Scool me on early 80's BMW's

Hey guys,

Now that I sold my Datsun I am looking for a new car. I want a coupe/sedan/wagon/something with a rear seat,so no two-seaters. My friend suggested maybe an early 80's BMW 320is. What can you guys tell me about these cars? Are they reliable? Are they expensive to own,and fix? Any help/input is welcome.

Chris

before 85 they would be the e21.. they are slow and OK cars. I would go after 1985 and get 325is or 325E.

DO a search on e30.. here.. Also check out http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/index.php

Bimmerfest and http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/index.php

They have e30 . 325 areas.. In the Stickys on the top there is all you need to know.

They are fiun cars. I have a few of them.

Slow is a relative term. I own a mostly stock 78 RX-7,and I love the performance of it. I know it is a slow car,but it is fun,and that is what I care about.

the E30 is one of the best affordible cars ever made. There is a reason it ranks up there with the miata in our books

I think my budget is more in the e21 range though.

Mazdax605 wrote: I think my budget is more in the e21 range though.

Sub $1000?

No I have a budget of $4000-$5000.

$4000-5000 should get you a very nice E30, or even an early E36. Problem is finding that nice E30; a quick search of CL yields only project cars. E36s are plentiful, however, and I even found a couple of E21s:

http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/cto/1393158159.html
http://worcester.craigslist.org/cto/1404935176.html

Wow I am such a dope!!! I can't believe I spelled school wrong in the title. Can a mod help fix my spelling error?

Mazdax605 wrote: Wow I am such a dope!!! I can't believe I spelled school wrong in the title. Can a mod help fix my spelling error?

It's ok, spelling errors are allowed here. We're a bunch of people who take perfectly good cars apart, just to put them back together and occasionally fling them around around a track at speed for no reason other than for kicks.

4-5k will get you a very nice E30. In fact, I say find one for about 2k, which will get you a mechanically-decent E30 that will leave you money to upgrade what needs to be replaced.

Mazdax605 wrote: Wow I am such a dope!!! I can't believe I spelled school wrong in the title. Can a mod help fix my spelling error?

It may take a moderator to fix the title but you could fix the first post where you call us gays....not that there is anything wrong with that.

If you have a 4000 budget, I can't think of any reason to go with an E21 unless you have a bunch of parts cars already laying around.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/mid-80s-535i/14674/page1/

TJ wrote:

Mazdax605 wrote: Wow I am such a dope!!! I can't believe I spelled school wrong in the title. Can a mod help fix my spelling error?

It may take a moderator to fix the title but you could fix the first post where you call us gays....not that there is anything wrong with that.

Wow I really messed up that post. I guess it was a longer day than I thought. All fixed,sorry about that.

Chris

FWIW, the E21 is pretty rare in our area now. Plenty of E30's, but I don't see E21's on the road almost ever.

If you have a broad search area, then you'll turn something up. If I were still a BMWCCA member, I'd be able to track some down for you.

Finding someone w/ a Roundel subscription would help a ton.

Chances are an e21 wquld end up being more expensive than an e30 after you fix it up and get it roadworthy. 4,000-5,000 should get you a pretty decent e30, and it will be a lot better car.

I loved my E21, but the E30 is a better car. Around here, 5 grand will buy you E30s all day long, but if you can even find an E21 it will be rusted to nothing.

An E21 with 4 banger (mechanical FI), dogleg trans and a 4:10 is a marvelous thing to toss around a track but... in a world where an E36 328i is under $5k (and you can buy 5 running E30s for that money) it would have to be showroom perfect or have a racing logbook to make sense.

I have seen fixer-upper E30M3s go for not much more than you budget. There is one on ebay now for around $6000... not that you would want it

For a budget of $5k, I think you would have no problem buying a $1200 project E30 and fixing it up to be a reliable driver. They are getting pretty old for very many to be left that are ready to just get in and start driving. I wanted to get one, but I wasnt interested in driving my shelby charger another few months while i fixed one up, so i had to look elsewhere.