touring for sale, the elusive wagon version of the E34-chassis 5-Series. The seller has managed to nab a very low mileage version, as this “Bronzit” wagon has a mere 54,415 miles on the clock.  Here’s the hard part: this isn’t the most desirable BMW ever built, but it is worth a fair price, considering how few of these appear for sale annually. You’ll find the wagon on Craigslist in Fort Lauderdale for $15,777 (the original ask was $19,950). Comparing that price against the Classic.com model guide shows that the seller is asking roughly double the going rate, but very few E34s coming up for sale these days are wagons, and even fewer have low miles like this one does.

If you are serious about buying this nicely preserved 5-Series Touring, you can start the conversation by either calling or texting the seller using the contact information provided in their Craigslist ad.  When you connect, please remember to mention you saw their BMW featured here on GuysWithRides.com.

The real conundrum with cars like this is everyone knows it should command a fair price. Potential buyers look at this and likely say to themselves (as I did), “You know, that’s a rare bird, and it deserves all the money.” For someone like me, however, who try to buy vehicles I can always sell for what I have into them, I can’t quite feel good about spending $20,000 on an E34 that isn’t an M5 or, at the very least, a clean 540i with the manual transmission. While I feel the seller’s Touring is a legitimate and desirable find, likely plucked from a grandma’s garage who stopped driving years ago, it will take a niche buyer who just wants the cleanest E34-chassis 5-Series wagon they can find. And given how many beaters and failed manual transmission conversions there are littering classifieds pages everywhere, the unicorn status is real on this car. The smart play would be to buy this car for a bit less than asking, perform a clean manual swap, and lower it slightly on OEM “throwing star” wheels from the M5.

The seller provides this exterior video as well as three other unlisted videos of their BMW wagon:

The E34 Touring is one of those models that dances around the enthusiast circle just enough to be known but not necessarily enough to be sought-after. It’s a rare car, and enthusiasts generally love BMW wagons. But the E34 in 525i form was not much of a performance car, so you have to be comfortable with a leisurely cruising experience and the overall satisfaction of driving a slightly waspy car like this. That’s why you see so many of them converted to manuals, which is done to improve the performance and make the wagon a car you look forward to driving every day. The seller claims this 525i is “…absolutely perfect” inside and out, which is a big claim for a car that likely wasn’t set aside as a future collector’s item by its previous owner. Still, there’s likely not much work to be done here if you leave this lovely long-roof stock, aside from making sure the cooling system has been gone through and double-checking that the control arm bushings haven’t perished. I hope the seller gets his number, as these cars don’t come along very often.

Here’s the seller’s description:

“Rare touring model
53414 original miles
Absolutely perfect in and out
Everything works 100%
Clean title
No accidents
All maintenance and service records available.“

Nicest one left: will the seller get his number for this clean E34 Touring?