Diving boards VS plastic bumpers aging differently?

[Staszek]

I like both and I think they both look great, but I prefer late models.

Here is why, I absolutely love chrome on classics, I feel it fits perfectly on a 2002 or say a 3.0cs, older MB's etc. The e30 is a bit more modern then those cars and the chrome while looking good doesnt create that same classic look like it does on some other cars.

I think they each have their place but I prefer the Mtech look vs chrome.

[stonea]

I used to hate the look of diving boards and was all about the plastic bumpers, but I've come around to early models. With a front air damn they actually look pretty good. I'll actually even go so far to say that I wish my 325i was a early model. I also prefer the small tail lights.

[Das Delfin]

Any time you have chrome on a car it's gonna look older and therefore more "classic." And an early car with euro bumps is probably the most "original" design of the car. The only reason I'd want to go to plastics is finding euro bumpers can be expensive.

I feel like the lackadaisical and easy look of the euro bumpers pays homage to the car's purity: the car doesn't care about safety, it's just four wheels and a guy driving it. US bumps add the weight and responsibility of someone who thinks not only about the car, but what happens after it's crashed... not something which was a concern when the car was being designed.

[ELVA164]

I'm definitely in the "early model" camp myself. The chrome bumpers easily look the most classic of the three bumper styles. I find the big ol' diving boards kind of endearing, not to mention they serve an actual purpose in parking lot bumps for daily drivers (like mine). The plastic bumpers definitely make the car look more modern than the other two designs, and I think that's the main reason people like them. They clean up the look of the car pretty significantly.

[325i Vert]

At a few recent local meets I have overheard a few conversations from various attendees about a couple side by side, early vs late model E30s. It sparked my interest as to what the actual E30 community thinks about the debate. Many of the conversations ended with some sort of agreement that the diving board/euro car have aged gracefully and looks like a "classic" as where the plastic bumpered car looked more modern and less tasteful when modified.


Do you think early diving board/euro cars are aging differently from the later plastic bumpered cars?


As an BMW enthusiast that has owned quite a few E30s over the past 14 years, I would definitely say there is a difference in how people look at these cars in today's world. Even my tastes have changed in this time. For me nowadays a simple and clean early model car with few mods just does "it" for me. I guess as I see more and more of the later cars or early cars swapped over and put on airbags and stanced it just makes me feel stronger about the early unmolested stuff. Probably a stupid thread but I wanted to hear what other E30 guys think. What do you think?