People saying that I've been screwed

[TobyB]

The fatty here is correct.

Who you callin' fat, there, puddin'hed?

hee

t

[jeffnhiscars]

This thread sure degraded. I forgot what I had to add...so must have been nuttin'...oh, I mean nothing, Sir :)

[Dirty325ix]

Spelling does count too.

Well than I'm just ferkd

And op just to make you feel better my fuel pump just crapped out on my 3000$ e30, so i cant even drive it right now.....hope that makes you feel better

[varg]

I read your first post OP, I skimmed a little bit of the responses....here is my thoughts: The e30 in any stock form sucks, the suspension is outdated, the m20 is boring without boost. I would personally have found a very well kept e30 with miles for around 5-6k and used the other 6-7k in proper, modern upgrades to make the car a pure joy.

This. Not what I would have done, but whatever floats your boat, money means choices.

[E30 Wagen]

The above quote is, without question, an incomplete sentence.

[Das Delfin]

It's so weird for me--as someone who is very concerned with the minutiae between "base" and "special" versions of vintage cars--to read reelizmpro's argument about "i" vs. "iS..." but I guess at some point he may be correct. E30s just seem different than those cars but they're definitely approaching "vintage" territory so who knows. I mean, you can make any old Lotus Elan into a 26R, but you can't overcome the ~300% markup in price by doing so. Maybe someday the E30 "i" and "iS" will be the same? I hope not, since I effectively have a 4-door iS :razz:

This is really what I want to reply to, although yes, you need to know where to properly place commas, because everyone who's been through school actually cares about proper grammar (fuck everyone btw)

On the flip side (pertaining to the quote now), I like to compare our cars to American muscle cars, because they're what I'm into etc. A matching numbers original 1968 Dodge Charger with a 427 hemi would fetch way, WAY more money than a '69 with a factory 440 or a '70 with a 440 swapped in, but at the end of the day, the swapped motor car is STILL a Dodge Charger and is still worth 20k minimum (really closer to 30k).

That being said, a lot of what we're doing to our cars here can be categorized as "resto-mod," and if you watch Barrett-Jackson as much as I do, you know resto-mod cars fetch tons of money. Who would want to hack up a matching numbers car anyway?

The point is yes, cars in great condition that came spec'd up from the factory are worth a ton of money (in which case the OP made a fantastic decision here), but cars in great condition that have been upgraded to spec are still worth a decent chunk of change. Anything that's been kept up and isn't a pile of shit will be worth something to someone. It is for this reason that I would choose that mint factory euro 316 which was floating around here over a hacked up 325i turbo.. but that's just me. I enjoy the original experience.

When you go to sell a car, you sell it to a certain audience. There will always be someone who wants to spend cash on an entirely original car, and someone who doesn't have quite as much money who doesn't care if the numbers don't match, as well as someone who just wants to have a blast. At the end of the day a bmw e30 is a bmw e30

[KIRIEIW]

People saying that I've been screwed

the reality is about 95% of remaining E30s are basically piles of shit. You'll always have somebody claim that they found a perfect E30 with low miles/1 owner/all records for $500 and that you're an idiot for paying a penny more, but if you've seen enough E30s you will know that few cars like that actually exist. Most of them have been passed around many times and have had numerous questionable repairs, neglect, trashed/dirty interiors, failing paint, poor maintenance, and lots of "mods". Not to mention the quantity with significant rust issues or accidents that weren't repaired correctly..

I agree completely with this, I looked at exactly 8 cars before I ended up with my coupe, and 5 cars before I got my convertible. Everyone these days use the word "mint" and it's really starting to piss me off because they have no idea what the meaning of that word even is. Like said above though, not sure if I'd say 95% but at least 85% of these cars seem to have been in accidents and had major body panels replaced, shit paint jobs done years ago, and leaks from front to back. Very very hard to find a good car these days. The main thing in my book is finding a clean body with all matching panels and good original paint.

[KIRIEIW]

zero fucks given couldn't care less if it matters to everyone

+1

[mexocutioner]

Rule #1 - If you're happy with it, to hell with what anyone else thinks.

I personally don't think you overpaid. It would take at least as much money as you paid to take an "average" car, go through it and bring it up to the condition yours is in. To find one in that condition east of the Mississippi is rare indeed.

If you feel left out because it's not an "IS", those bits could always be added later. You've got the important stuff - its a coupe, it has sport seats and the 5-speed. And that lovely Delphin / Black color combo. One of my favorites, but I'm biased of course.

Find yourself a set of center caps for those 15" wheels and enjoy that car! Just keep it out of the salt.

exactly. if your happy, then screw it. im in the same boat I bought mine for 5k in excellent condition, then got a nasty rod knock after 2 months (prolly got screwed) and dropped about another 5k into a new motor and install so im deep in this car, but I figure itll last and im happy (and its an auto). so screw it

[15Michaeljoseph]

I really don't mean to sound like a dick but I do agree with that 95% statistic. The bottom line is exactly what has been said here. Everybody wants something. Some people want 'mint' OEM cars, some people want swapped, slammed, cambered-out, poly-everything drift monsters. Some people want a museum piece clean car, some people actually desire a car that's been treated like a car, with all its filth... So that they can enjoy it in their own way, and make it a project.

In my personal opinion, I think you made a good purchase. There's as many pro's and con's to having an original 54k mile car as there are to having a 200k mile car, regardless of maintenance.
I like to think my iS is cleaner than 90% of e30's out there, especially for a NE daily driver. It's got 123k on the chassis, and who knows how many on the motor ("numbers don't match"), but everything is in decent condition. Car LOOKS awesome (and isn't lowered ;)) and drives incredibly.

That being said, I did a differential fluid change for the first time in the life of the car (checked in the full repair history, never saw a receipt). Does it need some other things? Sure. Bushings. Bushings everywhere. But nothing is 'broken'.

So it's all relative. But I still think you got a good deal. And it is your car.

--Mike