E30 325ES

Is there any reason not to buy one of these? Other than the fact that I just bought a car that I really like and my wife might seriously hurt me?
Car in question: http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/2931358496.html. I've been looking on and off at them for the better part of a decade and this one looks so cleeeeaaannnn. Why should I not buy this?

Well, what are you after?

The only 'e' car I've ever driven (an older 528e; E28?) just felt like it ran out of steam very quickly, just driving around and up an onramp. Just not exuberant.

Nothing an M52B28 swap wouldn't fix...

I just like them, they make me smile. My favorite car to drive was my '82 245 wagon and I just picked up a Mazda2, so speed isn't exactly my thing.
I just sent the listing to my wife who is out of town. She thinks it's a joke like the Bricklin ad I sent her. That's probably not a good sign.

am I wrong in thinking the ES has the head from the regular 325?

325es means ETA motor

I didn't know that there was an Eta sport....I thought the eta motor and "sport" were mutually exclusive terms........not much sport in a 4200rpm redline

The 325e is a 2.7 (efficient motor). The ES is the Sport version of the efficient motor. It's high-reving, but lacks the extra punch that the 325i has. This version with an e is more zippy in short spurts, but lack that top-end that the i has. You are in luck that it has the Sport seats, the Basketweave wheels, the front air dam, and the rear spoiler. It also has the onboard computer.

There's absolutely NO REASON NOT TO GET IT!. If the price is right, I'd jump on it. The E30 is a great driver, great visibility, aftermarket parts are plentiful, and it's a solid candidate for autocross and driving events.

Down the line, if you want more the best of both worlds, you can transplant a few M20B25 engine bits onto the E and you'll be really happy.

Good Luck!

'86 offered the "E" in a (S)port version.
in '87 the iS was offered with the higher rpm engine.

M3Loco wrote: The 325e is a 2.7 (efficient motor). The ES is the Sport version of the efficient motor. It's high-reving, but lacks the extra punch that the 325i has. This version with an e is more zippy in short spurts, but lack that top-end that the i has. You are in luck that it has the Sport seats, the Basketweave wheels, the front air dam, and the rear spoiler. It also has the onboard computer. There's absolutely NO REASON NOT TO GET IT!. If the price is right, I'd jump on it. The E30 is a great driver, great visibility, aftermarket parts are plentiful, and it's a solid candidate for autocross and driving events. Down the line, if you want more the best of both worlds, you can transplant a few M20B25 engine bits onto the E and you'll be really happy. Good Luck!

a 2.7 IS is a fun engine

The "S" just means Sport version, just like the "S" in the 325is. Sport seats, front lip, upgraded wheels, and an LSD!.

The only thing of value in the E30 is the shell and interior. If they're clean and original, NOTHING, and I seriously mean NOTHING else matters. You can change the engine to an "i" for a few hundred bucks if you find a guy doing an M5x swap. Better yet, do the M5x swap, M52 being best bang for buck - easy 200, 210ish WHP with boltons for about a grand if you get the right deal.

My E30 was always meant to be a swap car but I actually kept the e motor a lot longer than I planned, even did a track day with it. It basically drives like an ultra-modern, quiet diesel. It pulls just fine, redlines at like 5 or 5500 but you won't wanna shift much past 4.5-5. My car had 400k on it so I hoped to kill the motor before pulling it to feel better about it (since I had no interest in trying to sell it for the 50 bucks it's worth) but I couldn't... it was sitting for 2 years and fired right up when I came to pick it up (had a broken clutch). I got a cheap clutch for it, changed it and beat on it for a while, buying more swap parts in the meantime. Ended up selling the driveline for almost the price of the clutch... (which was what the buyer wanted lol)

In other words, go buy it.

Thanks for the link.... I just called and placed a deposit on it..

Really?

APRIL FOOLS!

Not cool man..... Not cool. About the only way I could make this work would be to convince my wife that she'd really love driving it to work. That way it would be her second car instead of my third. This is going to be tough. It's just calling my name though and I'm even wearing a pink polo and this car makes me want to pop the collar and put on ray bans and be awesome. Dammit.

odd.. I gave up on the BMW "Scene" due to the number of idiots at meets.. but never met anybody with a popped collar

M3Loco wrote: APRIL FOOLS!

Well played. So far, the best April Fools joke I've heard in years.

In reply to mazdeuce:

A good selling point for her is that these ETA engines get about 30MPG+ versus close to 25 on the I engine. It's an easy car to work on and a lot of online resources like http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/index.php that can help..

Good Luck and have fun!

Ian F wrote:

M3Loco wrote: APRIL FOOLS!

Well played. So far, the best April Fools joke I've heard in years.

I was trying to find a way to play an april fools joke on someone for 2 days.. Finally got the chance. Couldn't pass it up!

mad_machine wrote: odd.. I gave up on the BMW "Scene" due to the number of idiots at meets.. but never met anybody with a popped collar

In '86, this car was cool in certain circles. In some of those same circles, a popped collar would have been cool as well. I was just catching the whole vibe. In 1986 I was 11, this car was cool in the late 80's in the same time period where I was making a connection between cool cars and girls. I have some very strong associations with cars of this era.

Peg-legged pants and aviator glasses.

http://retro-motoring.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html

You're not helping!

M3Loco wrote: The 325e is a 2.7 (efficient motor). The ES is the Sport version of the efficient motor. It's high-reving, but lacks the extra punch that the 325i has. This version with an e is more zippy in short spurts, but lack that top-end that the i has.

The es has the same motor as the 325e. The "s" models never had a unique motor. There was a "super-eta" 2.7L engine with the "i" head during the last year of production (MY 1988), which afaik wasn't available as an "es". It was only available as the 325 (no "e").

HStockSolo wrote:

M3Loco wrote: The 325e is a 2.7 (efficient motor). The ES is the Sport version of the efficient motor. It's high-reving, but lacks the extra punch that the 325i has. This version with an e is more zippy in short spurts, but lack that top-end that the i has.

The es has the same motor as the 325e. The "s" models never had a unique motor. There was a "super-eta" 2.7L engine with the "i" head during the last year of production (MY 1988), which afaik wasn't available as an "es". It was only available as the 325 (no "e").

ah.. that is what I was thinking of. Thankyou