Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Purists, swipe left.
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Okay, great, because this is not only one hell of a cool 2002, I think it’s a great deal, too. What are we looking at? Well, what started life as an Inka 2002tii ‘Roundie’ has been hitting the gym and now sports a Zender body kit, SSR mesh wheels, a half-cage with Recaro cloth seats, E21 brakes, and a host of other mechanical and cosmetic refurbishments to leave one seriously sweet piece of ’02 eye candy. The asking price? Less than you’d expect!
To me it’s always a bit interesting to talk about peoples’ motivations in getting a particular car, especially so when that car is a classic. For example, consider my Audi GT versus a Quattro. These days, if you can find one a mint condition Audi GT will set you back around $6,000 – $8,000 for the very best examples we’ve seen. That amount may get you a wreck of a Quattro, but likely not a particularly drivable one and certainly one you’ll be chasing parts and rust on for a decade at least. In terms of driving experience, the GT is out of the box 90% of the Ur-Quattro experience for 90% plus of the time. Brought to a show, many non-Audi folks could probably not tell them apart. Yet, in terms of value gap, the iconic Quattro far outstrips the classic GT. We see it in other areas, too – for example a 73 911S versus a 77 911S, a E28 535is versus a M5, or even a 325is versus an M3. If you’re smart with your money, choosing the lesser example may not get you the headlines, but stretching your budget to get into a less serviceable iconic car is not likely to bring you more happiness, only more headaches. So while a plain-Jane 1968 BMW 2002 may not get all the price of the Turbo or even the tii models, it’s certainly worthy of consideration:
It’s always a bit strange when highly sought cars come to market with few details. Today’s 2002Ti is a great example; the 2002Ti is already sought after model thanks to the dual-carb, high compression motor, and of course being a “Roundie” an early model 2002 like this is automatically more desirable. But start to throw in some of the other details, such as “Alpina”, “Race Car” and “Original” and the dollar figures start climbing. If, that is, it’s all to be believed:
I don’t talk about it often, but my first car was nearly a BMW 2002 tii. It was a bit of a rookie mistake in many ways; I was 17 years old and had been going to the track with my father for many years and wanted my own track car. As my father was in to BMWs, it was a natural thought that I’d end up with one. The search led me to a green over black 2002 tii, and after not much looking at the car or knowing what I was looking for I put a deposit down. When I got home, I told my father who suggested we have a mutual friend who knew the 2002s better than me go look at it before I paid. The friend agreed, we arrived at the seller’s home and after what seemed like a shockingly short amount of time he came over to me and said “walk away”. The car had prohibitive amounts of rust, and it would have taken a miracle to return it to nice condition. Shortly after I ended up with my 4000CS Quattro, and the run of Audis began – but I often wonder what would have come if I purchased that 2002. I’d like to think it would have ended up something like this one:
The 2002 has appeal that was captured by later models in some regards, but has been lost along the way as well. It makes me chuckle a bit when I read comments regarding the 1 series (now 2 series) being a light car – well, I suppose in comparison to the 7 series, that’s likely true. However, cars like the 135i weighed in at a simply staggering 3,400 or so pounds. It makes me chuckle; BMW enthusiasts love to talk about how heavy Audis are, yet the 135i is only a few cheeseburgers and Battlestar Gallactica marathons short of a V8/S4/S6 quattro but it’s considered “light”. Now, you could argue that a hefty increase in passenger safety accounts for that weight gain, and you’d be right. And the new cars are much more luxurious, isolating, and reliable – for the average consumer, all of these things are very good improvements. But one of the hallmarks of the pre-M3 small cars was that you could drive them flat-out nearly all the time – something that you just can’t do with more modern machines. For as the spiritual successor to the 2002 – that same 135i – has gained weight and luxury, it’s also significantly faster than the 2002 ever was thanks to a twin-turbocharged inline-6. 0-60 times of even the non-M version of the 135 are faster than most pre-2005 M products (I’m slightly amazed by this, but I think it’s actually faster than everything but the V10 M5/M6). Out of the box, it will do a standing quarter mile in 13 seconds and is limited to 155 mph. Impressive? Yes. But is it really the spiritual successor of the 2002Tii, a car that you could drive with your foot to the floor, exploring the limits all the while? Not in my mind:
