E30 325i Rag-Top

I got caught in the middle of the 130i Grand Prix through Panmure at 7 o’clock last night. If you were driving the black one* let me know I’ve got some tips for you.. * I know it wasn’t you @Jacko it wasn’t sitting good as yours

Yeah the dealer is trying to hide the history as it’s a mega-flip, mentioned a little way back in the thread. At least the rubbish about being built in the Motorsport factory has been removed from the listing.

Starting bid of $40k, not buy now price. Reserve is higher than the 40k start. Just looks lower, might not be.

Do you mean like when the E36 M3 was changed from the 3.0 to 3.2 ltr and became the Evo? Or when the E30 M3 Evo, Evo II and Evo III were produced..? If you aren’t allowed to produce a better update of a model then the whole car industry would be pretty much dormant. To the original question, the M2 was popular in NZ and also a good number of UK, Aussie and Japanese cars have also been brought in as used imports. So the price will still decline in the near future, especially with the next generation just around the corner. If anything used car prices are inflated due to the reduced supply and previously cheap to borrow money. Both of these will swing dramatically in the next few months according to most forecasts. This will impact just not the M2 but all used cars.

It appears that Hyundai are doing a bit of work in this same field, and are setting up a sample network in Aussie. Small sites that both produce the hydrogen fuel and fill the vehicles with it, to support their test cars, SUVs and heavy trucks.

The electric range jumps up on the G20 330e due to the later generation of battery pack, real world I’m getting 45kms in stop start around town driving. In another thread I mentioned I did a long trip - Akl to Napier - in the holidays, total of 415kms of which 75 was electric (not fully charged at the start only about 28km range) and average of 5.9ltr/100kms. Wasn’t an economy run either.

Yes, a very rare wheel indeed. Only available as a dealer fit option as it’s an M Performance accessory wheel. Making them very pricey and hence rarely ordered. You might get lucky and find as set in NZ, or there are replicas around - not sure you feel about reps, and obviously the quality of reps is variable.

True, I think it was more in terms of the deep water port that is there so you can pump it straight on to gas tanker ships. Whether it would be primarily for export I’m not sure.

That has been suggested, ideal site apparently.

I didn’t think the issue was where to get it from, more how to get it cost and energy efficiently?

Yup! Sure is...

When they were $3,000 for a good one people probably didn’t have to as they were relatively affordable. Now they are in the $30k-40k price range I would think most are being financed in some way or other - including stick it on the mortgage. The cost of lending, and availability of funds, has a big effect on car sales as a whole, as was visible in December and Jan. which indirectly affects the prices of all vehicles due to the movement in the supply v demand balance. Classic cars, including E30s, are an “investment” now apparently.

Got a copy a couple of weeks ago, not from Paper Plus though, lots of great photos and lots of bimmers.

The E46 in particular looks great!!

Originality has a big effect on price, as you say manual swapped, engine swapped, etc. removes the originality factor. Having the tech 2 bumpers without the side skirts looks a bit odd from the side profile.

But it’s not an EV, how did it catch fire?? And just think of all the emissions from that.

Not anymore it’s not, all new BMWs are filled with Shell and all BMW franchise dealers use Shell now. That said Castrol would have been the factory fill for that car. Top of the range Penrite and Shell would be valid alternatives.

Welcome back, when you say “we” does that mean you’ve brought Jack back with you..?😆

I’d take the 325i Sedan on TradeMe as a guide and add approx $4k for being manual and not being green on beige. A lot depends on condition, colour combo and options fitted. It does tick a lot of the right boxes (325 manual low kms NZ new) those finer details determine the exact price in the market. Photos would help..

Engine porn from BMW Classic today.

The extra metalwork in the body to allow for a rear door opening on a sedan is what usually gives the extra stiffness. The strengthening added more than compensates for the metalwork skin that is removed. Seems odd that we are discussing the body stiffness of a nearly 30 year old road car as being an important factor.

Wow! That is “compact” in there.. be such a mission to try and get to anything to work on it.

“Is there any structural damage to the chassis..?” The big crease in the sill shown in the photo would suggest a yes to this question.🤦🏻

Yes, it’s a VERY nice car, really well styled and the execution of the idea is fantastic. The best ever though… that’s a big call.

Whilst I’m no E36 expert, only the M3 ever really appealed to me, I seem to recall that the 318iS coupes in the UK all came with the full M-Sport kit, half leather interior and decent sized wheels? The end of production run with the funky colours for the sedan was called something on top, like 318iS Sports Edition or similar. Yes they are different models and scarcity which I guess has a big impact on the resale values.