Wanting to buy a E30

[Stonewall]

I've been looking at buying a E30 325i. However, my past European car experience is limited to Volvo's. What are some good, and bads about these cars? I'm used to the expense of parts, with Volvos, and have been told they are about the same price wise. What kind of mpg would a 325i get? I want a 5spd. How sturdy are these cars? Common problems? How safe are higher mileage 325i's?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[abellia]

Stonewall,

I am a proud owner of a 1991 325i conv. To answer your question, let me first say that the E30 may be the best BMW built along with the E34. For starters

1. Rust is almost non-existent on these cars.
2. Engine is solid and high mileage is not a problem
3. Interior parts are of good quality. Far superior to the early E36...
4. BMW made & sold plenty E30's therefore parts are not expensive IMO for a foreign car and are easily available.
5. Tremendous amount of resources online and in publication which will allow you to service the car yourself.
6. Enough electronics to allow for efficient engine management without the problems that come with an overly electronic dependent car.
7. I'm getting 20MPG of mostly street driving.
8. Car is lite therefore 160+ HP is adequate. You can perform a chip upgrade for under $300 which gets you an approx 180HP; close to the E46 325i.
9. Reliable Tranny...

Common Problems:

-First and foremost is that damm timing belt !! If the $20 timing belt goes you stand the chance of destroying your engine. Plan to change it every 30k miles to be safe. When you purchase your E30, change the Belt immediately unless you are 100% sure it has been changed within an acceptable time. (Can be done on your own provided you take the time to understand what you are doing) Taking this a mech can be expensive because it is labor intensive.

- Valve Adjustment - Maintains performance and keeps the car somewhat quiet. Can be done on your own.

- Water leakage is trunk. - Common problem; lots of info online on how to tackle this problem.

- Rear shock mounts - common problem, look online for fix. Can be done yourself.

- Like most BMW's the cooling system is the weak link and it can shorten engine life. Flush coolant often. Change water pump, pully & thermostat when you are changing timing belt since you have easy access to the parts, Can be done yourself

- Loud fuel injectors - This you will have to just deal with.


Good Reading material

Bentley Manual
Haynes Repair Manual
101 Performance Projects for your BMW 3 series 1992 - 2000

Expect to pay anywhere between $2K - 10k for these cars.

 

[AWD_Guy]

I picked up myself a 325ix 206000Km. Bought from original owner.

Body is gorgeous, the hood had less stone chips than my other with cars with less mileage. The car has new shocks, brakes, fuel pump, timing belt, waterpump...engine runs very good. I'd say I'm getting ~22mpg

I've had to replace a few parts though:

-Resistor board for the fan speed control ($26)
-Gas tank ($550)
-Handbrake Assembly, new rear bearings, Backing plates (~$300)
-Rear Window switches ($60, scrapyard)

Thats it so far, but I'll need a new exhaust soon, cat and all. I'll probably just bring it to the muffler shop and have a custom one built. Cat for the car is over $500 from bmw. I can get a full system done for less than that. I just ordered some control arm bushings...I paid more to have the bracket included, and pressed so I dont waste any time. That cost me $100 to my door. I'm sure the car needs new strut bearings, those are $100/peice.

I wouldn't say parts are cheap. Prices are all in CND btw

The good thing is all the things that have gone wrong, I looked up on the net and I always found a resolution to it. So they're common problems, except for my leaky gas tank and handbrake....

I've received some kick ass customer support from www.bavauto.com, good guys to deal with and most of the time,t hey're prices are better than the shops around here....even with the shipping.

I got a lot of good info off this site...

E30Network