Affording an E30? Your thoughts and knowledge needed.

[ChrisLundy]

My friend bought an escord ZX2 to drive to school and it's been great for him.
Check the front suspension, his was worn out in a few places. Parts weren't too bad.
It's no e30, but it's pretty good for a cheap FWD car. He gets better fuel economy than I do and can fold down the back seat to put bikes in the trunk.

[Heir2Air]

So I posted immaturely. My mechanic/friend did a thorough inspection of the GS and informed me that it wasn't the car to buy. So I'm going with him to inspect the ZX2 tomorrow. I think the ZX2 will be good, and for what the car is, its supposed to be a fun drive. Light weight, nice handling, good acceleration. So, we'll see how that goes on Monday.

Aside from that, I looked at an Eclipse GS. They are not Turbo and do not have the 4G63 engines. They have Chrysler 420a engines, so the crankwalk comments are irreverent.

[ChrisLundy]

The bus or the e30?

The e30. :D I'm working on the worn out parts, it has new CV shafts now.
The bus lets me down sometimes, but I don't have to be at work on time anymore.

[DIIRTY-30]

..It does have lots of worn out parts, but hasn't let me down yet..

The bus or the e30?

[coldweatherblue]

[ChrisLundy]

Ouch, I'm not sure that car is the best choice on a budget. I hear they can be expensive to maintain...

I bought my E30 while doing mechanical engineering and took the bus to school most days. It does have lots of worn out parts, but hasn't let me down yet.

[coldweatherblue]

good luck with your eclipse man...

[Heir2Air]

I actually did end up getting a car.

Two jobs, one class, and a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS. 90K miles; there were much worse ways for me to spend $2200.

[Vtec?lol]

Like others have said, if you're looking for a decent ecconobox... Look at cavaliers or their saturn counterpart. They get 30+easily and are pretty quick. most can be had for less than $1800

[mrsleeve]

^

We are a fickle bunch, dont cross us and we will give you the shirt off our backs, get on the wrong side and your life can be full of hot sauce pizza deliveries and late night calls wanting to adopt puppies.......

[Heir2Air]

Thanks for the thoughts. Those who were in similar settings truly bring light to the situation, thank you for sharing your experiences. Obviously, I need to be a BMW owner at some point in time simply for the wonderful community that it entails. Other than one or two responses, this has to be the most civilzed and helpful online community I have come accross. Way to go R3VLIMITED.

[Bimmerman325i]

If you are studying mechanical engineering, after a year or so of courses you will be able to do internships or the co-op program (take CAD immediately!!!). These will pay roughly double what best buy would pay while also giving you a positive work experience for your professional resume. $17-25/hr is pretty standard range for an internship. My freshman year first semester CAD class got me an internship that following summer, so do not put CAD off.

My advice is what I did: drive cheap reliable car until you get a better job (internship) then get a more fun car. If you plan on staying at best buy for your entire college career your resume will suffer and you wont get a fun car either. Obviously you need to know some engineering theory before going for an intern position, but after the first year or so you should be qualified enough to quit best buy and get more applicable experience. I worked internships and coops all through school, paid tuition, and bought some fun cars along the way. Get the knowledge you need to get hired on as an intern, all the fun things will follow from that.

[david2991]

I've dumped nearly 7k into my e30 while going to grad school and working full-time and it was a mistake in my opinion. If I were to do it again I would just enjoy being broke and save up for a better car at a higher price point later on. Don't get me wrong though, my e30 is probably going to be the highlight of my car ownership for the rest of my life.

[kaiser16]

We have too much in common! When I bought my 318is three years ago I used to work at Best Buy and I was going in second year mechanical engineering at University of Ottawa. I'll tell you how this worked out. First of all I have no regrets but you have to expect the e30 to take almost all your savings. For instance tuition fees cost 8000$ a year here and I live at my parents so very little housing fees, I still had some money so I decided to buy a 1500$ project car, that summer it took me 2 months and probably around 3000$ more to get it road legal. I then drove it for 2 months and then parked it over the winter. This gives you the first problem, the car is a toy not a reliable commuter. During the three years I drove the car 20000 km and it cost me close to 8000$ in parts. In other words I spent more time under the car then in it. Mind you I did not expect it to be a reliable commuter because I bought it as a soul purpose to learn more about cars. Although every time I took a trip with this car it has been extremely good on gas (better then honda civics on the highway) and loads of fun, I get a lot of attention from it. Right now it is in my garage being stripped naked, I have declared war on rust so it will take at least a month and a half before I drive it again. I'm biking an hour to work every day haha

[Heir2Air]

Thanks guys. I completely agree, get a car that is reliable and gets me from point A to B cheaply. But, there are still options in that range. For instance, started looking at a few Celicas. One of them supposedly has 103k miles on the engine. The ZX2 still seems like a good bet. Not the best looking coupe, but a coupe none the less with great gas mileage. Looking at some Tiburons. So again, the advice is sound. Get a car with under 150k on the engine that I know wont die on me the day after purchase. But, I do have some options.

Couldn't thank you guys enough for the advice given to me. I am no longer looking for an E30, so I guess we can just let this thread die a peaceful death. Maybe it will help someone else wondering if they can afford an E30.