To sell, or not to sell...Some advise or opinions would be greatly appreciated

[ryuio11]

Good to hear you're keeping the car and doing some work on it. The autos aren't that bad - for the 1980s they're a pretty smooth transmission.

Ha, well mine definitely isn’t smooth. I’ve had the car kick out on barley damp ground because it downshifts and upshifts so hard(while driving normal speed limits) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lukeADE335i]

Good to hear you're keeping the car and doing some work on it. The autos aren't that bad - for the 1980s they're a pretty smooth transmission.

[ryuio11]

If this was R3v back in the day I feel like someone would have commented about OP's punishment.. A e30 as punishment? I'll take one as a gift too thank you very much. Anyways my vote goes for keeping it an automatic and doing the much needed maintenance the car needs. Timing belt/ water pump, maybe the head gasket if you have the skill's since I'm sure its leaking oil from it. I daily drove a e30 for years out of high school, some spark plugs, maybe cap/ rotor if its worn/ other general maintenance and she'll be golden.

As for the e30 as a punishment... the automatic transmission was the punishment(i make sure to complain to my father about buying an auto e30 quite a bit)

[ryuio11]

Whoops, I forgot I posted this...got busy with school. I've decided to keep it for college. The car will be repainted within the next 2 months if all goes to plan, and as for the maintenance, I'm meeting with a friend of my dad's who is passionate about classic euro cars(especially e30s) and he's most likely going to help me with all the maintenance and the swap at his home shop.

I decided that I've had too much fun driving this car, even with its blown suspension and its lack of maintenance, to give it up to my dad who won't give it what it deserves.

[ZeKahr]

Just fix it up, keep it stock and drive it. You’ll have sellers remorse if you let it go. I’d personally recommend against turning it into a garage queen as well; you’ll be wasting years of your precious life trying to restore it. I wouldn’t waste my time modding it or swapping it either. Accept the car for what it is and enjoy it. The fastest you’ll go on most roads is 80 MPH; the stock E30 engines have plenty of power for speeds like that. Also it’s getting hard to find an E30 to daily that still has its original engine. Just keep it in nice enough condition to be a daily driver and enjoy every living second of driving it. Cracked dash who cares... fix up the big ticket items like engine transmission and suspension then worry about the cosmetics. And when you’re driving it don’t go too crazy and crash it. It’s not 2003 any more and clean E30s aren’t a dime a dozen and in good abundance like they were back then. Life is short. Driving E30 is fun.

[zwill23]

As someone who has been dailying a beat E30 for the past four years on the cheap my vote is to fix that shit. They’re easy to work on and cheap to fix IF you don’t start modifying the damn thing.

Keep it stock, fix what needs fixin’ and enjoy it. Graduate and slap a turbo and 5 speed in it

By the way you’ve got the coolest E30 color imho :)

[2mAn]

[Mike36]

Focus on whats most important while you're in college. Getting as much booty as possible

Says the guy who finished attended a college with a 1:9 male to female ratio... ;)

[jbontke]

I has a 1974 Mazda RX4 I left at home when i went to college. I ended up selling it. If i had kept it, I could have sold it for 5 times what i paid for it. Food for thought.

[laidback93]

You could give it to your sister as your dad suggested. Let her store it, I mean HOLD on to it for a few years and pick that bad boy up after school.

[KIRIEIW]

If this was R3v back in the day I feel like someone would have commented about OP's punishment.. A e30 as punishment? I'll take one as a gift too thank you very much. Anyways my vote goes for keeping it an automatic and doing the much needed maintenance the car needs. Timing belt/ water pump, maybe the head gasket if you have the skill's since I'm sure its leaking oil from it. I daily drove a e30 for years out of high school, some spark plugs, maybe cap/ rotor if its worn/ other general maintenance and she'll be golden.

[Conrad311]

Well, if your handy with a wrench, you could fix the suspension and oil leaks and trans leak and then drive it as long as it goes. It probably wouldn't be too expensive for a set of sachs shocks. Then rent a spring compressor at advanced auto parts and get after it. Change the timing belt, w.p, cap, rotor, cam seal, v.c. gasket, brakes, filters, and maybe a starter and it should be pretty reliable for a while. If you spent less than $1000 in parts on it now it would probably go the distance with minimal trouble. but there again its a 29 year old BMW so its anyones guess unless you have great service records or something.

If your not totally in love with it. like REALLY in love with e30s, your probably better off getting a Corolla or something and playing it safe. I did the e30 in college and spent most of my time fixing it when I wasn't working or in class, but i was going to UTI for car repair. And I have some great stories to tell!

"Hey love remember that time the selector rod fell apart in the middle of a highway intersection and I couldnt shift into a gear, rolled across the road, then took my nice shirt off and ghetto-rigged it like a fucking hero??"
uc
or "remember that time the throttle cable snapped and the police stopped you for driving with the hood open and a lenth of twisted duct tape out the window as a throttle cable???" Good(?) times!

or "how about the time the passengers outboard rear trailing arm mount broke off on I-95?" EXCELLENT!

But I digress. E30s are definitly a labor of love so if you want it, keep it, just know what it is you are taking on and make sure your willing to sacrifice for it.

[coldweatherblue]

You'll probably have more fun in college with a newer car. I had a 25 year old Kawasaki and an '88 325i during college in the early 2000s and made it work (with the help of a garage + tools at my parents house) but in retrospect probably gave up a few longer/fun trips for the sake of r3ving, which thankfully I survived..

[lukeADE335i]

Lol... you're not looking at the background of the pic of the car hard enough

[2mAn]

Cannot properly answer question without more pics of mom/sister