I have an opportunity to pick up an E30 M3 soon?

I found out through a friend, that his buddy has one for sale him and his dad were working on?

I havent found out much about it yet but they say it is in "really good condition", and very close to stock parts. The only thing they said was that the rear spoiler needs to be repainted. I havent found out much about it(dont know year or mileage yet), but it is black.

They want $8500-9000 for it, sounds a little cheap to me? I know I havent left much information to work with, does this sound accurate?

I have always loved the E30, plan on using it as a project car, maybe track it?

:help

it all depends if the person knows the value of the car....my friend recently got one for $10k w/ just over 100k miles on it and i heard of someone else getting one w/ under 100k for like $6k

If you are picking an E30-M3 for a project car, you better have a fairly large wallet, depending on your goals. They are a truly great car, but they can drain your wallet faster than a night at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch.

You can fine nice daily drivers with 100k for about 8-9k. If you are going for a stock daily driver, the costs are fairly reasonable. High performance engines, will get very expensive compare to most cars. High performance rebuilds are 8K and up depending on your goals.

In general, remember the 15K rule. If you pay $9,000 plan on another $6,000.

The more you know about the car the better. I feel the key to avoiding large unforseen bills is knowing the car history through documentation.

I search for approx. 2 years before I found the right one for me. I wanted a car with a lot of documentation. I passed on a lot of deals, which were difficult. However, in the end I have a car which has nearly every receipt from day one, from oil changes to alignments. I have had very little problems.

Thanks Russ! Good info!

I have a my current M3 which is my daily, plus my K75s, so the E30 would not have to be at all dependable, just a work in progress.

I will know more later this week, my main concern is, "is the car worth the price? "

yo jake, I went to school at loyola high school and lived up north near hereford, graduated last yr and now im at the air force academy. I have an e30 m3, bought it for 12,000 with a 2.5 rebuild in it that had 25,000 miles. Not gonna lie, my rents had to help me out around 4kbut ill pay them back. The interior is perfect except for the seats and the engine puts out over240hp, with 15% loss thats 210hp when i dyno'd it. Couple suspension mods also. However this dude i bought it from new exactly what he had and how much it was worth. Compare it to what i described and u should get a good feel for what kind of deal youll get. Regardless, that sounds like a good price and you will be extremely satisfied with the e30, you can do things in the e30 not possible in 90% of other cars. Good luck and go ravens-peace

very nice ride for first year out of hs....damn i pushing my riced out civic SI back then.

thanks for the info, this waiting till next week to see it is killing me!

you didn't hardly provide any info, how can anyone provide a proper answer without accurate info to base it on?

Otherwise, it doesn't sound as if you're very familiar with E30 M3's, advise you do your homework to understand just what may lie ahead for you.

I got my M3 6 years ago for 10 grand with 40K miles. I had to replace the alternator and have the head gasket replaced immediately. Then last year The clutch went, but I wanted a performance clutch anyway. I drive it everyday and I take it back and forth between DC and Hampton,VA. I havent had any other problems but I dont track it. It's been pretty reliable and it has 155K miles on it now without a rebuild(knock on wood).

Originally posted by TeamZ4
you didn't hardly provide any info, how can anyone provide a proper answer without accurate info to base it on?

Otherwise, it doesn't sound as if you're very familiar with E30 M3's, advise you do your homework to understand just what may lie ahead for you.

I admit I am still becoming familiar with the car, but i have always loved M3's, which is why I want one.

Also, I know I didnt give very much info, which is why I said that in my original post. The reason I posted was because, I thought E30 M3's in good condition were going for mid to high teens.

More info will be gathered this weekend when I actually see the car!

Hi, first post here...

I am looking for another car as my current car is looking to die. I figure I will HAVE to get one in about 6 months. I want something I like, unlike the POS I am driving now (though I do like the fuel econimy) and an E30 M3 is probably #1 on my list of possibilities. Book value on a 1988 M3, according to the Kelly Blue Book, with 98,000 miles, in excellent condition, and all the options that you can select on www.kbb.com (exept tape deck, replace that with multi-disk CD player) is $5,800 USD.

In my opinion, if you dont buy a car for less than book value, your ripping yourself off.

you may think I am crazy to think I can buy an excellent condition '88 M3 for sub 6 grand (and I am thinking more and more every day I am crazy as well) but those deals are out there. for example, I bought my snowmobile for $1500, book value was $2500 at the time, but I have seen them for sale at $2800. Just gotta look for long enough, and in the right places to find insanely good deals.

taken off bayareamotorsport.com:

"One last bit of advice. Do not bother consulting Kelly Blue Book to determine the value of any E30 M3. KBB and other similar publications derive their rating system and value structure based on cars bought and sold at auto auctions (not referring to eBay or Yahoo! Auctions here). On the rare occasion that an E30 M3 makes it to auction (a common last resort point of sale for cars) it will no doubt be a complete and total rat that isn't worth your time and money. For example, KBB value for a *pristine* 1989 E30 M3 with 70,000 miles is a mere $11,850. In the real world, an example as described above could easily go for $17,000 - $22,000; more or less dependent on mileage and verifiable maintenance history. To determine fair value for a particular condition you only have to look at actual sale prices in such magazines as Roundel or get a consensus from the folks on one of the many E30 M3 message boards or mailing lists."

Originally posted by RussM3
Moonlite Bunny Ranch


Now THAT'S funny. Did you make that up?

Originally posted by clumpymold
Now THAT'S funny. Did you make that up?

Eh...um......NO....

http://www.bunnyranch.net/

They would make a great race car sponsor. Just think of your pit crew and tailgate parties.

Originally posted by ATMH
Hi, first post here...

snip.

In my opinion, if you dont buy a car for less than book value, your ripping yourself off.

you may think I am crazy to think I can buy an excellent condition '88 M3 for sub 6 grand (and I am thinking more and more every day I am crazy as well) but those deals are out there. for example, I bought my snowmobile for $1500, book value was $2500 at the time, but I have seen them for sale at $2800. Just gotta look for long enough, and in the right places to find insanely good deals.

Here is some real world prices on one of the better BMW E30-M3 boards:

Check out the prices...

http://www.roadfly.org/bmw/classifieds/cars/listads.php?cat=206

I agree with Evo, KBBS etc is not accurate when you are talking about E30M3 and similar cars. I have a very large file with my Ins carrier Allstate. I send them a list 6 month of current M3 prices to protect my butt, if my car was to ever get totalled.

My car is worth sigificantly more than KBB or the other auction guides.

If you do look long enough there are good buys, but the 15,000 rule almost certainly comes into play.

Good luck in your search, I hope you find a good one.

well I dunno, considering how long many of these M3's have been up For Sale, it appears there is quite a difference between what seller's are asking and what buyer's are willing to pay :dunno

my bad. I have seen what looks like a few in good condition for ~$8,000

Anyways, my car died yesterday (one of the rear suspension mounts rusted out...not really worth fixing) so I need a new car kinda soon. I realize now I dont really have the time/energy/money to put into an E30 M3. I am thinking of going E36 325i...from what I can tell, that would still be a sweet car, but cheaper.
My friend doesnt understand why I want BMW, he says I should just settle for a VW 16v. Not a bad idea, but I guess BMW's are pretty reliable, and sweet cars none the less.

Thanks for the resources though...

i went to the bimmer dealer yesterday and met with the lady there who we are friends with and my dad was like "he wants an e30 m3" and she said "why?", i said "why not?" She said bmw relies on bmw enthusiasts like me and you atmh (from what i can tell). Once you're hooked, there is nothing that compares :)

actually...I am sorry if I lead you on...but I am Lotus enthusiast. My absolute dream car is the Lotus Elise (comming to the US in April!!!) becase I know its an affordable car for someone who has a steady job, and becase it handles so well.

I was hoping to get an E30 M3 as a substitute for until I get out of college and can afford an Elise, but I since my car died, I need a car that I can buy, register, and drive within a few days of each other. If I got an E30 M3, it would take much more time and energy to get it on the road, just because I would want to make sure the underneath is in good condition (I would probably paint and rustproof the frame). Make sure the car had a lot of records explaining what has been replaced/fixed and when the oil has been changed, as well as service dates/mileage. Just a lot more time and energy than I can put into it now. So, with that said, I am looking into an E36 325i because they are pretty sweet. Of course, I might just say to hell with BMW and crappy fuel econimy and get a VW TDI. basically, if I get a gasoline car, I want it to be a 325i, if I get a diesel car (much better fuel econimy) then I will get a VW TDI (golf or jetta).

But yeah, enthusiasts are what keeps companies going strong. Enthusiasts make a car have character.

you have to be careful, regardless of the price. I know one that is for sale (and now maybe sold) with really low compression (130 in one cyl, 150 in the others) that the avg person might not recognize if they didn't have it inspected by a reputable shop first. The guy bought it, figured out he was going to spend a lot of money to repair it, so instead put it back up for sale at the same price he paid, got a lot of responses, pulled the ad then resubmitted with for $2.5k higher. When I called him he hadn't realized I'd seen his previous posts on the motor, he never said a word about it (Oh it runs great :rolleyes: ) and that's when he told me he was jacking the price up. Fugging scuzzbag, some poor kid probably got taken :(

Jake1sir, are you possibly referring to my car? My dad and I have a black '89 E30 M3 for sale in Ellicott City, MD for about that price. The reason I ask is this: someone came to look at it, two young guys, maybe 18 years old or so. Apparently they've been talking trash about it on a BMW forum, and I'm looking for them to correct their mistakes. I say mistakes, because when they came out to look at the car, they were pointing out problems that did not exist and could not have existed. Just to give you an idea, (though this particular thing wasn't said) it would be something along the lines of, "Hmm...the engine's running funny, it must be the rotary.".......Yeah.

Anyway, if you are interested, the car's not in perfect shape, though it is in very good shape, hence the reason for the low price. We've had the engine specifically checked out at two different BMW specialist shops and both have said it was fine. It is stock for the most part, with the only exception being one of the rear shocks. The brakes have recently been replaced all around (pads everywhere, rotors in the front). The only other problem with it is that the rear differential is going bad apparently, which we are currently in the process of having replaced. We are the third owners I believe, and beyond that, my dad would know more details. Let me know if you're still interested in checking it out.