Want!

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 :-)

:)

M5s rule in a kinda "I'm paying the same tax as your [insert slow diesel all wheel drive vehicle] but I can do this [wheelspins up to ~70]" way.

No. M5s are just great.

Certainly are.

Why would anyone want to do that?

Like this?

Ah, I stand corrected.

- snipped-for-privacy@y29g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

I have to sell a few motors first before I can think about buying more of them...

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@y29g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

That's not the Timo spirit that you're famous for!

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.

Facelift cars

"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.

I like it in white. Very 'period'. Like my 75.

Nice snippage!!

I think the E30 /just/ gets away with white, but there are a lot of much better colours. I love dolphin grey, diamond black, and Macau blue on them.

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.

Anyone know if they are actually quite good?

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,

Shame the 1 series is a steaming heap of crap, though....

As is the 3, the 5 isn't much better. Which only leaves the 7 as a car worth buying ;-)

Don't you ever think - "The rest of the world has a different opinion to me... Maybe I'm wrong?"

Like you, I've never driven a 135i, but neither have I heard a single bad word about them, but clearly you have?

I've driven a 1-series.

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.

We're talking specifically about the 135i coupe, anyone that buys one doesn't need much rear leg room or boot space.

For someone that used to not care about trim levels, just how well the, sub £2k only, car drove - you've pulled a pretty big U-turn hehe :-)

We're not talking about a £2k banger, though.

We're talking about something costing 30-odd grand.

Or, in the case of the one I drove, about 25 grand.

I only tried it 'cos it was the most powerful engine with the cheapest tax band on my car list. Even that wasn't good enough to swing things.

If you're rich enough to buy one as a 2nd fun car, then there are plenty of other cars for that kind of money that are better.

If you're buying it as an only car, then it's pretty useless. On account of the s*it rear seats and boot.

YMMV, but if I'm spending that kind of money on an only car, then I want it to do everything, not just be good at going fast when I'm in the mood.

The 1 series is the same as the E30 in one respect; they're both 4 door