E30 Zone

Thankyou all for talking me out of it. This is why i'm the newbie
And thanks for the info on the car in question, good to know that I'm not missing out on as much as I thought I was. I have reluctantly put these plans on hold until I am in a more stable position.

Oh and in case any new visitors are wondering, this thread was originally me asking if anyone could buy and store an E30 until I could collect it & then pay them for it + extra for their help.

Like your style young blood. If I was in the area, I'd seriously consider helping you.

You are spot on with one thing, these cars are going one way in terms of value.

However, the chances of you picking up something solid for that money are low. There are still bargains to be had, but they are becoming few and far between.

Good luck.

Hi Tom, as a fellow youngun ( 20 ) having owned now 2 E30s and an E21- my first e30 when I was 17. It must be said buying a car like this when you have no job or decent line of income at all isnt the wisest plan, especially when someone else is going to be fronting the cash

These cars have the capability to take you for everything you have and more. I know this as I currently have an 89 320i in my shed which has put about a 4 grand hole in my pocket and an E21 with a blown engine which is fast approaching the 1500 quid mark.

The car youve mentioned does look like a mint little shell and would be nice with a bit of TLC, i had a look on gumtree at it the other week. But the engine "issue" mentioned, smoke and oil leaking and struggling to run suggests more than a niggle and could be a head gasket or something like that. If the head is damaged youl be looking at 200 odd pounds for a new one and anything up to a few hundred if the whole engine needs replaced. If you can do it yourself that is, if your proposing taking it to a garage a lot more.

My advice would be either get a family member to help you or wait til you have a job, because especially bringing in somebody else to front money and the store the car when you have no job could really land you up shit creek very quickly! These cars can get extremely expensive over night.


Said vehicle unless im mistaken

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-moto ... 1019402631

Fair play Tom, God loves a trier.

IF the car is as good as you think it is, and as cheap, then maybe add the proviso
that,IF, anyone agrees to help you, that some kind of timescale is set for you to
either pay in full for the car and storage, or the car passes to the person involved
should you not be able to stick to your side of the bargain. Minus your part of the purchase price
of course.

Good luck.

Cheers guys

This is why I said "take a look at this car, check the condition of it, show me some pictures, and if all seems well at that point" rather than diving straight in there. If the engine is completely screwed, then I would hope that I find out and steer clear before any money changes hands. The advert now says "The timing seems to be out and it's leaking oil" which could be all manner of things i'm sure.

The terms are something that could be discussed if anyone is interested in helping me out, but yes the provisio that if I don't collect the car in X amount of time, that it falls to them, sounds like a reasonable one.

Of course, even the chances of someone doing that part are slim.

This car being a 316 rather than a 316i, has a carbed 1.8L M10 engine rather than an M40 does it not? (meaning that the "1600CC" quoted in the advert would be incorrect?)

Forget you dreams until you have a job and an income, that is your number one priority. Listen to Verde, he is learning fast , albeit expensively !


PS I have just clicked the ad thinking it may be a tasty morsel laden breaker To be greeted with an ad for a boggo more door bridge dodger

pacerpete wrote:Forget you dreams until you have a job and an income, that is your number one priority. Listen to Verde, he is learning fast , albeit expensively !


PS I have just clicked the ad thinking it may be a tasty morsel laden breaker To be greeted with an ad for a boggo more door bridge dodger

As I understand it the 316 has an M10 engine, which is supposed to be fairly simple and quite reliable is it not?

Assuming that 'boggo' means bog standard spec (?) then I am not too bothered, 4 doors is the number i'm after ;) and not quite sure what you mean by 'bridge dodger'?

I am honestly fairly concerned about the E30's getting fewer and farther between, more and more expensive, and more and more rusty, the longer I leave it.

PM jonb

He's in Bristol and knows his e30's

I don't understand this thread when just one hour earlier you posted this:

acme15 wrote:I think the idea of having an E30 for a first car & daily runabout needs to be expelled from my mind. It is just too impractical I feel...

If you've got no funds, no skills and no driving licence, then buying a car really isn't a good idea no matter what sort it is. Verde's right on the money here because he's gone through exactly the same scenario; three cars down and still doesn't have a driveable motor.

You're right that E30s are picking up value by the week, but you've already missed the boat. Any sub-500 quid car will be a hound that needs the same amount again spent to make it useable. There's a hell of a lot more to a car than the engine, and a 25 year old bottom-of-the-range Bronzit saloon will be the most unloved of them all, so you'll be replacing a hell of a lot of the mechanical parts in the near future.

pacerpete wrote:Forget you dreams until you have a job and an income, that is your number one priority. Listen to Verde, he is learning fast , albeit expensively !


PS I have just clicked the ad thinking it may be a tasty morsel laden breaker To be greeted with an ad for a boggo more door bridge dodger

but it has a crack free dash, pete, what's today's rate for them?

Best of luck chap, hopefully some old seasoned veteran will take you under their wing (with the exception of Pete)

It may surprise you the lengths some members go to help/groom (delete as appropriate)

Hmm...

plenty of 316i's out there

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181148996647? ... 1423.l2649

Better to wait a few years for my situation to be more solid, my outlook to be more certain, my insurance quotes to be less astronomical and then go for something more desirable than a 316?

Yeah... Yeah you're right... I'm just being impatient... These cars have survived 30 years in some cases... They will last a few more...

Time for me to continue amending my CV and browsing job sites...

Good Education = good Job = Lots of Money = enough to buy the best and leave the scrap 316 alone for some to break for the uncracked dash, boot lid and bonnet which leaves a little for the scrap metal guy.

Good luck for the future

Fastroad wrote:Good Education = good Job

Not quite that easy these days

good luck prince mike okoye from lagos, nigeria....

seriously, dont lose sleep over a lost 316, invest your money in something more likely to not need money fixing it

Make sure you specialise in something rather then following a herd and it should in turn = a good job

Good further education = £30k of debt at 22.

Good job = taxed to within an inch of your life and high demands from your employer on your time.

Not that I'm bitter.....

@OP

I went to visit this the day he put it up on gumtree.

-Its a little bit more tatty than it appears
-Body work was good, only rust on passenger rear arch but significant amount coming through here.
-The car is not running, battery is flat when jumped off sellers van it wouldn't start either, loud electrical crack coming from engine when cranking.
-Oil leak from the filter mount from what I could make out.

On the plus side, the lad was very down to earth, nice guy and had 4 e30s. He's moveable on price but a quick fix this is NOT. You will have to spend more getting it right.

A very eloquent request, but far too trusting of the herberts on here. If that car had been a peach instead of a peasant-spec more door in doom grey, one of our esteemed zoners would have been down there and plucked it from the unsuspecting owners hands before you could say "sob story".

Fastroad wrote:Good Education = good Job = Lots of Money

Not sure what planet you are living on but in today's times that equation does not apply.

Gavla wrote:

Fastroad wrote:Good Education = good Job = Lots of Money

Not sure what planet you are living on but in today's times that equation does not apply.

Didn't apply ten years ago either, which is how I ended up in Poland.

The thing here is you have the chance to do what I should have done. Dont rush into getting something, hang out on here, speak to people ask questions and learn. i rushed into E30s and spent a grand on an absolute shed of a car with dodgy vin plates, then my current e30, which blew up

hang around, gain knowledge, figure out what you want and then buy it when you have cash!

griff87 wrote:@OP

I went to visit this the day he put it up on gumtree.

-Its a little bit more tatty than it appears
-Body work was good, only rust on passenger rear arch but significant amount coming through here.
-The car is not running, battery is flat when jumped off sellers van it wouldn't start either, loud electrical crack coming from engine when cranking.
-Oil leak from the filter mount from what I could make out.

On the plus side, the lad was very down to earth, nice guy and had 4 e30s. He's moveable on price but a quick fix this is NOT. You will have to spend more getting it right.

Thanks for the info

I think its time that the OP got edited

/\/\/\ Verde speaks the truth !

Or you can just do what I do normally and go and look at one and as long as its not absolutely hanging just buy it

capri_rob wrote:/\/\/\ Verde speaks the truth !

Or you can just do what I do normally and go and look at one and as long as its not absolutely hanging just buy it

Thats what i usually do and look at the fucking predicament im in hahaha. Fair enough the e30 is only off the road due to personal choice and the e21 blowing up wasnt strictly the cars fault but still

One day il find a bargain....I hope

maf260 wrote:A very eloquent request, but far too trusting of the herberts on here. If that car had been a peach instead of a peasant-spec more door in doom grey, one of our esteemed zoners would have been down there and plucked it from the unsuspecting owners hands before you could say "sob story".

This thought did cross my mind, but it was my best bet. Heh.

The 'peasant spec' doesn't bother me, neither does the fact it is a 4 door, or the fact it is grey (it looked more champagne colour to me)

I suppose this will make things easy when the E30 hunt commences in the future eh.

Shame, I like the number E97 WBW.
I wonder who has the number E30 BMW

*edit* its a 2003 E46 330CI ClubSport.

Gavla wrote:

Fastroad wrote:Good Education = good Job = Lots of Money

Not sure what planet you are living on but in today's times that equation does not apply.

Like I said specialise ... And another thing education is always a good thing so stop knocking it even if your well off money wise without an education. More opportunities with an education then without, the graft is even harder so why not make it that little easier for yourself.

And who said that a beige 'more door peasantmobile' cant look nice on some BBS rims? http://www.danielcurnock.co.uk/data/295/3.jpg

acme15 wrote:And who said that a beige 'more door peasantmobile' cant look nice when lowered and on some BBS rims? http://www.danielcurnock.co.uk/data/295/3.jpg

Is that lowered??

Fastroad wrote:

acme15 wrote:And who said that a beige 'more door peasantmobile' cant look nice when lowered and on some BBS rims? http://www.danielcurnock.co.uk/data/295/3.jpg

Is that lowered??

Either very slightly or not at all... My eyes deceived me

You have the right taste to fit in here. Us stance cocks have to hide our feelings in shame. Although this place has made me pretty OEM

I am all for OEM but a slammed E30 is a good look