Pro's/Con's.. Should I buy an e30/e36?

[Vince30]

Let me break this down for you dude-You buy an e36, you're an instant-douchebag. Nobody even notices your car unless it's immaculately clean.

Real talk

[Mercury[BKM]]

If the OP is in highschool or a broke college kid, you're looking at the wrong car.


having a cafe racer or a bobber AND an e30 is how to roll properly imo

[87e30]

my old man said the same thing when he sold his old 2002tii for a 1987 honda civic back in the day. Till this day not only is he kicking himself in the ass but he's kicking me in the ass for being born and ultimately convincing him that he needs a more baby friendly car.

that sucks. But I'm not saying the e30 can't turn into a classic, I'm just saying at this point I wouldn't consider it one. Even in 5 years time I think my opinion will change.

[bmwstephen]

I think it may be a little early to call this a classic, but hey that's just me...

my old man said the same thing when he sold his old 2002tii for a 1987 honda civic back in the day. Till this day not only is he kicking himself in the ass but he's kicking me in the ass for being born and ultimately convincing him that he needs a more baby friendly car.

[87e30]

I think it may be a little early to call this a classic, but hey that's just me...

[mr2peak]

If you want to own a reliable classic, an E30 is a good start

[Beastolizer]

Its simple. Follow the flow chart. e30--->heterosexual,cool. e36--->homosexual,not cool.

[ChrisK]

Let me break this down for you dude-

You buy an e30, you own an instant-classic. You have a basically hand-built machine that turns heads, you can see every corner of the car, it's small, quick and well-sorted that is more mechanically oriented with simple electronics.

You buy an e36, you're an instant-douchebag. Nobody even notices your car unless it's immaculately clean, you have a better engine on a crap chassis, electronics that always malfunction and will drive you nuts, and basically more things to go wrong. You gain a tiny bit of comfort and power for a dramatic loss of style and reliability.

e30's are some of the most reliable BMW's ever made (besides the e34 535i) and will always get you where you need to go no matter how hard you drive them or neglect them(within reason). They are never perfect and you will always notice things you want to improve upon but why put more painstaking effort into a crap e36 when the most obvious rewarding experience is to fix an e30.

[87e30]

Lol. I don't see why they're a POS, unless you treat it like one.. ;)

I always thought that I just had a more rough around the edges e30, until I started seeing all of the other ones and realizing that mine was actually fairly clean. It's just - the cars are so old and so many are beat around the edges. I know several clean ones, but I know several more that are not. Just take your time looking and choose carefully (dont' buy the first one you see with out a comparison car) and you'll be fine.

[DrewSkii]

E30s if you want a slow POS.

Lol. I don't see why they're a POS, unless you treat it like one.. ;)

[InuFaye]

E30s if you want a slow POS.

[ScHpAnKy]

E36's suck, go e30 or e46

[CHIF8008]

German engineering FTW

[87e30]

face it clayton, you bought a rough e30 and you drive the piss out of it, its going to break

While this may be true, this is very common. Nor do I always drive the crap out of it.

My friend has a clean late model and he runs into problems here and there.

For a car this old, with this many features, it's going to run into problems.

I don't understand how people really think this is more "reliable" (aka cheaper to own) than a generic mid 90s japanese car...

We own these cars because we like them...

[grantlacey11]

are you really asking this question on an e30 forum....