There are a lot of knowledgeable people on this site and I am asking for a little indulgence on this topic since it has no Porsche content! Looking for an 06 and newer as they have the connector for an i-pod. Reading different articles and having owned 2 Beemers previously, I'm thinking a 328i is the best bang for your buck but my wife doesn't care about the more powerful engine. I'm thinking if the price is right I would make a vacation around it. I live on the east coast of Canada but have friends in California and Arizona so geography is not a huge issue. Oh yeah, white with the light coloured interior, and manual transmission is preferred but not a deal killer if one of those factors is missing.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada
73 2.0

Good Luck with the newer BMW. A freind has a BMW repair shop and really likes

them. I went looking for a M3 or a 333 and he told me to stay 04 or earlier

for the good cars. with low mileage and taken care of. My 2 cents.

....or, just buy the BMer you really want, then spend $100-200+ for a good radio with i-pod jacks to retrofit!

I'm the original owner of an `85 325e 2Dr Coupe E30 as my DD for all that time & still today, with 184k+/- now, & built to last! OE engine, but 5 spd trans was rebuilt about `05.

... oh, & it also gets 17-22 city, 33-42 Hwy & 25-28 avg. out of the 2.7L I-6 - depending on how heavy my right foot is, of course!

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> This is only a partial shot made for other purposes re: our house front view & cropped to just the car. I really need to detail mine out & take some good pix of it, alnog with & lonside our other DD - an 88 VW Westy, which is in the shop for a rolling resto right now .... come Spring & better weather!

Not mine, but in the meantime, a good comparative side 325 view - to the 633/635 side views below - from my `85 dealer sales brochure:
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In 85 - if I could've found a nice one, I'd have had no qualms about buying an older used early 70's 2.8/3.0 CS/CSi also, but they're pricey today,

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...but it's retro clone - the `80's 633/635 is a good deal today, & will go up over time while you drive it as a classic DD generally very reliable, as well as a great looking car!

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The later 850/840 might also be a good deal for a future appreciation classic DD & sports sedan, but they're also V-10 or V-8 respectively.

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They all classify as in my book!

BTW - he 1985 325e Coupe came with leather wrapped steering wheel & shift knob/boot, Recaro sport front seats (non-branded, but made for BMW), anti-sway bars F&R AM/FM/Cassette radio, etc. to lure buyers in the first MY that the I-6 powered E30 3-series was offered in the USA - much the same as Porsche did in the 73 MY first year offering of the 914-2.0 - where the USA Porsche+Audi dealers/distributors marketed them as the "914 S".

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(NPC - "Now Porsche Content")

Actually Ian, you're not even OT IMHO - as this is car related, but just NPC (no Porsche content).

...unless the admins count my comparison on the 85 325e to the 914-2.0/"914S" as P-content!!??

We had a 1985 528 E, what a great car that was, 408,000 KM on it when we got rid of it which was due to a mishap. We have a 2000 323 which is still running strong but has been passed on to our daughter due to her 97 318i needing too much repairs to justify the cost. So we need another one for my main squeeze, who just wants a Beemer, 3 series preferred as "it's not too big" Thanks too all who chimed in, and yes I would love it if she chose the 850, 633, etc.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Ian - if mpg is your thing, then 85-86 325e, otherwise the 87-92 325i offers more HP with 2/3 - 3/4 the mpg ratings. Your 528e was the same motor as my 325e + a few hundred lbs. for the bigger 528e sedan.

I like the E30 body style better than later MYs, due to better visibility with that nice greenhouse, although the 2000's 3-series coupes with the semi-fastback design is sweet looking too!

I have a 2007 530xi. I will NEVER EVER own another late model BMW, as long as they continue to use that Idrive system. This car doesn't have a dip-stick to check the oil. You have to check it through the idrive system. If you follow the book instructions, it leads you to a dead end. You have to dick around with it yourself to figure out something that should be the simplest thing in the world to check on the car. The windshield has a sensor in it that will turn on the windshield wipers automatically when it gets wet, because I'm too fucking stupid to know to turn them on when it rains? Almost $300 to update the GPS system. With my $75 Tom Tom GPS I get updates free and it does a better job.

I heard the same thing from a local Beemer mechanic.

Add me to the list of very happy E30 owners. I have the 1986 325es model now, but I've also had a 325i and 325ix. The eta engine is my favorite and not just because it gets just a hair shy of 30mpg on the highway. It has tons of torque at the low end and cruises 70mph at 1600rpm. The car has 300,000 miles on it. I love love love driving this car. Very smooth and very reliable.

The E30s are a touch high on the maintenance side though. They require valve adjustments every six months which is easy to do for gearheads but often neglected by regular folk. I wish my 914 was as easy to valve adjustments. And you have to be right on top of the oil changes without exception.

The E30, regardless of designation - i, e, es, is, ix - suffer from two problems. First, 1986 was the first time that biodegradable plastics were used in the wiring harnesses and elsewhere. These early biodragedable plastics degrade too quickly giving rise to constant electrical gremlins on some cars. But this is far less common on cars that don't have power-everything. Second, once the motor eventually blows up they are super expensive to rebuild. Like $5,000. As a result, there's a large number of people that buy an E30, wait for the motor to die, and then buy another. I'd only drop $5K if the rest of the car was in truly pristine condition.

Any E30 with an "s" suffix (es, s, is) gets you the sport package. McPherson front suspension, limited slip differential, Recaro buckets, different airdam, better gauge cluster, snowflake wheels, trip computer, and so forth. Desireable if you can find one.

My favorite part is the all-amber now-retro dash and stereo lighting.

The E36 models (1990-1999) are much newer looking and more comfortable. But I don't think they're as good as the E30. But if your sweetheart wants something modern looking, an E36 is a good bet and can be found quite cheap these days.

Dont' forget that Pelican has tons of parts for them.

-marcus

I've had my `85 325e on cruise control at 68 mph, on the flat, A/C off, no head/tail winds, stock wheel/tire size, & cruising back from San Diego to OC - & the onboard computer was clocking 42.3 before I hit some traffic.

I also had to nurse it once between Palm Springs & Blythe CA, when I had no gas-up opportunity in between due the one station being closed on I-10, and it clocked 51 mph - but I was really using every hyper-miling trick I knew to not get stuck in the desert in the middle of the night to get that!!

I'd forgotten that the 86 325es added the LSD. The 2dr `85 325e had trip computer & better dash (compared to the 318i or 325 4dr base models), air dam, fog lights, as well.

BTW - the gauges have red lighting - not amber, as red preserves night vision the best, which is why some older aircraft instrument panels & pilot's map flashlights always had red.

I have an 07 328xi and an 06 x5. Love the 07, but havehad an issue (and know others who have also) with the aluminum engine bolts snapping. Can lead to sizable oil loss and the stealership will try and screw you over with the fix. Seems to happen after 50k miles. Best fix is to get an independent mechanic to take out the broken bolts and replace w/ steel. Greats cars, but seem a bit fragile.

I really enjoy my '08 335i. The 328 was peepy, but a bit sluggish after driving my Hemi truck.
BYMy 335 gets me about 24-26 mpg. If you're basing your decision on an "ipod" hook up, Harmon Karon makes an interface that allows yout to dock your ipod on the right side of your radio and control it with the stering wheel controls.
Just make sure that you actually have an ipod hook up and not an "mp3 player" hook up. My 335 was.advertise as an "ipod" hook up, turned out to be a 1/4" mp3 input jack. Which is ok but you cant control your ipod with the radio contols. Remember its an '08.
Certified preowned is what I would recommend.
Just my 2 pesos

P.s. '08 was the last year of a recalled fuel pump. Which BMW was replacing free till a certain point.

Same here, i have a friend here that has a shop-(german guy with 30 years in bmw, porsche and Mercedes) he says its an issue with the magnesium: block i think. We were test driving a 2006 750il, it left some oil on the garage floor. So i called him to find out if this was something we could fix,, his response was i could not afford to fix it, nor could he, or BMW- he said get a lower milage early model or better yet get a Mercedes.