Wednesday 14th March 2012

You Know You Want To: BMW E30 M3

Harris ponders the question: chase the rare bird or enjoy the cheaper delights of its more common brethren?

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Minter or shed?

This is the nucleus of the used car adventure. We trawl the classifieds for hours, but the one question that will never, ever be fully resolved is the eternal debate between greater expenditure on perceived perfection - and a corking deal on imperfection because your expert eye spots an easy fix.

This brings me to the E30 BMW M3.

Sport Evos now nudging £50K - worth it?

Prices of collectable M3s are just beginning to creep into previously uncharted territory, or should I say asking prices are doing this because I can't verify any actual transaction prices. Later Sport Evolution, or EVO 3, or 2.5 cars - whichever you call them - are into the high-50s now. Is it deserved? Hard to say no. It's the most famous high performance BMW, there were only 600 built and I must have seen 10 totaled with my own eyes at the 'ring in the past decade. So there aren't 600 left.

A step rise in values of the real catch often leads to attractive disparities between the best and the average though: is a 2.5 really worth £40K more than a UK-supplied 1987 2.3-litre car? If you're looking to tuck it away and watch the value increase, it probably is. If you're going to drive it, the answer is no.

You Know You Want To ... you sure Chris?

In summer 2010 BMW held an event celebrating 25 years of the original M3 at Ascari race resort in Spain. It just laid out every possible example of the car and let you head off onto the Ronda road for a blast. Tough life, and all that.

I learned four things that day. First, the new E92 M3 GTS was way overpriced. Second, I want an E30 M3 cabrio, but am too ashamed to admit as much. Three, Bill Thomas, formerly of Top Gear magazine and now editing Wheels in Oz is highly amusing. Four, the 2.3-litre car is actually sweeter than the Macdaddy 2.5.

This last point was a shock. As a nipper I'd read about the 2.5's added power, but on the road, the best version I drove was a 200hp, non-cat 1986 model on 15-inch wheels. It provided the most authentic E30 experience. The steering was just delicious, the grip/power wrangle was only just settled in favour of the engine and it felt fantastic.

One to enjoy rather than tuck away

Of course there is always the possibility that this just happened to be a better example than the others, but I thought the 2.5 motor was much coarser, less willing to rev, and the extra grip on wider 16-inch rubber killed most of the playfulness.

And reminding myself of all that, I look at a £16K 2.3-litre car like this one, with a few bubbly panels and think 'you know what?' That suddenly looks cracking value next to a Sport Evolution. There might be £3-4K of stuff to sort, but you're still left with an icon at a fraction of the price of the one everyone's talking about.

And I think we all agree that the E30 has reached a stage where values are now only going one way.

When it comes to E30 M3s, I'm inclined to say shed. Well, older and not special-edition anyway.

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BMW M3 2.3 (E30)
Price: £16,250
Why you should: Prices, sorry, values can only go up
Why you shouldn't: An investment that will require some further investment

 

 

[mig25_foxbat2003]

This is my "achievable dream" car - not a pipe dream like a 599 or a Zonda, but something which cheers me up when I'm having a particularly tough day at work. One day, I will have one of these. And I will daily-drive it. And it will probably be a bit scruffy around the edges. And I will not care.

One day.

[Garlick]

I was lucky enough to spend a few days with an E30 M3 a few years ago. Always liked the looks and here it is with my old S2 (The TVR is lurking behind that wall)

[rossmc88]

I've got a mint 318IS tucked up in my garage for in 10 years time when the prices go mental - mk1+mk2 escort style

[Krikkit]

Beautiful cars, definitely worth picking up and enjoying now before prices start going north again.

[Itsallicanafford]

...I have nothing to gauge this on but would have thought that both the 2.3 or the 2.5 would be slow next to the latest breed of Mega hot hatches...so why not go for the 2.3 and enjoy it for what it is by booking half a dozen track days a year and have a blast instead of wrapping up a 2.5 in cotton wool afraid to risk your investment...

[g3org3y]

Depends if you want to drive it or polish it?

I can see the appeal of either tbh but I'd say I'm more inclined to side with the former. There's something rather cool about a well used dirty example with slightly scruffy bodywork but bang on mechanicals.

[PaperCut]

rossmc88 said:

I've got a mint 318IS tucked up in my garage for in 10 years time when the prices go mental - mk1+mk2 escort style

I like your thinking. Tempted to do the same with an immaculate 156 GTA and wait till they double in price - could happen!

[garypotter]

A very good friend of mine bought an evo 1 in grey several years ago for £7k, used it for 3 yrs then put in a garage to strip, found the Scuttle was rusted through so sold it as a shell and box of accessories to a dealer for approx £3k.
The dealer stripped the car even further all new original parts and we saw the car for sale 6 months time at £20k....... but it was mentioned that the dealer had spent £16k on parts and labour so he was not getting much profit. wether that is the correct sum, not sure, but my friend had a list of parts that was used and he did believe that to be correct.

A great car in its day, limited numbers so has the rarity but £50-£60K with no race pedigree hmmmm not one for me. If I had the E30 M3 I would want to use it.

[paranoid airbag]

Krikkit said:

Beautiful cars, definitely worth picking up and enjoying now before prices start going north again.

+1 one of the best designs BMW has ever produced. Makes the 1M and M3 look so... pantomime and overwrought. It's just perfect.

[Chris Harris]

Just found some pics from that M-day back in 2010

This is what we were greeted with.



This was the little 200hp, 15in wheel car. Absolute honey.

[Nors]

garypotter said:

A great car in its day, limited numbers so has the rarity but £50-£60K with no race pedigree hmmmm not one for me. If I had the E30 M3 I would want to use it.

No race pedigree????? In John McEnroe's words - YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!

E30 M3 was a touring car ledgend.

Agree though, classics should be used! Obviously though, collector ones with low mileage will usually be locked away.

[V12 Migaloo]

Loved the E30, a car from the era when BMW only understood understated elegance, not bling like todays cars

[Hellbound]

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3690831.htm

I actually think that's cheap!

Saw a clean boggo 2.3 M3 with 40k miles go for £14k last year. You don't have to go for an absolute shed, just bide your time and choose carefully.

[E30M3SE]

garypotter said:

A great car in its day, limited numbers so has the rarity but £50-£60K with no race pedigree hmmmm not one for me. If I had the E30 M3 I would want to use it.

in fact have another

[g3org3y]

garypotter said:

A great car in its day, limited numbers so has the rarity but £50-£60K with no race pedigree hmmmm not one for me. If I had the E30 M3 I would want to use it.

[E30M3SE]

Hellbound said:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3690831.htm

I actually think that's cheap!

Saw a clean boggo 2.3 M3 with 40k miles go for £14k last year. You don't have to go for an absolute shed, just bide your time and choose carefully.

They were trying to sell that last year and obviously didn't it's been on sale this year for a couple of months, there's a reason why it's not sold.

[RLK500]

So true about the big wheels killing the experience. I dallied with a set of 8 x 15's on mine for track use and while it gripped like a very grippy thing it killed the sensation of balance. One of the best experiences ever with the car was on little wheels with sticky tyres, summer evening at Donnington, deserted track, drifting out of Redgate down through the Craners, lap after lap.....heaven

[johnpeat]

mig25_foxbat2003 said:

This is my "achievable dream" car - not a pipe dream like a 599 or a Zonda, but something which cheers me up when I'm having a particularly tough day at work. One day, I will have one of these. And I will daily-drive it. And it will probably be a bit scruffy around the edges. And I will not care.

One day.

It gets less likely by the day, of course, as values on these are climbing fast (and the cost of keeping one is climbing faster).

Almost everything under £15K (and most under £20K) is a shed to some extent (at the very least they're just waiting to bork you) and the more desirable examples (rarer models or cars with more recent work done) are at silly prices and holding.

A few people still use these regularly (I was really pleased to see someone backing one out of a garage recently) but most will be tucked-up and polished and not used all that much.

I believe some parts are quite rare too - which means that any cheaper cars will probably look better value as parts and that only leaves the garage queens...

[marcosgt]

Nors said:

garypotter said:

A great car in its day, limited numbers so has the rarity but £50-£60K with no race pedigree hmmmm not one for me. If I had the E30 M3 I would want to use it.

No race pedigree????? In John McEnroe's words - YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!

E30 M3 was a touring car ledgend.

Agree though, classics should be used! Obviously though, collector ones with low mileage will usually be locked away.

Do you think he may have meant that non-racing cars seem expensive at that price, rather than the M3 as a model has no racing pedigree?

If not, what was he thinking!

M

[Strawman]

These are now at an age where they can look superficially shiny but have a lots of hidden rust areas you can only see properly when stripped.

A good thread on a rebuild here