Contemplating on Buying my first E30: a manual 318i Cabriolet 1991

[Murt97]

I'm an absolute novice when it comes to buying E30s and I'm in two minds about buying this 318i Lux cabriolet.

Car background: Exterior and interior are in decent condition for the age and It's got 191k miles on the clock (5 owners total). There is slight rust on the driver's door panel and has had no serious engine work done on it either (owners words). It's passes MOT and has part service history with no real issues. Brakes and exhaust have been both replaced recently, but I don't mind doing work on the car over the long-run as it won't be my daily driver.

The colour combo is attracting me to this particular vehicle as it's Lagoon Green with a beige interior. That being said the owner is asking for £3500.

Can more experienced owners please advise on any precautions I should take and what kind of offer should I make?

Thanks.

[martauto]

Hello and welcome to the zone mate !!!!
I nearly bought one like this @ eight years ago and regret not doing it but I`m sure some guy`s will be along to give some advice .
If you can throw some pics up then it will make it all the better.
Have a look in the "Wiki" , it`s very good.

Mart.

[Murt97]

Images of car in question:

[martauto]

Ask away on here but dont mess around, that is one beautiful car and at "face value" is an absolute snip !!!!!
Sport leather interior as well
Mart.

[Murt97]

Ask away on here but dont mess around, that is one beautiful car and at "face value" is an absolute snip !!!!!
Sport leather interior as well
Mart.

Haha yeah looks pretty cool imo.

You reckon I can offer £2500 for it? Given the high mileage, small amount of rust and the fact the owner has incomplete history?

[Cloggy Saint]

No harm in a reduced offer but E30 prices are on the up and even with the minor issues it has and the high mileage I reckon it would shift for asking price no problem.

[Murt97]

Thanks for your input guys!

While some of you more experienced bimmerphiles are here... has anyone got experience with the facelift 318i E30? What are your thoughts on this variant in terms of performance/handling/reliability?

[boiliebasher]

Personally I think your being cheeky going in at 2.5k. As has already been suggested above, it's priced correctly imho.

If the seller wants 3.5k, and you want to barter a bit, start around 3k. E30'S command very strong money these days and you generally don't get much for under 3k other than and expensive pile of rust. That one on "face value" looks clean and I would say its priced to sell.

Good luck and keep us posted

[ah]

Have a look in the “For sale E30 cars” here in the zone,Theres another corking Laguna green 318i cab 1991.

[Murt97]

Have a look in the “For sale E30 cars” here in the zone,Theres another corking Laguna green 318i cab 1991.

I've had a look at that one earlier, great car but sadly out of my budget. I'm fresh out of university so I'm trying to start this E30 lifestyle as cheaply as possible.

[Brianmoooore]

Thanks for your input guys!

While some of you more experienced bimmerphiles are here... has anyone got experience with the facelift 318i E30? What are your thoughts on this variant in terms of performance/handling/reliability?

Performance: It's no hotrod, but it'll keep up with traffic OK.
Handling: All cabs have the brakes and suspension of the 325i saloon. Much better than the 318i saloons.
Reliability: The M40 engine is pretty much indestructible as long as you change the cambelt occasionally. It does have issues, however.
The first is wearing out its camshaft as a direct result of neglected oil changes. The effect is like a rev. limiter, cutting in at around 4000 RPM.
The second is that it was the first engine that BMW fitted with hydraulic self adjusting tappets, and they weren't too successful in terms of long life.
The effect is a quite loud tapping noise at start up and idle, but, if you can live with it, it makes little difference to performance.

[Murt97]

Thanks for your input guys!

While some of you more experienced bimmerphiles are here... has anyone got experience with the facelift 318i E30? What are your thoughts on this variant in terms of performance/handling/reliability?

Performance: It's no hotrod, but it'll keep up with traffic OK.
Handling: All cabs have the brakes and suspension of the 325i saloon. Much better than the 318i saloons.
Reliability: The M40 engine is pretty much indestructible as long as you change the cambelt occasionally. It does have issues, however.
The first is wearing out its camshaft as a direct result of neglected oil changes. The effect is like a rev. limiter, cutting in at around 4000 RPM.
The second is that it was the first engine that BMW fitted with hydraulic self adjusting tappets, and they weren't too successful in terms of long life.
The effect is a quite loud tapping noise at start up and idle, but, if you can live with it, it makes little difference to performance.

As a cab, will it hold up well when putting it through bends? That's my only hesitation when it comes to the cab vs coupe/saloon debate. Engine-wise I was thinking of doing a M20 or M50 engine swap in a year or so...if I buy the car.

[Brianmoooore]

E30 cab has considerable changes to the shell design to compensate for chopping the roof off. Much larger sill sections is the main one, with various bits of additional bracing around the shell as well restore a lot of the body stiffness.

[BenHar]

Cabriolets are by no means "sports" cars. More of a grand tourer.

They flex quite a lot.

Still great to drive though.

Ben

[ah]

Have a look in the “For sale E30 cars” here in the zone,Theres another corking Laguna green 318i cab 1991.

I've had a look at that one earlier, great car but sadly out of my budget. I'm fresh out of university so I'm trying to start this E30 lifestyle as cheaply as possible.

Fair play mate,but make sure you end up with an E30 !

[Murt97]

Thanks a lot everyone, as this was my first post I appreciate all your advice and I'll keep you guys posted!

[Murt97]

Hi everyone, I actually went to view the car in question and I’ve got some updates...

So the car was in worse condition than shown on the advert (check previous posts) a little more rust and paint damage than I expected (dash had multiple cracks too) Seems the seller wasn’t really into his E30 or cars in general as it was kept in a poor state.

I couldn’t test drive as the battery was completely dead and he’s offered to get a new one for me....he Initially asked for £3250, but has accepted £2000 providing the engine works properly for my test drive next week.

I wanted to get any thoughts on this and if this car is worth putting time and money into restoring it....

[Murt97]

More pics...

[Murt97]

More pics...

[Murt97]

More pics...

[Cloggy Saint]

It looks pretty unloved but I would say 2k is absolute rock bottom price for any E30. You may well end up spending the same again to get it looking nice, it depends how fussy you're going to be.

[Brianmoooore]

Given the price that E30s go for these days, this looks a decent buy for £2000. It looks like an unmolested original car, beginning to deteriorate, but not gone far enough yet to make for a difficult and expensive restoration.
Looking at the pic. of the front strut, it looks like a car that has been laid up for a while.
Don't worry too much about the engine - that's the cheap and easy bit.

[Murt97]

Yeah, he has’t used it in some time. It was a lot more rust than I expected.

Speaking of which, how much ill the rust/paint jobs set me back? I’m trying to avoid new body panels and respray.

Given the price that E30s go for these days, this looks a decent buy for £2000. It looks like an unmolested original car, beginning to deteriorate, but not gone far enough yet to make for a difficult and expensive restoration.
Looking at the pic. of the front strut, it looks like a car that has been laid up for a while.
Don't worry too much about the engine - that's the cheap and easy bit.

[Brianmoooore]

On an unused car the rust tends to look worse than it is. It creeps under the paint from existing damaged areas and bubbles it up, without actually etching too far into the metal underneath.
From what I can see, I don't think any new panels are required, although there'll almost certainly be some MIG action needed in the usual places. As for painting, it depends how fussy you are and the standard you consider acceptable. The metallic paint doesn't help, but it's possible to blow in panels using only aerosol cans with practice. Anything from that to a full blown respray if you want a concours car.
You haven't mentioned the condition of the hood? If that's in good serviceable condition, you have a bargain.

[Murt97]

The hood was actually the only panel in good condition, sure it was dirty as hell, but the paint was fine and no dents, no rust and no visible scratches.

On an unused car the rust tends to look worse than it is. It creeps under the paint from existing damaged areas and bubbles it up, without actually etching too far into the metal underneath.
From what I can see, I don't think any new panels are required, although there'll almost certainly be some MIG action needed in the usual places. As for painting, it depends how fussy you are and the standard you consider acceptable. The metallic paint doesn't help, but it's possible to blow in panels using only aerosol cans with practice. Anything from that to a full blown respray if you want a concours car.
You haven't mentioned the condition of the hood? If that's in good serviceable condition, you have a bargain.

[Brianmoooore]

Paint on the hood??? Hood is black canvas.

[Murt97]

Hahaha, sorry I thought you meant bonnet, my American family have been influencing my vocabulary lol

Paint on the hood??? Hood is black canvas.

[Lemon98]

Just to re-iterate on the rust, I took my mud flaps off today (well tried to - one of the fronts is so rusty cant turn the screw so going to have to drill out) but the car I bought is 80k miles and very much unused for the last 7 years or so and they are definite rust traps!!

Yours look a bit worse than my arches as at least it was kept in a garage but it will definitely need welding. I'm not too sure on price as I haven't had it looked at yet but probably £200-£500 at least.

Having had classic minis before though once you start getting in to treating an area it tends to be much worse and go back a lot further than what you can see.

So I'd say it depends if you're happy knowing that at some point in the near future it will have to be off the road for repairs then go for it!!! At the moment I'm doing my best to preserve the car how it is knowing that I'm saving up to get the rust treated as soon as I can.

[Brianmoooore]

Having had classic minis before though once you start getting in to treating an area it tends to be much worse and go back a lot further than what you can see.

Having followed the same route to the E30 as you, I can assure you that this is not the case. Yes, there's always much more rust than you see at first sight, but on an E30, if you find a point that is rusted right through, you may only have to sand back about an inch to find clean, bright, totally uncorroded steel. On the Mini, the rust will have crept under the paint from the hole for a foot or two.

[Murt97]

Yeah, from what I could see, It’s seemed the rust was only surface level and that the car’s corrosion was only in the beginning phases. The inner wheel arches looked to be sound. Providing there’s no other issues, I’ll be purchasing the car.

Do any of you know how much it costs to get minor rust fixed and painted over?

Having had classic minis before though once you start getting in to treating an area it tends to be much worse and go back a lot further than what you can see.

Having followed the same route to the E30 as you, I can assure you that this is not the case. Yes, there's always much more rust than you see at first sight, but on an E30, if you find a point that is rusted right through, you may only have to sand back about an inch to find clean, bright, totally uncorroded steel. On the Mini, the rust will have crept under the paint from the hole for a foot or two.