E30 as first car?

[zlurp]

Hi Experts,I've just started working and I want a new car. I really want to get an E30 but I'm worried if its going to be too expensive for me to maintain. I've been reading the forums and trying to get an idea of how much maintenance is going to cost me, and how often irregular maintenance issues will come up. As I need my car for work (have to drive around, in and out of KL) it is important to me that my car is reliable. When I say reliable all I mean is that I will be able to drive it 95% of the time, I dont want to wake up and suddenly not be able to drive my car. I dont mind issues like aircon, windows not working or some rattling as I can fix that on the weekend. But I need to be able to make it to the weekend to fix any issues. What do you guys think? Is an E30 suitable for me? Is it reliable enough? And if i do a major check up and fix when I first get the car, will maintenance after that be relatively low cost? Thanks in advance for reading and your opinions!!

 

[evilnickwong]

I got an E30 M40B18 as my first car when I started working too. Overall, mine has been reliable and maintenance still manageable. It has only stranded me 2 or 3 times in these 3 years and that was all due to old battery/alternator issues which are common to any car.

Just budget RM5k a year for maintenance, that should easily cover everything unless something really catastrophic happens.

 

[muffinz]

If you need your car to be working 95% of the time, I guess you're okay with the car being out of commission 18 days in a year. Which I think is reasonable even if major issues pop up.

Suggest coming out to the TT sessions and speak with real e30 enthusiasts and get first hand stories on how reliable it can be if maintained well

Joy is BMW!

 

[jeffreyewe]

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[ishalimE34]

hi guys.

just wanted to share that my 1st car was an e30. nice ride.. and felt confident as well

 

[fabianyee]

while the E30 maintenance isn't high but if you want a reliable daily drive, nothing beats the cheap proton iswara and the old saga.. Parts a plenty and easy to maintain.. hahaha..

Am currently going around in my bro's Mazda Astina (since he's working abroad now)... Changed out the old carb and replaced with the saga carburettor.. E30 used occassionally.. hehe...
Actually one of the reasons is that when I'm driving the E30, can't resist to step on it... With the mazda, I just take my time driving leisurely... And if I feel like it, take the E30 out...

If u really want an E30 for daily drive, get the 318i... easier to maintain. a good condition M40 can go 500km on 40+ liter of petrol... I heard pussy's old 318i can get 600km on 1 full tank...

 

[chowcheesue]

Hi Experts,

I've just started working and I want a new car. I really want to get an E30 but I'm worried if its going to be too expensive for me to maintain. I've been reading the forums and trying to get an idea of how much maintenance is going to cost me, and how often irregular maintenance issues will come up. As I need my car for work (have to drive around, in and out of KL) it is important to me that my car is reliable. When I say reliable all I mean is that I will be able to drive it 95% of the time, I dont want to wake up and suddenly not be able to drive my car. I dont mind issues like aircon, windows not working or some rattling as I can fix that on the weekend. But I need to be able to make it to the weekend to fix any issues.

What do you guys think? Is an E30 suitable for me? Is it reliable enough? And if i do a major check up and fix when I first get the car, will maintenance after that be relatively low cost?

Thanks in advance for reading and your opinions!!

Hello , i got an BMW E30 , please have a look and call me if interested and we can talk more

BMW E30 2-Door (m)
Well Maintained
One Owner
RM xx,xxx

Call Mr. Chow - 012 - xxxxxxx
Location - Petaling Jaya

Thank you .

 

[chili e30]

Hello , i got an BMW E30 , please have a look and call me if interested and we can talk more

BMW E30 2-Door (m)
Well Maintained
One Owner
RM 18,000

Call Mr. Chow - 012 - 335 2725
Location - Petaling Jaya

Thank you .

dear friend,you are violation forum rules.minimum 10 posting before you sell anything.2nd,pls start your own thread if wanna sell thing & not just tumpang people thread.

cheers

 

[teknokrat]

this is just my 2 cents opinion.

1. Firstly, get know the car first. Spec, engine, parts and maintenance cost. If u have no prob with that, just go on.

2. Make sure u know at least about technical thing about the car. Engine, wear & tear part. Bcoz u are driving
20 years old car, not brand new. Maybe something need to fix up and you shud know about that. Dont trust workshop 100% coz they like newbie like you. ;-p

For me E30 is a reliable car and not very rare. A lot of workshop around malaysia can fix up if something happen when
u outstation.

My 1st car is Alfa and I own it on my age 21 with zero knowledge about the car! Suffer a lot coz need to learn step by step. But i never regret coz that what we call EXPERIENCE.

 

[SimpleSoul]

I clock approx of 5,000 km every 8-10 weeks on my 24 yrs old E30. Touch wood, my only breakdown was when clutch slave pump busted in the last 3 yrs of driving it. Thats about it....

 

[gizmoz82]

e30 is easy to maintain..i get my e30 when i finish my spm on 1999.318i with m10 eng. its belongs to my father.he buy brand new.but a big mistake i made when start working bcos i swap the eng to japs rb20det.now my coupe & other 4 door e30 i try to stick with original m20 eng....

 

[kombat_kanan]

as an E30 is a relatively old car, it is best if you have some contingency spared at all time. you never know what would happen.

when buying a first car you should really understand what you want. your choice of E30 tells me that you have other criteria that is more important to you than reliability. probably the brand and the prestige it bears, or perhaps you thirst for some bits of oversteer when taking turns. whatever it is, your choice rocks!

just a humble opinion, take time to really assess all your criteria and rank your options wisely. i believe the issue with unexpected downtime is on case to case basis. my m20b25 cost me a near five figure in maintenance this financial year. i have a friend who claimed she could go on vacation with that money.

well, a vacation for her might last 1-2 weeks. but my vacation is everytime i start my engine. hehe..

good luck with your choice bro.

 

[sk30]

E30 are quite reliable bro esp the m40.Easy to maintain,has enough power for decent ride and quite economical. The m20 are joy but needs slightly more TLC.Nothing beats the 6 potters Growl!!!

 

[chili e30]

ok,let me tell you some story since i am using 1990 e30 m40 engine.every used car request to change tear & wear part such as timing belt set,engine oil,brake oil etc...even a new car doesn't mean there will be 100% no problem that why company provide waranty.e30 m40 1800cc is most easy to take care cause it run on 8 valve 4 cylinder sohc engine.4 litre engine oil,4 pcs plug needed just like other car.after you bought the car just change the tear & wear part(pm me i can provide you list)i think that should not be a any problem.since 2006 dec i bought my car i change all the tear & wear part it already drove me 3 time to singapore,1 time genthing and always k.l.so far it never broke down half way.for maintenance part is a lot and is not costly,i just bought timing belt set which come with 2 bearing and 1 belt for rm160,even proton timing belt set is more than that,kenari timing belt set is more than rm200.you can easily travel in highway 170km per hour and feel nothing.for me i travel ayeh keroh toll to sg besi toll with 130 kph-140kph only 50 min.handling is super cause the body weight is 50 50,you can take conner easily 80kph without breaking if you dare.so how you think about it?by the way are you stanley friend cause his friend wanna buy e30 and wanna know more about it.hopefully my info can help you.

cheers...

 

[chili e30]

e30 is easy to maintain..i get my e30 when i finish my spm on 1999.318i with m10 eng. its belongs to my father.he buy brand new.but a big mistake i made when start working bcos i swap the eng to japs rb20det.now my coupe & other 4 door e30 i try to stick with original m20 eng....

thats why i advise people use back the ori engine or swap back bmw engine.

 

[tombstone]

e30 should always be ur FIRST BMW, then u can progress to the rest, cos lets face it, they never make cars anymore like how they used to...the rawness in the e30 is very addictive, the handling the total in your face nature is farkin awesome.however not everything i wanna share is rosy...90% of the e30s in malaysia suffer from rust issues (BESIDES mechanical issues which in most cases are solvable).RUST IS THE BIGGEST SINGLE MOST CONCERN for any e30 owner. make sure u find a decent enough example. but let me assure you, even if the rust is treated, the tendency to resurface after lets say....2 to 3 years is very high.so now u are aware of such issue, would u still get an e30????HECK YES...but... B U T ........please dun let it be your one and only car as it will break down on and off unless fully rebuilt and restored (no guarantees either). so if you ask my humble opinion, i would suggest u to get proton as your daily runner and the e30 for ur nightly runs...:evil:

 

[kombat_kanan]

i would suggest u to get proton as your daily runner and the e30 for ur nightly runs...:evil:

bro tombstone. i'm not convinced this guy will do that la. once he gets the e30 bug the proton wont mean anything anymore. hehe..

zlurp, just some heads up: some enthusiast will flame u if you go for 4-potter / anything less than 2.3 in a bimmer. however i personally believe its a matter of personal choice. M40 is better choice if you are uncertain on reliability. it's newer, have smaller engine size hence better accessibility during maintenance. therefore you wont be stuck in the workshop all day watching your mechanic trying his best to slip his hands through.

unless of course if you want to go full fledge, then go for m20b23/b25 :listen:. you'll grin wider on the wheels trust me on this. some ppl will try to scare you esp. on maintenance but believe me, you'll never mind. bila dah pakai tak terasa pun duit keluar. you can ask any e30 owner here i bet my money they will agree :rock:.

 

[chili e30]

bro tombstone,1997 model & below only got rust issue.

 

[B33mEr]

^ u mean 1987 and below rite? Did BMW do something to prevent rust on 1988 onwards for the E30?

 

[kombat_kanan]

yes they galvanized the body.