BMW- To buy or not to buy?

[BMWVelocity]

Hi,
First of all, just signed up, so far this looks like a great forum, will be spending lots of time here

Anyway,
I just got $20,000 Canadian to buy a car. This works out to 14,865.46 USD for you Americans. Would a BMW be a logical first car? I REALLY love E30 M3s, if I could find one. Also I found a decent 92 318i for only 10,000 Canadian. I know that parts would be expensive, but are BMW's reliable enough that I shouldnt have to worry too aften about buying these expensive parts? Are there any other models of BMW in my price range?

Thanks for the help, I'll be sure to answer and repond very frequently

[Blackwidow]

For that much you should be able to pick up an e30 M3 or an E36 M3. The e36 will make a better dailly driver, and be less maintencance. The e30 will be hard to find, these cars are quickly becoming classics, and the revy s14 requires costly rebuilds at times. However the e30 is an excellent track car, handles supurbly, looks amazing, and is the winningest DTM car ever built.

An e36 M3 will probably give you less problems, they are generally relible if you care enought to keep up with maintenance, some annoying things do happen, windows dont aways go up with one touch, and OBCs start failing but its nothing that I personally would care about.

[BMWVelocity]

Sorry, I'm a total noob to cars.. e36 m3.. what years are those? any pics for reference?

[BMWVelocity]

hehe now I see on the boards, 91-99, ok, will look into them..

[Blackwidow]

thats a Dakar Yellow e36 M3



thats an e30 M3 one of my favorite cars of all time, I wish I hand rich parents.

I think that you Canadians got a couple of eurospec M3s in 94 or 95, I think I read something like that, that will be impossible to find but if you do that would be a great option.

Otherwise e36 M3s were made in the US 95-99, the 95 ones being OBDI and more tunable, the 96-99 being a .2 bigger engine. That should be the same in Canada but I'm not sure about your emmisions requirements.

[BMWVelocity]

yes, the e30 M3 is my favorite car of all time as well..

damn thats a nice e36 anyway, so those are really in my price range? DAMN I sure could see myself behind the wheel of one of them

[Blackwidow]

Agian I dont live in canada so I dont know about your prices there, but I see M3s in excellent condition go for 15k here. You might have to wait it out because in dealerships they are much more expensive, keep checking the for sale forums here and on Bimmerforums as well as autotrader and the local paper and you should be able to get a nice one for that price.

You can find an e30 for 15k too, they are hard to find but ussually go for around that price, but the money you'll have to put into it might be a little overwhelming.

Good luck, If you love driving and have an ounce of addrenelin in you, you'll love this car.

[BMWVelocity]

How would you guys compare a 1995 e36 m3 to a 1999-2000 VW Golf/Jetta 1.8T? atht he moment they are pretty much the exact same price.. how would they compare for performance/reliability?

[Kompressor]

Hey man how's life, welcome to DTM.

Ok this is a first car, so an M3 wouldn't be practical for you right? If you want less insurance and similar I say buy a BMW 328iS. It's also an E36 (92-98).

[BMWVelocity]

hmm they look pretty close to the same hey? what's the diff. between 318is, 328is, etc?
How much would I expect to pay, wanna know much much I can mod it

[amancuso]

Well a 318 puts out 136HP and a 328 puts out 190HP so thats up to what you'd rather have. As far as a Jetta or GTI my other half has one and when I let him drive the 328, he understood why people love BMW's The handling stock is just so much better than any other thing out there. In his words "This thing feels like it has claws gripping the road" and that was in wet weather! :-D

I love my 328.... personally it's just enough for me and the insurance doesn't kill me.


-A

[BeeEmDubAU]

For E30 M3s there is a general "15k rule." You should/will spend 15k (keep in mind this is USD) on an E30 M3, either in purchase price, or repair/maintenance parts. I wouldnt recommend it as a first car though. You would probably be better off with an E36 328is or 325is, and spend some of that leftover money on a good driving school. An E30 325 is another option, but you will have to spend more money on repairs and such.

Good luck with the search.

[M5Power]

BMW are good cars, and as people said a E30 M3 might not be the best first car if you don't have extra money to fix it.

[BMWVelocity]

see what I have it down to are these 3:

1999 Jetta 1.8T
e36 328is
1990 Nissan 300zx TT

328is I havent looked at pricing, but theres a 300zx is pretty GREAT condition for 19k canadian that found, I know thats a steal of a deal cuz it has a ton of mods, and 400+ HP

[Mpower20044]

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