last proper bmws were built in 1988?

[maxfield]

Sounds like BS to me

[m3ben05]

Well its certainly true that BMWs designed after that sort of time are not built to the same quality (think e36's etc)

I dont think there is any difference in quality between an 88 and an 89 e30 though.

[Pal318is]

What about 90/91?? 318is's...totally agree with the whole e36 thing though, completely different car to the e30.

Pal

[e30bemer]

All depends on where the car is kept and how its used!

Sounds like a big pile of BS!

[stevenannahouse]

I used to own a e36 325 and i must say that it was built extremely well. I cant seem to find any real build quality differences from the e30..

[march109]

All depends on where the car is kept and how its used!

Sounds like a big pile of BS!

thats irrelevant..im on about the build quality when it left munich bmw started making alot of cuts in 1989 tehy didnt just wake up one day and start making crap e36s it was a proggresive thing and custs started in 1989.. just wondering if this was obvious to any zoners who had owned both vehicles i gotta a 1989 never had an earlier apparently better one

Its not irrelevant a well maintained car from '89 could easily be of a higher standard today then a supposedly better build of '88, christ 18 years have elapsed since then. How can you judge build quality in a car old enough to drink a pint in the pub! Most the parts have been services/maintaned/replaced/used and possibly abused in that time. Build quality of a car that old would be impossible to judge!

Sounds like utter carp, anyway the berlin wall falling didn't make BMW suddenly think "we need to cut costs let make our cars crap" all it did was increase the number of laborours and part suppliers available to supply BMW and they like any sensible company reduced costs in-line with what was available, it made a larger (albeit temporarily less stable) financial market almost overnight remember.

[pnd]

A lot of cars built in the 90's seemed to suffer from build quality issues e36 bm's and some mercs spring to mind. There are a number of factors that could explain this. 1 economic recession led to cost cutting, 2 expansion/ changing build location leads to standard reduction. 3 changes in internal company politics contribute to poorer standards of build. No one who knows anything about the car industry can ignore the impact of larger political factors on the nature and quality of the product rolling from the production lines.

[andyborris]

....do you guys think this is true that pre 1989 cars are built and have less issues in general than say a 1993 touring or summit?

No they went downhill when they stopped making the: 2002 :(insert favorite model here)!

The way cars are and have been made have changed throughout the years, many people moaned when cars (including BMWs) stopped using separate chassis's, it's just something people do. This makes the older generation feel superior to the younger!

Andy

[hammoj28]

The 318 IS is meant to be one of the better quality built e30 and was built in a completely different factory with extra underseal etc so im told so that cant be true as IS's are later cars.

[fuzzy]

i reckon my 91 touring has been of perfectly good quality with regards to build quality and reliability.but i can only compair it to other makes from the same era as ive never owned a pre 89 car.its something that could never be proved either way as there will have been good and bad cars from both pre and post 89.

[Chris-W]

But I thought 318iS's were hand-crafted from solid billet by nietzchean ÃÂabermenches?

[Speedtouch]

My '88 325iSE, bought recently for Ԛ£700, shows no sign of rust even on the rear arches and it's covered 125,000. (It's solid black paint - a good colour for rust resistance I've heard...) All the electrics & goodies work too, and the engine runs beautifully. I'd therefore say the overall quality is incredible IMHO the thing that really lets them down is the cloth seats that tend to wear badly (particularly the driver's one obviously.) I've owned three, the others being an '84 320i, and '87 320iSE and haven't had any major problems despite caning them at times.

[--alpina--]

Hi guys, interesting subject here, i own an E21 323 well its a 2.7, back in the early 1970`s to early 80`s those cars were quality built as the metal used were from russia so they didnt rust that quick as metal were from colder country it was treated to last in that condition, so the earlier generation of E30`s were built using russian imported metal.. during the crisis that bmw went thru as a competition with mercedes when they brought out the 190e edition cars and bmw started using eastern metal and the build quality wasnt as good as the earlier time of there cars so this way its cheaper to produce more cars with cheaper metal in order to compete with mercedes, buy then years after mercedes didnt bother much with the 190e cars as they progressed with more different designated models and the e30 kept on selling with beat the rival mercedes and done a good job too as it turned out to be more popular .. ok thats when bmw recognition for prestige cars went down hill and mercedes kept the prestige up which was a shame cos back in the 70`s till 80`s it was like a big thing to own a BMW as it was high marque car.. u mention BMW then people thinks aahaa this man/woman has got money.... but not like that any more.... the last of the E30`s are the quality build of the E36..... anything later from the E36..... im not your man to ask.... but his much i know as jeremy clarkson told this to me a year ago.... hope this helps, as i was surprised about this info...





jimi

[michealewk]

i would totally agree with that i even have a mk2 golf gti 16v that was made in 88/89 in west germany and is a far superior car to the mk3 same goes for the e30s and e36s

[JoeP]

But I thought 318iS's were hand-crafted from solid billet by nietzchean ÃÂabermenches?

LOL!

[--alpina--]

never did like that WA--KER jeremy clarkshite anyway, LOOOL





Jimi

[ballin]

But I thought 318iS's were hand-crafted from solid billet by nietzchean ÃÂabermenches?

[hubble]

I've had my E30 325i Sport now for 4 years. The interior/exterior is superb still feels solid and tight in the corners. For an eighteen year old car that's impressive to say the least. I've been in my Directors E320 Mercedes estate and when closing the door it doesn't sound as good as mine. I strongly believe that there are some German cars pre 1990 which are built far better than some new cars of today.

[kdevitt]

Always find it funny to hear the E30's are quality, E36's are shoddy argument. At the moment I have an E30 325i, an E36 320i and an E46 328ci. E46 is a million miles above the other two in terms of build quality and general solidness, the E36 is totally solid - not a sign of rust for a 12 year old car. Has been extremely reliable too. The E30 is still a quality car alright - but I personally think the E36 is a step above in terms of build quality. There were a good few teething troubles with the first year of E36 production - think the gloveboxes had their design changed, but I'm sure that 1983 E30's had one or two problems as well.

[diamondblacke28]

i agree with PND.

there must have been some cost cutting on some batches of e36 production.
some rust like crazy and we all no thats not like a beemer.

my brother in law has a 318i he has had to weld the boot floor because the axel fell off.
and the n/s rear shocky mount burst through in to the boot.

they must have used a cheaper steel or not preserved the steel as they usualy do

did bmw have an immigrant work force on the e36 production in the early 90s?

an it always seems to be the base models of the e36 that rusts.
the e34 doesnt seem to have the same problem.
you lots of tidy 90s e34s about.

i have a 92 e34 525i 24v and 91 e34 520i 24v both very sold examples.

im selling the e34 520i 24v manual

[e30bmlover]

that is the biggest load of shit i have ever heard! bmw do not compramise on quality(except for the E36 shitty interiors) the e30's where built to last and over engineered.