A difficult decision...

[mortifiedpenguin]

I have a pretty difficult decision I'm trying to sort out.

I'm a US military member stationed here for at least 2 years. I'd like to take a nice BMW home with me whenever I leave. I'm curious if anyone has any knowledge of import/export, Ideally I'd love to leave with an E30 M3, in part because the car is amazing and in part because I think the car is considered a "classic" if it's over 25 years old, therefore I wouldn't have to have it converted to US spec. The problem is the M3's I see are going for 15000 pound on average, and I'm not sure if I could get that kind of money together.

The other car I'm considering is an E36 M3, but I'm not sure what has to be changed on it to make it US spec. Ideally I'd like whichever car I ship over to remain right hand drive because it's different from everything else back home. US service members regularly sell thier Skylines and other such high end cars before they leave because they don't want to pay to have it converted. I've heard conversion costs anywhere between 3500$ to 7000$.

If anyone has any type of input on this conundrum please feel free to share.

[stevemed]

Hi,


no idea about import costs,

how about getting something that ticks all the boxes?

E36 M3 power, E30 style, convertible (what with american sunshine and everything )

http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1087380.htm

it's been up for sale for a while so i'd bet he would move on price slightly. ?? i would get it if i could afford it!

you can see E30 M3's on pistonheads.co.uk for around the 10000 pound mark... rusty??....knackered???... who knows you'd have to look at some. take advantage of this recession's what i say

unlucky you by way - getting sent here for 2 years !! i just spent 6 months in afghanistan working the americans and loved it!! i would love to get stationed in america for 2 years

steve
Royal Navy Medic

[mortifiedpenguin]

America isn't all it's cracked up to be, but I'm American so maybe I'm just tired of the place. Being stationed here has made me appreciate it more.

[Nay]

E30 M3s go on pistonheads for £10K-£15K. You'll have to go and look at every one of them.

I know E30s are around in the US, but what about M3s? Could you not find one over there?

E30 M3s are LHD cars, so ideal for taking to the US, whereas the E36 M3 will be sold (well it should be) in the US and wont be LHD over here (unless imported in the first place...).

From what I have been told, but I'm not sure, is that it more problematic bringing a US car to britian rather than taking a british/euro car to the US. Your laws are more leiniant and forgiving in many areas so only things like headlights/taillights and things like that need to be sorted. This is just regurgatated information though, so I may be completely wrong.

If the car is over a certain age, yes you should be able to bypass certain regulations such as emission problems and safety etc. I know bringing US cars over here is a pain in the backside if they are over 10 years old. But you need to get 1967 or below classics from the US to get around the law and leave them stock. Otherwise you have to do soo much to get them road legal over here.

Hope at least some of my info is accurate and happy hunting! Unfortunate for you to get stuck in the UK in the RAF bases. I have been to a few with the RAF cadets (I was in during college) such as RAF Honnington and the area around there was a bit of a dive... Fun activities though!

[Fushion_Julz]

US E30 M3s are slightly different to Euro spec ones...
They will have 5 speed overdrive 'boxes and 4.25 LSD
They all come with aircon and leather
No Evos or special editions in US spec

US E36 M3s are entirely different to Euro spec ones...
They have an S52 motor (not the S50B30) which is effectively an iron block M52 in 3.0 or 3.2 capacity with uprated cams. They don't have the throttle bodies (one per cylinder), rather they have the single point injection (very similar to Euro 328i).

[Blitz]

The US E36 M3 does not deserve to be called an M3.

[78dude]

Why not look for an E30 Touring, I have heard they didnt import them to the US...??

[Morat]

Tourings are very rare indeed in the US. You should have a look at the forum on E30tech.com for a US perspective. For the ultimate you could get an iX touring (probably from Germany/mainland EU) and import that to the US. I think the e30tech crowd would explode with envy at that point

[On_a_Roll]

E30 Tourings never went to the USA.

E36's are RHD so if you went to the EU to get one you'd have the KHM/MPH clocks issue - not that big of a deal.

From what I know in imports, it's all about emissions. Then there's minor stuff like those gross indicators (turn signals) set into the bumpers and headlights that point the right way etc - it needs to USA spec.

I wouldn't bother unless it was for an E30 M3 and even then it would have to be worth it - are they really that much more over in the USA?

If you know someone in the show car / competition industry I think they can usually import them untouched.

[Blitz]

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread ... ht=touring

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread ... ht=touring

[jon552]

US E30 M3s are slightly different to Euro spec ones...
They will have 5 speed overdrive 'boxes and 4.25 LSD
They all come with aircon and leather
No Evos or special editions in US spec

US E36 M3s are entirely different to Euro spec ones...
They have an S52 motor (not the S50B30) which is effectively an iron block M52 in 3.0 or 3.2 capacity with uprated cams. They don't have the throttle bodies (one per cylinder), rather they have the single point injection (very similar to Euro 328i).

just a slight correction the they use mpi (multi point injection) not single point - dont think any bmw used single point injection at that age.

jon

[78dude]

E30 Tourings never went to the USA.

E36's are RHD so if you went to the EU to get one you'd have the KHM/MPH clocks issue - not that big of a deal.

From what I know in imports, it's all about emissions. Then there's minor stuff like those gross indicators (turn signals) set into the bumpers and headlights that point the right way etc - it needs to USA spec.

I wouldn't bother unless it was for an E30 M3 and even then it would have to be worth it - are they really that much more over in the USA?

If you know someone in the show car / competition industry I think they can usually import them untouched.

European cars in general, are exotic in the US. During the 80s there was still a big sale of American cars in the US who means that there arent that much of German cars from the 80s in the US who have made that some American people are buying 2nd hand cars from Germany to an example - and import them over to the USA and fit American plates on them. As I know, some Alfa fans in the US have imported some Alfa Romeo 164 from Germany to USA (who was the last Alfa sold as new there)

Other thing is also price, an E30 is a much more expencive car in the USA compeer to like UK or Germany, and if he want a RHD car, its just cool because he want something diffrent.

If I was in "mortifiedpenguin" shoes, I would look for a good 325i Touring with a manuel gearbox in the UK because it will be a cool, rare car in the USA plus that they arent expencive to buy here in Europe too.