BMW E30 - Which model and what to look out for?

BMW E30 - Which model and what to look out for?

Author
Discussion

ManiacGT

Original Poster:

537 posts

174 months

Sunday 7th September 2014
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That's similar to another I'm considering... It's not as nice a colou combo but beggars can't be choosers lol

More I see these, the more I love them..

Gruber

6,313 posts

213 months

Sunday 7th September 2014
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Indeed. There's something very appealing about the simplicity and elegance of the design when the roof's down... Which, incidentally, is ruined by rear headrests and / or the M-tech body kit (IMHO, obv).

I had a 318i version about 11 years ago. It wasn't quick by any means, but it was a lovely little car to cruise about in.

SteveCal

45 posts

115 months

Sunday 7th September 2014
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They can't be serious at £17K! Even if it was ultra low mileage and a full nut and bolt restoration it wouldn't be worth that. Mileage is nothing special - if it was sub 30K miles it might be a different matter. I agree with Gruber - the simpler lines without the M Tech kit are my preference too, though a 318iS front lip looks nice. If you are set on a 325i I would try to find a late model facelift car, and look at the history of work done more than the mileage. I doubt you will need to pay more than £8K for what you are after.

tomic

720 posts

144 months

Sunday 7th September 2014
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I agree that the bodykits spoil the lines of these.

If you do really want one with a bodykit though, then you want to be removing it to find out whether it's hiding any horrors underneath. It's always worth remembering that a lovely looking example can be hiding horrendous rust.

If you're going to be paying anything like £8K then pay one of the experts (there are plenty of them on the e30zone) to go and have a look at it. Areas under the bodykit, boot floor, scuttle, bulkhead, inner and outer arches all go and cost thousands to put right.

SteveCal

45 posts

115 months

Sunday 7th September 2014
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If you do fancy one with body kit, leather etc, this one caught my eye:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C420049 (£8,500 ono)

Would be worth a look judging from the picture of the immaculate underside!

This looks nice too, 320i Auto:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C516458 (£7,500)

White, with no body kit, 15" BBS, pre-facelift but colour coded (not chrome) bumpers, clean leather interior. Just the sort of car you'd want to get checked out for rust (as already mentioned) but on the face of it looks good.

You can obviously pay a lot less, but I sense you aren't looking to start a project, you want a car you can drive and maintain / enhance (without losing 'original' look), rather than taking on a respray, mechanical refresh, engine swap, etc!

Oi_Oi_Savaloy

2,313 posts

259 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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To put my two penneth in on E30's. I ran a 325i touring (have a look at my profile for a picture of her) for 2 years. She'd done 186,000 miles when I bought her and she finally died at 228,000. I sold her for a paltry amount and I think it's still SORN'd by the new owner. This was after I'd bought a 320i touring and ran that for 9 mnths. the 325i is better in every sense. brings the whole car alive.

I used her to commute from Pembrokeshire to London (not every day! - Friday nights and either v early mon am's or sunday pm) with 50 miles each day to and from work. so I was covering easily 250 miles per week (used it for the commute plus site visits) plus 450 miles over the weekend. I averaged 30.1mpg over that mileage. I drove her very sympathetically but it was just too much.

The engine is bullet proof if, if, the cylinder head is 100% but many of them aren't. I had to change the cylinder head twice on mine in my ownership. £700 each time. I wasn't in a position to do it myself and even if I did have the time, whom am I kidding - it was beyond my experience, time and tool kit to do. they crack between the cylinder pots. Finding a new cylinder is hens teeth (and v expensive) so going recon always poses a risk.

it is without doubt the most memorable car I've had. Not the best or most reliable but definitely the most memorable.

Tourings don't seem to rust as much as saloons. I think I'm right in saying the tourings and cabs were built on the 5 series lines in a different factory. seemed to be better rust proofed. anecdotal? perhaps but from my direct experience both my tourings didn't suffer the usual rear arch rust. that's not to say they were perfect......just slightly more robust than a typical saloon.

I ended up spending quite a lot of money keeping the old girl going (both ongoing and preventative maintenance.) if I had my time with her again - I'd have taken her off the commute and kept her for my Friday car. but then I wouldn't have had a great 2 years with her.

buy a chip from the zone - it really pepped the engine (without overly stressing her imo).


161BMW

1,697 posts

164 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Good original unmolested standard E30s are very thin on the ground

As a Sport owner I have the following advice:
1. Get pre-purchase inspection before buying from someone that knows these cars inside out. The E30Zonecan help with this. I didn't get inspection before buying which was a mistake / learning lesson
2. Buy the best you can afford (eg for 325i convertible tbh I would rather have 325i Motorsport Convertuble because is rare, tasty options, and some decent ones out there)
Ideally you want low owners, low mileage, FSH etc
3. I use mine as a daily but mine is a bit rough round the edges. As an example I bought mine for £4k circa and have spent nearly £5k on maintenance (since 2010) mainly mechanicals getting it up to scratch. Though I have had to pay mechanics mainly e30 specialists or local garages and have been mainly using New Genuine BMW Parts (which I bought myself) and sometimes ECP
As a daily E30 can handle it but just needs more preventative maintenance to keep it fully healthy
If you do my uber low mileage / low owner E30 better not to use in winter
4. Get 325i with LSD. The tail happiness is why I bought one so I could learn about RWD (having previously had E46 323Ci Coupe for 4 years / 45000 miles)
5. Really Good E30s are expensive
As an example recently on car and classic or at Munich Lrgrnds or other classic vendors
E30 325i Sport Tech1 35k mileage FBMWSH 1 Owner sold £10k
E21 323i LE Concours champion 45k mileage just under £10k
E30 325i Sport Tech2 42k mileage FBMWSH 3 Owners from New £20k

Good luck!!!! :-)

161BMW

1,697 posts

164 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
quotequote all
Good original unmolested standard E30s are very thin on the ground

As a Sport owner I have the following advice:
1. Get pre-purchase inspection before buying from someone that knows these cars inside out. The E30Zonecan help with this. I didn't get inspection before buying which was a mistake / learning lesson
2. Buy the best you can afford (eg for 325i convertible tbh I would rather have 325i Motorsport Convertuble because is rare, tasty options, and some decent ones out there)
Ideally you want low owners, low mileage, FSH etc
3. I use mine as a daily but mine is a bit rough round the edges. As an example I bought mine for £4k circa and have spent nearly £5k on maintenance (since 2010) mainly mechanicals getting it up to scratch. Though I have had to pay mechanics mainly e30 specialists or local garages and have been mainly using New Genuine BMW Parts (which I bought myself) and sometimes ECP
As a daily E30 can handle it but just needs more preventative maintenance to keep it fully healthy
If you do my uber low mileage / low owner E30 better not to use in winter
4. Get 325i with LSD. The tail happiness is why I bought one so I could learn about RWD (having previously had E46 323Ci Coupe for 4 years / 45000 miles)
5. Really Good E30s are expensive
As an example recently on car and classic or at Munich Lrgrnds or other classic vendors
E30 325i Sport Tech1 35k mileage FBMWSH 1 Owner sold £10k
E21 323i LE Concours champion 45k mileage just under £10k
E30 325i Sport Tech2 42k mileage FBMWSH 3 Owners from New £20k

Good luck!!!! :-)

Edited by 161BMW on Wednesday 22 October 08:55

e21Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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I run a 2002, an e21 and an e30 that all share daily driver duties. As long as any prospective e30 purchase is solid, there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't drive it every day. In fact, unless you're particularly worried about originality, it isn't hugely difficult or expensive to drop in a later M50/M52 engine from the e36. My old e21 had 220bhp, could hit 60 in under 6 seconds and average over 40mpg.

As well as having an inspection, by someone who knows where to check for rust, also seek out a reliable independent garage to look after it. Let us know where you are and we can suggest a few places.

Don't buy into the nonsense about snap oversteer due to RWD and semi-trailing arm rear suspension. Unless you drive like an idiot and try to invoke it, modern tyres and properly maintained geometry make it unlikely. There are also some tweeks that can really bring the e30 chassis alive.

If you're determined to buy a cabrio, make sure the hood is in good order as they can be pricey to replace. The rust issue could well be worse then also.

I would suggest either 320/6, 325i or 318is but even a lowly 316 can be fun and relatively cheap to run.

This thread covers the e21 I am building to be my daily driver once finished.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

E30M3SE

8,465 posts

195 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Some of you have no doubt seen this already,

http://www.nutleysports.co.uk/BMW325iSport-Black.h...


alane29

33 posts

114 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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This is my old E30 325i sold it a few years ago owned it for about 4 years loved it didn't use it everyday only at weekends ,the engines pretty bullet proof rust can be a problem on rear arches



alane29

33 posts

114 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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Forgot to say I sold it for £1500 and a year or 2 after the prices started going up

161BMW

1,697 posts

164 months

Thursday 23rd October 2014
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161BMW

1,697 posts

164 months

Thursday 23rd October 2014
quotequote all
E30M3SE said:
Some of you have no doubt seen this already,

http://www.nutleysports.co.uk/BMW325iSport-Black.h...

This sold for the asking price £20k

e21Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Saturday 1st November 2014
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I picked up an MOT'd and very smart looking 325 coupe the other day. Looks great, apart from one door having some rust, but solid everywhere else. Bought for £1 500 so proves there are still some relatively cheap examples to be had.