[mjr24]

I ended up going down this same road with an E30 cabrio (red exterior/tan interior 1988 325i) this summer.

It depends what you want out of it.

I've never driven a E24 (but I assume the E30 is similar) but what the poster above might be saying is that it basically drives like a school bus. It's like 4 turns lock to lock.....which is a lot. Most cars nowadays are half that or a little over half. The E24 steering probably feels dead because it probably doesn't actually turn the damn car until you've turned the wheel 2 times. A horse and buggy might be 6 turns lock to lock....just as an example.

I actually had to replace the steering rack when I got the car and since they don't make E30 racks anymore, the popular plug and play upgrade is to a Z3 or E46 rack (this is a popular upgrade even if your rack doesn't need replacing). Now I see why. These are like 2.4 turns lock to lock. It actually feels like a normal car now.

I paid $8500 for mine sight unseen (sight unseen in person, that is). It had 166k miles on it but it was a California car and I knew it would have no real rust. I also bought it from a guy who owned a Euro service shop and who bought it from the previous owner who had it serviced there (and at a BMW dealer it appears until like the mid 2000's) so I figured it would be reasonably well running. I probably had way too high expectations for that price. I thought I could buy it, put $5k into it and be done. Haha. Not close. Like you, I am not the least bit mechanically inclined so I've had to pay everyone to do the work. Well, whether your car is a 2024 or a 1984, the labor price is the same. So the rack put me down $1800 right away ($1000-1200 labor).

Bushings. You could buy a car with 2k miles on the clock and it still will need every single rubber bushing replaced. 40 year old rubber is 40 year old rubber. This is....sway bar front/rear, rear subframe, trailing arm, control arms, etc. etc......that's going to run me another $2500 in LABOR alone. Most people with E30s say don't even consider it unless you know how to work on your car. That is generally true but, as mentioned, depends on your disposable income.

I have a bit of an OCD problem, too, so this wasn't a wise purchase for me because I now I want the entire car to be mint. Again, I figure after doing the rack, all bushings, springs/shocks, new wheels, brand new interior, replacing lots of parts or stuff that didn't work....I'll have almost $40k into the car. Seriously. Did I need to do half of what I've did/will be doing? Probably not.

That being said, the E30 is sentimental to me and it will be great when it's done.

Could I have bought a well maintained one for $30-35k? Sure. There are some rare examples but they don't come along often. But there is no guarantee any of those wouldn't have needed all the same bushing work done/interior work done to some extent, etc. It would have been less stressful for sure.....but I realize now any car from that age will need some work done, even low mileage ones. Again, it's all what your expectations are. Also know that once I do all this work, it will never again need it the rest of it's life (or my life). I also know if I ever sell it I won't get every dollar spent back but I bet I get 75% back so that makes it a little better.

Oh, speaking of life..... just also realize you could be a goner if you get in any sort of wreck with a modern vehicle given their size relative to cars back then and the lack of safety systems. I have no airbags and 40 year old seatbelts. My car is slow AF. I don't have anti lock brakes.