i want an e30 again, but ....oldie - United Bimmer Community

**brien4787** · 04-19-2007, 12:46 AM

Last year I was looking to try to find a decently priced and very nice condition e30... adding some parts to make it look nice and to replace old parts...

I want a new car, was thinking about doing payments on a mazda3.... just something that will be pretty sweet and will be reliable until i get out of college and into a real job.

I want an e30 too, again...
How reliable will it be.... Compairing it to my '95 318, and say a new car. I can't stress reliablility..

I know these cars are build great, but the age...

nick_318is · 04-19-2007, 10:07 AM

If you find one thats been maintained you should be alright and if you do the maintence they seem to just keep on going there are some issues with the 325s (m20b25 engine) want to check for new timing belts, water pump and some other issues that im not familiar with. The 318is is one year only and the m42 should be very similar to whats in your car now, they are really good motors and again with the maintence they do alright. Goodluck.

**celsdogg** · 04-19-2007, 10:51 AM

even if you do get an E30 with an M20, you should still be fine, given that the previous owners took care of it.

in my two E30's i rarely had any problems with them, and the one time i did, it wasnt an engine problem (fuel pump).

the only thing i really paid for was scheduled maintenance. for an M20, a timing belt change every 50-60k miles, and some other small things here and there, nothing major.

there are plenty of abused E30's out there, but if you take your time, you should be able to find a diamond in the rough.

one easy thing to do is look for maintenance records. if the owner has those, the owner probably took care of her.

oh, and buy from older people. my first was from an older dentist, and my second was from an officer in the navy.

**theSMELSINATOR** · 04-19-2007, 04:44 PM

if you find one that's been taken care of, the body should wear out before the engine. and even if there are major engine problems, i hear you can get a used engine for about $700.

like they said, timing belt. biggest problem. and parts aren't quite as plentiful as for the e36, but they still aren't bad.

**celsdogg** · 04-19-2007, 09:06 PM

i know if i need a new M20, im getting a 3.0 or 3.2L unit from metric mechanic.

**brien4787** · 04-19-2007, 10:06 PM

to fit the s50 or w52, don't you need new mounts, tranny, clutch, ect?

If i was going to get an e30 (i looked for the longest time, but found only shit), i would probably want to do some upgrades, but would be afraid to have a daily driver that i would drive hard every once in a while =/ ... college student so it makes it hard if something did go wrong..

**theSMELSINATOR** · 04-19-2007, 10:21 PM

^i wouldn't worry about it. BMW had pretty much perfected the mechanical aspect of their cars by the E30. then with the E36 they started experimenting w/ electronics. the manual tranny is bulletproof, and as long as you know what you're doing regarding maintenence, it should be fine.

case in point: the owner of my E30 before me had driven it so hard that he wore the bushings in the stick out to the point where there was almost as much play in gear as there was in neutral. yet it still runs great and is for the most part flawless (although i did recently discover some rust i hadn't noticed before...made me mad).

**Numark318i** · 04-19-2007, 10:45 PM

Bushings on my E30 are going out left and right. But i drive the car like i stole it everyday while commuting over windy roads. So that miht explain that problem.

otherwise..nothing really wrong with it. My steering rack just went out. But that might also be due to my driving the car like i stole it.

Engine runs strong, although i think a hydralic lifter is broken.

**elsabor67** · 04-20-2007, 12:02 AM

I was VERYYYYYYYY lucky with the E30 that I had and the one I now own. I worked very hard on the German one 'cause that was my speed

. But all the work on it paid off becuase I wound up selling it for $3200 and with the stringent German inspection standards here, it passed on the first shot. The american E30 under my name, I bumped into accidentally. The great thing was that it was well taken care of. You can find one and with little things can get it to a level that can set you apart from the rest. I hope you find something good that suits you well.

**Dudesky** · 04-20-2007, 04:36 AM

An excerpt from one of my writeups:

According to Bimmer Magazine, BMW E30 (and prior) engineers used complex math equations and heavy field testing to figure out required strength and durability, then they would double or triple the outcome, resulting in a fairly bulletproof car. Not so with the E36, which proved to be somewhat less reliable than the models before or after it, for two main reasons. The E36 is the very first BMW in history to be designed on CAD, and instead of extensive testing, they relied on the program to determine how robust a part or system should be. Secondly, they were engineered with recycling in mind.

**Exilion** · 05-10-2007, 05:37 PM

Wow! They would even consider recycling when these cars haven't died yet?

Mine still runs pretty good even though it was abused by my parents. Luckily I got to working on it before it needed critical attention. It's amazing that it runs so well. The only problem with mine right now is my muffler has a hole in it.... but its about time to replace the exhaust system anyway.

If you haven't already read this http://www.unitedbimmer.com/forums/e...fferences.html. Good luck on your hunt for an e30!