anyone had an e30 m3?

[saltyman]

as a few of you may know, my brother in law races BMWs in the BTCC, so my sister and the family have always had a thing about BMWs, though i aint owned one before.........never been into them.

amongst the 5 series, 3 series and x5 they own, they have recently bought a mint E30 M3......and i love it!

they chop and change regulary, so im keen to find out away from his own views on the car, as i quite fancy it for myself.

anyone have any honest reviews?

 

[big.eck]

a mate of mine had one , great to drive , go round corners quite well but i found it to lack in right low down grunt :? at the time i was running about in a 465bhp rs500 engined saphire so most things felt slow to me at that point

if it's mint with no rust and under the 150.00 miles mark (seemingly thats time for a re-build) then go for it

any pictures ?

 

[GT-Steve]

Always, always wanted the e30 M3, but then got bitten by other car bugs....

Never really heard a bad word said about them, tbh, but like big.eck says, they'll feel a bit lackluster if you're used to turbo ooooomph

 

[lewis1641]

One of my all time favourite cars. Ever.

Big power cossie or e30 m3. Would be a close call for me

 

[marin man]

Had a 325i x e30 ragtop quality motor got a bit rusty under the skirts though.

 

[saltyman]

i will get some pics of it when i next see it, it took him awhile to find one, as he mentioned they were mainly rot boxes out there.

my main worry is the expense they still go for with it being just 200+bhp and 20yrs old!

i think there status and looks are great, never drove a left hooker though.

 

[IDB1]

What a car!!. . . . one of only 2 (perhaps 3) classic BM's that I'd sell the kids for..

 

[GT-Steve]

Left hookers don't take too long to get used to once you've bashed your hand/arm/elbow on the door card a few times trying to change gear, you'll soon get the hang of it.

I might be wrong on this, but I remember seeing or reading somewhere once that the e30 M3 shares virtually no parts (and even the body shell) with the normal e30 :? and I think this even includes the windscreen (or the angle of it, being different :roll: :? ) but ike I say this was a long time ago and I can't remember the facts completely.

 

[BerthaPog]

The rear wondow was completely different - at a much shallower angle than the standard ones (wider c-pillars to suit):

vs

Wheel arch bits also unique, drove one on the track at work years ago.

 

[Dr S]

You have to spend big bucks to get a good one now. A mate of mine bought one in Wimbledon two years ago and I collected it for him (i was down there selling my old DS to a dealer in London). He paid about £12,000 for it and to be honest its a bit of a dog. I sat in the M25 for two hours with the heater on full blast just to keep the temp from going into the red which wasn't a great start.
We ended up fitting a new rad and a second eletric fan before setting off to Le Mans that year. The car had all sorts of electrical gremlins over the weekend and he did stuggle to keep up with my old Alfa over the 1500 mile trip. He decided on a full rebuild when he got home and two years later he is still at it. He now concedes that if he had spent more time and money finding a very good car to start with he would have saved mucho heartache.

Look for lots of reciepts and a full service history. Make sure all the electrics work and check for oil in the water. Engine rebuilds are £10k plus so make sure the motor is sweet. Gearbox syncros can wear with age so make sure it swaps cogs when cold. Bodywise, check floors on cars with sunroofs- the drain holes block and they get wet inside, musty smell is a good indication that there is a problem. Check inner wings and inside of boot for accident damage- they have a tendency for finding ditches. A hard place to look because of the bodykit are the sills, they can rot out and cost ££££ to repair properly (they are easy to bodge because of the sill covers.) When you find a good one make sure you put plenty of money asside to keep it that way. Also get it properly rustproofed, they are all 20 years old now and rot prone!

Heres a pic of his car lurking behind the Alfa in 2008