Oh, how I do love the comparos! Today I’ve worked up a third tuner comparison, because frankly this interesting trio was just a bit too good to pass up – as were the other BMWs! But unlike the factory sourced Dinan and Alpina modded cars from earlier, this comparison focuses on some unusual Porsches. Supercharging isn’t the typical choice for the flat-6, but the bolt-on horsepower results are undeniable, bringing the normal flat-6 quickly up to Turbo levels of power. I have three generations compiled here, all popular in their own right but for different reasons. Which is the winner?
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.Tag: 1989
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
2 CommentsIt’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.
Click for details: 1989 BMW 325ix on eBay
3 CommentsLast week around this time, I wrote up a 850 horsepower Brabus-modified E63 Estate. In the realm of nutty cars, it would be certainly barred from coming near any schools for fear of anaphylaxis of the entire student body. It was also the best part of a third of a million dollars, more money than most of America will ever dream of having at one time and even in New England, an amount that would get you a nice home. But in that post, our reader Craig posted a link to a much more affordable option; a W124 300TE Estate modified by Brabus for sale in Germany. Does it scratch the itch or do you need an EpiPen?