liyi_92 37 Report post Posted January 19, 2014 http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-684834958.htm Have just came back from overseas and am now car-less. Anyone who knows much about E30s in Christchurch available to come and have a look with me? Thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FIAT 131R 223 Report post Posted January 19, 2014 (edited) The car is now 25 years plus old. You need to get an AA check on it if you are not mechanically minded. Any car that old is going to need maintenance. They haven't listed any work they have done on it so you could have a few things to do. Atleast with an AA check you will know what you will need to do now and in the near future. Edited January 19, 2014 by FIAT 131R Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kepes 231 Report post Posted January 19, 2014 yeah E30's are nice cars, go with one i say! I'm not exactly mechanically minded but I have an E30 and it's my first car. I do bits and pieces on the engine, it's good to learn all that stuff i think :-) Anyway, just by looking at it on trade me I'd say look for something else or just wait it out. You want something that's been looked after at least a little bit - some sort of service history. I think for that price or maybe a little bit more you could get something far nicer! I was looking around at E30s for around 6 months before i got mine. As for AA checks, I didn't get one done and from what i read on here they're a waste of time and money on such an old car. You'll inevitably end up with pages of things 'wrong' with it. I used this 'buyers guide' to help me with my purchase. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?826530-E30-buyers-guide 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liyi_92 37 Report post Posted January 20, 2014 Thanks guys! I guess I will not be following through this time round. The seller does not even know if cambelt has been done, tachometer is not working and door locks not working properly. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
charles28 136 Report post Posted January 22, 2014 Buy mine if you want a fun E30, an automatic 320i is about as far away from fun as you get with an E30. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=688702841 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deeveus 81 Report post Posted January 29, 2014 AA reports are a total waste of money IMO especially on a car this old, I mean it's near 10% of the value of the car! Get a good mechanic to spend half an hour looking over it would be your best bet and get a fresh wof at the same time. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_ethrty-Andy_ 2132 Report post Posted January 29, 2014 AA reports are a total waste of money IMO especially on a car this old, I mean it's near 10% of the value of the car! Get a good mechanic to spend half an hour looking over it would be your best bet and get a fresh wof at the same time. yup my thoughts too, if you are going to get it checked, either a friend off here, or a proper workshop, maybe even the dealer. avoid 320i as much as economically possible, a 318i or 325i (preferably in manual) are both better cars. 320i is the most uneconomical of the lot in automatic form. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liyi_92 37 Report post Posted January 29, 2014 Am going to look at an E34 525i (m50) tomorrow as I cannot find a decent E30 for the price I am willing to spend. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tidy30 38 Report post Posted January 29, 2014 yup my thoughts too, if you are going to get it checked, either a friend off here, or a proper workshop, maybe even the dealer. avoid 320i as much as economically possible, a 318i or 325i (preferably in manual) are both better cars. 320i is the most uneconomical of the lot in automatic form. For what its worth, I've done around 7000kms with the cab now. It's a 320i and I drive with the top down significantly more often than with it up, so we can assume worst case drag. I have been getting 10L/100km very, very repeatably, probably +/-.3L. With the top up, economy is around 9L/100km, but with a smaller sample size, so I'm a lot less confident of that figure compared to top down. The daily trip is around 20min motorway and 30min suburb each way, so a good spread. My other '98 Accord is consistently 9L/100km so its pretty comparable, but it runs 91 so there's already a built-in 5% cost reduction. What kind of figures are you expecting for a 325? The 320i is pretty sluggish, but very smooth and comfortable for cruising. I sit around 2.7k rpm at 100km for reference. My friends 2.5 has a few extra modifications and goes pretty ridiculous, but never got any economy figures. Thought it'd just be good to put some objective numbers to the economy claim Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
