Most liked posts in thread: Looking at an 83 320i as a winter beater today

I hope you are planning on winter tires. Don't know much about those cars other than BMW stands for Break My Wallet. :wink:

 

Like the idea

 

I had an 84 318 that was a great car. My 86 535 ended up having a lot of rust problems on the rocker panels once I move to Columbus.

 

Rust, bushing play, valve noise, rust, sagging headliner, accessory belts... oh yeah, and rust.

E30's are a hoot. Huge greenhouse, upright seating position, and fantastic steering. This was the last model BMW designed before CAD. They figured out how strong a part had to be, and made it three times as strong.

Here's the cool E30 forum: Welcome to R3Vlimited.com

 

So how was the E30?

 

I vote for the Cherokee... you can get one pretty cheap, and you can't beat the straight 6 in those things... they last forever.
And they are great in the snow.
Plus I know someone who has a great parts hook-up with Jeeps :ihih:

 

Had no issues with my '97 Cherokee... put just shy of 100k on it before I moved on to an '05 Subaru Impreza. Sold the Jeep to my nephew who beat the heck out of for a few months before someone ran a red light and totalled it.

I never had any problems outside of standard maintenance; clutch went on my nephew (throw out bearing, specifically) and he was having some sort of cooling system issue around the time of the accident, but I don't know if either of those things are actual issues to look for or the results of a 19 year old learning stick for the first time.

Also note that an older Subaru might be an option for a winter beater with tire hauling capability.

 

I had a '94 with the 4.0L. It was great, low maintenance, till it rolled over 110,000 miles. Then everything went to hell. The transfer case gave up, and the front end developed a horrible vibration that I couldn't get rid of. I think they call it the Death Wobble.

 

Yep Cherokee or Forester are your best bets.

 

Smart move to pass and look for a 4X4. Wondering why you were considering it in the first place. Most people do the reverse, go from a RWD to a FWD vehicle in the winter