ABS on Touring

[cory58]

When installing the freshly rebuilt gauge cluster (thanks Bavarian Restoration!) on my 10/88 production 320i Touring, I could not find the wires for the ABS light. Strange. Put the car up on the lift and looked for the ABS sensors. Mystery solved - no ABS! Had no idea that ABS was not standard on all 6-cylinder E30s by 10/88. Crazy Germans!

Cory

[twright]

I am about to take delivery of a 1993 325i Touring. Anyone know if ABS was standard by 1993?

[Vincenze]

Do you see the yellowish connector near the coolant cap? It's the ABS connector.



Here is another car that doesn't have it.

[twright]

I found out that my soon-to-arrive 1993 Touring does have ABS. Don't know if its standard equipment.

[roguetoaster]

I found out that my soon-to-arrive 1993 Touring does have ABS. Don't know if its standard equipment.

In the US it was standard post-86, but I strongly suspect that it was optional all through production for ROW models. After all, one could even get an E36 without ABS, at least for some part of the production run.

[323i E30]

My present touring is my 4th E30, and none of them had ABS.
For what it's worth; just one of those was a pre-facelift model ('85), the rest '88 or later.

[twright]

I wonder if that's the difference between US E30's and European E30's? The US cars cam with a lot more equipment?

[roguetoaster]

I wonder if that's the difference between US E30's and European E30's? The US cars cam with a lot more equipment?

That's a large part of it, but having fewer configurations to ship also plays a part, as does the perception that the US market will always be happy to pay for those extras, even if they neither especially need nor want them. Further, BMW is sold as an upmarket brand in the US, so more seems to be expected, which is probably why we did not get capable but boring products like M40 cars, or utility added vehicles like basic tourings.

[323i E30]

I always understood that the US versions generally have all the fancy stuff.
I've never had one with airconditioning or seatbelt beeping ...or any electronic sound at all now I think of it.
Even had one with the clock instead of the tach, and no overhead panel.
Only my present one came with powered steering (swapped the engine and all that stuff though) and this same car is the only one I've had with central locking. Not remotely operated though.. :)
Also, none had powered windows.
Even though I really enjoy the spartan feel of them, I was not specifically looking for it when searching for a new E30. I do get the feeling that the above stuff is pretty standard on the US versions, especially the facelifted ones.

Don't get me wrong, because I'm sure that ABS reduces the chance on collisions and central locking is just handy. Especially when you have two small kids as standard company on the back seat.
As for the other options, I couldn't care less.

[roguetoaster]

I like a spartan car, but as I've come to learn, if I like something it's totally not what most people will like, So, until a car company decides to cater to that type of 1% I guess I'll just be content with pre-2005 models.

[restart]

My 91 JDM has ABS.