E30 Zone

So customer brought this in to work today looking to sell it and I brought it off him for about £4000...........












Very rare car a limited-run homologation special of BMW’s touring car. about 2500 were made worldwide, and only 500 came to the UK. Based on the 320i M Sport, areas that have been re worked include the wheels unique light weight 18s, brake discs 300mm all round, and a hand-built engine specifically for the 320si with more power and a very different character from the regular version.

Some reviewers have likened this to a latter-day E30 M3 due to its 4 cylinder engine,

The cylinder head is cast alongside BMW’s F1 engines. with a hand built BMW Sauber engine.

Not as quick as I expected it to be but a nice car and with only 500 making it to the UK does feel a little bit special as far as this gen of 3 series goes.

I really like these, and would probably buy one if I was after a more sensible car.

I can't helping they'd feel a bit slow though.

For four grand I would have been very tempted too!

Four bags for that? Epic!

Cool chariots, would love to own one for that uniqueness and the fact it's a homologation special.

Love the rocker cover

4K sounds very cheap for one of those!

They have valve clearances that have to be checked and adjusted every 2nd or 3rd oil service (can't remember which).

The wheels were also used on the E81 130i LE M-sport.

Beige leather and wood is unusual for a 320Si, usually have black or lemon leather and silver trim.

harry_p wrote:I really like these, and would probably buy one if I was after a more sensible car.

I can't helping they'd feel a bit slow though.

For four grand I would have been very tempted too!

It was a bit slow and apparently not that great MPG either

ross_jsy wrote:Four bags for that? Epic!

Cool chariots, would love to own one for that uniqueness and the fact it's a homologation special.

Love the rocker cover

I didn't really believe all the hype the customer was giving me about the car until i looked under the hood, never really heard of these before

bss325i wrote:4K sounds very cheap for one of those!

They have valve clearances that have to be checked and adjusted every 2nd or 3rd oil service (can't remember which).

The wheels were also used on the E81 130i LE M-sport.

Beige leather and wood is unusual for a 320Si, usually have black or lemon leather and silver trim.

Car has full service bar one but it wasn't all main dealer, but I'll mention the valve clearances to the gaffer.

the previous owner said it was used by one of the directors of whichever dealership it came from when first registered who chose the wood and beige leather.

I did think it was cheap but the customer was happy with the price, I think the right dealership could shift this for 8K

Depends on the mileage really, they're all the same age, so mileage, condition and spec decide the value.

They seem to start at 5.5k and go up, I bet you'd get offered peanuts for one as a trade in though.

Blue, black or silver with black leather would be my preference. Not a fan of light leather, and detest wood trim

VE06 WLD, time for some bilking action! Cheers Bruce

Very cool cars when they came out, probably to do with homologation for BMW.

Some have the AC boot spolier I think? I would turbo one, they are very well suited for that (with custom pistons of course).

Remeber seeing that bird on 5th Gear review these when they came out. 4K is very cheap, last I looked for one they were still fetching about 8K.

At that price you could probably run it for a couple of years and still get your money back.

I considered one of these when I was looking for my E9x daily.

I was put off by reports of the aluminium cylinder liner cracking and replacement engines being needed. Might be a rare occurrence as the internet can make these problems sound more frequent than they are, but engine failures have happened.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=525376

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 20Si&mid=0

I saw one of these on the road the other day and thought it was just a midrange trim level. Didn't realise it had such a special looking rocker cover

anyone think one of these is worth sticking in the back of the garage?
ive seen loads with broken engines so there cant be that many around
"future classic"?

jonnyfartpants wrote:anyone think one of these is worth sticking in the back of the garage?
ive seen loads with broken engines so there cant be that many around
"future classic"?

No chance. Its 4 door with some nice wheels and a "quirky engine" with known issues that would get its ass handed to it by a 320d.

Blitz wrote:

jonnyfartpants wrote:anyone think one of these is worth sticking in the back of the garage?
ive seen loads with broken engines so there cant be that many around
"future classic"?

No chance. Its 4 door with some nice wheels and a "quirky engine" with known issues that would get its ass handed to it by a 320d.

You may be right, but I guess I’m the future you could be proved wrong
Think I’m going to drive one into the back of the garage and see

I'm surprised some enterprising individual hasn't produced carbon fibre rocker covers (yes, I know you can get hydro-dipped ones) for the more popular BMW engines, such as M10, M20, M50/52, etc.

managed to find a 65000 mile nice spec in blue, got to be honest its no rocket ship but its a nice car, tucked it in the back of the garage now, unless a nice 135i coupe comes along!

I'm pondering one at the moment, the block liner issues are putting me off a bit though.

I nearly bought one 6 months ago. It sold for just £2750 on ebay so I think people are put off with the rebuild stories. One owner account stuck in my mind as he sold his to make swift effortless progress in a e90 325 instead of ragging the nuts of his e90 320si. Of the two though, the 320si is in a much more special category.

I have rebuilt one of these due to liner failure a couple of years ago.

A BMW main dealer had removed the cylinder head to inspect the damage, quoted for a new engine which was on world wide back order with no delivery date so it got recovered (still in bits) to where I used to work and I stripped the rest, sent the block off for new Linder to be fitted then put it all back together when the block came back.