Pet peeve: non-enthusiast E30 drivers

[Raxe]

I've had a few encounters recently, I had a guy in a jacked up truck pull up beside me and lay on the horn until I reached over and wound down my window. "Awesome car! E30's are my favorite!". That was pretty cool.

There are a couple dozen nice E30's in Edmonton, but it seems many don't know about the meets and never show up at any events. If we all got together I think I'd be surprised.

The E30 is definitely a cult car, in the same sense as the FB RX7's, 240sx's, Fox Bodies, MKII's. etc. They aren't low production or high performance, but they are loaded with character and have a very strong die-hard enthusiast following. It's on a different level than the E30 M3, in fact I wouldn't fully consider the M3 to be a real cult car. The M3 is a sports car along the lines of 911 Turbos and other high end stuff, cars everyone dreams about. You don't need to be "in" to know an M3 is a cool car. I define a cult car as something that isn't special to your average person but has a loyal following of enthusiasts for reasons other than rarity, exoticness and performance.

[Sean]

I don't know, but I never get any recognition for my car. Maybe my exhaust is too loud, and I never hear anyone? lol

[Jall]

Oh, forgot about the first bit of bimmer love I got on the way home soon after I got my licence.
Pulled up to the lights next to an E92 sports and he said "nice car, I had one just like it except it was red....wish I never sold it"
Made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :p

[tg318is]

i see a fair amount of e30s with p-plates. its about 50% know what theyre driving and wave at you.. its pretty cool when someone waves at you because they like your car!

[Quadrajet]

I'm always on the lookout for E30's and see a few from time to time. But for the most part I get a "Do I know that guy?" look if I send any type of recognition signal.
Funny thing last week though, I was coming up on this guy driving a late 60's 3.0 CS. I was just staring at it like a dumstruck idiot. Then I noticed the guy's waving. Of course I waved back. Now I don't feel so bad about the "drones" not knowing what they've got.

[Kruzen]

I've completely stopped waving at e30's unless they're dropped, everyone else is just clueless it seems like. surprisingly I've been getting alot of attention from 1 series drivers and newer bmw drivers lately.

[Nic01101011]

All the e30s(and most e36s) I see are just beater POS, and I've only once been approached about my car, by some guy in a e39. Every other person has a BMW around here, so it's no big deal when I see one unless it's well modified(which is very rare).

[bergie_318is]

you guys are lucky, id be even more lucky to see another e30 inside a month, and when i do it is driven by some old man or women, sure they look like they appreciated it and what not, but i dont think they would be interested in the "e30 cult". you guys know that i've NEVER seen a e30 m3 driving on the road, only ever in shows and trackdays, NEVER on the road... it dissappoints me, there no room for the little german guy underneath all the japs and bogan mobiles (commodore,falcon).

[Jand3rson]

oh come on... you seriously think after like 10 years of interweb e30 forum posting that I dont freak out everytime i see a nice e30 drive by. I am usually hanging out the window like a kid on the shortbus wavin my arms around.

I figured you had to be kidding. I'm the same way. :D

[speedhop]

oh come on... you seriously think after like 10 years of interweb e30 forum posting that I dont freak out everytime i see a nice e30 drive by. I am usually hanging out the window like a kid on the shortbus wavin my arms around.

I never see people in e30's. It's very rare that I see one that isn't riced out or beaten to hell being driven by a border jumper. But I did get stopped the other day by a guy in a town and country asking what engine I had...that was a first.

[Danny]

Haha^ Truth.

I have the nicest E30 in Vacaville.

[BeirBrennerE30]

Seriously? Wow.

oh come on... you seriously think after like 10 years of interweb e30 forum posting that I dont freak out everytime i see a nice e30 drive by. I am usually hanging out the window like a kid on the shortbus wavin my arms around.

[Jand3rson]

i try to ignore people in e30's waving at me....

Seriously? Wow.

[JasonC]

Around here there isn't that many e30's. And like someone else said that they are a cheap car. So 95% of the ones i see around here are beatup piles. The others are owned by people in their 60's+ and they look like they take care of them. I do get waved at by most of the VW guys and some muscle car guys.

[Jand3rson]

Here, in a much smaller town, my car is apparently a local source of legend. High school kids talk about it in the parking lot of WalMart or the high school I drive past every day, old ladies smile at it, I get thumbs up every single day driving it. Buddies of mine at the bar tell their buddies "that's the car I was talking about" and I get offers two or three times a month to sell it. Sometimes I wish I saw it through their eyes!

To me, the thing is a 275,000 mile 20 year old car on big wheels and a big stereo with shiny "30 footer" 20 year old paint and a way too damn loud exhaust...but that is looking at it through my eyes, not theirs. Let them think what they want, I know the warts.

Most E30s in this town are stock, generally beaters...but damn near all of us who are into these cars know each other (all 6 of us or so) and know each others cars on sight.

Other E30 drivers do wave or at least smile, generally. Some E28 people, hell, even 944 guys wave! The older lady in the bone-stock Bronzit '87 325is always waves, but I think she might be uuuuum.....slow, she waves at everyone.



Luke

That's how my car is here in Bend. With the exception of a couple of really nice E30 M3's rolling around, I have without a doubt the nicest E30 in Bend. Everytime I'm with friends that don't know that I own that car, when they find out, they're always like "Holy shit, that's YOUR car? I see that thing everywhere, it's so badass!" Most of the regular E30 drivers I see either wave or flash their highs. or wave/flash back when I do it, modded ones or not. There's a few beat ass ones, but most of the ones around here are pretty nice. And I always get the wave from all the VW guys, and just about anything else European, with the exception of the few asshole guys that think I'm beneath them.