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Last week, Nate wrote up a 1991 Volkswagen Corrado G60 that we summarily picked apart. It was horrible. But what was great was Nate’s critique and the universal comments that agreed. One of our readers, Ry, suggested that we make it a habit – and so enter a new segment we’re going to call #FailFriday. My nomination to open this segment is one of the darlings of the car world right now, a 1990 BMW E30. This car looks pretty good from afar, but get closer and in my opinion it’s far from good. Calling all backseat drivers, keyboard warriors and internet vultures – let’s pick this one apart:
The E30 M3 mythology continues to grow unabated, with more articles and videos attesting to its perfection coming out each month. As this was the BMW that caught my eye and got me hooked almost 20 years ago, I can’t say that I’ve stopped believing either. The ludicrous prices have made it hard to have dreams seem like anything more than that these days, yet every time I see an M3 like this one, a little voice starts chirping in the back of my head, trying to calculate what it would take to come up with the cash and live the dream. It looks outstanding in Schwarz with Sport Evo bumpers and spoiler – those red stripes are a nice piece of flare to accompany the massive flares and wing. The history has a few holes as the block was replaced but there aren’t any details. If there were, however, it’d probably be for sale for even MORE money. Let’s see… if I sold the E28 and a kidney and drained my savings…
I feel sometimes that the BMW E30 3 series is kind of like the Mazda Miata of the classic German car world. It’s the answer to almost every automotive question. Whether you want a modern classic to cruise in, a track day warrior or a practical commuter vehicle, there’s an E30 for everyone. This particular one came to our attention via our friends at Classic Car Club Manhattan. One of their clients, Mike, has it up for sale. This is one sleeper of a 325i sedan, with an S50 3.2 liter engine under the hood. Want a dual purpose street/track day car? This would be an excellent solution.
A new hunt of mine is finding affordable E30s with solid potential. The cleanest of the quintessential sports sedan have become quite valuable, but there are still some reasonable examples lurking out there. The “s” models, in both “eta” and standard “i” form, provide outstanding handling with varying levels of power. One path for finding inexpensive classics is being open to high-mileage survivors, of which we have two today. Both have well above 200k miles and the “s” package, but one has the venerable 2.5 liter inline-6 while the other comes with the larger-and-slower 2.7l of the 325e. E30s are ripe for many engine swaps, from stock to extreme, so buying a low-price, high-mileage example provides a great foundation for a project.
If I’m honest, I’m not a huge fan of the entire E30 scene. I think it’s a bit overplayed, over-hyped and over-priced. Granted, they’re nice cars, but even though they’re slower I’d take a clean 4000 Quattro or Coupe GT over a 325i any day. There are two exceptions, though; the E30 M3 is of course a favorite of mine but firmly out of reach in any meaningful condition. The other exception is the Touring model – I’d love it if Audi had made a B2 quattro Avant, but they didn’t. Sure, there’s the Quantum Syncro wagon, but park one next to this 1988 325i Touring and for me the clear winner in looks is the BMW. In fact, it’s so much better looking to me than a Quantum, even the steering wheel on the “right” side wouldn’t bother me:
