How do you drive your E30?

[Sonny]

1985 318i 5spd 105k miles.

I vowed to never redline my car after doing it 5 times for a mental motor checkup. She sounds healthy, I also ran some seafoam definitely cleared her up.
I drive her 25mph at 4th gear .
I row gears 1-3 going to 15 mph.
I go 0-60 in 30 seconds.
I want her to last forever, to never leave me stranded and never give her up, she'll be my only daily driver.

How do you drive your E30?

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[Motheye99]

My tach doesn't work so I just shift when I hit the limiter...

live life on the limiter

In serious though I've driven my m42 daily and rev it to 6500 often never had a problem.

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[sebe20]

Shifting mostly between 4k and 5200rpm
When going windy mountain roads or long straights uphill ill shift at the revlimiter from 2-4 gear.
I trust my build and foremost my engine to be up to the task.

[lukeADE335i]

I vowed to never redline my car after doing it 5 times for a mental motor checkup.

I go 0-60 in 30 seconds.

I want her to last forever, to never leave me stranded and never give her up, she'll be my only daily driver.

You need to read the e30 driver's manual :) In there, BMW recommends some "spirited driving" in order to keep your e30 in top condition. It says that after being stuck in traffic, you should find some back roads and rev the engine to 6000rpm through the gears to avoid carbon build up in the engine. There is no need to baby it once it's warm.

I've always revved mine to around 4000rpm through the gears, and make sure she gets some full throttle work / high rpm stuff from time to time - although I don't normally go past 5700rpm as that's where peak power is with the M30.

You have to remember that the block in your M10 was capable of 1500hp in the S12 F1 engine :) As my old German mate used to tell me - you MUST rev your BMW, treat her badly as she'll love you for it!

Even the M10 powered cars were designed to be driven on the autobahn in Germany. When we lived in the UK, we used to regularly drive our M10 powered 318i at 85 - 95mph on the motorway (the roads didn't used to be well policed, and no one cared much provided you kept under 100 mph).

[varg]

I average 16.75mpg. How do you think I drive it?

[roguetoaster]

I average 16.75mpg. How do you think I drive it?

Like an angel, always below the speed limit? ;)

[e30austin]

The only car I care to drive fast and hard is my red 330is. You guessed it, 6800 almost every shift. Makes lovely noises, why would I bother shifting earlier?

[nando]

3rd gear by 15mph? 30 seconds 0-60? Was your last car a Prius?

You're honestly probably doing more damage to it lugging it like that than you would just driving it the way it was meant to be.

[roguetoaster]

I have E30 made 11s in my driveway, so that might indicate how I drive, slow, and at the rev limit.

[Reichart12]

Wow OP is a grandma

[Sonny]

3rd gear by 15mph? 30 seconds 0-60? Was your last car a Prius?

You're honestly probably doing more damage to it lugging it like that than you would just driving it the way it was meant to be.

Oh no I'm just afraid the car would die. I want to keep her on the road forever. I have plenty of friends with sport cars and most of them screw there transmissions up fast in about a years time. I just felt obligated to drive her slow since she is 25 years older than these sport cars that snap there transmissions so quickly.



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[Sonny]

Wow OP is a grandma

So I can drive her a little harder without a need to worry if she's gonna be around 20 years later?

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[Sonny]

E30 is zen. I love this community!

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[roguetoaster]

So I can drive her a little harder without a need to worry if she's gonna be around 20 years later?

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No, you should only drive the car harder if you are capable of doing it without breaking your vehicle.

If you have friends who break transmissions in one year they are probably fools, don't be them.

[nando]

Oh no I'm just afraid the car would die. I want to keep her on the road forever. I have plenty of friends with sport cars and most of them screw there transmissions up fast in about a years time. I just felt obligated to drive her slow since she is 25 years older than these sport cars that snap there transmissions so quickly.



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LOL, you're not going to break the transmission with an M10.

Why would it die? it's already 35 years old..