What made you want an E30????

[JAM]

ive always loved the way they looked. once i test drove mine, i knew i had to have it. sold my jetta vr6 ubher cheap to a friend to get the rest of the cash i needed to pick it up

funny story, a friend who has been moding, driving and building hondas and dsm's all his life (he owned a mainly dsm repair/build shop) sold his buell because his dd truck died. with the money, he bought 2 cheap cars- a 2nd gen dsm spider eclipse gs and a 89 325i. he had planned on flipping the e30 and keeping the spider but after driving the e30 he changed his mind. the spider is now for sale lol

[bergie_318is]

the father.. definatly the father

[m3_eater]

In 1994, I built/installed an incredible car stereo system in the car I had (not a BMW), and six months later a guy I knew decided he loved it so much that he just HAD to have it. He offered me blue book plus the cost of the stereo, and I couldn't refuse. I went to an auto auction looking to buy one of the Diamondstar AWD turbos (Eagle Talon Tsi, Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX), and saw this off-lease Cirrusblau 1989 325i 5-speed with houndstooth cloth interior. I decided to pick it up, and using the "angry bidder" technique my other friend taught me, I got a nearly mint car for $7200! My intention was to turn the thing quickly for a profit and then go back to looking for a Talon/Eclipse, but while waiting for the title to come I just fell in love. I drove that thing in basically stock form (just rims/stereo/K&N filter) until 250K miles and sold it still running fine to a friend. I wish I still had that car!

Multiple newer BMW cars later, I landed a few years ago in a Mercedes-Benz C32 AMG, which I modified to the tune of 435HP/420TQ (crank). All that acceleration & speed and I was still unhappy. It took me a while to figure out that I just missed the E30 so much. The C32 had to go. I began searching some for the right E30 in January of 2007, and more seriously by mid-year when I finally sold the C32. It took all the way until Spring of this year for me to find and acquire my current ride.

Still a work in progress, but it's 95% there and I'm loving every minute of it!
My least favorite thing: so-so comfort leather (want sports or a height-adjustable racing seat), and I miss the cloth.
My favorite thing: the E46 M3 6-speed - allows me to run a 3.46 LSD and still highway cruise without drone.

[2002maniac]

I've always been into BMW's (2002's of course) and I was looking to replace my vw gti dialy a few years ago when I stumbled across a 318is at a local auction yard. I was pretty excited, because I had heard a few '02 owners call it the modern 2002.

I picked it up at auction for $1100. it had 82,000 miles on it.

a year later I sold my 2002 track car project and built my e30 into a dual purpose car. It really does everything well.

[Jand3rson]

i remember watching a video with my sons of dado and randy sparres car ripping it thru the holland tunnel. the sound of their exhaust was all i needed to hear. then i learned they were swapped s52 cars. so there i sat with this m20 powered e30 that didnt sound that cool. so that was the next mod

Randy Sparre's car was the E30 that got me into modifying them. When I first bought my bronzit car, I didn't even know anything about modding cars, or what a huge modding scene there was for E30's. And his car started out as an '88 325, same as my car was. That was where it began. I had a shot of his car as my desktop for like a year, I still have it in my desktop rotation.

This is the one:



I still consider this to be one of the Top 5 most badass E30's ever built.

If his car was still around, I wonder if all the guys that give people shit for rocking Taurus skirts would give him as much shit for having Civic skirts. And a Civic paint color. :D

[Funkmasta]

I was an E36 guy until I drove my first E30... Chris Cone's M3.


It has been over, ever since. I am an E30 guy.

[Jand3rson]

I was an E36 guy until I drove my first E30... Chris Cone's M3.


It has been over, ever since. I am an E30 guy.

Didn't you have a red E36 when I first met you, when Jordan and I came to (I think) your house in Portland, and Chris Cone was there with his M3? I think it was the day Jordan and I went to go pick up Ross's wrecked red E30, that I got the engine and tranny from for my bronzit car.

[audiquattrot]

Kelly from 90210 had it...so I had to have it too.

[Funkmasta]

Didn't you have a red E36 when I first met you, when Jordan and I came to (I think) your house in Portland, and Chris Cone was there with his M3? I think it was the day Jordan and I went to go pick up Ross's wrecked red E30, that I got the engine and tranny from for my bronzit car.

yep... first Bimmer ever. *tear*

[quikveedb2]

i've always been a dub/audi guy, but i went to high school with alex and stu mc and worked in their dads shop a few times on my dub projects. i always loved alex's e30 M3, though my tastes have changed since highschool, and i remember when stu got his 318 after seriously considering a mk1 gti a friend of mine had for sale. around '99 another friend of mine bought a plastic bumpered swartz coupe which i liked a lot, sadly that car died an early death due to timing belt failure (lesson learned on my part and his), so i've been around e30 owners & the scene for quite some time. when a 'zinno '87 325is appeared in the parking lot of my condo i saw an opportunity to own one of the cars i've always admired; i made the owner an offer and she was mine.

[superunknown]

i was 15 yrs of age at dat time..it was my classmate's dad's car.evryday i see it fetchin him to n fro school.n at dat time,it was d 1st time i heard dat word....-hartge baby,hartge...in love wit it eversince...

[etxxz]

i needed a drift car to replace my fully done 20v silvertop AE86 track rat (that was never on the track due to it being highly unreliable & noisy car).

my options were. 240sx (everyone had one = gay) miata (girls car), rx7 (has a rotary) e30 (maybe)...every other car was out of my budget range. Hence i chose the e30 and fell in love.

[ejnight]

I had owed e34 e39 a few older 635s and even a Bavaria but never thought much about the 3 cars. Then I picked one up to flip and liked it so i started looking for a keeper. and found my Turbo car. When I found it I was 2000 miles away with only a slight chance of getting it. Three months later I got a call. Do you still want to buy my car? Yes I said. The seller tells me It in town but its wrecked. He says you can have it cheap. So I grab a Dollie from work and went an got it. I have enjoyed the car and the people I have meet.

[ieatpeople]

spec e30 racing at summit point raceway, i liked the cars, thought "it would be cool to get one of those", 2 days later, found a running 84' 325e for $440, drove it halfway home, blew the head gasket, changed the gasket, since then i have been wringing its neck, and now have a total of 3 e30's and an e28.

[kishg]

i was tracking my e39 for the first time at lime rock and was getting passed by e30s left and right.. that's when i knew i needed one.. started looking right away :)