1986 325es v. 2012 Focus SE

I like my Focus, nice driving car. Handles pretty well. Pretty responsive motor, well, once you get it past 4K. And it's got modern engineering and technology to help it along.

But I drove the e30 to work today. It's no wonder it's a member of the GRM trinity. The car is just right. It drives right, it handles fantastic (well, a bit of understeer). The eta motor has torque everywhere and is easy to squirt in and out of traffic with.

I would've thought the benefit of nearly 30 years of engineering improvements would make any new car worlds better than the ol' e30, but it just ain't so.

I'm supposed to be selling the 325 since we have too many cars right now, and I'm pretty sure I'm asking too much for it (one comment was: "nice car, but it is an eta "), but maybe that's because I'm meant to have 3 cars.

I feel the same way when I drive my wimpy M10-powered 318i when my daily is a 300hp 2009 WRX. The WRX is certainly superior at everything by a mile, but the e30 just "feels right" (and even as beat up as it is, still has a "higher quality" feel than the WRX).

And the 318 doens't understeer at all...almost a perfect balance between over and understeer, moreso than any other car I've ever owned.