How much have you spent on your e30?

[naika]

I have about $5k in it since last May when I bought it, that includes new top, seats, wheels, brakes, springs/struts, and tons of other ball joints, bushings, gasket, maintenance and improvements.

[Bimmerista]

325es - Approx $5k (Parts & Maintenance) - Paid $2200 for the car

325is - I'm going to be ordering parts which will total to about $500 once all is said & done. I'm going to paint it soon too, which on the high-end should be $800. I paid $1400 for the car.

[Julien]

I think some people in this thread are either
A) Fulla shit
B) Buy all their parts at the dealer
C) don't work on their own cars..

I'm not talking about guys like criv and ufom3... but more like the guys with bone stock looking etas that claim 3k spent.

Julien

[e30love]

I have almost all my receipt.

[bmwsun]

heres my detailed list of repairs and a few mods. adding to about 6.5 to 7k at the moment
Car 325i- Gray WBAAD2309J8843663+A1 1988 274 NYL
Bought 11/18/06 Mileage 175278 $1500

Dates Mileage Items
Services
3/1/2008 184,840 BMWCCA Car Control Clinic @ Bremerton Motorsports Park, car ran amazing!
11/2/2007 182,259 Oil Change
8/17/07-8/22/07 500 mile trip to Oregon, car ran great
7/18/2007 180,532 Oil Change
5/20/2007 179,213 Cooling System flushed
Dec-07 176,000 Oil Change
2/22/2005 170,800 Oil Change
9/19/2002 ??? Oil Change
5/25/2002 160,779 Oil Change


7/27/2006 162907 Emissions Test: Passed
Repair Work
3/8/2008 185.051 Fuel Injectors Cleaned and replaced (Witchhunter Performance)
2/17/2008 184,509 O2 sensor replaced, tires rotated
2/7/2008 184,275 Water hoses replaced, Brake fluid flushed and Castrol CA 504, Stainless Steel G Stop brake lines added, Cooling system flushed
1/20/2008 183,937 Antenna Mast Replaced
1/16/2008 183,844 Drivers Door latch replaced
11/2/2007 182,259 Steering Rack, Strut Mounts, oil pan, oil pan gasket, shock mounts, Bilsten HD's, M3 springs, control arms, bushings, tie rods, p/s pressure hoses, Ireland Engineering 22/19mm sway bars (medium setting)
10/13/2007 181,990 ICV replaced with known good (manufactured 2000)
10/5/2007 181,893 Fuel Pump (replaced with known good one), blinker clicker, stress bar
9/23/2007 181,686 Fuel Filter Replaced, Air Boot replaced
9/12/2007 181,565 Distributor Cap, Ignition Rotor, Air Filter, Spark Plugs replaced
9/10/2007 181,555 T-stat, fan clutch, water pump replaced (by Group 2)
7/18/2007 180,532 Rear Brake pads, All Rotors replaced (turned)
6/15/2007 179,754 OBC light rebuilt and replaced
6/5/2007 179,414 Driveline replaced (Driveline of Portland), Guibo replaced
6/5/2007 179,414 Hood Shock replaced
5/20/2007 179,213 Heater Valve replaced
3/29/2007 178,308 4 Tires (yokohama) and 4 Rims (team dynamic racing 1.2)
3/23/2007 178,200 Carpets steamcleaned
3/15/2007 178,100 Clear plastic headlight protectors added
3/6/2007 177,931 High Beam Headlights(both), front grill replaced
2/18/2007 177,630 Spark Pug Wires replaced
2/5/2007 177,266 Front Bumper sides replaced
1/30/2007 177,064 Drivers Door key lock replaced
1/6/2007 176,585 Throttle Postion Switch replaced
7/16/2005 Wheel Straighten
11/26/2004 170,154 Front Brake Pads, Pad Sensor, Resurface front rotors, right rear axle bearing and retainer
11/12/2002 ?? Timing Belt, Water Pump, Complete Valve Job?
5/25/2002 160,779 Transmission Service
10/3/2001 158,313 Fuel Pump
3/13/2001 155,508 4 Tires
???? 155,032 4 Tires, Power Steering Flush, Trans Service
8/23/1999 147,849 Muffler
7/6/1999 145,966 Spark Plug, Dist Cap, Dist rotor, Fuel filter, air filter, half moon seal, V/C gasket
??? 133,150 Front Brake Pads, Pad Sensor, Resurface front rotors, right rear axle bearing and retainer

Maintence List



187,000 Oil Change
190,000 Timing Belt
190,000 Transmission Fluid
206,000 Differential Fluid
232,000 Powersteering Fluid
5/20/2009 Coolant

[bmwinsider]

Just Pure Luck

Well, I got lucky. Bought a car I did not think I wanted untill I saw it in person ( wife knew I loved to work, tinker, fix, and race cars so she found one for me ).It was a 1987 325is coupe with 237,000 miles . She had to drag me to the other side of Atlanta to see it, the whole time driving I'm thinking 230,000 miles what a money pit this will be. YES, I was wrong! The owner was ocd about everything working and being perfect so it was in great shape to start with for the low price of $1900 what a deal. He had some other Great cars also.!
e30s are not bad if you do maintance.
Then a car wash person drove it into a van coming out of the car wash, well they paid us I think $2800 for the car and we kept the car. spent about $900 on the car to rebuild (doing most of the work !) and later putting it back on the road. All I have left to do is fix the rear brakes and good polish ,clay, wax and detail job. I think I'll be at about $100 - 200 over all when done. (but all thanks to my wife) I do like keeping things orginal,but my 97 m3 is a different story!!!!!!

[Greekstyles]

75$ including the price of the car and oil pan i just had to buy..hahahaha it helps to have parts from other cars laying around :)

[500ke30]

$19,514.37 since August 10, 1999 for upgrades and repairs (excludes maintenance items and my up coming S52 swap)

[Kilomph]

$19,514.37 since August 10, 1999 for upgrades and repairs (excludes maintenance items and my up coming S52 swap)

lmao, 500k and counting. That's fuckin hard core.

[homegrone30]

wheels and tires $600
clutch $205
Driveshaft $450
z4 shifter $50
misc. tune up parts (belts,hoses,water pump,etc)$250
Tokico shocks and springs $300
Ellips $150
Clutch master cylinder $80
CCB $50
Stereo equipment $200
Alarm $100


Total $2435

[808BMW]

I'm gonna guesstimate I'm in the 6500-10k range.

I probably have the ugliest car vs. money spent, but most of my parts are uninstalled so that's an excuse.

[Court M3]

one day I'll get a bottle of Bombay Sapphire and a calculator and add up the costs :(

[george graves]

I bet I have the most TQ vs dollars spent (NA that is - Ely would have me beat, but he blew that motor)

So "butt fun"/"price" ratio I win.

When I'm done with my car, I'll have the most advanced e30 in creature comforts of any e30 in the world...

Sitting on about $40,000 at this point

Well, fuck....

See kiddies - that's what it takes to pull off a nice e30. Depressing right?

[z31maniac]

~$2.5k on top of the car? It already had a good suspension and set of wheels though.

But the SSR's are sold, stepping up to 17 x 8's.

About another $1k once the reman driveshaft, used LSD and short shift go in this week or next.

[ainadude]

In the 15-plus years I've owned it, I've most certainly spent more than the 1987 retail price ($27K-28K) on my car, if you include the original purchase price of $13K. Of that additional spending, I'm guessing 80 percent went toward upgrades, with the other 20 percent in maintenance costs and tires.

Even if that total comes out to significantly more than $30K, that's only about two hundred a month to drive what I think is a still a pretty nice car. And factoring in the current value of the car -- I'd like to think I could get at least five grand for it from an enthusiast at this point -- I'd have to call it a pretty good investment in transportation during my period of ownership.

From my experience, if you maintain these cars religiously and address issues before they become problems, annual cost of ownership is pretty reasonable when compared against any new car that offers a similar level of enjoyment.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.