1990 BMW 3 Series Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The legendary BMW 3 series is widely regarded as one of the greatest cars ever conceived. As far as pure motoring goes, the second generation E30 was arguably best in the history of the series. The 325IS model, especially, with it's sports trim bumper covers, sport seats, improved handling and, of course, peppy, 2.5L inline six had been refined to nearly the point of perfection especially by the end of their run by 1989-90. The E36 that replaced it, while a fantastic machine in it's own right, was a bit heavier, suffered from build quality issues especially in the early years, and was clearly a break from some of the pure sporting values that BMW had created around their brand. The E30 of 1990 Had most of the positives of what it would become; ride comfort, safety, features, but also everything that was great about what it was built on; great build quality, refined engineering, classic looks, light weight, and very little in the way of negative traits. The biggest one of those negative traits is actually not peculiar to the E30, but to all BMWs. It is both what makes a BMW a BMW, and a BMW's Achille's heel. That is, the way BMW loves to build their rubber bushings irremovably into the metal. It makes for an amazing driving experience, but when the parts inevitably begin to wear, the party's over and the entire part must be replaced. Like any older car, keeping it on the road is a labor of love, but the build quality of these late 80s & early 90s BMWs is second to none. If properly maintained, these cars will be on the road for a lifetime or maybe two. But sadly, fewer and fewer people appreciate these classics and they become more scarce every year, especially when the collector's eyes are more focused on the golden child of the family; the racetrack destroying M3. The peasant's model is often snapped up by tinkerers and modified within an millimeter of their lives and sorely abused. As a consequence, it is also getting harder to find an E30 that is unmolested. Anyone who appreciates older cars could do much worse than find an E30 to put in their garage. Considering the reasonable prices these cars can be had for, their reasonable reliability and iconic looks, not to mention the E30s even feel more modern in many ways than the Accords and Jettas of the late 90's, the E30 is truly a poor man's collector car. And who knows, considering all the great things about these cars, they could turn out to be a great investment.Sep 29, 2013