Do you need to be handy with a spanner to own an E30?

[nickpan]

Gents,

Having finally got my hands on a garage from the local council...I now have a safe and dry place to store a practical classic as a sunny weather weekend car / "investment".

I've always wanted a BMW 325i E30 saloon manual (not cab or touring) which is the first BMW I ever sat in as my Dad bought one brand new in 1986.

There are of course many to choose from. I am looking to pay slightly more for a close to "mint" example which will require regular servicing only and the odd bit of rust repair by a specialist.

Am I buying into a money pit with little mechanical knowledge? Can anyone recommend any specialists who might inspect a car prior to me purchasing or should I be going to the AA/RAC?

I have read all buyers guides available on Google and watched numerous videos on YouTube but nothing equates to the first hand advice available on this forum!

Many thanks,

Nick

PS: I have a 130i for everyday use!

[528Sport]

Mechanical bits should be straight forward (ish)

Body work on E30's can be a pain. Look up the elephants trunk drain in the front bulk head. Make sure its clear otherwise rain water fills the scuttle area up, rusts it out and fills the carpets with water.

The M20 engines are belt driven

Get a 325 sport :-)

Enjoy

[Leins]

They're never going to be an investment. The best you can hope for is that prices rise to cover the servicing and maintenance costs I think, even as just a weekend car. Best to try and find a clean car that's had a lot of money spent on it in the last while, but then it probably won't be cheap, especially if it's a Sport

[nickpan]

Thanks for the advice guys - I'm down with spending more to avoid costly jobs (that I may not even recognise need doing) later on down the line.

The Sport definitely seems to be holding its value better but many manual sports have 150k miles+ and some have been modified.

I'm looking for bog standard / unmodified with <150k miles although I appreciate this isn't easy to find anymore.

Can anybody point me in the direction of a specialist in the London area that might do a pre-purchase inspection?

Thank you

Nick

[Pickled]

Oily bits on this era of BMW are very easy to work on, you might find it easier to find a mint 320 saloon and drop a good 2.5 lump in it, easily done in a couple of days - I did my 3.5 conversion in less than a week.

Just to add, get yourself on E30 zone, there's loads of knowledgeable people on there.

[80quattro]

Pickled said:

Oily bits on this era of BMW are very easy to work on, you might find it easier to find a mint 320 saloon and drop a good 2.5 lump in it, easily done in a couple of days - I did my 3.5 conversion in less than a week.

Just to add, get yourself on E30 zone, there's loads of knowledgeable people on there.

^^ There's also a LOT of banter on the zone

The only E30's that are an 'investment' are M3's, and you have probably missed the boat. As a drive, Sports are totally overrated over an SE, and not worth the substantial extra dosh.

There are no real E30 specialists around other than guys selling parts out of their garden sheds, as running a business based around E30's would not make one a living.

Your best bet is buying one with the tidiest/least rotten shell possible irrespective of engine/box/spec and putting your choice of engine in it and upgrading interior/wheels as you go, as I have done previously. My current car is actually an E28 now with Black sport leather and Hartge wheels that left the factory with neither!

[billywhizzzzzz]

I've had one for years and years - the big bits get done by Fritz Bits in Somerset, but routine stuff any old place will do... I'd be astonished now if you found one with a good shell - as others have said, get the one with the best body/arches/sills/front jacking points and then upgrade everything else if necessary. Worth paying around £5k for a good one.

[tomic]

They have gone up in value a bit recently. The days of being able to pick up a usable 325i for a few hundred quid are long gone.

At the moment you still see a fair few of them on the road (compared to other cars of similar age) and a lot of them are owned by "bruv" type owners and have tasteless modifications so they're still seen as old cars rather than classics in a lot of peoples eyes. However they're worth a lot in parts and keeping on top of the bodywork is expensive so there's plenty of people willing to scrap them

At some point they will become rare and there's a lot of interest in them so values could well increase for the lesser spec models. Look at what Mk1 Escorts are worth now, even basic ones. They weren't exactly aspirational when they were new.

[e21Mark]

Unless you're desperate to own that specific model, I wouldn't bother seeking out a 325i sport. The sport bits can easily be added to any 325i, or a smaller engined model upgraded pretty cheaply. 4 doors are considerably cheaper than 2 and they drive just as well. Rust will be your biggest problem, but the usual E30 rust traps are well documented. It is quite likely that even apparently rust-free examples will have corrosion somewhere. Mechanically they are simple, strong and pretty easy to maintain. Servicing is easy enough for anyone with a basic understanding of how a spanner works.

Bilstein suspension and an LSD are well worth the effort, as are a pair of sports front seats. They're great fun and needn't break the bank.