From digest.v6.n237 Tue Feb 18 19:43:39 1997
From: Anthony Le <anthony.le_at_wcom.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 16:38:02 -0600
Subject: Re: buying an 88 M3

The most important thing you can do is take the car to a good BMW dealer and have them do a pre-buy inspection and leakdown test. Cost is about $150 for both tests.

I did this this before I bought my car. I saved me at least $1K.

Common problems for the E30 M3:

1. intake gasket leak--telltale sign is an uneven, lumpy idle.
2. warped rotors--I warped my after my first autocross event
3. buzzy shifter above 4K rpm--can be fixed with a rubber band
4. etc--the car is 10 years old!

Many say the E30 M3 is a sport car. I consider it an extremely good sport sedan. Still a really fun car, but I steped into the M3 coming out of a mid engined, rwd 2 seater, 7600 RPM redline go cart. My comments are somewhat biased.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

>Help! I may buy a 1988 M3. I have never driven one and do not
know what to

>expect. How do they compare with other BMW's. I have a 325
(87) now that i

>don't like, its auto., kind of plain. I am a big fan of the 5 series
though,

>having had 5 over the last 5 years. Please let me know what
the M3 will be

>like and what service things I should immediately have
done/checked. Thanks

>
>JBHashem_at_aol.com