E30 Zone

difference between 1987-88 and 1989 onwards bmws 325s

sorry just gettin interested in these so bear with me

i believe there is a mark 1 bmw 325 and a mark 11?

could someone point out the differences and if one is better than the other etc....

would like to be able to tell when lookin at ads..

Early cars(1983-87ish) have chrome bumpers and a slightly different rear arch line.Later cars have plastic bumpers and somewhat better standard of rust protection.On the zone we refer to pre facelift and post facelift.The important difference is that the later 6 cylinder cars have much improved engine management.All tourings are plastic bumper cars,cabbies were very expensive and sold slowly,so there are a good number of 88/89/90 regestered ones with the early trim.If buying,buy on condition,not age or milage,a rough late car is a moneypit compared to a one owner 100,000 mile chromie with full history.A lot of these cars were bought new as 'retirment' cars,well looked after by a caring,wealthy owner who's family is now getting nervous of a late 80's early 90's year old's driving ability,look for one of these if you can...

cheers, great explanation, have been reading for a while and still had'nt got that!

nice...Might I add though...

Sport editions of the 325 are as popular now as ever. Tech 1 cars had a higher compression engine and really did look old skool, even in their day. You'll need to keep using the same style of parts for the old engine but it is a very reliable workhorse and anything upto 200k is still good. Tech 2's adopted a more conservative trim which has helped heaps in reselling many years later - I reckon theyv'e aged really well. Both had some nice extras though some of the electrics can be a bit of an arse i've found.

Bottom line though is that mechanically most cars will be ok and to be honest looked after by people in the know. Rust is the key though. On both cars check the battery and alarm area kept for rust, behind fuse box,the scuttle underneath, both arches, jacking points (dont jack on them if you can help it) and also be very wary of the rear bumper. Rust on the outside of the arch lip can sometimes mean rust on the inside, possibly a new inner arch. Many will also say that you need to check between the roof lining and roof top for rust. This is the most difficult bit to fix...genius at welding or not

Things can get a bit expensive but the beauty is that almost every BMW part is available, down to the washers...

is this a pre facelift?

http://www.gumtree.ie/dublin/42/28153842.html

No, thats a post face lift. The facelifts were introduced for model year 1988.

construct_06 wrote:is this a pre facelift?

http://www.gumtree.ie/dublin/42/28153842.html

No.

construct_06 wrote:is this a pre facelift?


http://www.gumtree.ie/dublin/42/28153842.html

This is facelift car. You can tell by the bodykit and location of some of the engine components

skipunda wrote:

construct_06 wrote:is this a pre facelift?


http://www.gumtree.ie/dublin/42/28153842.html

This is facelift car. You can tell by the bodykit and location of some of the engine components

What body kit?!

this is pre facelift


this is not

bss325i wrote:

skipunda wrote:

construct_06 wrote:is this a pre facelift?


http://www.gumtree.ie/dublin/42/28153842.html

This is facelift car. You can tell by the bodykit and location of some of the engine components

What body kit?!

lol my bad! one track mind...

Pre facelift metal bumper car
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1986-BMW-316-RED_ ... 240%3A1318


Post facelift plastic bumper car
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1988-BMW-325I-BLA ... 240%3A1318

still difficult to tell!

construct_06 wrote:still difficult to tell!

The difference will be like night and day once you get it.

Early cars all had metal bumpers. Could be chrome could be painted BUT they were metal. Late cars were plastic.

Early cars had narrower rear lights and the reversing light section is vertical and the complete depth of the light. The later cars lights were deeper (hence a different rea panel) and the reversing light was confined to smaller section horizontal in the light unit.

Early cars had rounder rear arches showing more "air" above the tyre. The later cars had a shallower rear arch line.

Early cars had rectangular front fog lights and a deeper black lower plastic valance. Later cars had a different shape (lower outer corner rounded) fog light, a deeper steel valance with just a narrow black plastic lip.

Early cars had plain headlights, later had ellipsoid's.

Early cars had a shallower rear valance than the later cars, which moulded around the rear bumper more. Look at the 2 side shots of the ebay links and it's clearly visable along with the arch lines.

Later cars had a black plastic number plate trim panel between the rear lights.

Nothing interior wise changed other than the fabric styles changed.

Convertibles continued to be pre facelift right through to late 1990 but ALL had the shallower rear arch.

ALL tourings are facelift

B7 wrote:No, thats a post face lift. The facelifts were introduced for model year 1988.

My first 325 was post face lift built in Oct 87 Best of both worlds,high comp engine,facelift body

Just a slight issue on the headlights, very early facelift cars had non-smiley lights but I don't think they were the same as the pre-facelift ones.

Yep, the first projectors / ellipsoidal lights didn't have the smile cut out, that's the only difference.

I drive in a 1985 Alpina ( Pre Face Lift ) and it's just comming up to 230k miles and it's as solid and strong as ever. If these cars are looked after properly they will go on and on.

Oh and Welcome to the Zone

Morat wrote:Just a slight issue on the headlights, very early facelift cars had non-smiley lights but I don't think they were the same as the pre-facelift ones.

Chris is right. All facelifts had ellipsoids as i wrote but the smiley cutout came in in late 88 (model year 89) I believe.