The E30 Prices Are TOO DAMN HIGH!!

[82eye]

I feel you man. It's great that these cars and many others are bringing in some cash. But I also hate the fact that people will sit on them and never drive them. Especially people who buy the cars that we love that they don't even care about, but because they are worth something. My car is meant to be driven and driving it is what I do. Drive, enjoy, break, repair, drive.

there's a bit of a rich boy's trading card phenomena hitting these along with a few others in the era.

[It's Soda Not Pop]

When I look on Youtube for e30 content I see a lot of LS swaps and drift missiles. With the rapidity of the hack jobs done on them they will soon disappear and prices will explode. People are just now beginning to think, hey, those things were really great in an analog way. People with money will bid the hell out of them. 912 Porsches used to cost south of $5k all day long. I bought two at $4k each and a perfect one for $11k. Now crappy ones are going for $30k. If you can drive the crap out of one for $11k it is worth it. Having it sit in your garage for $60k is not. I don't think e30s will get that expensive, however, they will appreciate enough to make you nervous to leave it sitting outside of a bar.

I am just going to enjoy mine and rack up the miles.

I feel you man. It's great that these cars and many others are bringing in some cash. But I also hate the fact that people will sit on them and never drive them. Especially people who buy the cars that we love that they don't even care about, but because they are worth something. My car is meant to be driven and driving it is what I do. Drive, enjoy, break, repair, drive.

[benfidar]

When I look on Youtube for e30 content I see a lot of LS swaps and drift missiles. With the rapidity of the hack jobs done on them they will soon disappear and prices will explode. People are just now beginning to think, hey, those things were really great in an analog way. People with money will bid the hell out of them. 912 Porsches used to cost south of $5k all day long. I bought two at $4k each and a perfect one for $11k. Now crappy ones are going for $30k. If you can drive the crap out of one for $11k it is worth it. Having it sit in your garage for $60k is not. I don't think e30s will get that expensive, however, they will appreciate enough to make you nervous to leave it sitting outside of a bar.

I am just going to enjoy mine and rack up the miles.

[82eye]

Entire market has gone haywire. When I was in college (2014-2015), I remember specifically looking at a '91 calypso red 325i with <150k miles about 5 miles from where I lived for 4k, but I couldn't afford it at the time having been a broke college student getting paid $11/hr.

Just 5 months ago I paid 10k for a vert 325i. I'm guessing a part of the market increase is due to people like me who would have dreamed of having these cars years ago but couldn't afford them then, but can finally do so now. I have buddies who are paying 14-15k for E36 M3's now as well when I remember seeing low mile techno violet ones go for <8k a few years back.

Great for all the people who bought their E30's years ago, but sucks for the people wanting to get into the platform now!

there isn't a vehicle on the road that hasn't seen it's ask go way north. desirable cars got hit tenfold, even undesirable and new cars have gone crazy. my boss bought a new hyundai car/truck thing and was offered 8k over what he paid to sell back to the dealer on the day he went to get it.

[82eye]

Entire market has gone haywire. When I was in college (2014-2015), I remember specifically looking at a '91 calypso red 325i with <150k miles about 5 miles from where I lived for 4k, but I couldn't afford it at the time having been a broke college student getting paid $11/hr.

Just 5 months ago I paid 10k for a vert 325i. I'm guessing a part of the market increase is due to people like me who would have dreamed of having these cars years ago but couldn't afford them then, but can finally do so now. I have buddies who are paying 14-15k for E36 M3's now as well when I remember seeing low mile techno violet ones go for <8k a few years back.

Great for all the people who bought their E30's years ago, but sucks for the people wanting to get into the platform now!

there isn't a vehicle on the road that hasn't seen it's ask go way north. desirable cars got hit tenfold, even undesirable and new cars have gone crazy. my boss bough a new hyundai car/truck thing and was offered 8k over what he paid to sell back to the dealer on the day he went to get it.

[douglascarter]

Entire market has gone haywire. When I was in college (2014-2015), I remember specifically looking at a '91 calypso red 325i with <150k miles about 5 miles from where I lived for 4k, but I couldn't afford it at the time having been a broke college student getting paid $11/hr.

Just 5 months ago I paid 10k for a vert 325i. I'm guessing a part of the market increase is due to people like me who would have dreamed of having these cars years ago but couldn't afford them then, but can finally do so now. I have buddies who are paying 14-15k for E36 M3's now as well when I remember seeing low mile techno violet ones go for <8k a few years back.

Great for all the people who bought their E30's years ago, but sucks for the people wanting to get into the platform now!

[82eye]

Orange can? You mean Fram?

no, but the lowest level purolator have the same construction. there are three grades of purolator. the lowest look similar to the fram.

edit : i've gone back to mann on all the cars, however i've heard they may now not be as good as previous as well.

more edit : the purolator can is more red than orange really. it's the one in the red box. the upper grades are still good though.

[Stanley Rockafella]

the orange can purolators are absolute garbage. the generic cdn tire filter is built the exact same way as the orange one. not recommended for anything but engine failure. there's a youtube guy who cut a bunch of different filters open to show the interior and how the better ones are built.

Orange can? You mean Fram?

[82eye]

I agree.
recently I noticed a clearout of e30 parts on Rockauto, so scooped up several spare oil filters (1.50ish for Purolator)

the orange can purolators are absolute garbage. the generic cdn tire filter is built the exact same way as the orange one. not recommended for anything but engine failure. there's a youtube guy who cut a bunch of different filters open to show the interior and how the better ones are built.

[Stanley Rockafella]

As e30s continues to grow in popularity and as the e30m3 gets further and further out of people’s reach people will start to go for the next best thing which is a regular e30. I’d say if anyone has a chance to buy an e30 at a reasonable price I’d say grab it. I’d also grab as many common places parts for e30s as you can as well as extras. I’m mean beside the car it’s self the next thing to try to capitalize of is the parts as they become nla ;)

I agree.
recently I noticed a clearout of e30 parts on Rockauto, so scooped up several spare oil filters (1.50ish for Purolator)

[ClassicE30]

As e30s continues to grow in popularity and as the e30m3 gets further and further out of people’s reach people will start to go for the next best thing which is a regular e30. I’d say if anyone has a chance to buy an e30 at a reasonable price I’d say grab it. I’d also grab as many common places parts for e30s as you can as well as extras. I’m mean beside the car it’s self the next thing to try to capitalize of is the parts as they become nla ;)

[Tom Galloway]

Part of the price is the smile you get when drive it , both yours and others.

[82eye]

positive i bought the last decent priced e30 where i live a decade ago. so so condition for 3k. kinda a unicorn here even then. no one knew anything that old bmw.
if one pops up now it's 3 for parts, 10 - 12 for similar, 15 - 18 for turn key and promises, 20 - 25 for reals. and everyone asks for reals if even a pile of dusty rust. it's all sad and kinda over.

edit : oh yeah, everyone's shitting themselves over miatas here before they're all tin canned now. which is seconds from done.

[TobyB]

an NA miata. For the same price though, I could get a 986 Boxter and possibly a Boxter S.

Yikes- you turn your back, and... boom. The 'free Miata' is no longer free.

That said, the Miatae cost very little to run, and the P- car parts can cost more than an entire parts Miata.
Just like the E90's not very expensive, but each part costs $100 and you need a thousand of them...

I remember 2012 as being the 'beginning of the end' of the E30 as a sane 'older driveable car'-
in January, I was given one, bought another for $100, and was finding all the parts in the
Pull-a-Part that I needed. By December, I was scrounging to find anything in the yards,
and was shocked when non- running beaters in Bronzit were asking over $1k on C- list.
(remember when you couldn't give Bronzit away?)

The same thing happened to the 2002 around 2006- but it was a slower price increase/
parts- car- availability decrease.


t

[e30crazie]

In 2008 I bought a 91 318is for $1300 in perfect running condition and aesthetically almost perfect. The only thing was it had 2 different type of seats (1 tan hounds tooth sport seat and a tan cloth comfort for a driver seat). Had BBS basket weaves and great tires. I did so many upgrades on that car - Vogtland springs, Bilstein shocks and struts, H1 headlights, Euro HVAC and grills, bought a pair of perfect condition black perforated sport seats ($100.00) and I can go on and on to what I did to the car. I reluctantly ended up selling that car for $3200 to buy an e46 LOL. I still wonder if this car is in circulation, I miss that car out of all of my e30's I have owned through out the years. Good times!