Buying a BMW E30

millington

carsfan2 wrote: »

So do you pay tax on a 2.5 litre so?
If not than surely it is a tax dodge?

No you don't and since the engine is all but indistinguishable from a 2.0 one then I (me, mise, not anyone else) would happily leave it as is.

It's up to the new owner to change it to 2.5. The car is exactly as described, a 320i with a 2.5 fitted, and was a project car not on the road so there was no great need to change it over.

carsfan2

That's fine and grand if the car is off the road but in the eyes of the law if an owner was to tax it as a 2.0 litre with the existing engine in place they would be in bother if stopped and checked( very unlikely)

Doesn't bother me but I know a guard who inspects vehicles that are seized like big engined 5 series badged as 520d. He tells me they are clamping down big time on this.

Sorry off topic as the car looks like a good buy regardless.

Henry Ford III

millington wrote: »

No you don't and since the engine is all but indistinguishable from a 2.0 one then I (me, mise, not anyone else) would happily leave it as is.

It's up to the new owner to change it to 2.5. The car is exactly as described, a 320i with a 2.5 fitted, and was a project car not on the road so there was no great need to change it over.

It's advertised as a 325i!

kdevitt

unkel wrote: »

10k sterling is very strong money. I'd nearly expect an M3 for that...

An E30 M3 starts at around GBP20k for a tatty one. E30 prices have stiffened up massively in the UK.

carsfan2 wrote: »

Doesn't bother me but I know a guard who inspects vehicles that are seized like big engined 5 series badged as 520d. He tells me they are clamping down big time on this.

The clampdown is on bigger engined cars where engine swaps were declared to put in a smaller engine - which makes it pretty easy to identify them. All those owners received letters in the post telling them to get a BMW garage to inspect the car and verify the swap. Any car where they've been caught out on for doing that is more or less scrap now - all back taxes are due, and its not wiped by 'selling' the car on.

Best case solution for a car like the E30 in the ad is to insure it correctly, and pay the slightly lower motor tax for the 2.0 engine imo. Its not that far off 56 a year either.

Anyway - in terms of E30's and their rust issues, its definitely a problem - and more than likely the main issue you'll have with one. Ideally you want to take the rear seats out to inspect the inner arches, check outer arches, around the boot, around the windscreen, the scuttle panel - both by the wings and inside the vents behind the wipers, jacking points, sunroof. You get the idea.

Virtually everything else which goes wrong on them is cheap enough, and easy enough to source. I've kicked off a new E30 project now, and will say that the prices of decent upgrades has risen massively since my last one a few years back.

noelf

Love this thread op d'ont want to see it die have you given up on the idea of a E30 ..