It’s winters like these when I don’t miss living in New England. We’ve seen a little bit of snow here in the Mid Atlantic, but generally this winter has been bearable for someone like myself used to dealing with worse precipitation. Of course every time the white stuff begins to fall my mind wanders towards the thought of a vehicle with power routed to all four wheels. While my MINI Cooper S with its 6-speed manual is much more capable in the snow than my last car, a rear-drive Mercedes-Benz C-class, it’s still not the greatest in the snow, mainly due to the low ground clearance. I always thought it would have been cool if MINI offered all-wheel drive on the Cooper S with about a half-inch more ground clearance. I don’t need a full on crossover to do my bidding. Just a few mods would be good enough for me.
This E30 BMW 325ix got the formula of what I’m talking about above just right. You have to look closely to differentiate the 325ix from the rear-drive 3 series. The added ground clearance is barely perceptible, rather, the fender flares would be your first tip off if you didn’t approach the car from the rear and see the “ix†badge. There’s not too many of these all-wheel drive E30s knocking around anymore, but this sedan for sale in Idaho is one of the best I’ve seen as of late.
There’s a website How Many Left? that tracks the number of examples of any particular vehicle still on the road in Great Britain. If their numbers are accurate, then the BMW 733i is almost extinct. I can’t remember the last time I spotted an E23 on the road, let alone an early 733i. These early 7 series are not a darling of the collector set. Around 285,000 were produced over a decade span. I’ve seen plenty of E23s in rough condition and if that’s anything to go on, then many have taken their final trip to the scrap heap. This 1977 733i for sale in Vancouver, British Columbia, however, has escaped that fate.
Could the M3 market get hotter? I bet it can, because there are a massive amount of enthusiasts who follow and lust after the cars, this author included. But in my general searches for cars this week popped up one of the more strange ads that I’ve seen in some time; it was an advertisement celebrating the beginning and end of M3 production, but in convertible form. And it was for not one, but two M3s – an E30 and a E93. Now, frankly right now it doesn’t really matter what type of E30 you come up with, there’s someone who wants it. But the convertibles, though more limited production than the coupes, are a bit of a different market. In short, they’re desirable, but for a different reason than the motorsport heritage that started the M brand. 2013 saw the death of what we associated with M3; a naturally aspirated 2-door overachiever that in many ways defined the market for small performance sedans. Is this listing a fitting tribute to the legend or just an attempt to capitalize on M3-mania?
The search for the elusive, clean E30 continues, and this Schwarz example appears well cared-for with only minor cosmetic modifications that are fully reversible. The look is very lippy and very low, and I think with the ///M badge removed and some slightly more subtle wheels, this would be a very clean daily driver. The price is right but the transmission is unfortunately wrong, making this more beauty queen than canyon carver. Maybe it should keep the oversized BBS wheels after all?
The BMW E30 3 series has become a kind of German 1950s Chevrolet in a sense. With a thriving aftermarket scene, plenty of enthusiasts have undertaken projects to reinvent this compact executive car in their own right. From M3 clones to V8 engined barnstormers, the sky is the limit. With many of the Touring models eligible for US import, this has given enthusiasts a whole new canvas with which to work, as well. It’s not too often that we see the convertible variants breathed upon, but this particular 1990 325i Convertible from our reader Chris in Northern Virginia has had an upgrade to the M50 inline-6 from the later E36 3 series, along with suspension, steering and brake upgrades to handle the increased power.
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