Greetings /N54 or M20B25 turbo?

[kvmvl 6]

Kia ora all

I come from a family of BMW fanatics
I've always loved cars and only recently started learning about repairing them, building engines, tuning etc (I'm 32)
It's become somewhat of an obsession
In the past I had 735il e32 (on 20s) and a e46 318i lowered
my dad has 2 E30s, he offered me the  325i turbo for a cheap price but for the last year I've had my eye on a n54 335i cabriolet 
So I'm at a crossroad
I do want a "daily" 
my issue with the 325i is that I do want a car I can work on, but not something that will be requiring attention every week or so 
the 335i that I've got my eye on has had everything done to it and is of course a newer car and will ideally require less maintenance 

Welcoming any questions and feedback

Good to be here

 

[Eagle 1679]

335i would likely be the better daily driver for obvious reasons. If its had its common failures sorted it should be fairly reliable, otherwise you may have budget a chuck $ for potentially expensive repairs and get your hands dirty. 

E30\M20 is a joy to work on compared to the E90\N54 and is just about as reliable and well build as a BMW gets, the turbo setup may or may not be though depending on time\money put into it. E30 would certainly be the more engaging car to daily if you not sitting in traffic.

In saying all that i don't think anyone can really say all the much without knowing the specifics of each car. You'd have to drive both and decide for yourself at the end of the day as everyone has their own preferences.

 

[Matth5 471]

The 335i will make the more comfortable and reliable daily... until you get hooked on modifying it and thrashing it, then it'll start eating up your bank account 

When stuff does break on the 335i, it'll be much more expensive than the E30. But it should be less frequent so that should balance it out!

Edited April 11, 2020 by Matth5

[kvmvl 6]

15 hours ago, Eagle said:

335i would likely be the better daily driver for obvious reasons. If its had its common failures sorted it should be fairly reliable, otherwise you may have budget a chuck $ for potentially expensive repairs and get your hands dirty. 

E30\M20 is a joy to work on compared to the E90\N54 and is just about as reliable and well build as a BMW gets, the turbo setup may or may not be though depending on time\money put into it. E30 would certainly be the more engaging car to daily if you not sitting in traffic.

In saying all that i don't think anyone can really say all the much without knowing the specifics of each car. You'd have to drive both and decide for yourself at the end of the day as everyone has their own preferences.

 

Cheers dude
I'm still thinking but this is quite concise. One of the bonuses on the E30 is spending that father son time I never got when I was a child lol
At the moment I was considering the e30 as a sunday car and getting an e39 touring as a run around
in saying that, I don't run around too much (probably about 60kms a week) because work is super close

 

[kvmvl 6]

15 hours ago, Matth5 said:

The 335i will make the more comfortable and reliable daily... until you get hooked on modifying it and thrashing it, then it'll start eating up your bank account 

When stuff does break on the 335i, it'll be much more expensive than the E30. But it should be less frequent so that should balance it out!

Hey man
yeah exactly what I was thinking
the E30 has been actually a really solid build, and one of the n54s I was looking at is stage one tuned and all the big ticket items taken care of
E30 with a racing clutch in Auckland is a bit of a doozy lol