[hassmaschine]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I've been under this dilemma for few years now. When I bought my E90 in 2006 it replaced my 18-year old E30 that had clocked north of 256,000 miles. Looking back now, I errantly sold the E30, which was in great shape; I wish I had kept it, since they've become classics for some reason. But in my defense when you have a car for 18 years and 256K, and you can get a replacement that is just as good or better (IMO the E90 is) from your favorite manufacturer, keeping two cars nearly the same in regards to service level (i.e. both were sedans - the E30 was a 2-door however) didn't make sense at the time. I wanted a 4-door sedan anyway. Plus around my house in the woods, if you don't move your cars much, the critters decide they make great condos.

Now I'm at the same place with the E90, it's near 12 years old and 340,000 miles (just turned last night). But now it really is the last of the classic BMW format as you stated, great handling, I6, manual trans, RWD sports sedan, which is the only thing that has ever drawn me to BMW, which this makes me want to never part with the E90. I had never planned on driving the E90 175 miles a day when I bought it, but I changed jobs and doubled my commute about 18 months after I bought the E90. Again, I didn't want a 2nd car sitting around, so I didn't by something like a hybrid, which I did consider at the time. Plus, it's not like an E90 325i is a Ferrari or anything; it's a daily driver. Also, I figured I'd wear out the E90 in 8 years or so at 250,000 miles and buy BMW's next 3 series with great handling, a naturally-aspirated I6, manual trans with rear wheel drive. Presidents get elected, ridiculous EPA 52 MPG fuel mileage standards get mandated. Then BMW comes out with the F30... and I was WTF, where'd the 3-series go? So being the E90 was getting long in the tooth and I anticipated weeks of down time for repairs and trying to keep the miles down, I picked up a Z4 Coupe three years ago. The Z4 had 23K on it when I bought it. It's since collected another 52,000 since then. And I thought I'd want to drive it more than I do as a 2nd daily driver, but IT is now a rare BMW classic, irreplaceable since the NA I6 is dead and BMW needs Toyota to build the next Z. Again WTF BMW?... Toyota... OMFG.

So that leaves us where? Guys who want a simple non-M classic BMW sports sedan with a great (naturally-aspirated) engine, real foot-operated clutch, and rear wheel drive, where do we go? Nowhere. Cadillac is closest with the ATS. But dummies they are just couldn't drop in a manual trans with the V6. For some reason they decided to build the thing with a rental-fleet 2.5L 4-banger, a 2.0L turbo 4-banger (with a manual trans thankfully), and the 3.6L V6 without a manual trans option (even though the drivetrain was from the 1st gen CTS THAT HAD a manual V6 option). GM should have made two engine choices from the get-go with just the 2.0L turbo and the 3.6L V6, but offer both with a manual transmission. Had they done that, I think they would have mad headway against the 3-Series, especially with the F30 coming out a year later.

I've driven the ATS a lot, but just in 2.0L turbo form, both in auto and manual. As far as a driver's sports sedan it's heads above the F30. The back seat is a bit cramp and the CUE is a bit fussy (BFD I think idrive sucks too), but it is put together well and drives great. It is the current BMW 3-series IMO. I just test drove an ATS yesterday. I wanted to see if I liked GM's new 3.6L V6 /8-speed auto combo. It''s the closest thing to a 3-series. Only if it had a manual transmission, I would have bought it.

The classic sports sedan is dead IMO.

you could replace it with another, lower-mile E90?

But I guess at this point, you'd have to fix a bunch of stuff on it that you've already done, so maybe not worth it.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

you could replace it with another, lower-mile E90?

But I guess at this point, you'd have to fix a bunch of stuff on it that you've already done, so maybe not worth it.

This morning I had the crazy idea of doing what you are doing, which is drop an N52 into an E30. That shop in PA that did the N52 swap into a E36 318ti (?) could surely handle it. I know the E30 platform as well as the N52 E90. I'd happily pay new car money for a well sorted and fresh E30 with an N52 as a turn-key buy. I can only ask the shop for a quote, no harm in that I suppose.

I have no time to devote a personal conversion of said vehicle at my shop, and admittedly a lack of expertise to graft a modern electronic controlled engine into an E30 chassis. Given that shop has put an N52 into an E36 going back one platform to the E30 is not that costly a step up the learning curve.

Any modern car has too much infotainment in it for me. You can't get away from idrive/CUE/ et.al. The automatic trans, and infotainment and driver awareness crap is all shit I don't want. Plus the side mirrors on the ATS are not well sorted IMO.

Finding low milage E90s to start over with is near impossible. If I could find an E91 with RWD and a sport package, I'd might consider it. But again, I'd be going through the car just as I have with mine. Kinda been there done that... twice already.

[AllBlackBimmer]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

This morning I had the crazy idea of doing what you are doing, which is drop an N52 into an E30. That shop in PA that did the N52 swap into a E36 318ti (?) could surely handle it. I know the E30 platform as well as the N52 E90. I'd happily pay new car money for a well sorted and fresh E30 with an N52 as a turn-key buy. I can only ask the shop for a quote, no harm in that I suppose.

I have no time to devote a personal conversion of said vehicle at my shop, and admittedly a lack of expertise to graft a modern electronic controlled engine into an E30 chassis. Given that shop has put an N52 into an E36 going back one platform to the E30 is not that costly a step up the learning curve.

Any modern car has too much infotainment in it for me. You can't get away from idrive/CUE/ et.al. The automatic trans, and infotainment and driver awareness crap is all shit I don't want. Plus the side mirrors on the ATS are not well sorted IMO.

Finding low milage E90s to start over with is near impossible. If I could find an E91 with RWD and a sport package, I'd might consider it. But again, I'd be going through the car just as I have with mine. Kinda been there done that... twice already.

Do you diy for repairs or do you take it to a shop? I see you’re in MD, I’m in PA. I am always amazed at the value you have gotten out of your e90.
To your point, there really aren’t cars like the e90 anymore.
It’s kind of like the 90s and all the “rice burners: and “fast and furious” era of cars, they don’t make cars like that anymore, nor do they make many RWD sedans, and everything today is turbo. And manual trans will be a thing if the past at some point in the future unfortunately.
#savethemanuals

I love my RWD, sport package, manual 6MT 328 with an i6!

[nycbr]

I just bought a CPO 2015 Cadillac ATS 2.0 AWD to replace my E90 328xi (which is going to my daughter) and absolutely agree it feels the closest to the E90. I have driven multiple F30/F32 and I just don't like the way they drive after coming out of the E90.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by AllBlackBimmer

Do you diy for repairs or do you take it to a shop? I see you’re in MD, I’m in PA. I am always amazed at the value you have gotten out of your e90.
To your point, there really aren’t cars like the e90 anymore.
It’s kind of like the 90s and all the “rice burners: and “fast and furious” era of cars, they don’t make cars like that anymore, nor do they make many RWD sedans, and everything today is turbo. And manual trans will be a thing if the past at some point in the future unfortunately.
#savethemanuals

I love my RWD, sport package, manual 6MT 328 with an i6!

The only things my E90 goes to a shop for is alignments and recalls. And stupid software code...

[BVH_Tony]

Originally Posted by Spitfire007

Keep in mind that you can show the insurance company local or national ads for a replacement e91, and they'll bump up what they give you.

Sister's Cherokee gets stolen.
Insurance wanted to pay out 1800. I got them up to 5900 since buying a replacement was going to cost that much.

NEVER take their first or even second offer.

Thanks for the advice. Also, clean Cherokees bring so much money now! When I was in high school my parents were going to hold out for a manual trans Cherokee for me and I found a WJ Grand Cherokee sooner instead. The Grand was a good car but I spent the last 5 years regretting that decision. Although I really have missed it in this snow the last few days.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by BVH_Tony

Thanks for the advice. Also, clean Cherokees bring so much money now! When I was in high school my parents were going to hold out for a manual trans Cherokee for me and I found a WJ Grand Cherokee sooner instead. The Grand was a good car but I spent the last 5 years regretting that decision. Although I really have missed it in this snow the last few days.

There was a low mileage 2001 Cherokee Limited a few roads over from me. Had a paper in the window with a price of $12,000. It had no rust. Sold in about 4 days.

My current XJ I've had 8 years. I had one previous to it for only a year before it was totaled in January. I had to find another one mid-winter. What a nightmare. I went to look at 5 of them that sold between when I left my house and when I arrived at where the vehicle was.

[BVH_Tony]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

There was a low mileage 2001 Cherokee Limited a few roads over from me. Had a paper in the window with a price of $12,000. It had no rust. Sold in about 4 days.

My current XJ I've had 8 years. I had one previous to it for only a year before it was totaled in January. I had to find another one mid-winter. What a nightmare. I went to look at 5 of them that sold between when I left my house and when I arrived at where the vehicle was.

The WJ served me well. I'd still have it if I had more room to park it, but I needed to thin out the stable a little bit. Plus I want to enjoy the BMW more than I want to keep miles off of it.

I'd still jump on a clean XJ, though.

[Spitfire007]

Personally I hated them. Thought they were terrible to drive and rusted out very quickly.

[Alloyed]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I've been under this dilemma for few years now. When I bought my E90 in 2006 it replaced my 18-year old E30 that had clocked north of 256,000 miles. Looking back now, I errantly sold the E30, which was in great shape; I wish I had kept it, since they've become classics for some reason. But in my defense when you have a car for 18 years and 256K, and you can get a replacement that is just as good or better (IMO the E90 is) from your favorite manufacturer, keeping two cars nearly the same in regards to service level (i.e. both were sedans - the E30 was a 2-door however) didn't make sense at the time. I wanted a 4-door sedan anyway. Plus around my house in the woods, if you don't move your cars much, the critters decide they make great condos.

Now I'm at the same place with the E90, it's near 12 years old and 340,000 miles (just turned last night). But now it really is the last of the classic BMW format as you stated, great handling, I6, manual trans, RWD sports sedan, which is the only thing that has ever drawn me to BMW, which this makes me want to never part with the E90. I had never planned on driving the E90 175 miles a day when I bought it, but I changed jobs and doubled my commute about 18 months after I bought the E90. Again, I didn't want a 2nd car sitting around, so I didn't by something like a hybrid, which I did consider at the time. Plus, it's not like an E90 325i is a Ferrari or anything; it's a daily driver. Also, I figured I'd wear out the E90 in 8 years or so at 250,000 miles and buy BMW's next 3 series with great handling, a naturally-aspirated I6, manual trans with rear wheel drive. Presidents get elected, ridiculous EPA 52 MPG fuel mileage standards get mandated. Then BMW comes out with the F30... and I was WTF, where'd the 3-series go? So being the E90 was getting long in the tooth and I anticipated weeks of down time for repairs and trying to keep the miles down, I picked up a Z4 Coupe three years ago. The Z4 had 23K on it when I bought it. It's since collected another 52,000 since then. And I thought I'd want to drive it more than I do as a 2nd daily driver, but IT is now a rare BMW classic, irreplaceable since the NA I6 is dead and BMW needs Toyota to build the next Z. Again WTF BMW?... Toyota... OMFG.

So that leaves us where? Guys who want a simple non-M classic BMW sports sedan with a great (naturally-aspirated) engine, real foot-operated clutch, and rear wheel drive, where do we go? Nowhere. Cadillac is closest with the ATS. But dummies they are just couldn't drop in a manual trans with the V6. For some reason they decided to build the thing with a rental-fleet 2.5L 4-banger, a 2.0L turbo 4-banger (with a manual trans thankfully), and the 3.6L V6 without a manual trans option (even though the drivetrain was from the 1st gen CTS THAT HAD a manual V6 option). GM should have made two engine choices from the get-go with just the 2.0L turbo and the 3.6L V6, but offer both with a manual transmission. Had they done that, I think they would have mad headway against the 3-Series, especially with the F30 coming out a year later.

I've driven the ATS a lot, but just in 2.0L turbo form, both in auto and manual. As far as a driver's sports sedan it's heads above the F30. The back seat is a bit cramp and the CUE is a bit fussy (BFD I think idrive sucks too), but it is put together well and drives great. It is the current BMW 3-series IMO. I just test drove an ATS yesterday. I wanted to see if I liked GM's new 3.6L V6 /8-speed auto combo. It''s the closest thing to a 3-series. Only if it had a manual transmission, I would have bought it.

The classic sports sedan is dead IMO.

I saw your other post (#68 in this thread) in addition the one I just quoted; have you considered an E39 M5 as a replacement to your E90? It might be worth a look. They have a few of the characteristics you seem to be after: NA (it's a V8 though, instead of a I6), 6 speed manual, and RWD. It's also similar in size to an E90, albiet a bit heavier. I'll concede it will be tough to find one with low miles though.

P.S. Congrats on hitting 340K in your E90.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Alloyed

I saw your other post (#68 in this thread) in addition the one I just quoted; have you considered an E39 M5 as a replacement to your E90? It might be worth a look. They have a few of the characteristics you seem to be after: NA (it's a V8 though, instead of a I6), 6 speed manual, and RWD. It's also similar in size to an E90, albiet a bit heavier. I'll concede it will be tough to find one with low miles though.

P.S. Congrats on hitting 340K in your E90.

Oh, yeah I get you, but if I wanted a 15 MPG M5, I'd have bought the left over Chevy SS's that were cleared out in late November. I drive 30,000 miles a year minimum just to work. A 15 MPG V8 is not in the economic model.

[BMW ONLY]

When I bought the car, the stealership planted the idea that when it hits 100k, I should sell it back to the dealer. Really? No way. That is basically them renting a car to me until it reaches 100,000 miles for $60k!!!

E92 has 100k on it. I'll fix and drive it until it catches fire or I drop dead. These cars will go many miles. I've seen a bmw at 675k and a Mbz that had hit 800k. Don't get suckered in.

[techwhiz]

My E90 will be 10 years old in a few months. I've had it for six years.
It has 165K miles and I just had a smog test.
I have no plans in the near or distant future to replace it.
I have driven the new 3 series and I don't see any advantage to shelling out ~$50K to get a new version of something that runs fine.

I like the E90 body better.
The new car doesn't have significantly better seats. (I have a sport package car).
I don't have nav, don't need some other features.
I have Brembo brakes, and a bunch of other stuff.
Turbos will eventually let go and I'll replace them.

[wknddrivr]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I've been under this dilemma for few years now. When I bought my E90 in 2006 it replaced my 18-year old E30 that had clocked north of 256,000 miles. Looking back now, I errantly sold the E30, which was in great shape; I wish I had kept it, since they've become classics for some reason. But in my defense when you have a car for 18 years and 256K, and you can get a replacement that is just as good or better (IMO the E90 is) from your favorite manufacturer, keeping two cars nearly the same in regards to service level (i.e. both were sedans - the E30 was a 2-door however) didn't make sense at the time. I wanted a 4-door sedan anyway. Plus around my house in the woods, if you don't move your cars much, the critters decide they make great condos.

Now I'm at the same place with the E90, it's near 12 years old and 340,000 miles (just turned last night). But now it really is the last of the classic BMW format as you stated, great handling, I6, manual trans, RWD sports sedan, which is the only thing that has ever drawn me to BMW, which this makes me want to never part with the E90. I had never planned on driving the E90 175 miles a day when I bought it, but I changed jobs and doubled my commute about 18 months after I bought the E90. Again, I didn't want a 2nd car sitting around, so I didn't by something like a hybrid, which I did consider at the time. Plus, it's not like an E90 325i is a Ferrari or anything; it's a daily driver. Also, I figured I'd wear out the E90 in 8 years or so at 250,000 miles and buy BMW's next 3 series with great handling, a naturally-aspirated I6, manual trans with rear wheel drive. Presidents get elected, ridiculous EPA 52 MPG fuel mileage standards get mandated. Then BMW comes out with the F30... and I was WTF, where'd the 3-series go? So being the E90 was getting long in the tooth and I anticipated weeks of down time for repairs and trying to keep the miles down, I picked up a Z4 Coupe three years ago. The Z4 had 23K on it when I bought it. It's since collected another 52,000 since then. And I thought I'd want to drive it more than I do as a 2nd daily driver, but IT is now a rare BMW classic, irreplaceable since the NA I6 is dead and BMW needs Toyota to build the next Z. Again WTF BMW?... Toyota... OMFG.

So that leaves us where? Guys who want a simple non-M classic BMW sports sedan with a great (naturally-aspirated) engine, real foot-operated clutch, and rear wheel drive, where do we go? Nowhere. Cadillac is closest with the ATS. But dummies they are just couldn't drop in a manual trans with the V6. For some reason they decided to build the thing with a rental-fleet 2.5L 4-banger, a 2.0L turbo 4-banger (with a manual trans thankfully), and the 3.6L V6 without a manual trans option (even though the drivetrain was from the 1st gen CTS THAT HAD a manual V6 option). GM should have made two engine choices from the get-go with just the 2.0L turbo and the 3.6L V6, but offer both with a manual transmission. Had they done that, I think they would have mad headway against the 3-Series, especially with the F30 coming out a year later.

I've driven the ATS a lot, but just in 2.0L turbo form, both in auto and manual. As far as a driver's sports sedan it's heads above the F30. The back seat is a bit cramp and the CUE is a bit fussy (BFD I think idrive sucks too), but it is put together well and drives great. It is the current BMW 3-series IMO. I just test drove an ATS yesterday. I wanted to see if I liked GM's new 3.6L V6 /8-speed auto combo. It''s the closest thing to a 3-series. Only if it had a manual transmission, I would have bought it.

The classic sports sedan is dead IMO.

You're spot on.

My E90 was killed by a distracted driver nearly a year ago and I miss everything about it. I'd like to get another one, but my back was also injured in the accident and I needed to go to a 5 series to get multi-contour seats. The electric steering, and auto transmission make it so bland. The turbo 4 is not bad at all, I could live with that. But give me some god dman steering feel and a manual transmission.