Owning an E30. Is it worth it?...

[TimKninja]

Depends on how old you are/if your willing to work on it. None of my friends are into Old cars anymore. Nobody sees the point. Like everything old its going to need Consistant tinkering ,I probably work on mine once every two weeks when Im dailiying it 400+ Miles a week. Some people are grease monkeys at heart and some aren't.

any E30 you buy that you dont spend upwards of 5k on is gonna need work . Or you can get lucky I bought a 318is, with 270k on it for $1500, did some maitenence and put a tranny in it, and the new owner has put 40,000 trouble free ,miles on it.

Avoid anything with rust. Im still patching mine up , and Rust repair sucks

I drive it every day out of the year that there isint salt on the roads. I farking love the way it looks, the way it drives and the consistant amount of compliments I get, even tho my car has close to 300k on it and is nowhere near the cleanest E30 out there. Even if it still had the M20 in it (that had 265k on it, never rebuilt and still pulled hard) Id still be happy! Its loud, its quick, its obnoxious, its generally impractical, but I wouldnt have any car over it.

[E30Gus]

If you can afford to have a back up car, then yes.

I learned this the hard way...at least until I replaced everything. Now it is the most reliable car in the driveway.

[RocketJohn]

The BMW E30 generation, I think, is the reason America has a love affair with BMWs. The sheer amount that was sold here in the 80s solidified the brand BMW for many of us. Sporting lil tanks that are mostly analog where everything is viscerally felt when you drive them. The BMW mechs I know all say that the E30 is the best BMW ever made.

Do they need maint and repairs from time to time? Absolutely! But they have reached the trough of depreciation and nice examples are climbing in value.

If you just want an appliance to get you back and forth to work or school, look elsewhere.

But if you want a memorable driving experience when you hop in to these lil' panzers, find the best one you can in a color you can live with and don't look back.

[N2MYE30]

Stock E30's aren't worth it

Disagree. These are the ones I would buy...UNTOUCHED! The less zipties, the better.

It has only been touched on briefly on this thread but a lot of keeps me in one is the community. Be it R3V, BMWCCA, Vintage events and /or your local C&C, this body style creates conversation. I have meet/made countless friends in my 9 years in these cars. I know that if I do have a problem with my E30, a buddy or 2 is on speed dial with a quick response. A quick thread search on R3V will usually give me an answer (with some verification of course) to my problem. Even some our venders are venders are personal and have the knowledge to makes fixing E30s easier.

Get in sooner than later because these car prices are skyrocketing!

As far as E30 specific, its been grand. Ive had an E36 and E46 and it was a totally different crowd.

I find the E30 to worth it but I works for me and what I like about car culture. I am not an E30 snob but the E30 pushes most of the right buttons. :up:

[peter321]

Does a bear shit in the woods?

[mr2peak]

Stock E30's aren't worth it

[DzusFast]

Bahahaha I drive a ix all winter in a town that gets 450 on a bad year......I pass Subaru wagons all day and I'm the only car that can make it up my driveway once the snow pack builds up

Straight PANZER status

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Hahahaha....drivin' dertie yeah man!

Paid $750 for my sweet '89 cabrio. I will never sell. never, never, never, never.....you get the picture.(copy>paste x1000)

Bottom line:
ALL the people above suffer from a chemical dependency - BMW (e30 only) put a special chemical in the headliner that makes you crave it night n day! why else would someone just "sit and stare" at a 25 year old car? (Me included....)


THERE HAS YET A CURE TO BE FOUND! dude, don't even test drive one.....

[E30 Wagen]

If you can afford to have a back up car, then yes.

[DER E30]

Bahahaha I drive a ix all winter in a town that gets 450 on a bad year......I pass Subaru wagons all day and I'm the only car that can make it up my driveway once the snow pack builds up

Straight panzer status

Fixed


My answer... Yes.

[DesertBMW]

Hey
So the basic question that I want to ask is, is owning an E30 really worth it, how has your experience owning one been?

So if you could be as unbiased and honest as possible, please answer my question

E30 cars have gone up in value for the past 10 years, especially the later year coupes. E30 M3 has doubled in value in the past 10 years. Statistically as of right now you are at loss for not owning one. With more kids buying E30s just to thrash them means older guys that keep their E30s stock and nice will keep enjoying value increase over the years, better than investing in gold.

[Dirty325ix]

Bahahaha I drive a ix all winter in a town that gets 450 on a bad year......I pass Subaru wagons all day and I'm the only car that can make it up my driveway once the snow pack builds up

Straight tank status

[1fastETA]

No. Not worth it. Everyone here sold theirs.

I sold my s13, not my e30.

[///M42 sport]

I've had both my e30s for 10 years. They have gotten me through college, med school, and residency. I spend the money on maintenance and they have been pretty reliable. Sure their are things that break once in a while and I've had to learn how to fix them. For the most part I've had pretty trouble free years owning them. I should add that my e30s were from Texas so they were rust free. My advice I would be if you want to own a e30 you should also have a more modern car

[Balleristic31]

For me owning an e30 has been one of the most rewarding and diversifying experiences I could ever have. E30s have given me at least half my circle of friends, job opportunities, countless conversations, taken me to places I would have never gone, and have been and will always be a part of myself and my culture.

Having owned 5 e30s an e28 and now a pos e21, I can say that through all the headachea these cars cause sometimes, it is totally worth it.

Edit: but you have to be willing to play the game, nowadays I see tons of people try to get into the e30 but then give up after 2 weeks because they don't get what makes them so cool and special.

[ButtJuice]

E30s are for hipster fags.