Definitive BMW 3 Series Thread

guy I know is working on one now.. he wound up welding the rear diff to get any sort of traction

That is a tough compromise on a road racing car though because you end up making the car a straight line monster that has to be thrown sideways into a corner. You have to get the inside wheel to lift like a go-kart to get it to turn.

We are going to get out the scales, and work the trailing arm pick-up points around a little, reloc the battery and maybe the fire bottle to the right-rear... get the static balance as close to 50/50 as possible. A lot of times, that plus a huge bar on the front and re-learning when to apply the throttle can get the weight to xfer and add the traction exactly when you need it w/o the compromise of the locked rear.

As everyone here has said, e30's are great. The only downside is that you really have to be ready to deal with a 20 year old car.

Be picky in your search and find a good one. Also, do your research like you're doing now. I picked up a 325e without knowing anything, and regretted it later. It just didn't seem to have the get up and go that I was expecting. Drove an i, and that was a lot better, and led to a lot of late night research about home brew turbo setups or engine swaps for the eta.

Be prepared to spend roughly $2500. You can spend it up front for a nice E30 or you can spend it down the line on deferred maintenance items, but at the end of the day to have a nice daily driver - where all the windows go up and down, the radio works, the sunroof works, the suspension is fresh, the water pump is replaced, yada yada yada... you will spend 2500 or lots more and at the end of the day it will still only be a $2500 car.

I used mine as a DD, and didn't bother to fix all the windows - the driver's worked fine, but in the end the back seat was just too small to be a kid hauler. I will own another in the future, but this time I won't buy it on impulse and will definitely get an i or an is.

My recommendation would be slightly different: get the e30 that's most rust free, and put the motor you want in it. If you find a clean eta car, jump on it: the price is usually significantly lower, and putting an i motor in is very easy. (or an M50) Caveat: I'm in the rust belt, where rust-free e30's are unicorns. Nathan

Dont mean to sound mean, but it sounds like a late 80's 3 series is not the best DD.

I have yet to find a clean, decent mileage one around here.

Seems to have a lot of glitches.

Am i way off base?

CarKid1989 wrote: Dont mean to sound mean, but it sounds like a late 80's 3 series is not the best DD. I have yet to find a clean, decent mileage one around here. Seems to have a lot of glitches. Am i way off base?

Not off base...dead on. My E30 is in really good cosmetic shape and lots-o-fun but there are plenty of small things constantly needing attention. It's no Honda Accord; you can't get away with just changing oil, adding gas.

Good luck finding a clean one in Cleveland too. Your best bet would be to get a ticket to CA and drive one back.

that is one of the reasons I tried to steer him towards the later e36. Once you sort out any problems the previous owner did not take care of (most of them were owned by people who had no clue) they are very reliable.

Other than a fuelpump (easily accessed through a hatch in the floor) the only problem I have had with my ti has been the plastic clips that hold the windows in.

When I bought the car.. there was a LOT broken on it. Sagging headliner, broken window clips, bad bushings, bad struts, non-working cooling fan, cam sensor, it needed brakes, and both the steering wheel and shift knob had their leather peeling off... a weeks worth of work (while working full time) and I got all the problems sorted and the car has been as reliable as gravity

CarKid1989 wrote: Dont mean to sound mean, but it sounds like a late 80's 3 series is not the best DD. I have yet to find a clean, decent mileage one around here. Seems to have a lot of glitches. Am i way off base?

Not mean at all: it takes a bit of work to make it a DD. Rewarding though.

You have two of THE most favoured DD's here, and are looking for something else, what can I say? You want cheap and stupid reliable? Miata or P71. Fix the P71 if the only reason you're selling it is the mileage. Buy snow tires for the miata if you need another daily because you can't drive it in snow. It's unlikely that the e30 will be "enough" better on fuel to pay back the update/maintenence deficit it will probably have.

CarKid1989 wrote: Dont mean to sound mean, but it sounds like a late 80's 3 series is not the best DD.

Mine is a daily driver. It's not very clean at all and it has 190k miles on it, but it starts every day and gets me to work and back without drama. I did have a fuel pump fail last winter, but that's the only time it's stranded me in 8 years.

so why is it the third gen 3er seems to get such a bad rep? Maybe it is not as raw and direct as the E30... but the E36 does have better and more powerful engines, stronger and more driver friendly suspensions, and a more modern style without being worth all that much more

I prefer E36 over E30s.

While I miss my E30 (325is), I prefer my E36 M3 by a wide margin.

I'd actually pick an E36 M3 over a E30 M3 if it was to serve as a daily driver, and I wasn't concerned with collector value. The E30 M3s are great on track, but much less nice to live with than the E36 M3 as a daily.

Non- M3 wise, I prefer the E30 325is to the E36 car. The gains in comfort, and rear-suspension refinement are outweighed by the E30s more eager nature.

To each his own. They are all great cars. Find the best one you can, and enjoy.

I miss both my E30 and E36. I had more problems with the E36, the dreded coolant trail on the back of the block. The E30 was a friggin blast to drive, alil under powered with the M42, but with all the poly bushings and cup kit, it was a DREAM to drive. Plus i had a rare 4 door with no sunroof, excellent starting point for a Spec E30 racer!! The E36 just look damn awesome!! You willbe pleased with both E30 or 36.

"While I miss my E30 (325is), I prefer my E36 M3 by a wide margin."

Funny... my wife has been doing 3 hours per day commute in E30 convertibles for 6 years now. After I screwed up her first one by installing a cam that was not suitable for her commute, I tried to interest her in taking over my E36 M3 as her commuter instead.

As much as she likes the E30, she disliked the E36 that much. Says it feels 1000lbs heavier, 2 feet wider, and 5 feet longer. And after driving them back to back, except for the significant power boost, I'd chose the E30 before the E36 for anything except interstate use.

The E36 (particularly the M3) is a whole order of magnitude more complex than the E30, so while it's newer and more capable, more repairs are much more costly and outside the ability of the average owner.

And I'm apparently not alone... nice clean E30's are nowing bringing more money than similar E36's...

I eventually sold the E36 M3 but we're 150,000 miles into the 2nd E30.

One breakdown in 6 years (water pump)... average commuter mileage is upper 20's... will do 30mpg on the interstate with the hardtop on and speeds kept near the limit.

I had to replace the heater value in both cars at almost exactly 125k, bushings soon after, but that's about the extent of significant maintenance.

On lowered cars (both of ours sport H&R springs) the oil pans are super fragile... both cars had new ones (first one our mistake, 2nd one the PO's mistake) and the power tops on the 1991+ cars are not worth the trouble... so make mine a late 1990 (airbags but manual top)

Just about the perfect "modern but vintage" commuter. Bill

I will admit I am tempted by the e30.. if I did not have my fiat in the garage, I would probably get one and start working on it now. I always wanted to run M3 fenders on with the euro chrome bumpers