Interested in an E30

[FirstKnight]

Greetings All,

I've always admired the E30 - ever since I experienced a 325is Shadowline in South Africa many years ago as a teenager; late '80's.

Nowadays I live in Buckinghamshire in the UK and I find myself investigating the idea of buying an E30 as a daily commuter; preferably something not only reliable but economical too.

The reason behind the idea is because I want to keep my '08 Z4M as a weekend toy - it is currently my daily driver - and not bother my wife for her E91 325i!

So my questions to you good folk are:
1. Is it feasible to run such an old car as a daily driver for commuting to and from work? (Circa 21 miles each way)
2. What are my chances of picking up a rust-free example for less than £3k?
3. Which models would be best recommended; I'm thinking 318is or something along those lines.
4. What would my running costs realistically be? Approximately, taking into account reliability etc.

Any advice would be much appreciated - I'll begin searching too to find out what I can

Cheers,
S

[Speedtouch]

Welcome to the Zone, S!
I run mine as a daily driver (purchased for £1900 in February 2008), having owned four E30s in total. In general, they are extremely reliable cars if regularly serviced, and most service items are cheap from GSF or Euro Car Parts though at 20(+) years of age, the main things to look for are rust, in particular rear inner wheelarches, fronts of sills/footwells and scuttle (panel below windscreen) - bodykits can hide a multitude of sins so beware.

325i models are infamous for having weak cylinder heads that crack so it is important to check for mayonnaise in the rocker cover/oil in the radiator header tank and overheating - ensure that the anti-freeze is kept fresh on these. 318is models have their delicacies also, eg. profile gaskets and timing chains.

Also, as sporty RWD cars that often get to see some action in the hands of boy racers, check carefully for accident damage.

The great thing is, they are appreciating classics and can be insured very cheaply on classic car insurance policies. Most of the maintenance is easily DIY-able also, which can save you a bundle if you're a bit handy with spanners.

[Blitz]

Welcome

1. Its more then ideal for commuting, 21 miles each way is nothing.
2. £3k can bag you a rust free E30 except a 325i sport.
3. 318is is the most economical and is pretty fast, but as you do low miles maybe a 325i.
4. E30's are very reliable if they are properly maintained, much cheaper to run that a Z4M.

[GrindCulture]

A 318iS sounds ideal, peaky enough and good on fuel. Getting a 325i in this case seems a little pointless, as you already have the Z4M as a weekend thrasher. You can get a pretty good iS for sub £3k, and if you have the money, now is a perfect time to buy!

[djk]

Should get a very fresh 318is for significantly less than £3k, if you can find a good un for sale at the moment, go for it. At the risk of opening the 6pot vs 4pot can of worms for the umpteenth time, in your situation, the best trade-off of performance and economy points directly at an is. Rust is your biggest enemy, rear arches and inner arches, scuttle, floorpan especially front footwells, front bulkhead where inner arches meet it, anywhere round the boot including under the seals, inside sunroof aperture, bottom of A-post/front of sill, battery tray and under fusebox, and just generally anywhere on the car!! Plus all your usual car buying checks as regards mechanicals - some people on here will give you is specific advice on this no doubt.

[Rallyprep_UK]

yeah "is" all the way ;)

find a minter...

[FirstKnight]

Thank you everyone!

A 318is it is then!

I want to find a relatively unmolested example if I can. Any ideas as to where I could look?

I want a car I can admire and take pride in - the E30 has always been my favourite albeit I have never personally owned one, only experienced those owned by friends and family in the past. I have owned several Beemer's now; an E46 320d, Z4 2.2i, E46 330cd Convertible and an E92 335i previously and now a Z4M. My wife has had a 120i and now an E91 325i. The ///M is a great car to drive but it is a Roadster and won't be getting much top-down motoring over winter and I think I would be happier if it was tucked in a warm garage instead of having to trek through the winter sludge on a daily basis.

[aj_mckay]

If you're looking for an iS all the above advice applies but you will also do yourself a favour to check the last time the timing chain was replaced. The twin-cam 16v 318iS has a cam chain rather than a belt and after time the guides and sprockets it runs on can get worn causing the chain to slacken slightly and rattle around 3-3500 RPM.

You'll hear this noise coming from the front of the engine but it's sometimes most pronounced in the car while driving! Sometimes this can be resolved by simply replacing the chain tensioner but normally it will require the chain to be replaced along with the guides and sprockets.

Other than that, the only other major iS-specific thing is the profile gasket. This was a design fault to some extent whereby the gasket would fail after about 40-50k miles due to the material it was made from being corroded by the coolant. MOST 318iSs on the road these days will have had this sorted already often under warranty by BMW and if the car's still going strong with over 50k miles on the clock it's a pretty safe bet to assume it's been done.

In my opinion the iS is a great little car with plenty of poke that is also remarkably economical if driven sensibly!

You might want to try the following sites for good ones for sale...

pistonheads.com
carandclassic.co.uk
ebay (sometimes)
HERE - there are some good uns that pop up occasionally...

Good luck!

[SPADGE]

Should you decide to go for an iS i know of a very very tidy original example going for around the 2k mark.
Not far from you either dependant on which part of Bucks your in.

[Nay]

If you really like these cars, try find a rust free (or as good as you can) 325i Sport. With a bit of time, little bit of money here and there every now and then you could make a mint original sport. These are starting to and going to become very hard to find soon so maybe own one before its too late + if its in good condition and kept well it'll live forever and become more valuable as time goes on.

Otherwise i would say a nice speced 325i (SE, maybe?)

The 318iS is the nippy revvy car, chances it would of had a hard life at some point is high as young lads can get their hands on them very cheapely. If you can get a good one that'll be good (they are also sought after E30s) and at 21 miles a day it wont have much of an affect on it either.

I'd say get a good sport 325i or 318i, depending on whether you prefer little 4 pot revvy engines, or grunty torquey powerful engines. Both have massive followings and it depends on what type of engine you like.

Stay clear of the 320i (they aint that bad, i've got one!) as the cars appriecation is not great, full economy is about the same as the 325 but with the only a bit more power that a 318i (which IMO is much 'nippier'). Although, saying this, the 320s have really smooth engines...sound nice too.

[josh-hocking]

heres a nice one
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=115987

[darkchild]

For 3K I'd be getting a really nice 325i SE rather than a 318iS. £2-2.5K will net a really nice example and then spend the rest of your budget on getting it perfect. Infinitely preferable to a rough £3K Sport or a decent 318iS.

[FirstKnight]

Should you decide to go for an iS i know of a very very tidy original example going for around the 2k mark.
Not far from you either dependant on which part of Bucks your in.

Hi,

I'm near High Wycombe.

[Speedtouch]

Doesn't PacerPete have one up his back passage?

[E30BeemerLad]

Did Kedge sell his iS ? as that was a very nice example indeed, had money spent on the right bits etc etc

[aj_mckay]

yeah that was a peach but it sold

[GrindCulture]

Infinitely preferable to a rough £3K Sport or a decent 318iS.

Because it's faster? Shit the guy has a Z4M, that'll piss all over a 325i! The iS is an ideal daily run about, the most economical standard E30 you can get, fact.

[Commited]

Another vote for the 318iS.

Be careful though, I'm going back to one after owning an e39 530d Sport, and they certainly show their age, even mint ones. For a daily driver, I'd recommend an e34 525i Sport, personally.

[Ian_M]

Pics of the Z4M, please..

[SPADGE]

Should you decide to go for an iS i know of a very very tidy original example going for around the 2k mark.
Not far from you either dependant on which part of Bucks your in.

Hi,

I'm near High Wycombe.

Well i'm 45 mins from you and can get the iS here anytime if you want to come and see it.

Whatever you do don't buy an E30 from the Wycombe area as its sure to be a nail.

[FirstKnight]

Pics of the Z4M, please..

Hi,

I wrote a detailed post with pics on this Forum:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165781

[Simon13]

Infinitely preferable to a rough £3K Sport or a decent 318iS.

Because it's faster? Shit the guy has a Z4M, that'll pee pee all over a 325i! The iS is an ideal daily run about, the most economical standard E30 you can get, fact.

they also lunch their engines more than 325's and cost way more to fix

As said a 325iSE would be my choice for you budget. Or a 325i touring best allround E30 model out there?!

[Ant]

I'm in agreement with Simon

325i touring manual- easily found in great condition for 1-1.5K , LPG the thing and laugh all the way to and from work.

Nothing that cant be fixed, and as for the Head cracking- In the 17 years I've been around these cars, I've only encountered 2 cracked heads and one that went porous due to not enough anti-freeze, so no quite the doom and gloom it may seem to the uninitiated

[mineralblue]

I'd be suprised if you can get on classic doing 21 miles each way daily,thats 280 miles a week. I ran my e30 as a daily doing,strangely enough 42 miles a day for a year and a half, And has never let me down.(oh no I have gone and done it now)The only reason I don't anymore is a 4 way lift share,otherwise I would still be doing it.
Whichever you choose 3k will bag you a nice one.
Personally I would go for the 325i tourer bearing in mind your other motors

[FirstKnight]

I'd consider a 325i SE but not a Tourer as my wife's E91 325i is a Tourer. The only thing that concerns me about the 325i is that it must be quite heavy on fuel...I'm getting 270 - 280 miles to my Z4M's 55 litre tank; approx 25/26 mpg.
That's the only reason I thought a 318iS would be better. As someone has mentioned, I get my speed thrills from my Z4M but I would always welcome some decent overtaking power.

[Speedtouch]

325iSE is a good car but most don't come with LSD, and with that level of power they need one. These can of course be retrofitted reasonably easily. The standard suspension is also a tad high and can be wallowy. The SE usually comes with all the mod-cons; electric windows/mirrors/sunroof and trip computer however.

325i will give around 25/26mpg average, 30+ on a motorway cruise, low 20s if driven with gusto or around town.

The 6-cylinder exhaust note and howl at high revs is sublime