Press "Enter" to skip to content
Warning!
We have 15 years of archives. Links older than a year may have been updated to point to similar cars available to bid on eBay.

946 search results for "bmw e30"

1991 BMW M5 Dinan 3.9 – Revisit

Published February 19, 2016 by Nate


The E34 M5 may be the least-loved of the breed, but who is going to argue with a 3.9 liter stroker S38? I adore my S38B35, and the thought of a torquier, gnarlier Dinanified inline-6 with an extra pint of volume makes me tingle. This Calypso Red M5 has made the rounds, first selling on BaT in 2012 for a relative pittance before spending the last year-plus trying to spin a profit. The speculative seller has repainted it but accrued fewer than 1k miles, making clear his intentions to cash in on a rare, tuned M-car. The reality that E34s aren’t appreciating like E30s or E38s has apparently begun to set in, as he’s asking now asking $6,500 less than in 11/2014. If you’re looking for a monster E34, this is probably the way to go. But when you could be getting an E39 with 60 more horsepower and a generation newer everything, does anyone like the E34 enough to pay the premium? I’m guessing the seller is going to have to have more patience or less pride before this M5 can start spinning its wheels again with a real driver.

-NR

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1991 BMW M5 on eBay

The below post originally appeared on our site November 28, 2014:

Read Our Post1991 BMW M5 Dinan 3.9 – Revisit
1 Comment
2009 BMW 135i M-Sport

2009 BMW 135i M-Sport

Published February 14, 2016 by Carter

In my search for an E46 M3, there was a nagging voice in the back of my head. As I looked at high prices of nicer examples of the M3, the voice kept saying “what about the E82?” So, what about the E82? In 135i guise, you got some of the styling from the M3 in a smaller chassis even though, generally speaking, it makes the E46 look pretty huge. In overall length, the E82 shorter than even the E30 as amazing as that sounds. But the standard roof height meant that visually the 1 series looked slightly out of proportion. Dynamically, though, that S54 must be a massive trump card, right? Well, again, not so fast, as the N54 twin-turbocharged inline-6 lay under the hood. Sure, it was at a slight horsepower disadvantage, but it makes up for that 33 horsepower deficit with 38 lb.ft more torque – and unlike the S54, that torque is available from under 2,000 RPMs. The result is that at least on paper, the 135i can run step in step with the E46 M3 acceleration to 60, 1/4 mile and 100 are all within a few tenths of each other – certainly enough that the driver could make a difference. And properly equipped, the E82 is a pretty neat looking car, like this 2009 M-Sport package:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2009 BMW 135i M-Sport on eBay

Read Our Post2009 BMW 135i M-Sport
5 Comments
1991 BMW 318is

1991 BMW 318is

Published February 12, 2016 by Nate

s-l1600 (4)
Who doesn’t love a clean E30 on a Friday evening? This 318is is well-traveled but “mechanically perfect” thanks to a thorough owner (now seller). It doesn’t look like a low-mile car but it looks good, with the classic red and Shadowline combo complemented by purposeful (if dorifty) bronze rims. The interior clearly shows this car is almost to the double-century, but recovered seats would make it nearly perfect. The 318is lacks the silky inline-6 but gets the most modern powerplant in the E30 family, the eager 130hp M42 inline-4 and even nimbler handling than the 325is. Clean ones are indeed hard to come by, and this one is well done.

Click for details: 1991 BMW 318is on eBay

Read Our Post1991 BMW 318is
Comments closed
1988 BMW M3

1988 BMW M3

Published January 30, 2016 by Nate

s-l1600
We may no longer be able to day dream about owning an E30 M3, but we can at least take a moment to pause and reflect that we’ve been observers of one of the most insane rises in values ever. According to Hagerty, over the last 5 years Councours and Excellent values have increased fivefold, while Good and Fair values have merely tripled. If you took $20k out of the stock market in 2011 and bought a nice E30 M3, your money would have performed over 10 times better than staying with Dow Jones. And that’s during the period of huge economic recovery – DJIA was barely 12,000 at the beginning of 2011.

(E30 M3 Values – Concours, Excellent, Good, Fair)
Screen Shot 2016-01-29 at 11.29.07 AM
(Below, the black line is the DJIA)
Screen Shot 2016-01-29 at 11.29.34 AM
With that in mind, we must accept that even extremely high-mileage E30 M3s like this 1988 Hennarot example are reaching $40k. It spent almost all of its life with an older woman in SoCal, being well cared for with a high quality repaint in 2009. The current seller is just the second owner and has allegedly owned over 60 BMWs, including 2 other E30 M3s. His fiancée is making him get rid of it (but he’s keeping the new M6, 1M, and 330i ZHP…). It doesn’t sound like money is an issue here and I’m sure the $38.5k asking price is more than he bought it for. But even if E30 M3 appreciation slows down, wouldn’t it still be worth it to pay for a storage garage and let it make you money?

Click for details: 1988 BMW M3 on eBay

Read Our Post1988 BMW M3
7 Comments
1989 BMW 325i Touring

1989 BMW 325i Touring

Published January 29, 2016 by Nate

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 10.31.25 AM
More wagons! Longroof E30s are popping up regularly these days, with quite a few in right hand drive configuration. They’re ending all up over the place in terms of price, but overall it seems like the relative glut of Tourings is creating a buyers market where the patient can get what they want.

This 325i isn’t the nicest we’ve seen, with a shredded drivers seat soiling an otherwise decent interior. The exterior is nice in Delphin Gray and lowered on H&Rs over some middling aftermarket wheels. It has just 125k miles, but almost no real details from the seller. The automatic is a bummer but seems to be the more common option on these wagons. We’ve seen them go from $4k to over $10k; can this one get off the ground with its $7,500 starting bid?

Click for details: 1989 BMW 325i Touring on eBay

Read Our Post1989 BMW 325i Touring
1 Comment

Can't find what you're looking for? Try refining your search: