Slain by fiat punto gt (me in standard 325i sport) - normal?

[snoops]

each to their own but most people including me buy/ have bought an e30 because of its old skoolness and as oakey said the fact that they are basic and fun

[oldroydsr4]

I think the e36 tourings look pretty smart. check the link out below tell me you wouldn't want to own this...

http://cgi.ebay.de/Alpina-B8-4-6-Tourin ... dZViewItem

E30s are great, but as fuzzy has said theres alot that will thash a 325i.There basicly as quick as a Mk2 16v golf and thats it.

[E30BeemerLad]

i personally think a 16V golf would trouble an E30 and I would feel more comfortable near the limits in the bends in the golf, rather than waiting for the rear end to overtake me on the beemer

I'm currently looking at golfs

[daimlerman]

Alfa 75? Rust bucket!!Loads more E30s have survived,wonder why?

[e36boy]

Dont get me wrong people, I love my e30 and its loud and raw and great fun to drive but doesnt handle as great as everybody says. Im more confident in my e36 handling than my e30's and as i said earlier build quality is alot better on the e36.

[Andyboy]

Alfa 75? Rust bucket!!Loads more E30s have survived,wonder why?

Of course, e30's never rust do they............
Post 9.87 Alfa 75; fully galvanised shell. Easily EASILY a more rust resistant car than the E30 which really is a shocking rot box. All those E30's (inc. 1990 cars) I've cut up because they were rusted out weren't a figment of the imagination. Like the French, Alfa started to really take rustproofing seriously in the late eighties. BMW didn't on the E30 which is why so many have rotten roof skins, jacking points falling out and rusted out rear arch housings - on G-H plate cars.

But we were talking about new cars when the E30 was new. And there are still a few E30's about because so many were built and sold.

[aceraf]

I've driven most of the 3 series from the e30 onwards, and I'd always choose the e30!

The newer the cars get... the less 'Soul' they have!!! It' may sound stupid, but anyone who's driven all of the 3 series cars will vouch that they become more of a machine, and a tool for getting from a to b... and not 'the ultimate driving machine' as BM claim they make....!!!

I wouldn't call the e30's (M3 aside) super quick, and the only way i can explain it is as follows.... I look forward to driving my e30 on my commute...!!! It's the feeling they give you,,, that you don't get in the newer one's!!!

Don't get me wrong, I like all bm's (apart from the Z3 ), but i prefer the e30!
I actually had a e36 325i convertible, and was very happy with it... but i always prefered my old e30 325i convertible!!!!!

I would never slate the newer bm's and call them shit, but they definately lack soul, and lack that special something that makes the e30 such a great car for me!!!

The e36's have lots over the e30's....but i've seen first hand e36 owners offer their cars in straight swaps, for e30's!!! and before you go calling them stupid, most of those people owned bm's all their driving life's so i think they'd know a bit!!!

This is just my opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own....

[Brianmoooore]

M50 in an E30? That's like a 1989 Grundig TV with a brand new remote!

Interesting comparison - I'm sitting here now watching a F1 preview on a TV that was designed in 1981 (mine dates from about '86), has had several new remotes, and, like the E30 was designed by engineers, not accountants.
The picture produced by this TV is superior to almost every other TV I have ever seen - and that's not just a subjective assessment - I was in the TV servicing business before it disappeared and can assess a TV display quantitatively on a test pattern.
Incidentally, my local BMW dealers agree with me that the E30 was a superior car to the E36, and, for driver experience, superior to most BMWs

[oldroydsr4]

E30beemerlad. Mk2 16v are great and as you said confidence inspiring, wouldn't bother with a 8v tho they just feel gutless.

However check out the polo G40 (i wanted a 16v when i was 19 but couldn't insure it and bought a G40 instead)

Spent a fortune on it , i.e 65mm pulley, g60 injectors, stage 5 charger and stripped it out.

now that was a hot hatch, 16v's got eatten alive.

If i sold the 325i and went front wheel drive, it would have to be 16v/g40.

[tristan325]

OK I've had both e30's and e36's and I can tell you from EXPERICENCE, and not hear say or sour grapes syndrome. The e36 is quieter, more accomplished, more comfortable and handles far better than my E30. I have however sold the E36 to purchase a 1987 E30 Sport.

Not because it's better than the E36, but rather, because it isn't. It's a more visceral driving experience and an investment in the long run. It is also more fun to drive. But that doesn't make it better.

[tristan325]

Alfa 75? Rust bucket!!Loads more E30s have survived,wonder why?

It's still a fantastic car. If you've never had an Alfa, then your not proper petrol head!

Had a lovely old Alfetta GTV until it "melted". The thing would do 75 mph in second gear! What a car.

[jacko]

OLD SKOOL COOOOOOOOOOOOL

[Andyboy]

Incidentally, my local BMW dealers agree with me that the E30 was a superior car to the E36, and, for driver experience, superior to most BMWs

Yeah, maybe in Afghanistan. Give me a stock 320d and I'll whip any standard E30 325i Sport.

[Andyboy]

Had a lovely old Alfetta GTV until it "melted". The thing would do 75 mph in second gear! What a car.

OMFG!! Was she the chrome bumper 2 litre? Twin 45's on the all alloy twink, five speed transaxle and inboard discs. I would have sold my parents to buy one of those in the eighties. Sadly the were on a sliding scale - the closer I got to being insurable, the more they rotted away. Terrible rust heap that you could hear rusting on a quiet evening but what a sound. When I worked at Alfa, it was standard practice to unclip the air filter cover for the test drive. A pair of snorty forties hanging off the side whan BMW were pissing about with awful Pierburgs.

Tristan - I have to say if I was to buy another E30 it would be a Tech 1 Sport. With the proper Bilsteins they were a bit sharp on the ride but were a great thing to hustle along.

But;

I drove up to a salvage auction on Saturday morning in the E36, a lowly 320i (slow, then). Lots of bumpy country roads, cold morning air and sunshine. What a great drive - the E36 steering is so vastly better than the E30, really sharp turn in. All I needed was an engine that had more torque than a Kenwood mixer. But I'm an E36 convert I'm afraid - after the first few days of getting used to it because I wasn't that keen on it to start with.

But the first ever E30 I drove in the early nineties was a G plate 318i 4dr which I thought was absolute shite. I was into my Alfas then and the BMW felt like a plush Cortina.

[e36boy]

Incidentally, my local BMW dealers agree with me that the E30 was a superior car to the E36, and, for driver experience, superior to most BMWs

Yeah, maybe in Afghanistan. Give me a stock 320d and I'll whip any standard E30 325i Sport.

Im with you Andyboy, To many people on here think e30's are the only car worth having. 320d e46 or e90 would whoop 325i sports easily.

Im actually beginning to wish i had spent my money on an integra type 'R' instead of the sport and i may well be selling the sport to buy the Honda, Sorry for saying that but its a mich better car.

[Barx325i]

I don't see many E36zones and the like..? E30's are much more fun aren't they? much better looking too IMO.. Propper engineering and all that.

I bought my E30 325 on a whim when a mates girlfriends evo7 couldn't lose a stripped out 325i chromer. It was buttons to insure and parts were cheap so it ticked all my boxes.

As for hot hatches, how much are they shelling out for insurance?

"Replacement clutch in your frontwheeldrive sir?" That'll be £700 please.. Dealership services don't come cheap either

It's not the size of the wave, it's the motion of the ocean. A 325 is a tool for a very specific job and it does it perfectly in my book.

[Andyboy]

Funnily enough..........back in 1982 when my Olde Man worked for BMW AG everyone was banging on about the 2002 and how the Tii was the last of the proper BMW's, same thing with the CSL and the 3.0Si etc. To an extent they were right.
A good Tii or Turbo is a lot more exciting to drive than an E30 with sharper steering (and it's a box, not a rack). Now they have all rusted away they are an antique.
Give it another 10-15 years when 80% of the E30's left now have gone and see how history views the later stuff.

[e36boy]

I don't see many E36zones and the like..? E30's are much more fun aren't they? much better looking too IMO.. Propper engineering and all that.

I bought my E30 325 on a whim when a mates girlfriends evo7 couldn't lose a stripped out 325i chromer. It was buttons to insure and parts were cheap so it ticked all my boxes.

As for hot hatches, how much are they shelling out for insurance?

"Replacement clutch in your frontwheeldrive sir?" That'll be £700 please.. Dealership services don't come cheap either

It's not the size of the wave, it's the motion of the ocean. A 325 is a tool for a very specific job and it does it perfectly in my book.

www.e36coupe.com

[Barx325i]

www.e36coupe.com

.com because they have to pitch their popularity to the whole world for a halfway decent userbase

...ok fair comment

[Andyboy]

www.e36coupe.com

.com because they have to pitch their popularity to the whole world for a halfway decent userbase

...ok fair comment

Virtually nobody from outside the UK there! Almost exclusively UK based.

[Cotty]

www.e36coupe.com

.com because they have to pitch their popularity to the whole world for a halfway decent userbase

...ok fair comment

Virtually nobody from outside the UK there! Almost exclusively UK based.

[fuzzy]

.com because they have to pitch their popularity to the whole world for a halfway decent userbase

...ok fair comment

Virtually nobody from outside the UK there! Almost exclusively UK based.

did you miss out your comment there cotty?

[Barx325i]

may have just been reitterating yours fuzzy

[Cotty]

did you miss out your comment there cotty?

No. I wanted to make a point of not commenting

I think Andyboy is damaging the Zone and dont want to be associated with any threat that he posts on.

[fuzzy]

did you miss out your comment there cotty?

No. I wanted to make a point of not commenting

I think Andyboy is damaging the Zone and dont want to be associated with any threat that he posts on.

ahh i see,got you now

[Andyboy]

did you miss out your comment there cotty?

No. I wanted to make a point of not commenting

I think Andyboy is damaging the Zone and dont want to be associated with any threat that he posts on.

Oh Jesus, here we go, another decent thread turned to shit.

Look in your school dictionary for the word 'sanctimonious'.

[tristan325]

OMFG!! Was she the chrome bumper 2 litre? Twin 45's on the all alloy twink, five speed transaxle and inboard discs. I would have sold my parents to buy one of those in the eighties. Sadly the were on a sliding scale - the closer I got to being insurable, the more they rotted away. Terrible rust heap that you could hear rusting on a quiet evening but what a sound. When I worked at Alfa, it was standard practice to unclip the air filter cover for the test drive. A pair of snorty forties hanging off the side whan BMW were pissing about with awful Pierburgs.

Tristan - I have to say if I was to buy another E30 it would be a Tech 1 Sport. With the proper Bilsteins they were a bit sharp on the ride but were a great thing to hustle along.

But;

I drove up to a salvage auction on Saturday morning in the E36, a lowly 320i (slow, then). Lots of bumpy country roads, cold morning air and sunshine. What a great drive - the E36 steering is so vastly better than the E30, really sharp turn in. All I needed was an engine that had more torque than a Kenwood mixer. But I'm an E36 convert I'm afraid - after the first few days of getting used to it because I wasn't that keen on it to start with.

But the first ever E30 I drove in the early nineties was a G plate 318i 4dr which I thought was absolute shite. I was into my Alfas then and the BMW felt like a plush Cortina.

Hi Andy,

Yup, two litre with twin delortos! It was a lovely mettalic brown with a wooden moto lita steering wheel. I agree with the hearing it rust thing! LOL. Bit's used to fall off it when it rained! Transaxle with Inboard rear discs that were an fffffing pig to change the pads on!

Also had a couple sprints and an Alfasud TI, aswell as a Fiat 131 super mirafiori. Then progressed onto Lancias, having a couple of beta's and an Integrale evo. They all melted though

Before the tech 1, I had an E36 325i coupe, I actually swapped it for the tech 1, and the other guy gave me a monkey!! I have to admit the steering and overall package of the E36 was much nicer as an everyday driver, but the sport is identical to one I had in 1994 which met a sorry end with a milk float. The purchase of this one was a purely nostalgic one and I am hoping I don't live to regret it!

[Cotty]

Sorry that should have been thread not threat ,spelling goes after a few

[tristan325]

www.e36coupe.com

.com because they have to pitch their popularity to the whole world for a halfway decent userbase

...ok fair comment

Virtually nobody from outside the UK there! Almost exclusively UK based.

Agreed, but I tried to register on there and never got a response. Ended up having to talk to yanks on bimmerforums!!

[Barx325i]

Sorry that should have been thread not threat ,spelling goes after a few

That could have gone completely pear shaped!

[Andyboy]

Hi Andy,

Yup, two litre with twin delortos! It was a lovely mettalic brown with a wooden moto lita steering wheel. I agree with the hearing it rust thing! LOL. Bit's used to fall off it when it rained! Transaxle with Inboard rear discs that were an fffffing pig to change the pads on!

Also had a couple sprints and an Alfasud TI, aswell as a Fiat 131 super mirafiori. Then progressed onto Lancias, having a couple of beta's and an Integrale evo. They all melted though

I had loads of Alfas back in the day - when they were real Alfas - money no object mechanical engineering and shite bodywork/trim. Everything after the 75/164 was just nasty Fiat crap - very pretty but an Alfa Romeo with an iron block Fiat based engine isn't pukka.
Having to Aqua-Vac water from the parcel shelf and rear footwells was just something you did because the cars were so fantastic to drive. Some of my best drives were in an S plate Sud 1300Ti with a Webasto fold back sunroof with a lovely blonde bit of stuff I was knobbing at the time (not whilst driving - I'm not that good), driving anywhere and everywhere for the hell of it. Once we drove from Cambridge where I lived at the time to Exeter on one of the hottest days in 1980- something. Fell asleep on the M11 at 1 in the morning and nearly stacked the bastard!
If anything sounded better than the GTV it was the twin carn flat four in the Sprint Veloce with the airbox lid removed. Man! That was heroic!

I miss those days.................

[Andyboy]

.com because they have to pitch their popularity to the whole world for a halfway decent userbase

...ok fair comment

Virtually nobody from outside the UK there! Almost exclusively UK based.

Agreed, but I tried to register on there and never got a response. Ended up having to talk to yanks on bimmerforums!!

I'm on E36.com. It's a good forum if not as erm 'lively' as da Zone.

[tristan325]

If anything sounded better than the GTV it was the twin carn flat four in the Sprint Veloce with the airbox lid removed. Man! That was heroic!

I miss those days.................

I miss those days also, mind you my Alfa forays were in the early 90's, I wasn't old enough in the 80's to be able to afford or drive them!

I came very close recently, to buying another sprint, but thankfully thought better of it. Took a good friend with me who proceed to poke his finger through most of its chassis! I was still stood there saying "Yeah, but that's only superficial". I gave up when the sill fell off!

[Royalratch]

When this guy has owned a BMW worth more than £1000 I will take ridiculous comments like that seriously - be it narrow minded E30 zone bullshit or anything else. Absolutely absurd and somewhat offensive.

Who cares what you take seriously - you're just a Zone regular!


The fact is E36's are dull and everywhere. They're BMW's 'play it safe we're in the early 90's and there's been a crash and we better just make some inoffensive euro-box'. It's BMW's sell-out car (even though it sold a hell of a lot.)

Anyway, always comes back to money with you. What people's cars are worth, how much yours are worth, how much money you made from some car you bought for £10 and sold for £3 mil.

Boring.

E36's suck and I'm no lovesick Zoner either.

Now that's offensive!:)

[Barx325i]

When this guy has owned a BMW worth more than £1000 I will take ridiculous comments like that seriously - be it narrow minded E30 zone bullshit or anything else. Absolutely absurd and somewhat offensive.

Who cares what you take seriously - you're just a Zone regular!


The fact is E36's are dull and everywhere. They're BMW's 'play it safe we're in the early 90's and there's been a crash and we better just make some inoffensive euro-box'. It's BMW's sell-out car (even though it sold a hell of a lot.)

Anyway, always comes back to money with you. What people's cars are worth, how much yours are worth, how much money you made from some car you bought for £10 and sold for £3 mil.

Boring.

E36's suck and I'm no lovesick Zoner either.

Now that's offensive!:)

I'm not an E36 fan they're pants, in fact the only thing I regards as being any good is the turn in - which is why they made them to fit on the E30!

again E36 = E30 parts donor