The problem with e36 is that they do have better rear suspension for tracking, and subsequently they aren't as fun or challenging to drive at the same speed as e30s. E30s are not devilish, but reward you equally for every ounce of driving effort you invest or punish for foolish assumptions. An e36 doesn't get as unsettled mid corner if your timing and control isn't as precise, which makes them faster, but overall less rewarding of experience to drive. They lack some of the engineering imperfections that form the character that e30s have. Same as the e21 felt detached in comparison to the 02. I for one don't see the e36 ever being more to an e30 than the e21 was to the 2002. Is the e21 under appreciated? Absolutely. But e36 however is doomed to the same fate of always living in the shadow of the e30 for two reasons. First being especially due to the e46 being pretty much the same price and yet overall so much better in almost every way imaginable. Simply put, it was the e36 m3's game to loose, and it lost the game in spades. It had the e30 m3's reputation to uphold so it had a massive target on its back from inception. Ultimately the e36 was defeated by the era's Supra. Head to head reviews were everywhere. Look at the prices of Supras now, the e36 was banished to the status of an "also ran". Ultimately the aftermarket screwed it over by not competing with turbos and breaking the 1000hp mark with an s50 in the 90s, not one-upping the Supra benchmarks... compounded in tandem with Bmw bastardizing the m motor from the start. So I'm not holding my breath for the e36. Especially when the e46 m3 was so much more pure of a drivers car in comparison, albeit fully modernized, leaving shade tree mechanic maintenance behind with so much tighter systems packaging and ever more plastic parts.
I do find the whole e30 valuation topic somewhat amusing now though. Originally I didn't like the price raising because it meant it was becoming more popular and I don't enjoy e30s for the fact that others also enjoy them. I like my e30s in spite of any other person's opinion. In fact I rather loath the branding purely due to the stigma it carries, people hear "Bmw" and that's what first begins to form their opinion of the car, not that it is firstly a friendly nimble fun reliable and cheap rwd sports car, but they envision the social cache.
I like e30s purely for what they are, how they are built, how they drive, how they are to work on and maintain. Its a happy spot of modernity and yet being a classic hands-on machine, no computer nannies can come to save you. no airbags will protect your pretty face. You can get manual steering racks, manual windows, no frills still in conjunction with leather bucket seats and a manual transmission yet with an obc.
At the end of the day however, a well maintained and good condition enthusiast car with as much to give in experiential rewards to its driver for around $5k is still a cheap ass car. Even at today's prices, it's a freaking bargain, independent of if you are wealthy or poor, especially if you can find the trim configurations and chassis colors that you want. What's a $1000.00 price "tax" or "appreciation" swing really mean to you for something you ultimately have no intention to ever get rid of? That's chump change when you are talking about any hobby, gotta pay to play. Most dual-hobby e30 enthusiast photographers shoot with a camera lense to make PICTURES that costs more than the e30 that they DRIVE and are photographing.
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I do find the whole e30 valuation topic somewhat amusing now though. Originally I didn't like the price raising because it meant it was becoming more popular and I don't enjoy e30s for the fact that others also enjoy them. I like my e30s in spite of any other person's opinion. In fact I rather loath the branding purely due to the stigma it carries, people hear "Bmw" and that's what first begins to form their opinion of the car, not that it is firstly a friendly nimble fun reliable and cheap rwd sports car, but they envision the social cache.
I like e30s purely for what they are, how they are built, how they drive, how they are to work on and maintain. Its a happy spot of modernity and yet being a classic hands-on machine, no computer nannies can come to save you. no airbags will protect your pretty face. You can get manual steering racks, manual windows, no frills still in conjunction with leather bucket seats and a manual transmission yet with an obc.
At the end of the day however, a well maintained and good condition enthusiast car with as much to give in experiential rewards to its driver for around $5k is still a cheap ass car. Even at today's prices, it's a freaking bargain, independent of if you are wealthy or poor, especially if you can find the trim configurations and chassis colors that you want. What's a $1000.00 price "tax" or "appreciation" swing really mean to you for something you ultimately have no intention to ever get rid of? That's chump change when you are talking about any hobby, gotta pay to play. Most dual-hobby e30 enthusiast photographers shoot with a camera lense to make PICTURES that costs more than the e30 that they DRIVE and are photographing.
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