E30 M3

LHD only from factory, so any RHD will be conversions... only ever seen LHD myself though. Quick bit of research and it seems ~60 were converted to RHD by Birds. So pretty rare!
 
Ah that makes sense then.

I've seen a few for sale and they vary wildly in price. Is this purely based on condition or are there special editions which command higher prices?
 
They are priced on miles and quality like most cars of this sort. Top quality as a few friends of mine run are 75k plus.
 
If you didn't know they were LHD only from the factory then I'm going to suggest that the asking price for them is just pointless for you. It's a car where 80% of it's price is its enthusiast appeal to M3 nuts. That isn't you if you didn't realise they were all originally LHD.

Buy something better in almost every way for half the price.
 
There's a couple of special editions - Cecotto and Ravaglia. No mechanical changes on them I think. Over the lifetime of the car there was some changes though - most had a 2.3 engine, last ones had 2.5. Plenty of information available online though, this is just what I remember :)
 
Buy a decent 318iS and soup it up a bit for 80 per cent of the experience at a fraction of the cost.

I've never driven an E30 M3 mind, but I'm basing that assumption on my M5 experience.
 
They had to change the rack with the RHD E30 M3's (obviously) and it lost some of the steering feel. Pretty sure they used the rack from the 6 cylinder cars.

For most people now they are no longer obtainable and now command such high money that I would imagine quite a few owners are simply storing them as investments!
 
Just to be clear, the car isn't for me so that's why I know nothing about them, was keeping an eye out and doing a bit of reading on them see if I could help him out. But thanks for the rest of the info so far :)
 
[TW]Fox;26159884 said:
If you didn't know they were LHD only from the factory then I'm going to suggest that the asking price for them is just pointless for you. It's a car where 80% of it's price is its enthusiast appeal to M3 nuts. That isn't you if you didn't realise they were all originally LHD.

Buy something better in almost every way for half the price.
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What would you consider to be better though? In just about all group M tests the E30 M3 comes out top. You could possibly go with something like an Elise for raw driving and feel but they lack a boot and couple of seats.
 
Alibaba99 said:
What would you consider to be better though? In just about all group M tests the E30 M3 comes out top. You could possibly go with something like an Elise for raw driving and feel but they lack a boot and couple of seats.
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I think his point is time has moved on, you can now get a far superior vehicle for a fraction of the outlay a decent e30 M3 would cost you, sure, it wouldn't be an M car I.e. Anything "special" but you won't be paying that scene tax either.

Performance wise for example, a 335d would give one more than a run for its money for nothing like the outlay of the e30 to buy, I would imagine sub £10k would get you a 335d, more than likely with a warranty, and you'll have a much faster car.
A £10k budget for example wouldn't even get you an e30 at all, never mind one in a condition you'd actually want to own! - the good ones that are left command significantly more alas, but, that same £10k puts you behind the wheel of numerous far superior vehicles in performance terms at least without the huge price premium you'd pay for the e30.

It's rightly an all time classic but now very much in the high end classic car market sector, way out of reach for most enthusiasts now.
 
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Howard said:
I know which one would be more fun to drive, though :p
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The e30 all day long, so long as you can handle LHD and are not terrified of pranging it although if you were used to anything more modern I wonder how long the novelty would actually last? - what was highly regarded as a wonderful drivers car in the mid 80's would be found severely wanting compared back to back with today's run of the mill shopping trolleys.
Progress I think it's called.
 
I couldn't have an E30 M3 as a daily car. But as something for fun occasional use then I'd take it over almost anything modern in a heartbeat. The fact they are soaring in value rather than depreciating like something modern also helps. Driving old cars like this isn't just about getting from A to B in comfort. It's an event and getting there with a huge smile on your face and looking back at it as you get out of the car.

Increasingly I'm finding modern cars boring to look at and boring to drive. The steering, although fairly good on more recent cars, just feels disconnected. The throttle response is "mushy" even though modern cars are far quicker, as the ECU tries to smooth out any erratic moves from the driver. Older cars have a far more raw feel and forces you to try to drive more smoothly.

But they rattle and leak sometimes.
 
The problem as with anything old, is you need to drive a good one that feels like it did when it was coming off the line. Old knackers with tired suspension, brakes and engine are not going to do much for anyone, but get one that is right and it all makes sense. It was a car of it's day but limited in tech and better for it. Like a fine wine it needs to be savoured and you need to spend time understanding the thing. To compare it to a 320d is frankly preposterous. One is some car and one is a tightly built, limited run homologation special. There are many saloon cars that will hand a mid 70's Ferrari its arse, but get a good mid 70's Ferrari, the right one and who gives a stuff. Mechanical feel, engines built to race and set up sharp as a tack. Not all about going quick, the MX5 should teach people that.
 
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