Mechanical and Simple: The BMW E30

Petrolicious finds a perfect E30

Jonathon KleinWriter

BMW's 3 Series has become a large family car. Its bloated and entirely too complex visage has almost nothing in common with its simple and mechanical distant ancestor like the E30. Even the smaller BMW 2 Series is vastly larger and more complex than the E30. Because of that disparity, the simpler E30 has become a much loved enthusiast car, offering an experience BMW cannot currently offer.

For Delia Wolfe, the owner of this 1991 E30 318is coupe, the reason she bought the car was that she felt the E30 was the spiritual successor of the 2002, and her previous Tii. "The E30 has its own cult following. People found that you could modify them with very little money, and that the cars were durable, and that there's all kinds of places to exercise your passion," says Wolfe.

With that enthusiasm, Wolfe, a BMW mechanic and restorer, repaired and restored her car herself over the last few years. She not only has fun on the twisty back roads of Southern California, but the car also ferries her to and from work, commuting almost each and every single day.

"It has everything that you'd want. A full size spare, 15-inch wheels, power steering, windows that roll up and don't make noise, five-speed, air-conditioning that cools more than your right elbow, and it also has a blower motor that you can fix in 20-minutes rather than 20-weeks. I found it to be a much more practical [daily] vehicle," states Wolf.

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