e30 or 240sx same price

I am looking to buy a dd/track toy soon and it has come down to e30 or 240sx. I plan to adding a turbo in the future and was worried that e30's would be much more expensive to mod

240sx

• 155hp -Comes with coilovers and other suspension bits -Cheaper to maintain/track ( I believe) -120k miles on chassis, 60k on motor

e30

-More power stock -More expensive to maintain -135k miles

I can get both for 3k, which would be a smarter choice and why

Buy based on condition, maintenance, and maturity (not in the age sense) of owner.

have to remember the 240 also has a "drift tax"

I have owned a couple of BMWs.. if you are willing to do the work yourself, they are fairly cheap to maintane and easy to work on. I found with my E36, some of the parts were actually -cheaper- than comprable for a hyundai

Beer Baron wrote: Buy based on condition, maintenance, and maturity (not in the age sense) of owner.

truth!

e30s are extremely inexpensive to maintain and mod, and very easy to work on. Performance parts (new and used) are readily available from many manufacturers, and it's easy to find junkyard e30s for used parts, spares, etc.

Having owned Nissans, Hondas, Acuras, and a Subaru.....the e30 is the cheapest of any of them to find good parts for, and by far the most enjoyable to work on (30-year-old german bolts never seem to round off, seize, or shear of, while 5-year-old Japanese ones do all of the above). Also parts throughout the run of e30s (about 7 years and several models) and some e36 stuff are largely interchangeable.

After doing a pretty extensive build of an e30 (having done Japanese cars before it), I have no interest in doing a Japanese car build ever again. In fact I just bought an even older BMW to wrench on now.

All that said, the 240 is one of the easier Nissans to work on, though as mentioned its popularity with drift scene has upped values and parts prices in many cases. I did a lot of driving of my roommate's 240 back in college and while it was a fun car it never felt very quick in stock form (and I drove a 1987 Integra at the time, so that's saying something), and I can remember it ending up backwards at least 4 or 5 times in the rain (probably driver inexperience on his part, but still....)

e30 also matters "which" e30 it is. There is a big difference between an early M10-powered car and a late M20 or M42 powered car in terms of performance, features, brakes, etc. Each has their plusses (M10 cars tend to be cheap, M42 cars a good balance of weight balance and power, M20 cars not as good weight balance but more power, and ETA M20 cars are heavy and fairly slow in stock form). What exactly is the e30 that you're looking at?

in total coincidence, a friend just posted this on my facebook wall. I bet you could pick up this 240 for pretty cheap :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyJsjko1GGY

but really, listen to the emergency vehicle as it comes over.....

You wont regret either car.

buy based on condition.

The S13 240sx has too much "anti-squat" in the rear suspension. That's what binds up under acceleration and makes it such a great drifter. The later S14 240sx corrected the problem. The S14 chassis is also stiffer, but the first two years (Zenki's) look too much like a Camry and the last two years (Kouki's) are more rare and expensive. Depending on who you run with and what the rules are, you're best bet would be to buy the S13, add some fender braces and an S14 rear subframe. The KA24DE motor is easy to turbo, and if you blow it up, they're cheap to buy from the guys that take them out to install SR20's.

Beer Baron wrote: Buy based on condition, maintenance, and maturity (not in the age sense) of owner.

This,

however 9/10 times all of that will side with the 240

I haven't seen a single one that I didn't think was priced at $3000 or more than what it was worth. It just seems that all that are a reasonable price are pretty much scrap that if it was any other car would be with in the hundreds not thousands. They are almost all atrociously beat the E36 M3 out of, overpriced, and owned by people with child's minds. No offense to anyone here, people here that would own a 240 are not the majority of the people who own them, lol.

Nice reasonably priced E30s are all over the place.

I would buy a 240sx if I could find a nice one that was reasonably priced it's just the drift tax is so much a factor for practically every one. If you found a nice one at a reasonable price take it, post it on Zilvia, sell it for $3000 more than you bought it for.

I used to own a 240sx way back when and that thing was as stout as can be. The car is simple and reliable and is susceptible to serious abuse from a teenager with shenanigans.

kanaric wrote:

Beer Baron wrote: Buy based on condition, maintenance, and maturity (not in the age sense) of owner.

This, however 9/10 times all of that will side with the 240 I haven't seen a single one that I didn't think was priced at $3000 or more than what it was worth. It just seems that all that are a reasonable price are pretty much scrap that if it was any other car would be with in the hundreds not thousands. They are almost all atrociously beat the E36 M3 out of, overpriced, and owned by people with child's minds. No offense to anyone here, people here that would own a 240 are not the majority of the people who own them, lol. Nice reasonably priced E30s are all over the place. I would buy a 240sx if I could find a nice one that was reasonably priced it's just the drift tax is so much a factor for practically every one. If you found a nice one at a reasonable price take it, post it on Zilvia, sell it for $3000 more than you bought it for.

I agree with the 240sx comments, but the problem is that E30s are starting to get the same over-priced junk treatment. Over here anyways. Cheapest e30 for sale right now is a 325 eta with a garish cheap yellow paint job and a blown engine. Yours for only 2500$

I would get the 240SX, but I'm slightly biased.

if you can find a decent 240 at a decent price.. jump on it. The only ones I see reasonably priced and in decent shape are the verts...

fanfoy wrote:

kanaric wrote:

Beer Baron wrote: Buy based on condition, maintenance, and maturity (not in the age sense) of owner.

This, however 9/10 times all of that will side with the 240 I haven't seen a single one that I didn't think was priced at $3000 or more than what it was worth. It just seems that all that are a reasonable price are pretty much scrap that if it was any other car would be with in the hundreds not thousands. They are almost all atrociously beat the E36 M3 out of, overpriced, and owned by people with child's minds. No offense to anyone here, people here that would own a 240 are not the majority of the people who own them, lol. Nice reasonably priced E30s are all over the place. I would buy a 240sx if I could find a nice one that was reasonably priced it's just the drift tax is so much a factor for practically every one. If you found a nice one at a reasonable price take it, post it on Zilvia, sell it for $3000 more than you bought it for.

I agree with the 240sx comments, but the problem is that E30s are starting to get the same over-priced junk treatment. Over here anyways. Cheapest e30 for sale right now is a 325 eta with a garish cheap yellow paint job and a blown engine. Yours for only 2500$

Must be Canada. There's a nice looking 325e in fully running condition here on CL for $1500 right now. And it will end up selling for $1200 I'd guess..

http://martinsburg.craigslist.org/cto/3788964663.html

Used to have an S14 and now have an E30 with many mods,love them both and still wished I had the 240.I like the retro boxyness and of the E30 and its huge friggin trunk.Both have easy engine swap options. Can't go with either if bought correctly imo.

looking at a e30 gt35 turbo soon