3-Series — Reviews — Classic Cars For Sale

The 3-Series E30 is the Swiss Army Knife of classic motoring: it fits right in at shows, tackles trackdays with gusto and takes on the daily commute with aplomb.

For many years the E30 has been the classic of choice for those with a more enthusiastic driving style, especially the 325i Sport models with their limited-slip diffs.

E30s are hugely popular when it comes to amateur motorsport. One of the main reasons for this is that the rear-wheel drive/front engine format is perfect when it comes to learning how to control a car on a circuit. 1.6-litre, 1.8-litre and 2-litre cars all seem fairly pedestrian in the speed stakes, but all of them will be a barrel of laughs when pushed through the bends. The standard 325i offers the best bang for your buck, producing 169bhp out of the box. A 325i can be bought for as little as £1500.

A decent E30 really is a joy to drive. The suspension is firm enough to hold the car when pushed hard, but soft enough to iron out the bumps on a longer cruise. Oversteer is easy to provoke, however many a decent driver has been caught out in the past, so be careful.

VITAL STATISTICS

1986 BMW 325i

Engine 2494cc/6-cyl/SOHC

Power (bhp@rpm) 169bhp@5800rpm

Torque (lb ft@rpm) 167lb ft@4000rpm

Top speed 138mph

0-60mph 7.2sec

Consumption 26mpg

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

BODYWORK & CHASSIS

The car may look clean, but rot hides itself very well in E30s. Sills, scuttle and arches are the main problem areas. Feel around behind the front and rear arches for crustiness, especially if the car looks freshly undersealed. Inner wings will go behind the front wheel arch guard so open the bonnet and check for rust along the top edge of the inner wing. Front suspension turrets can rot from the base. Check for rust on the bulkhead by removing the fuse box. If you find rust here walk away.

Open the boot and remove the jack. If there’srust here it will have made its way from the rear inner wheel arch. Also take a screwdriver and magnet to the sills. Lift the carpets in the boot and footwells. Rust here will be difficult to cure. Be wary of sunroofs too. Rot in the roof skin is terminal, so watch out for bubbling here.

ENGINE

E30 engines are well known for their reliability, but only if well maintained.

A fully documented service history is a must. The cambelt should be changed every 60,000 miles or at four year intervals. If this isn’t documented, budget to have it done as a matter of course. Start the engine from cold and listen for noisy tappets. If the sound continues when warm then they need to be adjusted. Valve clearances should also be set every 15,000 miles. Improperly adjusted valves can break rocker arms.

Check oil and coolant levels. Look for signs of oil in the coolant and mayonnaise around the oil filler cap. Both could suggest head gasket failure. Carry out a compression test before buying. Allow the car to idle until warm listening for the fan to come on. If it doesn’t, then assume the car has overheated so warping the cylinder head.

ELECTRICS

Check the engine bay. Make sure the colour matches the exterior of the car. Fresh paint may suggest the car has been in a crash, so make sure you ask all the right questions. Ensure you get a HPI check. Due to the low book value of E30s many crash-damaged vehicles are written-off as a result of what most would consider light damage. There are a lot of decent-looking cars on the road that have been registered as Cat C or Cat D. Beware.

RUNNING GEAR

Check the rear subframe bushes for excessive wear. This will have an adverse effect on handling and can be very dangerous. It’s a hugely time consuming job and beyond the reach of the amateur. Listen for a whining noise and clunking from the diff. The mounts could be perished, but more than likely it’ll be a worn diff. Replacements are easy enough to come by, but limited-slip diffs will demand a heavy premium. Check for any excess play or vagueness when changing gear. Avoid high mileage cars that jump out of gear or have worn synchromesh. Look for four matching tyres with plenty of tread. Be wary of cheap tyres which can be dangerous.

INTERIOR

Interiors are generally hard wearing, but will be past their best after 20+ years. Leather cracks over time and cloth seats will wear particularly badly on the driver’s bolster. Replacement seats are still relatively plentiful, but good quality items will command a premium, especially in leather. Switches give up the ghost with regularity, but are easily sourced and replaced. Odometers will die anytime beyond 100,000 miles as the worm gear deteriorates. Replacement gears are cheap, but fiddly to fit. Remove the card shelf from below the steering column. Any fluid dripping on this hints at a knackered clutch master cylinder. The slave should be replaced at the same time.

OUR VERDICT

The E30 is a superb car that has stood the test of time. Its styling still looks fresh while decent build quality and a growing following have ensured the survival of many cars. They also fit right in at classic shows, track days, or simply on the daily commute. Parts are cheap and plentiful and there are regular club events to attend. There really is an E30 to suit every budget, and both entry-level models and more powerful 2.5-litre cars can be affordable propositions. Many different models were produced over the eight-year production span, with varied and confusing spec sheets. Do your research to ensure you get the car to suit your needs, and don’t buy the first car you see. M3 aside, 318iS and 325i Sport models are the most desirable.

Retro cars are all the rage at the moment and the E30 is the daddy of them all. Remarkably, its boxy styling has aged well. In fact, its perfect proportions have ensured that the 3-series E30 looks as fresh today as it did when it arrived in British showrooms back in 1983.

As well as looks, the E30 has practicality in spades, which makes it a great choice if you’re in the market for a useable classic that will earn its keep. Spacious inside, the E30 will carry four adults in comfort and the cavernous boot is large enough to accommodate even the most enthusiastic of holiday packers.

A hugely practical and stylish car then, but the icing on the cake must surely be the legendary reputation for reliability that BMWs of this era enjoy. A well-maintained E30 will be among the most reliable classic cars at any show, and will devour mile after mile on twisty B-roads, motorways and everything in between. It’s the ideal daily-driver and weekend show car.

The BMW 3-Series E21 was produced from ’75 to ’83, although all but the entry-level variety stopped production in ’82. In that time, BMW built 1,370,000 of them.

The first 3 Series, or E21, was a two-door. Styling was by Paul Bracq, fresh from the first 5 Series, and the two cars had a strong resemblance. From 1977 to 1982, there were targa-top ‘Hardtop-Cabriolets’ by Stuttgart-based coachbuilder Baur, who built many BMW convertibles, but only about 3000 were sold.
The first engines were four-cylinders, with an injected 2-litre in the top-model 320i. Two years later came a 2-litre six-cylinder to make a new top-model 320 and, in 1978, a 2.3-litre six which created the highly desirable 323i. From ’80, the 316 went from 1.6 to 1.8 litres, and gained in the torque department. The UK otherwise didn’t get the 1.8-litre engine, nor the detuned 1.6-litre, run-out 315 model.
Suspension was by MacPherson struts at the front and semi-trailing arms at the rear, along with unassisted ZF rack and pinion steering. You got ventilated front discs with rear drums and a servo, but there were rear discs on the quickest 323i.

The first thing strikes you when you get behind the wheel is how the centre console is angled towards you. It gives the car a tight-fitting feel, like a pair of gloves – but the feeling isn’t one of being cramped.
There’s a certain sporting rasp about the four-cylinder engines which doesn’t translate into as much urge as you’d expect. Even so, the later 1.8-litre 316 accelerates pretty well. The sixes are a totally different experience: smooth and keen to get on with the job, they are really great engines of their time.
The Achilles’ heel of these small BMWs was always what Motor magazine called "snap oversteer". It’s nothing to worry about, but the semi-trailing arm rear suspension is subject to sudden camber changes on the limit – if you discover this on a wet road, you could lose the car. It’s not helped by a wooden feel to the steering at high speeds. Otherwise, the handling is little short of admirable for a mid-1970s saloon.
Early cars mostly have four-speed ’boxes. From ’79, there was a five-speed with overdrive top, and a close-ratio five-speed that was rarely specified. There were autos too, but these were disappointing.

VITAL STATISTICS

Engine 1766cc/4-cyl/SOHC

Power90bhp@5500rpm

Torque103lb ft@4000rpm

Top Speed101mph

0-60mph12.4sec

ECONOMY34mpg

Gearbox4-speed manual

MoT11 months

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR

1 One reason why this best-seller is pretty uncommon these days is corrosion. The cars were not undersealed at the factory, and only fastidious owners paid extra to have the job done when the cars were new. They rust – and how! – so your first check should be for the more obvious signs. Look at the rear wheelarches, front wings, door bottoms and sills, and the rear valance under the bumper. Rust gets hold at the front corner under the side windows, and under the rear windows, too.

2 Having checked all the usual rot spots, now turn your attention to the less obvious places. Carefully check the seams of the bonnet and boot, the corners of the main floor, the boot floor, around the jacking points and around the rear suspension towers. Springs have been known to punch through. No rust? You’ve found a good one.
3 On the gearbox front, don’t worry about some whining from the lower gears. That’s normal. However, the clutch hydraulics are prone to leaks, so it’s wise to check for fluid on the carpet and on the foot pedals. If the car’s an automatic, make sure the changes are smooth. Surges and lurches suggest worn friction components in the clutches, so if other things are urging you to buy the car, budget for a replacement gearbox.

4 The original Solex carbs often gave trouble, and many owners replaced them with Webers. The problem was particularly acute on six-cylinder cars with the 4A1 carburettor – although that might be because owners expected more from their engines than the four-cylinder models. The fuel injection is a Bosch K-Jetronic, which is a mechanical system and not too hard to diagnose and fix if it plays up.

5 On four-cylinder engines, listen for top-end noise. Water pumps usually last for 70,000 miles, and you’ll hear one that’s on the way out. Cam chains wear, too, and you’ll hear that warning ringing sound. Poor performance could be caused by worn cam lobes, which is a common fault on high-mileage engines.

6 Six-cylinder engines, especially in the 323i, were often thrashed. The 323i in particular has a reputation for cracking its cylinderhead, so make the usual checks for water in the oil or otherwise unexplained water loss. Sixes also had a belt-driven overhead camshaft. This isn’t particularly troublesome, but check when it was last changed.

7 If there are odd noises from the front suspension, suspect the anti-roll bar buses – they tend to shear after hard use. If the steering feels notchy, then you’d better look at the steering rack.

8 The braking system doesn’t give a lot of trouble, but it’s worth checking the remote linkage to the servo. The servo was always on the left, even on RHD cars, and the linkage can corrode. The 323i models had rear discs (all the others had drums), and on a car which hasn’t been used for a long time you’ll probably find that these have rusted very badly.

9 With the Baur Hardtop-Cabriolets, check that all the roof components are present. There should be a removable section over the front seats and a collapsible fabric section at the rear. Check the integrity of the rear window, and double-check the seals and clamps. If the vinyl pillar trim has been damaged, so budget for professional replacement.

10 Options you can add from scrappers are Mahle multi-spoke alloys, a limited-slip diff, sports suspension and Recaro seats.

OUR VERDICT

An E21 3 Series may not be the most glamorous of 1970s saloons, but it makes a great starter classic. It’s affordable both to buy and run, and will cope easily with modern traffic. However, it’s very important to buy the very best, because current prices don’t justify expensive repairs. A full-scale restoration would have to be a labour of love.
The four-cylinder 316 was the best-seller, followed by the six-cylinder 320, so these are the models that will be most readily available. It’s certainly worth going for the post-September 1979 316 if you can find one, because the 1.8-litre engine gives more torque and is correspondingly more flexible, although power and top speed are the same as with the older 1.6-litre engine.
As a 323i isn’t quick by modern standards, we’d go for a six-cylinder 320 which hasn’t been treated as a boy-racer’s delight.

BMW 3-SERIES E30 REVIEW

BMW 3-SERIES E21 REVIEW