How safe is the e30 really?

[TerribleONE]

my friend (more like an aquiantance, but turned into friend once i found out he had an E30) rolled his 4door 89' seven or eight times down a hill and he didnt suffer a single scratch. i never got to see it but he said it looked like a crumpled up alluminum can.

-michael

[Kruzen]

Shit, you should figure out how to calm that down a bit... My 6 with Alpina suspension was damn stiff, I couldn't even push a corner of the car down with my 210lbs on it, and I never experienced anything but a super controlled, smooth ride. Maybe your car is just too stiff!!

Well I don't have new sways or anything, its just strictly a straight suspension swap.

Maybe I5 just sucks

[Mot]

I5 in oregon sucks major ass, it's slightly better the more north you go.

[ping65810]

I think my e30 is safe for its size. My e36 seemed safe, but anytime I had an accident with it, the front bumper was useless. It just rode under everything, and so the hood, rad support, fenders, etc took the impact rather than the bumper. And the car was stock ride height, too, GRRR.
My e30 I think is fairly safe for a car of its size, tho I dont feel too safe about a side impact.

[silverblades181]

Lost control at 70 mph on sucky ass tires and slippery road, hit the curb and rolled a few times, and I'm here to talk about it with only a scar on the head. So yeah, pretty safe.

[AdironRider]

Best thing you can do is drive as well as you can. The e30 is pretty safe.

[ptownTSI]

if you are worried about it, put in a roll cage. voila, cheap $2000 car is now safer than an E500.

[Brew]

if you are worried about it, put in a roll cage. voila, cheap $2000 car is now safer than an E500.

Unless you're driving around wearing an full-face SA-rated helmet, no. And even then its probably not as safe as a modern luxury car like the E-class.

[backtrail69]

I had a roll over 318is as a parts car and it held up DAMN good. After having the front end welded on and quarter replaced being totaled previously I could still open both doors. It went into a ditch and fliped end over end on to its roof...

[Kilomph]

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392373&highlight=impact

Too bad most of the pictures don't work. I honesly don't worry about it, E30s are tough little cars.

[uofom3]

i think they're pretty tough. I do think that people should considder repacing their seat belts as a matter of basic maintenance.

[kommissar]

I got in an accident with an e30 once. I was traveling down a road with some S-turns on January 14th (I remember the date because that day sucked). It was raining and miserable out, and it was cold but not icy (about 40 degrees).

I was driving at about 35 MPH, which is below the speed limit on that particular road, because of the rain and the twisty road I was on. As I approached an S-turn, I let off the throttle and turned in. I made it through the first half of the S, hit the straight mid-section, down shifted and started into the second half of the S. I think the down shift combined with the 4.10 LSD made the rear tires lost traction, and I lost the back end. The back end swung out, and, according to the police officer who responded to the accident, I over-corrected the skid. I ended up sliding into the opposite lane and off the road.

I hit a tree doing about 35 MPH. Everything happened so fast that I only remember the front right of the car impacting the tree, and the rest is a blur. The force of the blow as well as the skewed angle that I hit the tree at forced the car to rebound backwards. It spun 270 degrees and came to rest back on the road way.

I was unharmed. I walked out of the car, took out my cell phone and called 911.

I included a picture of the car. You can't tell, but the wheel (when on the car) was pushed back against the fender well and the control arm bent upwards. I wonder how this situation would have been different with plastic bumpers?

I'll never forget this accident - it was a very depressing day. Please be careful when you are driving out there.

[shiftbmw]

I wrecked an E30 M3 at 80mph...landed backwards in a ditch. My passenger and I hopped out to check out the damage. I'd say pretty safe.

Since then(3 years ago) I've gotten a little smarter.

[browntown]

If I crash my e39 at my typical 85-90mph freeway speed, I'm confident I will walk away.

I wouldn't bank on that. Not a whole lot of people walk away from 90mph crashes in any type of vehicle. If you hit something big/oncoming/stationary etc, thats fast, and only so much a restraint system can do for you.

[ivo316]

I must stand up and defend the E30, Firstm when you look at the inside of the engine bay, you can see the crumple zones that will absorb the impact force right upfront of the windshield washer tank.

Then the engine is placed in a awy that (on impact) will not ehter the passenger area.

The hood is latched and built so it will slide up the roof on impact (it will not behead you)

and this:Weight:
2733 lbs.


Will defend you since my 1968 Falcon weighed less than my E30 with a cast iron V8, I must suppose that the E30 with 50% of the engine made of aluminum has a better structure.

BTW, do not fall for the Japanese/Korean marketing campaigns, japanese cars ARE unsafe, people that crash in a toyota yaris DIE, even with airbags, a 1000 pound car cannot take hard beatings.

http://mit.edu/mit-japan/outreach/working-papers/WP0104.pdf

Extract:

"Samsung Motor operated for 11 months, during which it sold about 30,000 cars. Each car sold was estimated to have lost the company $5,000. In 2000, Korean consumers voted Samsung’s only model, the SM5, the worst car in its class for quality and performance. The car was also named the most unsafe in collision tests conducted by the government. "Renault’s SM5 Named Worst Car of the Year", Korea Herald (29 December 2000)."

Now, I don't mean all japanese cars are unsafe, but you cannot rate safety of a small car (E30) on crash performance against an SUV, just go out and hit a Civic or an Aveo and see what happens.

Now modern cars are safer, but at high speed it makes no different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTf4qL_O_Sc