325es or 325is

[Thedude00]

i been looking around on buying a another e30 i came across a 1986 bmw 325es for 1500 its in great shape. how are the 325es on performance. Just wanted to get some info from a es owner.
Thanks

[long tall eta]

compared to an is they are slugs. that said, throw in a 50$ ebay chip and a 3.25 lsd diff and you will love this car to death, which by the way is a long time for an eta. with some normal maintanince these cars just don't die. oh yea, did i mention approx 30mpg. mine gets 27mpg on the road at 80mph.

[Cabriolet]

eta mpg is amazing, you cant kill the engine. the IS if for someone who values performance over mpg.

[JBird]

compared to an is they are slugs. that said, throw in a 50$ ebay chip and a 3.25 lsd diff and you will love this car to death, which by the way is a long time for an eta. with some normal maintanince these cars just don't die. oh yea, did i mention approx 30mpg. mine gets 27mpg on the road at 80mph.

I have a '90 325i and I just drove 2 hours up to Olympia, WA on I-5 last weekend and got 27mpg. I drove there and back on only 3-quarters of a tank. So my car gets about 27 mpg on the highway.

[Coujer]

I've got a 86 325e but it has a 325i in it and I love it except for my little starting issue but love it!!

[Vince30]

29 city in my eta, but I am putting the i head on it because I really want it to be faster.

[Conki]

I have a 1986 325es in great shape with a chip and a 3.73 LSD.
It's not slow for daily driving, that's for sure.

[325e10]

An E i'm finding out is great for daily driving. Won't throw you back in your seat or anything but it sure feels rock solid. I'm going to upgrade the diff and maybe get the chip. I haven't decided yet.

[Cyrix2k]

I love the etas. Chip it and it should keep up with an i for a few thousand revs, lol. The b27 & b25 are totally different feeling engines for different purposes. I prefer the b27 for a DD since it has a lot of low end torque, it gets great mileage, and they're impossible to kill. Meanwhile I'm swapping the head on mine so that I can get some more top end power out of it.

[e30trooper]

Just owning a eta for the past year , then last week got a 87 vert. Theres a big difference.
The b25 feels really sluggish 1-4k after that it pulls nuts, the b27 its power at 1500 to 5k. The eta is deff a better DD, idk about mpg cuz i could still eat up gas like crazy.
A chipped eta with a 3.73 rear end would shit on a 325i till about 80. Both very fun.

@ 325e10 , i was born in Douglasvill haha