E30 BMW M3: Most Overhyped Classic? - AFTER/DRIVE

[pwagon717]

but the S52 is so much fun in the E30 M3

[fronton]

I also agree with not ripping out the s14 unless its to put in a S38

Aye tend to agree. I guess this is a bittersweet time for the e30 M3. As it gets the recognition it deserves, it turns from awesome driving value to awesome parking value.

[reelizmpro]

but the S52 is so much fun in the E30...(does it have to be an M3?)

I have driven several E30's in my lifetime...the fastest/best overall was a DM E30 M3 S14 2.5 making 280rwhp. Not even my turbo car compares. Sure you can always throw more HP into the car but that's only part of the equation. S50 swap is awesome in any E30 for a reliable drop in upgrade but 250-260 reliable HP can be attained from the S14 as well with the benefit of original engine, lighter weight/balance...of course the con is the cost of parts. I will just say, you don't have to pay crazy prices to get the same parts if you know what you're doing.

[bimma360]

^ you have to understand something magical ,mythical ,amazing about a car that does not have to be huge HP to just make you love it!!!!I love fast cars ,I love the never ending need for speed.the e30 m3 satisfies me in a way no other car has even if the other car had 500hp!This might be one the most special things about this car.Just all put together in one little package.The high revving beautiful sounding s14 .the feel when you drive it.Funny you are hauling ass in this car at the stop light .It is a little taste of what the race car drivers must feel every day I step in the drivers seat.it is just true love for me I plan to be cremated and put in the gas tank:)

Oh don't get me wrong, I agree with you whole heartedly. My old e30 was an '87is with a bunch a boltons, a full suspension upgrade, and a 4.1lsd. I LOVED driving that car to death and regret getting rid of it every single day. I have realized that to me, especially for an e30, high HP doesn't even matter. Which is why I have since ripped out my Dinan Turbo and plan on selling it.

But yeah, I guess that is why I was saying I am really not a true e30 m3 enthusiast. If money wasn't an issue, I'd have one and drive the hell out of it. It would have a place in my life for sure. But for what they are going for these days I would personally be just as happy with a modded m20 325i. My biggest mistake, was when i bought my current car instead of holding off for another 6 months to a year and picking up an M3 back when the 15K rule still applied. I have spent as much on my current e30 as M3's are going for now.

What's wrong with youngsters? Its not like all of us go around slamming our cars to the ground, a lot of us have tons of blood sweat and tears into our cars and trying to make them nice, I don't think any of us younger guys love our e30s anymore or less than older members do, I am a bit happy that prices have gone up in my area though even if it is for purely selfish reasons

Nothing wrong with you guys. I was generalizing, and as you mentioned not every youngster is the same. I don't really consider myself part of the older crowd either as I am 29. But I've been in the e30 game since I was 16 or 17, and have watched it evolve into what it is to day. Not even saying what it is today is necessarily bad. I think its cool how people go about expressing themselves with their e30, and for the most part I try not to judge. I am just looking forward to the e30 maturing a bit. And that WILL happen as they get more expensive. Then again I have this romanticism about the e30 a lot in the same way much older guys have with cars from the '60s. And I may be crazy for that, so what do I really know haha.

[Herr Faust Schinken]

Nothing wrong with you guys. I was generalizing, and as you mentioned not every youngster is the same. I don't really consider myself part of the older crowd either as I am 29. But I've been in the e30 game since I was 16 or 17, and have watched it evolve into what it is to day. Not even saying what it is today is necessarily bad. I think its cool how people go about expressing themselves with their e30, and for the most part I try not to judge. I am just looking forward to the e30 maturing a bit. And that WILL happen as they get more expensive. Then again I have this romanticism about the e30 a lot in the same way much older guys have with cars from the '60s. And I may be crazy for that, so what do I really know haha.

first off that was very eloquent response, yeah i get what your saying and i think i get what your saying i think most of us don't want to see e30s become the next honda craze and i know theres some very well built hondas and some nice guys in that community, but for the most part i really hope the bad shady aspects and people from that community. My e30 is my first car and I'm really happy, i bought mine a while back when they didn't go for as much as they do now. i have noticed sense buying my e30 i have been listening to a lot more 80s music maybe thats the romanticism your talking about.

[BlackbirdM3]

Will ..

your comment made me think ...post 74..thats a significant era of bad cars, post 74...

but here are a few..

MB 500E..built by both MB and Porsche

e28 and e34 M5....



some 911 variants...78-98 to start...sc, carrera, 964, and 993....

anyhew.....I never have fallen in love w/ the e30M3......Ive only driven 1..and it was very rough. But they do always seems to leave me on a track...lol

I picked '74 simply because that is the emissions cutoff in California. I can't think of a single '74 model year car I'd really want. I'd love an E9, but an early 3.0CS, I'd rather have a '69 Alfa GTV not only because its rare, but because its lighter. I guess I should have said after '71. After '71 cars started getting heavier, and getting seriously choked by emissions. There were still some really cool cars in '71 (240Z, 3.0Cs, 510, Alfa GTV, ect.)

I would like an E28 M5, the E34 does nothing for me. Yes, I'd be interested in a 2.7 RS or RSR (yeah right hahahaha). I could have bought a 930 Porsche, but I went for the M3 and don't regret it for a minute. Honestly its about the closest thing to driving my Datsun from a driving standpoint. The M3 isn't nearly as raw (for me its downright plush) but the feel is close. I can't say I've driven a standard E30 much, and certainly not a tuned one (I know a guy who has a very well sorted one who just wipes the floor with me, but he is also on Hoosier R compounds, and Im on RS3s. On R compounds my M3 should be able to close the gap pretty easily.) The major difference between the roadster and the M3 is that the M3 is SO much easier to drive at the limit, not to mention doing a 300 mile drive.

After putting close to 25K miles on my M3 since December 2011, I wouldn't change a thing on the car. Sure, 15 more hp would be great but its not needed. It does everything I ask it to without hesitation. Sure, stop and go sucks, but stop and go traffic in any manual transmission car sucks. Freeway cruising is nothing to write home about, but there shouldn't be anything to get excited about. Freeways are highspeed usually straight, and boring. Backroad highway driving, hell yes. I guess the only real things I can complane about are the power windows (would rather save weight and go with manual ones any day of the week) and the sunroof (although I have it cracked nearly all the time. I'd still rather have less weight up high, and the better rigidity of a solid roof.) The A/C I can take or leave, currently mine doesn't work, and I haven't bothered to figure out why (its not worth the effort) The cockpit layout is hard to beat, the visibility out of the car is excelent, and it totally lacks any frivolous fluff (the part I like the most). The car has no distractions, so my attention is always on driving the car and nothing else. (The way it should be.)

I could have bought a lot of different cars when I bought the M3, but only the M3 really captured my imagination (just like it did the first time I saw one in 1988. When I first saw one as a kid, I was mesmorized by it. I wanted one back then, and 25 years later I got my chance.) Heck, everytime I'd go to the Monterey Historics, I'd spend most of the morning looking at all the M3s in the corrals, and I'd take a pic of each and every one. It took loosing a pretty special car to get mine, but I think I have to admit, I enjoy driving the M3 more than I enjoyed driving my '69 Alfa GTV. (I'd still love to have the GTV back.)

Will

[bigdrick323]

Wish i had one..... :(

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[Holland]

The guy said the m3 is more "balanced" than the standard 325. I hope he wasn't comparing it to a stock 325 because that is totally inaccurate. The suspension is fucking identical, minus the front sway bar mount. The only difference is the spring rates.

I don't see anything wrong with replacing the s14, it's expensive and slow

Also they seem like total hipsters, and I quote, hipsters ruin everything.

/rant

As long as it means I can get a decent S14, then the people swapping them are fools.

Some people identify an M3 by the box flares. I identify an M3 by its heart.

[reelizmpro]

To touch on that a bit...the m3 is known for its engine. They could have put in a 2.7 liter I engine and been finished but created the s14 instead. It was the best thing they could have done for the car from a racing perspective. The m3 was a balanced package, just the right amount of everything and the engine of course is a big part of the equation. Some feel, it was the most significant.

If u take a 84 325e s50 and 88 m3 s50...will they not drive the same? Provided the suspension is more or less the same? Of course, so why take the m3 and ruin a classic car known for its engine? Because its an m3 and looks cool?

[VadGTI]

What I find most interesting is the fact that of the big 3 front runners in DTM,WTCC ect from back in the day the M3 is the most valuable even though it was the middle priced car (between the 190 Cosworth, and the Ford Sierra Cosworth) The 190 was what, $80K new? Now you find them for $10-15K if not less. The Sierra is pretty rare and obscure here in the US (unless you call it a Merkur XR4Ti) so I'm not even going to consider it. Even so, an XR4Ti can be found racing 24 hrs of Lemons.

Yes, an E30 M3 is not cheap to keep on the road, but no limited production performance car is.

Will

The XR4Ti is completely irrelevant, being one the same level as a regular E30. In order to make a proper comparison, you need to compare to a Cossie, which will sell for as much as an E30 M3. I've seen clean Cossies selling for upwards of $40k.

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[N2MYE30]

I'm probably one of the few that do not have owning an M3 on my bucket list. For the type of money the are commanding, I could think of a few cars to get instead. I've driven several and have pasted on a few. I'd rather a 2002 M2.

[Alpina]

I also agree with not ripping out the s14 unless its to put in a S38

As an owner of a E30 with the B38 engine i agree,, why ?? because these engines are from the same era as E30,,E34,, E28

M30,, M88 etc etc,, thats why ,,

the M/S 5x series of engines are very good.. but for me i like the older engines a lot better

I am not saying they are better....

ALPINA molded in a M30B35 at 261 hp in to the E30 M3 body and outperformed the E30 M3 ,,as stock,,,,, in i think most every possble way you can imagine ,, even on Nürburgring Nordschleife it totally outgunned it ((even to my big surprice,, i always thought the opposite))

The bigblock IL 6 is longer ,,,yes but a 3.6 or 3.8 24v semi race IL6 is a hell of a engine in to the E30 body,,,,,,, and suits the character from this decade

[coldweatherblue]

An M3 w/ an s38 is preferred over an m/s5x but still not true to the car's original character. by all means, do what you want to your own car, I don't even own one.. of course a factory original Alpina E30 M3 body w/ s38 is completely amazing, but jmo the BMW-produced E30 M3 should be powered by an S14. If you want more power the ideal solution is a 2.5 liter refresh.

[Van Westervelt]

I wouldnt take out the s14. I would rebuild it with a 2.7 bottom end. Mmmmm.

I am on the fence about owning one. I'm not awestruck by them, and having driven many prepared e30s with swaps, I cant say that I am missing much other than the sentimentalism.

I do see and agree with the price increases. BMWs were much more timeless in that era. You get into a 190, and then an e30; the e30 feels and looks newer.

I will always have an e30, but I may add an m3 as an addition, not a replacement.

[Jean]

M3 was made to be a race car, so the stock engine isn't really a very good DD engine...It makes me laugh at people that get their panties in a bunch over an engine swap....it's their car, they do whatever they want to it anyway. It's not like they are cutting the e30m3 shell and making it into a pos-drift-truck.