General Chat
Q:
My neighbor is letting his 89 bmw 325i (e30) go for extremely cheap. it's in awesome shape and he is the second owner. the first owner being an elderly couple.
i've driven it and what they say is true...once you drive a beemer YOU WANT ONE REAL BAD!!!!
it has a 2.8(i think) inline six (sound familiar?) and a 5 speed manual trans. the chassis is actually coming up on 200k miles but man it drives SMOOOTH and runs very very quiet. it's also surprisingly, and satisfyingly quick.
he's letting it go for a grand! it has new tires, suspension and lots of other goodies. the interior and exterior are both 9/10.
it has a very decent sound system, all gauges work (gasp!), and the tranny shifts flawlessly
he says the "drums need resurfacing" which you can hear at low speeds, which is funny because it has disc brakes front and rear I believe? maybe he's speaking about other drums?
and the AC is the OLD r12 and would cost a pretty penny to convert to r134.
i'm really thinking about getting this car. i have never owned any EU car (actually i've never owned something that ISNT a nissan! :D ) and was wondering if any of you have any huge reasons I shouldn't buy this car. thanks!
here's a couple pics to give you an idea of what i'm talking about for you non bimmer guys
82 280zx turbo 5 speed
86 300zx NA 5 spd
Post Edited (Aug 28, 8:30pm)
A:
I swapped my 88 TBird and my grannies old 83 Reliant to R134 for less than $50.
Maybe you can get by cheaper than you think on the AC swap.
BTW those are fun cars to drive. My buddy has had 10 of them.
They react very well to engine and suspension mods as well.
-----------------------------------------
12.804 @ 107.26 mph on crappy street tires with Dual SU Powered 2.9L Stroker!
ZCAR.COM member since Aug 1998
A:
wow i thought it would be much more expensive. that's great news!
i've seen so many e30's with SR20's and 2jz's and lots of cool stuff. thanks for the reply! anyone else?
82 280zx turbo 5 speed
86 300zx NA 5 spd
A:
the upper one is a e30 M3 ... with a s14 m3 motor ( same block used in f1!!) i have seen one build with turbo to 810 HP ( flywheel given!!) but it is a 2.3 4 banger !!!
You can sleep in your car, but cant drive in your house
if you are fully in control, you are not driving fast enough!
79 ZXR 46K!
81 ZXT EURO 2+2
83 ZXT
All fine Fastback winnabego's
A:
Ah. well the one i'm thinking about getting isn't an M3 unfortunately. :[
82 280zx turbo 5 speed
86 300zx NA 5 spd
A:
It's true, once you drive it you will love it. The best part is the highway on-ramps.
I drive a 535i (3.5 litre I6) Shift into third and floor it, It pins you in the seat till you run out of rpm. The 2.8 (from my 528e) is almost the same except you get WAY better mileage.
The ride on most BMW's is very constant, by that I mean 220kph feels like 110kph, so very comfortable.
The only problems I can think of are issues with driveshafts/trannys/diffs not liking to be in anything other than the intended model. A driveshaft transplant on the 528 (couple years ago) has been really hard on guibo joints. You can definetly hear and feel when those things are messed up.
Oh, I cracked a head on the 2.8 ($$$) 6 inches along cyl 3 @ 4
If you have a good pick n pull nearby you can afford to own a BMW.
Otherwise...
A:
Wait till you need to do maintence on it.
And find out how much parts are
There insane prices for parts
I would never buy a bmw because parts are so freakin expensive
although it does look nice and its cheap.
A:
thanks for the replies guys i really appreciate it. i'm probably going to try and get it!and if all else fails i can defintly turn around and sell it for much more than im buying it for after i fix whatever i can.
82 280zx turbo 5 speed
86 300zx NA 5 spd
A:
my cousin just bought an E30 and they're suppose to come with 4 cylinder engines.
1976 280Z
1995 Eclipse RS
Specs at- http://verevo.webhop.net