gjm

Who wants an E30 when you could have this? https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/3060937618

325i 4-door manual. Nice car. $26k? Anyone keen on a mint 325i Baur? I have to wonder if it is economically viable to hang on to it.

Dealership bait, unfortunately. No doubt about it being a nice car though. I'm sure I saw a yellow example for sale online only yesterday. D'you think I can find it now? 🙄 (May have been a 260.) There is a slightly later white, good, 280ZX up for sale - not as pretty - at $28k. Back in the early 90s, I had a 280ZX twin-turbo. Previous owner had it converted from the 280ZX turbo using a kit sourced in the US, and built by Duncan Pearcey who later found 'The Z Farm' in Yorkshire and who still rallies a 240Z. I bought it from a guy on my postal delivery round - cost me £2900.

I do like the E30. I'd like a 4-cylinder one. But a 6-pot E28 would also provide a very interesting platform.

In NZ at least, a lot of people have holiday money they've not recently spent.

That's easy - need somewhere to live and don't want to pay someone else's mortgage and bills! Of course, that's balanced by paying interest to a lender instead. Probably (even?) harder to find parts for, too.

😍

Front drive shafts do wear - the splines give up at the transfer box end. Only answer is replacement.

There was certainly a dark green 525iX Touring - I nearly swapped a Suzuki Bandit 1200 for it. Pretty sure I've seen a red one, too.

Pretty good. Certainly far better on slippery surfaces than 2wd. The system is pretty robust. It uses the same engines and auto trans as the 2wd cars, but that's where similarities end. There's a gear/chain transfer case from which a propshaft runs forward and back (to viscous diffs - a potential weak point). The bodyshell is wider and almost completely different forward of the windscreen: front suspension towers are further forward, arches are wider, trans tunnel is much wider (you'll not 'stretch' a stock one that far). The steering rack is behind the front crossmember and mounted inside the subframe. The front driveshafts can strip the splines at the transfer case. They're great for daily driving, especially in Europe where snow is common, but not so good for tuning. The rallycross cars used Xtrac gearboxes and different axles to contain the extra power used.

Apparently there's up to 34 of them around...? One of them selling at an elevated price point will bring out 1 or two more. Sadly, they're likely to stay in the hands of the few people who have the disposable income to buy them, and keep them locked away.

The person who buys this will happily cruise to work in (say) $100k worth of Audi, Mercedes, BMW or whatever. But take a lower value older car on the road? Naah... Something like this is exceptional. It's not run-of-the-mill. It's price really should have no relevance to a PFL 320i, but 'market forces' will say it does. We may find out what someone with a healthy bank balance is prepared to pay for an unusual example.