Help me choose E36 or E30

[jdmrolla]

Hey guys I currently own the blue estoril vert but I'm think about selling for the E30 below, what are your thoughts, I love them both but unfortunately do not have the means to have both cars.

bmw-1-of-1-17_zpsd33c991f.jpg00W0W_iNhiBPIBxLF_600x450.jpg

[BimmerBreaker]

Which one do you like more?

[jdmrolla]

No Idea, I just picked up the vert about a month ago and test drove the E30 last night, both in excellent shape. I would probably lean more toward whichever one is more rare or harder to replace, because I would like to eventually have both.

[CGumina]

What are you doing with the cars? Will they be raced, or do you just cruise? Do you intend to daily drive them, or just cruise around?


Personally, I've always liked the E36's better than the E30's. Better suspension, far better brakes, and less nightmares to deal with (electrical gremlins, old parts, etc.).

[jdmrolla]

What are you doing with the cars? Will they be raced, or do you just cruise? Do you intend to daily drive them, or just cruise around?


Personally, I've always liked the E36's better than the E30's. Better suspension, far better brakes, and less nightmares to deal with (electrical gremlins, old parts, etc.).

thanks, This particular car will be used as a cruiser, If I kept the e36 I would lower it a lot almost to a point of stance. The E30 is already nicely lowered, so I probably wouldn't touch it. I'm reluctant to sell the e36 as I know the verts are hard to come by in manual transmission

[BimmerBreaker]

With this new information, I vote to buy the E30 in order to prevent another E36 from being stanced.

[jdmrolla]

With this new information, I vote to buy the E30 in order to prevent another E36 from being stanced.

The reason for stancing the vert would be because its a vert, you really can't race it and its heavy. I wouldn't stance a coupe.

[Doge]

With this new information, I vote to buy the E30 in order to prevent another E36 from being stanced.

IMO stancing cars make the car look like the equivalent of a person who was deprived of oxygen at birth.
Why do people do that? What does it accomplish? (In this instance I refer only to hellaflush stancing)
OP I don't mean to offend, lowering is one thing...but really?

[jdmrolla]

I would go as low as I could go without having to roll the fenders, lets put it that way, don't get me wrong I'm not one for tearing up a perfectly good car. Im just simply asking if you had to choose one, which would you choose.

[Doge]

What kind of E30 is it?
It will be a night and day difference, obviously.

[jdmrolla]

What kind of E30 is it?
It will be a night and day difference, obviously.

its the exact on in the picture. 325i Sedan - Which do you feel would hold its value better as well?

[radicalr6]

That E30 is clean looking. If it's Stick, Sport seats and under 140k miles then get the E30. You can get a vert in couple of years for same price they are now. Clean E30s are difficult to come by and prices seem to be going up

[Doge]

That E30 is clean looking. If it's Stick, Sport seats and under 140k miles then get the E30. You can get a vert in couple of years for same price they are now. Clean E30s are difficult to come by and prices seem to be going up

I agree with radicalr6, but only if it's a standard trans...you can find sport seats if you spend time looking. Even though service on those chassis can be easy, they still require a lot of attention in most cases.
There were so many e36s produced that I, again, agree with 'radi' the price on them will likely remain constant for the next few/several years...at least until all of the (unfortunately) trashed e36s go out to pasture.
But for right now E30s are

[ELVA164]

Get the E30. Done. Hold value better (now), look better, more interesting, and E36s are easier to find if you want one in the future. And you said you won't touch it if you keep it.

[jdmrolla]

Maybe this will help. the E30 was manual swapped. The E36 is factory manual - 1 of 380 manual vests in estoril blue

[Doge]

Maybe this will help. the E30 was manual swapped. The E36 is factory manual - 1 of 380 manual vests in estoril blue

I'm sorry, I'm going to be a bit indignant.
If you slam any car...ANY car, it will ruin the value; unless you sell it that way to someone who wants that.
You could save all of the original parts, but you will still have to swap everything back in order for the "1 in 380" thing to have any relevance.
Any "normal person" will most likely not buy a stanced car.
Not to suggest you're not normal (because we're all weird in some way) but E30s are classics. They also have a strong following and it's getting stronger as they get harder to find, which they are. <--my buddy had three at one point, then the township he lived in towed 2 of them and turned those into transformer ice cubes.

And I don't think anyone would realistically care if the car was manual swapped. So long as the manual is a factory manual and was done well...which even if it wasn't can always be fixed.

[Botoja]

Did you drive the 325? Ive seen some rough swaps out there. If you're going to drive the car then I guess choose the car that feels good.

[auaq]

I vote for E9.

[BimmerBreaker]

If you are buying these cars for financial gain then you are buying them for the wrong reasons... neither of these cars will appreciate beyond it's repair/maintenance costs. E30 may grow in value faster, but its also going to take more $$$ to keep running as its older so more parts are going to break, some parts are going to be harder to find, etc... this is the critical thing people don't understand about the E30's value climbing. They are going up in value because owners don't want to be too deep in the red selling them, so they've started asking more for them until they've gone up in value. Not to mention that they've been $2000-3500 for a decent example for a few years now, nothing indicating that E30 values will continue to rise. The E36 is fairly reliable besides the convertible top and though E36 M3 values are rising on a whole, the verts get no love. So neither of these cars is a winner when it comes to money. So again, my question to you is which car do you prefer? Buy whichever one is most fun to drive

And 1 of 380 verts in a specific color doesn't mean much. That actually tells me it was somewhat common, if it was 1 of 380 convertibles in manual and this was one of maybe 30 in estoril blue then that'd be different.

[Arezi]

You forgot to mention that your blue E36 there is an M3. I didn't even notice that until taking a closer look at the picture.

If it was a E36 328i vert then I would say go with the E30 325i no doubt. But since that E36 is an M3, it makes it a tougher choice.

Just out of curiosity, what's the mileage on both of those cars?

[Doge]

It says his current car is a 1999 M3 coupe.

He wants to slam it anyway if he keeps it.
But otherwise, yeah...u rite.

[billyfiction]

If you are buying these cars for financial gain then you are buying them for the wrong reasons... neither of these cars will appreciate beyond it's repair/maintenance costs. E30 may grow in value faster, but its also going to take more $$$ to keep running as its older so more parts are going to break, some parts are going to be harder to find, etc... this is the critical thing people don't understand about the E30's value climbing. They are going up in value because owners don't want to be too deep in the red selling them, so they've started asking more for them until they've gone up in value. Not to mention that they've been $2000-3500 for a decent example for a few years now, nothing indicating that E30 values will continue to rise. The E36 is fairly reliable besides the convertible top and though E36 M3 values are rising on a whole, the verts get no love. So neither of these cars is a winner when it comes to money. So again, my question to you is which car do you prefer? Buy whichever one is most fun to drive

And 1 of 380 verts in a specific color doesn't mean much. That actually tells me it was somewhat common, if it was 1 of 380 convertibles in manual and this was one of maybe 30 in estoril blue then that'd be different.

e30 values have been increasing quite nicely. there are places out there asking stupid amounts for e30s. and I'm referring to non m3. if you want an e30 i would get one now but not as a DD. prices for these cars will never go down.

[Arezi]

It says his current car is a 1999 M3 coupe.

He wants to slam it anyway if he keeps it.
But otherwise, yeah...u rite.

I need to make a habit of looking at that profile detail thing :P

The reason for stancing the vert would be because its a vert, you really can't race it and its heavy. I wouldn't stance a coupe.

Why stance it though? Sure it's a convertible, but it's still an M3. Plus the E36 M3 vert's aren't actually very heavy. They weigh 1560kg (~3400 lbs) which is light relative to today's standards. Plus those M3's feel great to drive and its handling is sublime, even if it's a convertible. The car has the same short wheel base as the coupes, most of the weight is distributed between the axles, and because it's a soft top, the center of gravity is as good, if not better, than the coupes.

You have a clean M3, and as you said, that blue w/ a manual is a rare find. Your car will hold its value much better than most other E36 M3's. If you keep the car, instead of spending all that money to stancing, invest in some tasteful mods and enjoy that puppy.

[BimmerBreaker]

e30 values have been increasing quite nicely. there are places out there asking stupid amounts for e30s. and I'm referring to non m3. if you want an e30 i would get one now but not as a DD. prices for these cars will never go down.

In my area, E30 prices have been stagnated for years. They are probably going up in your area because rust is prevalent so older cars will always go up in value as supply goes down. Most near me are going for $2-3k.

[idriveastick]

I've noticed E36 M3 prices going up. I've owned two (a 95 and a 97). The 97 was purchased a few years ago for $8k even. Now, similar examples are going for over $10k. Granted, it was clean as a whistle so perhaps the sample size is narrowing as someone above mentioned.