my two cents:
The E36 is a fine car, but has serious limitations when compared to the E30. The E30 was put through extensive road tests during construction, where the E36 was, as i understand, almost exclusively tested using computer models. This made the E30 an all-around more solid car.
Not to say that the E36 was poorly constructed, but still - E30 > E36. Again, there are some very nice E36s and some very poor E30s, but overall the E30 wins IMO.
Kasei - didn't the E36 318ti use the E30 suspension? I thought it might've used some other E30 components as well, but I can't recall at the moment.