Quote:
Originally Posted by five_timer
The E30 3-series was mostly a lame car produced during a lame automotive period. They are now classics, and desirable. There was certainly an authenticity to the design. But at the time, they were known somewhat as a car for privileged teenagers.
The E36 was really the backbone of the company for many years, and the basis for their future growth. It's the one that earned all the accolades.
I had a Z3, it was a fun car. But when you build a car that's intentionally retro from day 1, it can't (by definition) be a "best" car.
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Well, I'm an old dude now, but was in my 20's when the E30 and E36 were new. I owned a 1989 E30 325i for 18 years, so I can speak with some authority on the subject. I had friends with an E36 and an '89 M3 Cabrio (with the dogleg 5-sp). The first few year's of production of the E36 for the US market was at the then-new Spartanburg plant in SC. The build quality of the E36 completely sucked and was nowhere near on par with the German built E30. The E36 plastics practically melted in direct sunlight and did deform in hot sunny climates. It wasn't until halfway into the E36 production after it moved back to Germany was the E36 any good IMO. Maybe the E30, as you remember it in 2nd tier ownership was for privileged teenagers, but early-to-mid 20-somethings YUPPIES bought a shit-load of them. And the E30 was over priced and slow until the M20B25 168 HP engine came out in 1987 in the 325is then later in 1989 added to the E30 as the standard motor (in the US). I'd call the E30 with the M20B25 a great car looking back at my ownership of one.
The E30 M3 was a homologation of a race car with far more horsepower and chassis tuning than the street-going version. It's got a cult following for sure, but the two contemporary street versions of the E30 M and non-M were not that far apart in performance and dynamics from my memory.
Whoever put the Z3 in that list never drove one IMO. NOT putting the E86 Z4 Coupe on the list was an oversight. Again, the Spartanburg-built Z3 build quality was sub par. I've owned one for 21 years. It's a fun car to drive though.