What do people think when they see BMW E30 going sideways ?

[lowdrag]

I lent my 325 Sport to an employee one day since his car was in for service. He came back ashen faced because he was used to FWD. Apparently he had done a 360 outside De Montfort Hall in Leicester! They could always be a handful, those cars, with a good power/weight ratio and a light rear end. But I loved it dearly. I think it cost about £16,000 from memory from Cripps of Kibworth. It was in the showroom when I arrived in my 323i, and the next day I picked it up. One silly thing was that I complained about the rear suspension being too hard. It would have helped if they had taken the transporter blocks out!

[161BMW]

[clarkmagpie]

I was half expecting this update to include photos of it wrapped around a lamp post.

[GravelBen]

Why are there photos of a petrol station?

[Johnnytheboy]

GravelBen said:

Why are there photos of a petrol station?

That's where his skid took him. He was aiming for the chip shop across the road.

[Fastdruid]

clarkmagpie said:

I was half expecting this update to include photos of it wrapped around a lamp post.

161BMW said:

Had the odd sideways moment on public roads. Have had a range of reactions from a woman driver looking at me in digust to a white van man giving me a thumbs up

What do people / other road users think when they see BMW E30 3 Series which looks OEM going sideways in the wet :-) ?

Last BMW I saw going sideways on the public road in the wet continued going round until he hit the side of the road. Ooops!

[coppice]

Tell you what they don't think - 'oh look it's an E30'. Does anybody outside the BMW ownership group give a flying f*** what its model number is? I know I don't .

[e21Mark]

In fairness to the chap who's posted the pics above, at least he wasn't on the street.

I was at Lydden Hill a few months ago and they had a "drift" session. I can't say I'm a fan really. Why anyone would take a piece of precision engineering and weld a chunk of scrap into it, baffles me. Especially on a street legal car.

[pinchmeimdreamin]

Your front number plate isn't straight.

[SteveSteveson]

MagneticMeerkat said:

T0MMY said:

I wouldn't say losing the back end unintentionally is "inept". It might be irresponsible to push the car that hard on a public road but it certainly isn't inept; if you push hard, it can and will happen.

I'm sure this will go down like a lead balloon on here but if you're on a quiet road with enough visibility to be very sure you can't hit anyone should it all go wrong, I don't see the harm in pushing hard enough to encounter the odd partially unexpected slide.

It can be nothing to do with 'pushing hard' or whatever. I used to own a big Volvo, '88 740 saloon, with a manual gearbox. It was terminally unbalanced, in that all of the weight seemed to be at the front. This was coupled to a live axle, squishy suspension and slim tyres. It wasn't a fast car by any means, but would slide about all over the place if the weather was even slightly damp. Even at low speeds. I got used to counter-steering at roundabouts but it came as a mild surprise the first time.

Seems to be something to do with 80s Volvos. My mums old 340 Volvo would go sideways at the slightest provocation, with its massive 80hp when it started (and probably much much less 12 years later when I drove it). Damp roundabout, tiny bit of power on mid corner, or anything else. It is no wonder it is so popular as a cheap drift car.

[Troubleatmill]

GravelBen said:

Why are there photos of a petrol station?

That is the first thing that came into my mind too.

[Tje]

I did a 4 wheel drift on a roundabout. Accidental. Hit some diesel one and the back end stepped out and started to point me at some Armco. Dab of throttle to keep it sliding and all was fine. Probably looked like an utter tt

[e21Mark]

Tje said:

I did a 4 wheel drift on a roundabout. Accidental. Hit some diesel one and the back end stepped out and started to point me at some Armco. Dab of throttle to keep it sliding and all was fine. Probably looked like an utter tt

Had exactly same thing happen on roundabout coming out of Truro. My Mrs slapped me, as she thought it was deliberate.

[SturdyHSV]

As everyone has pretty much said, if a random stranger has seen you do it, you're doing it wrong.

People crash when they don't intend to. It's why they're called accidents. You haven't yet, but that isn't because you're a driving god, it's luck.

You are counting on being lucky, and presumably you're going to keep on doing it until you crash. Ever watched motorsport? Drifting? They all crash occasionally, and as you're not making a career out of it, I'd imagine they're probably better at it than you are (shock horror!).

At least by doing it when there isn't oncoming traffic, when you do eventually bin it you might miss the various innocent bystanders who couldn't give a st about how manly your incredibly tough to handle old BMW is.

As was also said, it was surprising you're as old as you are as the content / tone of the posts does come across more like a very early 20s 'lad' desperately trying to prove to everyone how huge his cock is.

Good luck to you though, I'm sure after the accident should the police require any help with their inquiries then a quick google of E977 UKM should help them find this thread

[jonah35]

Imagine a nice couple going out with the 2 grand kids strapped in the back of his new clean car. Law abiding citizens if you will.

Then imagine this dirty old 3 series screeching out in front of you, drifting badly.

They would think you
Need locking up
Have stolen the car
Are badly educated
Are a wrong 'un
Are from an undesirable area
Have a poor job and are unsuccessful.

[Triumph Man]

I have to admit I managed to get my E34 520 a little sideways the other day

I went across a roundabout and got on the power a little too soon and the back stepped out (it was a bit greasy). Thankfully there was nobody beside me, but the learner who was still waiting at the roundabout would have had a good view. I caught it nicely, but I did feel like a bit of a penis...

ETA: I was wearing a shirt and tie if those are mitigating circumstances against being a chav?

[daveco]

161BMW said:

Ari said:

Nope. 231hp rear wheel drive and never ever got it sideways unintentionally, certainly not 'a few times'.

As I say, if your driving is so inept that it happens to you unintentionally then maybe something much lower powered, front wheel drive and easier to handle is the answer until you start to get the hang of anticipating road conditions?

If you actually drive E30 325i instead of E46 330Ci you would realise E30s are renowned for their tail happy behaviour in the wet.

With the traction control off, the E46 325/330 are remarkably tail happy and very easy to contol on the limit.

Added squeaky bum time if you're running budget tyres on the rear and conditions are moist!

[Martin350]

Looks like quite a tidy E30.

I like it!

[TheInternet]

jonah35 said:

Imagine a nice couple going out with the 2 grand kids strapped in the back of his new clean car. Law abiding citizens if you will.

Then imagine this dirty old 3 series screeching out in front of you, drifting badly.

They would think you
Need locking up
Have stolen the car
Are badly educated
Are a wrong 'un
Are from an undesirable area
Have a poor job and are unsuccessful.

Unrealistic scenario. Even the cheapest kids are far more expensive than that.

Also what if it's a clean, shiny well looked after, enthusiast owned example like E977 UKM?

[Regiment]

TheInternet said:

Unrealistic scenario. Even the cheapest kids are far more expensive than that.

Also what if it's a clean, shiny well looked after, enthusiast owned example like E977 UKM?

That it had just been nicked?