The Pro's and Con's of buying an E30 ??

[Mustard]

quick scan on autotrader and this one took my eye

325i SE Saloon Manual, 101,300 miles, MOT August 08 and taxed to July 08. Serviced August 08 at 100,641 miles. MOT's retained from 1999 onwards. M gearlever and badge front grille. Electric sunroof, mirrors, PAS, ABS, central locking, trip computer and great BBS alloys. Ministry of Sound 10 disc CD player. Still a great drive. £1,199.




....apologises about the ///M badges

Edited by Mustard on Sunday 27th January 19:25

[Mustard]

or http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-325i-Touring_W0QQitemZ12...

[chippy17]

depending on your budget, you could try these guys, but they are expensive:

http://www.wlnautomotive.co.uk/products.cfm

[georgezippy]

Mustard said:

or http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-325i-Touring_W0QQitemZ12...

I've bought this very car. Really needs a service but basically sound, my first BMW. Nice engine noise from the 2.5 lump, adequately quick.

£950, to buy the car, service will probably set me back £100, will do much of it myself as am fairly handy with spanners, have even managed to get the dizzy cap off and accessability is very poor for this. however it's the worst bit and probably the one the car came from the factory with 19 years ago!

Edited by georgezippy on Sunday 10th February 15:21

Edited by georgezippy on Sunday 10th February 15:22

[Pedmeister]

Duckypoos said:

WoW !!! Thanks to everyone for their great responses so far .....

Judging by the input it looks like I should really be looking for a very tidy 318iS Coupe then right ? As opposed to a touring ....

Duckypoos,


I own a pristine E30 318i Tourer as a daily drive. It could not be more different from my Big Boy's Toy that I have owned for 13 yrs as a limited mileage classic-namely an immaculate 2.8i Capri. The latter has been extensively modified beneath the skin by my goodself. The engine has been enlarged to 3,000cc & I had a Turbo fitted last year producing 280 lbs ft of torque & 230 Bhp (with low boost whilst engine beds in-soon to rise to 250 Bhp )

Anyway- E30 talk! You really can't go wrong with one of these if you take your time to hunt down a well cared for car. They really are hewn from granite, they are over engineered & if looked after, will plough on for hundreds of thousands of miles. I have a number of friends who work for BMW, one is a Master Technician-he insists that the E30's are better built than modern BMW's. One friend who was a BMW salesman concurrs with this point. The M40 318i is a good reliable engine if looked after. Watch out for the timing belt though! Make sure it has either been replaced recently, or make it the first job you have done! If it snaps you are looking at a cyclinder head rebuild- £400.00p+ The top end can be a little rattley, but it doesn't cost a fortune to replace the hydraulic tappets. The difference in performance between the 320i & 318i is minimal. The 320i sounds great, but it is quite heavy on juice, the 318i will do 35+ mpg around town, on a motorway run 45+ mpg is easily achieved.

The Tourer is rarer than the saloons which are still around in large numbers.Some saloons have been subject to being pimped up with blacked out windows & gold wheels-tourers do not receive this treatment generally. I believe the tourer is a better looking car, and due to it's comparative rarity, is a little more exclusive than the saloon. Have a good look at the tourer-it is quite an elegant looking car. You will have no problems selling a tourer at all-I am regularly badgered by people at petrol stations & traffic lights to sell it.

The 318i is deceptively nippy with a good spread of torque. My car is on an 89 plate so it is pre-cat= cheaper to run! The handing & road holding is good, the car is nicely balanced & I enjoy punting it around the twisty bits when I visit The Lakes. The interior trim is as durable as rock, although the fabric seat covers can be prone to wear. Parts supply is superb from BMW, they can provide any part you want. German & Swedish parts suppliers can provide you with German made parts at considerably cheaper prices than BMW. Basically, they are manufactured by the same subcontactors that BMW use, but they put them in a box with a different label on. I just replaced the clutch master & slave units with OE parts in non-BMW boxes, for less than the price of the BMW master alone! (£78)

I was never a BMW fan prior to buying my car 8 yrs ago. The E30 changed my attitude completely. I bought it off an auto-electrician who had his own very successful business. It had 36K on the clock, it only has 118k now & it is nearly 19 yrs old! The E30 is a classic-get hold of a really nice one & you will guard it jealously! I could quite easily go out and buy a brand new BMW, however, I get so much enjoyment & pride of ownership with my E30, I'd be loathe to change it! I don't like current BMW styling-they look awful some of then IMHO. You really can't go wrong with a good E30-buy, buy buy!!

Good hunting!

Ped

[lance1a]

As above....with one exception, do NOT buy GSF rockers for the M40 motor. I have had two where the lobes on the rockers seperate from the rocker body, underneath the lobe is a pattern that looks like adhesive. The BMW parts are similar price but are solid cast units. This is what the crap one's do...

[Cotty]

Duckypoos said:

WoW !!! Thanks to everyone for their great responses so far .....

Judging by the input it looks like I should really be looking for a very tidy 318iS Coupe then right ? As opposed to a touring ....

Nope go for a touring. They were built at a tifferent factory to the coupe/saloons and as such ended up with much better rust prevention. Also the tourings were bought by more family orientated people, so are likely not to have been thrashed and the boy racer brigade steered clear of them as they were consider uncool. This has now been reversed and they are a very cool aspiring classic.

Mine isn't going anywhere

[escargot]

Cotty is quite right but it's all down to personal taste. I prefer the shape of the coupé so hence went for a 318iS.

[Buttmonkey]

Real men drive Tourer's......

[Cotty]

That really is awesome

You should post them in the "Show Me Your BMW!!!!!!!!!" thread

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