I know everybody is raving about them and I looked at a few earlier this year but I can't say I was overly impressed. The ergonomics don't work for me that well and found the whole experience a bit underwhelming (and I generally like BMWs). That said, so far the only BMW 3-series I'd actually consider buying would be a non-chavved pre- Evo E36 M3. And I'd like some rocking horse poo with that while I'm at it.
A guy on Cliosport got himself one that was in amazing condition. Not sure if he still has it, as he was planning on selling it, but I'll have a peruse if you like...? It really was in good nick, totally standard (including the Evo wheels), FBMWSH, unused toolkit, torch in the glovebox - all the littlle things that make you think it's been treated well, and at least, not chavved or owned by a cheapskate. ISTR it even had the original spec tyres (or the newer versions of them) on and everything.
This is going to surprise, well, everyone, but I actually seriously considered buying an E30 M3, as I just can't get over how awesome they look :-). I was looking at one that had been supplied by a UK dealer, or bought by a UK dealer for a customer or something, and it was then serviced by them till like, 3 years ago when it changed owner, and was serviced by a BMW specialist, the kinda place where the mechanics have actually seen one before. It was seriously mint, but I just couldn't get myself over the LHD thing. Also, I kinda got the feeling that if I used it all the time and parked it outside, the bodywork would suffer, as it had always been kept in a garage, and the owner spoke of drying it when he got home if he got caught in the rain (which he always tried not to drive it in...).
Just think it needed more caring for than I was gonna be willing to give, I was definately better off with newish cars :-)
That's an MTEC 2 Sport with leather. That is rapidly becoming a low to average price for a nice one. The "Sport" on the logbook tends to add about £1500 to the price of an otherwise identical 325i, 'sport' leather with rear headrests (that one hasn't got RHR) adds another £5-600. Auto box will knock about £850 off the price of a good 'Sport'. The interior in that one would probably fetch £700 on ebay, would be more if it was the mega-rare 'Recaro' leather interior and / or black, more again if it was oxblood leather. The Alpina replicas on it devalue it a bit. The clear indicators would be enough to put some of the E30 brigade off buying it, but it's a good spec even though it happens to be white.
Mine's currently at the affordable end of the scale with being an auto, but is probably better equipped than most 'Sport' models out there. Mine has AC, 3.9:1 LSD, sport 'sport' suspension, headlamp wash/wipe, heated door locks, mirrors and washers, 'comfort' leather, 13 button OBC, electric roof, 4x electric windows, and proper 50-50 distribution (the 2 door 6 pot is 53-47, but the touring is 80kg heavier)
E30 prices seem to be like this at the moment.
'Chromie' - pre 87 facelift cars.
316 4 door - £500 if mint
316 2 door - £700 " "
320i 4 door - £600 if mint
320i 2 door - £800
325i 4 door - £750
325i 2 door - £2000
325i 'Sport' (MTEC 1) - £2500-3500 'Alpina' 325i 4 dr - £2000 'Alpina' 325i 2 dr - £4000 Early M3 - £6500
Facelift cars
316 4 door - £500
316 Touring - £750
316 2 door - £700
318i 4 door - £700
318i Touring - £950
318i 2 door - £900-£1100
318iS 2 door - £1750-2500 depending on miles, history, spec.
320i 4 dr - £900
320i Touring - £1100
320i 2 dr - £1000
325i 4 dr - £950
325i Touring - £1300
325i 2 dr - £2000
325i 'Sport' - £6000
325i 'Alpina' 4 dr - £2500
325i 'Alpina' Touring - £2500 - £3500
325i 'Alpina' 2 dr - £3500 - £7000 M3 - £13000 M3 'Cecotto' - £18000 Hartge / Racing dynamics etc prices vary.
"335i"s can be sensible money (under £2k), and there are quite a few about which have had properly sorted 3.5s fitted, and tend to be very bloody quick. There are also quite a few lunatics bolting V12s, M5 motors (both V8 and 6 pot) and E36 Evo lumps into E30s.
Talking of "x35i"s - a few times recently I've seen the odd 135i saloon kicking about on the roads. Now, maybe against my better judgement, I actually like the look of those - they seem to have actually got the look of the saloon about right. And one with a 3 litre twin turbo engine would be pretty sweet, and probably not hideously bad on fuel, given that it's not all that big.
The 1 series doesn't come as saloon does it? Just Coupe, Convertible or Hatchback? I suspect you mean the Coupe because I have a feeling you can't get the x35i engine in the hatch, which is a shame, so yes, Evo described it as the spirtual successor to the old M3. The engine has won awards, dunno if that matters at all, but I've never heard a single bad word about it. Obviously if you give it large, it's a powerful relatively big engine, with turbos, it won't be exactly economical. Although on a nice cruise, just being gentle on it, and with all BM's new efficiency things (which apparently don't work as well as the adverts say in the real world, but never the less, they so have an effect) then I'd imagine they're not that bad. The combined figure is 30.6mpg which when you consider the power,
306bhp and 0-60 in 5.3 seconds, that's really not bad at all IMO.
Now, unless they totally re-trim the interior, change the dash, give it a bigger boot and proper rear leg space when they fit the big engine, then it's still essentially a joke.
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