Tempting E30...Should I?

[Roku35]

Wow, never thought I would consider looking into bringing home a E30 tomorrow, but this one looks to be a worthwhile project that I wouldn't mind getting involved with. Not sure how much love I'll give it though. Maybe better to leave it to the young guns to fight over.

http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/cto/1589129202.html

What do you think?

[jmenacker]

That's not a bad looking 325i but the price is pretty high for a car with issues. Not only is the sunroof rusted but the headliner is stained around the sunroof opening. I suspect that water came into the cabin on a regular basis. That is a metallic color and should have a factory clear coat. Pics of the top surfaces show no evidence of clear coat. Perhaps a quick respray was done on top surfaces?

As you say, perhaps this one should be left to the younger generation for a practice car/respectable daily driver. The older I get, the more I simply want everything on the car to be factory spec.

Best regards,

Joe M in snowy WV

[e24mpwr]

I love E30's - they are a real kick to drive and usually fairly reliable. I can't comment on pricing since it is probably different on the islands. For an E30 needing a sunroof replacement (paint and install), without sport seats, etc, that would be considered high here, though the E30 is beginning to hit that zone where the really clean ones begin to command a comparatively high premium to "the rest" because they are becoming increasingly hard to find, mainly because kids get them these days and destroy or neglect them to death.

Sunroof rust in that spot is very common - some kind of design/mfg. defect.

I think an E30 makes a terrific kick around car - it drives like a go cart, is pretty cheap to maintain/mod and gives you a nice balance of modern and classic BMW.

My E39 Touring is a great car, but I still miss the E30 iX I sold to get it.

Voted: grab it!

[Ol'6erGuy]

I too love E30's. We had a 318 for a while and wish we had never sold it. The price does seem a little high.

I also vote to grab it!

Bill

[catseye]

That looks like a very nice, unmolested car (which is getting harder and harder to find). I don't think that price is too bad.

[Roku35]

This is really funny, I forgot that we actually did have a E30 a long time ago (wife's car) when I first bit-the-bullet. It was a family hand-me-down for my wife. It was the same color as this car except that it had awesome black interiors and was an auto. Funny how I blocked that out of my mind for sooo long.
Are nice black interiors had to find? As clean as it is, that creme interior is starting to really bug me (I'm a black interior kind of guy). I'd probably will want to find a broken E30 with nice black interiors to swap out. But then again the headliner is another PITA. Pass.

[euroshark]

Mmmm... I like it. Lachsilber? Black interior would really set everything off. I agree that the price is a little high, but your options are a little more limited than ours on the mainland, so if it's fair compared to other E30s in the area I'd go for it!

[Wrekless]

I don't have a timeline yet, but I will have a nice E30 in my collection sooner or later. That one looks like it has real potential.

[JRanmann]

Just by coincidence this e30 belongs to a mate of mine (a NASA astronaut, no less) He's selling the M3 to make room for an e9 if anyone is interested...likely a bit more than $2,100.00...!

Selected as a Mission Specialist by NASA in July 2000, Dr. Feustel reported for training in August 2000. His training included five weeks of T-34 training at Naval Air Station VT-4, Pensacola, Florida. Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Space Shuttle and Space Station Branches. Dr. Feustel served on the crew of STS-125, the final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. The mission successfully extended and improved the observatory’s capabilities through 2014. In completing his first space mission, Feustel logged almost 13 days in space, and a total of 20 hours and 58 minutes in 3 EVAs. Feustel is currently assigned to the crew of STS-134 to the International Space Station. The mission will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), a state-of-the-art cosmic ray particle physics detector designed to examine fundamental issues about matter and the origin and structure of the universe.

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/feustel-aj.html



http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2142/1850475375_e287eb4e6e.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17771507@N08/sets/72157602896719999/


Contact Drew: andrew.j.feustel@nasa.gov
...and of course he's located in Houston, Texas.


Cheers!

Ran

[Roku35]

Just by coincidence this e30 belongs to a mate of mine (a NASA astronaut, no less) He's selling the M3 to make room for an e9 if anyone is interested...likely a bit more than $2,100.00...!

Ran

I'll bite. Asking?

[e24mpwr]

I'll bite. Asking?

+1 hate the wheels - love the car

[JRanmann]

I'll bite. Asking?

His email is right there...ask him....dunno.

Ran

[Bruno Araujo]

RokuMado,

I must say that I consider the E30 probably one of the best engineered cars BMW has ever put together. I have presently 3 of them and have had another 2. They are hard to break down and when they do, it's quite easy to get it working again.

I personally would go for a Sport model: better looking on the exterior and improved equipment in the interior. The one in the photos looks ok but that interior is lacking a lot of toys....

Pay attention to the head problems and tappets, cooling liquid and fan coupling. Check if the instruments are all working properly. Rust on this cars (when they are not used on non salty roads) appear in the roof (as you can see), around the front window and where this panel meets with the firewall/wheel archs, and around rear lamps and number plates.

Go for it!!!! Itr's a funtastic everyday car!!!:D

BTW, if you ever decide on replacing thouse seats, I'm interested in that upholstery (just the napa). ;-)

[catseye]

+1 hate the wheels - love the car
+1 those wheels are like:

http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4591743/blemish-main_Full.jpg

[bimmerjo]

I'd pic different wheels, but I've seen FAR worse on them.