General Reliability of an E30

[mramoth]

I've become interested in purchasing an E30 3 series. I wanted particularly a convertible. I was wondering if I could learn what the basic issues would be with buying this car and one of it's age. My current car is a 2002 Audi S4. I want to sell it to get something simpler, reliable, and best of all, purer. The main question is reliability, because it will be my daily driver.

Thanks in advance!

[SpecM]

Certainly more reliable than an Audi haha

if you can work on the car yourself, then it is fine. But I know that if I had to pay someone else to work on my car... phew... I couldn't afford it.

they are general pretty reliable, for a 20-ish year old car mind you, exp if you aren't afraid to get your hands dirty

[jasonsnoddy]

i would advise having a second car for the first couple of months so you can get all the kinks worked out.

[Sagaris]

Luckily e30's have very few common problems.

The main ECU relay is known to go bad, earlier 325's (pre 88?) have head bolts that were replaced with a different bolt that doesn't break, and rocker arms breaking when the valve adjustment hasn't been looked after. The gauge clusters can have lots of issuces such as the speedometer gears stripping, gauges on the fritz, and lying warning lights. Overall though the cars were designed very well and as long as the wiring isnt hacked and parts arent worn out, you can expect it to be a reliable car.

But then again a GM fan will tell you that GM's are reliable too.

:P

I haven't had any hiccups in the 8k miles I have driven my car. This was after taking care of a ton of deferred maintenance from the previous owner Current mileage is 191k

[Jean]

As reliable as they can get.

[Quadrajet]

Like Sagaris mentioned once the ignored was addressed my cars have been quite reliable. Get a Bentley manual, they are filled with most answers to your quetions. And if you can find one get a factory wiring and troubleshooting book too.

[scottinAZ]

im gonna parrot the others and say that when the maintenance is up to snuff, they are great cars. I have put 20K on mine in the last year with no issues that left me anywhere near stranded. My car currently has almost 280K on it, so its no low mileage creampuff by any stretch

[Smatt90IS]

make sure if you get a 325 to check the timing belt. you dont wont that repair bill

[Joey Link]

I've owned six E30's I can remember, from a $1100 325e gamble off a dealer lot to a $5500 103,000 mile 325ix. While each of them had 'small issues' at the very least, not a single one has every left me stranded.

[llll1l1ll]

The E30 is about as reliable as any other 20-something year old German car. It's gonna have some gremlins in the wiring, it's gonna make some interesting noises, it's gonna leak, and it's gonna smell.

It all depends on how much money you want to spend up front, really. Get one that's in good shape for a high price, spend less in maintenance. Get one in bad shape for a low price, spend lots in maintenance. The key is to get one that's been well maintained.

However, I think only once or twice has my E30 left me totally stranded. On my first one, the clutch exploded. On my first and second the water pump gasket failed. One time my first one wouldn't start. Of course, on my first one valve adjustments were neglected and rocker arms blew - but it still ran!

They're great cars; however, you should be mechanically inclined if you choose to own one.

[audiquattrot]

Certainly more reliable than an Audi haha

+1

ask me how i know. LOL

[ZenkiOwns]

I have had a few scares in my last e30. From the lying temp gauge telling me I'm in the red when I'm really at normal operating temp, to it finally leaving me stranded one day.

Then again, the only reason it left me stranded is because I slammed the car and a manhole ate my oil pan.

I would say they they are on the more reliable side of older german cars. The e30 just made the "top 20 cars that just won't die" list. Take that as you will.

[StereoInstaller1]

You need to get 2 E30s, they like to be in pairs.

[BMWerke]

e30s have the reliability of the space shuttle columbia.

[JBird]

I just sold my 2004 Nissan Xterra to buy an e30. I've had it for about a month now, and it's been great. I love the car and it's extremely fun to drive. Of course the cluster wasn't working when I got it and we were able to fix it. And now it's not working again.