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Tuner Tuesday E30s: 1986 Alpina B6 3.5 and 1990 325i Hartge

Published February 17, 2015 by Carter

These days, I think you could slap an E30 badge on just about anything and the cult of the small sedan would perk up and pay attention. If the E30 was the natural choice for a sporting executive in the 1980s, it’s become the defacto way to instant street credentials in the European scene. “Sure bro, you might have a 2JZ-GTE Supra, but I got an E30 dawg!” you might overhear being conversed with a heavy beat from Ludacris pumping in the background and scantily clad women draping themselves over your Claus Luthe designed hood, for example. Is that not what happens? Well, the appeal of the E30 is such that you could easily believe that might be the outcome of turning the key in one. As an Audi fan from the same period, I have to admit a certain amount of jealousy; not so much in the design, but in the plethora of choices of what’s available in the market and the amount of manufacturer and aftermarket support. It’s something you just don’t really see in the Audi camp, for example. That means that you can have some mild to wild examples of E30s to choose from each and every day of the week. They’ve also hit importation status on some later models, so the flood gates have quite literally opened and a steady stream of Euro market cars is popping up for sale, trying hard to capitalize on the car made popular by the success of capitalism. As such, today for Tuner Tuesday I have two E30s to consider; a wild Alpina B6 3.5 from 1986, and a 1990 325i right hooker with a host of Hartge upgrades. Who wins the tune-off?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1986 Alpina B6 3.5 on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday Dinan 5-off: 2008 M5 S2 5.8 6-speed v. 2001 540i 6-speed

Published February 17, 2015 by Carter

I know that, amongst the authors that grace these pages, I seem to do a lot of comparisons of cars, some of which are extremely unlikely comparisons. One of our readers termed my picks a “Cheese and Chalk” competition; in many ways, he was right. After all, how can you really compare cars that are in completely different demographic categories? To be fair to me, I don’t always do such, but in that case that’s the appeal of the “10K Friday” series – taking a fixed budget and looking at the wild variety of cars that’s available simply because they’re similarly priced. However, I also like to compare similar vehicles and that’s the case today. I have two rare examples of Dinan-modded BMW 5-series. On the surface, they’re quite similar – both grey metallic, both with light grey interiors, both with normally aspirated motors, both have silver multi-spoke wheels with polished lips, and both have 6-speeds. But the level with which Dinan has breathed on them is quite different; consequently, one has double the power of the other, more technology and more complexity. That model also has one tenth the mileage of the other, and unsurprisingly is on offer at ten times the price making these seemingly very similar 5s very different. Which is the winner in your mind?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 BMW M5 Dinan S2 5.8 on eBay

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Motorsports Monday: 1988 BMW M3

Published February 16, 2015 by Carter

Remember 2007? I know, it doesn’t seem that long ago, right? Yet, back in 2007 you could take a pretty nice E30 M3 and turn it into a race car, and no one would scream at you, call you bad names, or think you insane. That’s because back in 2007, though many appreciated the E30 M3 it wasn’t the superstar of the German car market that it is today. As a result, it was still reasonably common to see E30 M3s turn up at the track, and properly built they were still the match for many newer cars. A friend of mine moved from a 2002 to a M3 in the early 2000s; after an engine rebuild, he needed break-in miles on the motor, so at a Lime Rock Park event he tossed me the keys. Out on track, it took me approximately 3 turns to instantly feel comfortable. The poise and balance of the E30 was amazing, and though I couldn’t use the upper range of the S14 and had to lug around one gear up from where the car should have run I was able to run down many E36 and E46 M3s without much difficulty. Coming off track, the owner was all smiles and laughing – “Imagine if those other M3 guys knew you were running a gear up!” he laughed. Today, E30 M3 racers may be one of the cheapest ways to get the M3 feeling – but while even the most nicely prepared ones were at most $20,000 – $25,000 only a few years ago the market surge has reached even non-street legal cars:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 BMW M3 on eBay

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1989 BMW 325ix

Published February 16, 2015 by Paul

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Last Friday, we featured a four door version of the car you see before you, a 1989 BMW 325ix. Like that car we featured last week, this one is equipped with the automatic gearbox option. Enthusiasts will certainly cringe, but as one astute commenter pointed out in our last post, perhaps those cars equipped with a manual gearbox were run a bit more ragged, which is why you see few in good shape come up for sale. This example has over 100,000 miles, but presents very well for its age. In popular Alpine White, it would match the white stuff on the ground a lot of us are struggling to get through this season.

Click for details: 1989 BMW 325ix on eBay

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RHD 1987 BMW M535i

Published February 15, 2015 by Nate

$_57

RHD cars seem most cool when they are Land Rovers or JDM classics – beyond that it just seems like an inconvenience. Frustration aside, the M535i is hard to come by in the US, so I guess we’ll take them as they come. Today’s is looking clean in Zinnobar Red and just over 100k miles, and while the availability of cloth seats on nice Bimmers in Europe intrigues me, it appears the bolsters are still prone to wear and tear. The biggest upset here is the automatic transmission, which comes with some sort of switching mechanism but still detracts from driving enjoyment. I guess the M535i is more about looks anyways, and small-bumper fetishists can get their rocks off here.

Click for details: 1987 BMW M535i on eBay

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