eurospec e30s aren't worth it.

[victor_300]

AFAIK a lot of them are banged up and unmaintained.

it isnt true, here in Spain are a huge community of e30 fans and usually the e30 owners keep it in mint conditions, but if you want to buy a bargain you will buy a piece of shit, e30s in good conditions have a high price and specially e30s that had been sold in Spain, e30s that had been imported to Spain from Germany, France etc are less in demand

also, talking about the thread, in my opinion is not worth it to import a euro e30 to the US, like is said before US spec e30s usually come with 13 button OBCs, cruise control, etc...items that here in europe are rare,maybe if the e30 is something special like a hartge or an alpina is worth it

for example, in my case, i have a 325i and i am searching in ebay.com to buy a cruise control kit from the US because here in Spain is quite imposible to find one

PD: a pic of my proudly Spanish e30

[Scywrath]

Italy has a lot of rust free cars. as does spain

AFAIK a lot of them are banged up and unmaintained.

[pandaboo911]

Damnit guys quit driving down the price of my eur0 p4rts.

But really though most euro e30 are option-less 4 banger rust buckets, while US spec e30s are optioned out, leather interior luxury cruisers.

[Julien]

Julien, for the most part, you have a point. At 30yrs, a vehicle deemed in original(and naturally, safe, serviceable, and aesthetically-pleasing)condition can get 'H', or Historic plates, they're known to the Germans as 'Oldtimers'. The tax & insurance are cheaper, but not many Germans don't want to drive them even on a limited basis.

I would say that those who 'find' those e30's on very good or better condition, are in the know. Mostly they trade hands to other enthusiasts long before being put on sale to the 'general public'. Partly b/c the general public would scoff at paying the proper prices for such e30's, and enthusiasts don't really want them to fall into the wrong hands.

You're conclusion is actually a little superficial, go look on Mobile.de, autoscout24.de(there is an english option) and see what 'proper' e30's go for over here, it's getting a bit ridiculous but they're all getting nearer to the 'Oldtimer' status l mentioned before.

BTW, check the iX's too



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Agreed,
I was just driving the point that a you typically won't easily find cheap decent quality e30s anymore in europe. They are either historic/enthusiast grade or they're rolling basketcase 320i with mismatched headlights (one smiley, one non), barum tires and 600k km on the clock ;D

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Yup, i bought my 323i from the Original owner, who bought it in Spain as a student, in 83, and drove it until 2011ish when it dropped a valve and busted a piston. Its pretty much 100% rust free(just battery tray is a little rusty. and i got it for a good price. Euro spec is good if you either know what your getting into and get it for a good price, or in my case, have every receipt since the day it was bought, and its rust free, and good price.

Pics?^^

[markt51]

Yup, i bought my 323i from the Original owner, who bought it in Spain as a student, in 83, and drove it until 2011ish when it dropped a valve and busted a piston. Its pretty much 100% rust free(just battery tray is a little rusty. and i got it for a good price. Euro spec is good if you either know what your getting into and get it for a good price, or in my case, have every receipt since the day it was bought, and its rust free, and good price.

[totheredline]

Italy has a lot of rust free cars. as does spain

[Scywrath]

Any car from a northern european country will be rusted.

...an e30 that originated in Germany and was imported to another european country in the 90s when it was a few years old. That is sometimes an indication it was wrecked/rolled back odo

This perfectly describes my car. It is now on rust repair for the second time, having the practically non-existent sills replaced. It is a '87 exported in '91, being a (possibly rear-ended) 325e from the rear seats forward and a (red, repainted poorly) 325i from the rear seats to the back. When I was rear-ended, the insurance inspector told me the only surface with factory-spec paint thickness was the left rear door.

Also where I live, it is common for people to pay the inspection guys off, so many cars will stay on the road until they fall apart for some reason...

[petrolhead]

Quite a few "interesting" statements in this thread.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Like I said euro e30's are 100% worth it given the fact that you know what your getting into. The point of a euro e30 is to not have your run of the mil e30 but to have something completely different.

[MikeDE]

Julien, for the most part, you have a point. At 30yrs, a vehicle deemed in original(and naturally, safe, serviceable, and aesthetically-pleasing)condition can get 'H', or Historic plates, they're known to the Germans as 'Oldtimers'. The tax & insurance are cheaper, but not many Germans don't want to drive them even on a limited basis.

I would say that those who 'find' those e30's on very good or better condition, are in the know. Mostly they trade hands to other enthusiasts long before being put on sale to the 'general public'. Partly b/c the general public would scoff at paying the proper prices for such e30's, and enthusiasts don't really want them to fall into the wrong hands.

You're conclusion is actually a little superficial, go look on Mobile.de, autoscout24.de(there is an english option) and see what 'proper' e30's go for over here, it's getting a bit ridiculous but they're all getting nearer to the 'Oldtimer' status l mentioned before.

BTW, check the iX's too



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[Pete_E30]

Exactly this. LHD sucks over here and RHD would suck over there. Converting the E30 to RHD ruined the feel of the brakes with funky ass linkages and threw off the Left:Right weight distribution too. When E30's were new and being raced in our local touring car events, they were indeed LHD.

Only good thing about Euro E30's over USDM models is the aluminium engine mount arms and no ugly bumpers/trim.

I've never understood why BMW occasionally takes the worst route to do things. Case in point is the 325e cooling system. Why use 2 hoses when you can use more. While you are at it, make your radiator fill cap of a different plastic to the expansion tank that you fill the radiatore with and then go mad bleeding. None of your "fill the radiator through the radiator" rubbish thank you.

The RHD conversion is as bad. Nissan made their cars modular so that the body would take Right hand drive and Wrong hand drive by adding a covewr plate for the un-used side in the 1970s or Honda simply made two center sections - one for RHD, one for LHD. BMW: Nope, we'll make a new dashboard and steering system but lets use linkages for that not so important brake system. Because: Bavaria :D

Much as I love my E30s - I'm not convinced that BMW is always sane - that or they gotr a dose of the British Leylands now and then.

[lgb240]

I read through this entire thread with great interest ... I have an e30 touring that I bought about 8 years ago. It was a German import to the west coast of Canada. I bought it in Vancouver and had it shipped to Southern Ontario.

It seems to differ from all the negative generalities of the first post ... it's rust free (including tail gate, rockers, wheel wells) fully loaded (working a/c, all power windows, locks, mirrors, cargo cover, dog net, ect, ect only options it didn't have were heated seats and cruise) and low miles (it had less than 150,000 km when I bought it)

I think the difference is that I bought it from a person who actually bought it in Europe, used it there, then brought it home with him. It wasn't a broker or flipper or shady used car hack pushing sh1t.

There are great, well equipped and properly maintained Euro cars out there. Like buying any domestic market car, you have to sift through the crap to find the good ones. Best of luck ...

[Hooffenstein HD]

no it's not, RHD is retarded in a LHD country, just like LHD would be lame in a RHD country. Especially with german cars that were never designed to be RHD in the first place.

Exactly this. LHD sucks over here and RHD would suck over there. Converting the E30 to RHD ruined the feel of the brakes with funky ass linkages and threw off the Left:Right weight distribution too. When E30's were new and being raced in our local touring car events, they were indeed LHD.

Only good thing about Euro E30's over USDM models is the aluminium engine mount arms and no ugly bumpers/trim.

[mr2peak]

Right hand corners with a wall on your right is just plain scary, very limited visibility around the bend. Think canyons, hillsides, etc. Scary to commit to a corner when you're tucked way on the inside.


Having just done 100 quick miles in a RHD car, I would never recommend it. Cool for the novelty alone, actually driving it sucks.