Faults:

Thermostat failed and also the fan clutch. Rebuilt the automatic transmission.

General Comments:

The e30 surely live up to its expectation, it is a pretty car, but it's a little bit cramp at the backseat. Overall the is durable than most other car of it's time.

Faults:

Front fog lamps didn't work (blown bulbs).

Trip computer back-light bulb has blown.

The boot lets in water in heavy rain.

General Comments:

A superb performance car that is also now available very cheaply though they're now recognised as a classic BMW so prices are rising.

Very comfortable, with excellent ergonomics, the straight six also makes a lovely noise.

Fun to drive, these cars are responsive, rear wheel drive and have plenty of power in standard form. Reasonably economical too.

Reliable, and with good parts availability, so they're pretty cheap to run if you get a good one.

There's also good on-line advice available from the E30 Zone, Planet E30, etc.

Faults:

Fuses like to keep blowing on different things.

Air con not working.

Fog lights stopped working.

Clutch is starting to go on me.

Has a couple of oil leaks.

No big deal for a car with over 300 thousand and no rebuild on the motor or gear box.

General Comments:

This car looks great after you add a few mods to it, to kind of bring it back to the future, like custom tail and side lights, and it starts to look really mean once it's lowered (use super low King springs) with this and a set of 18" rims with 215/35/18 tyres (20mm spacers are required). It handles like no other average car like a Ford, Commodore or Mitsubishi. They can't keep up with me through a road with a lot of bends.

I found the motor stock standard ain't that fast, but with a few light cheap mods, that all changes. I have added a new hi flow muffler with 3" inlet, 6.5" barrel and 4.5" tip. This gives the car lots more torque, and the note she puts out is very nice. People are always asking if I have a bigger 6 or even an 8 cylinder under there.

Next good performance booster is a K&N pod filter with a heat shield (heat shield very important to the performance), and when this thing sucks it sounds awesome, and changing gears makes the car sound like it's turboed with a blow off valve - great.

First and second gear ain't that fast in the car, but once you hit into 3rd at high revs, then watch out (this is the gear that lets you pull away from some fool in his Ford or Commodore)

Faults:

Routine maintenance is all that's been required (although at this age, it's a pretty full routine).

Steering rack leaks slightly.

Control arms are showing their age.

The convertible top leaks a bit (and righty onto my left leg).

General Comments:

Though I’ve owned an E36 convertible (and still have an E46 sedan), I have to confess a real fondness for the E30. This is my second and just like the first one, it’s very easy to live with.

An E30 is fun to drive, amazingly reliable and probably the last of the BMWs you can easily work on yourself. Parts are plentiful (if occasionally a little pricey) and everything seems to be put together with 13mm bolts. (If you do enough work on an E30 you’ll have every kind of 13mm wrench made, plus breaker bars, extensions and God knows what else.)

I bought this particular car two years ago. Though far from perfect, it seemed well cared for and the CARFAX report came up clean. So even though I was to be the fourth owner, I felt pretty good about buying it. And I’ve had no regrets. Silky smooth engine. Decent power. Handling so good you’ll forget it’s an older car. Plus it’s practically guaranteed you’ll get more thumbs-ups and nods of approval from complete strangers than you would in cars costing three times as much. (Word of Warning #1: Cops are drawn to BMWs. It’s programmed in.)

The basic issue with BMWs of this age is that stuff dries out. Be prepared to replace the vacuum hoses, coolant hoses, belts and valve cover and oil pan gaskets. In all but a few cases, it’s very easy to do it yourself. (Word of Warning #2: Replacing the oil pan gasket isn’t particularly complicated, but it’s an absolutely horrible experience. A mechanic will charge you upwards of $500 and about halfway through doing it yourself you’ll think it might just be worth it.) And no matter how recently the previous owner tells you the timing belt was changed, do it anyway (it’s cheap insurance). Go ahead and replace the water pump while you’re in there. You’ll probably need new shocks, too. And be sure to keep the brakes up to snuff.

This isn’t meant to scare you into thinking you’ll always be working on the car – quite the opposite. Once you take care of these things, you’re pretty much done. Change the oil and filter regularly. Use BMW antifreeze. Check the fluids weekly. And you’ll get years of reliable service.

And in those years to come? The steering rack is going to leak, but you can put that off for a long time. The control arms will wear out around 120,000 miles, but they’re easy to fix. Sources say that if it has an automatic, you’re going to have to replace it someday, but mine has 130,000 miles on it and seems fine.

But the best thing of all is an E30 in really great shape will set you back only a couple of grand. Cheap thrills.