It's interesting to note that during the early '90s, my parents had a Lachs Silver BMW 325i, though theirs was a four-door saloon running steel wheels. Maybe that was a subconcious factor in my buying this car in mid-2002? Either way, it was my first taste of owning something both rear-wheel-drive and with a bit of grunt to it. And it felt gooood. I went for the Touring (BMW-speak for estate), as it's more practical than the saloons, and I feel it looks a lot less dated. It took a bit of searching to find a good one, as there was a lot of tat out there - one was up for silly money, given that it was being used as a van by a breakers yard, another was a taxi that only ran on five cylinders below 2000rpm (but still went like a bat out of hell), and so on ad infinitum. Eventually, this F-reg example was found at a good price from a private seller through the Midlands Autotrader. Solid, straight and HPI clear, with a bit of bartering it was mine.

  Anyway, first job was to swap out the original cylinder head bolts for a set of the later specification ones, as the earlier design have an unfortunate tendancy to shear off their heads and dump them into the valvetrain, thereby very effectively killing the engine. If you ever need to check which you've got, it's fairly simple - the early design have normal hexagonal heads, while the stronger replacements have Torx "star" heads. You should be able to see them through the oil filler hole with a torch. A new set of gaskets for the cylinder head assembly, along with fluids, filters (K&N for the airbox), belts and ignition components, and a damn good cleanup, got the engine in a state I was happy with. As an apparent ex-repmobile (hands-free kit mounting holes in the interior), the car had racked up just over 160,000 miles when I bought it, yet the bores looked great - not a sign of any wear or lipping. German engineering, eh?

  On the other hand, the gearbox had a tendancy to whine, particularly in top gear, though a change of oil helped a lot. I also replaced the shift linkage and joints, and that was a fun job. Even with a garage and pit to get under the car with, it took the best part of four hours, mainly because I didn't use the "official" technique of removing the propshaft, exhaust, and heat shield to gain access. Instead, by unbolting the gearbox mount, you can tilt the engine and 'box back just enough to do the job by feel. Not easy, but doable - though small hands are probably an asset. Incidentally, the exhaust fitted to the car when I got it was an Ernst one, which is reasonably quiet normally, but growls nicely as the revs rise.

  A common fault on E30s is slightly ratty interiors, and this one is no exception - to the tune of a less-than-perfect dashboard, and a torn driver's seat. Other than the addition of a decent steering wheel and gearknob (the BMW originals were just nasty), everything's pretty much standard kit. It's a bit of a poverty-spec model, though, with manual rear windows and sunroof, and no leather or aircon. To be fair though, this isn't a big issue for me; the only car I saw for sale with aircon fitted was an utter dog, and most leather interiors were a little worse for wear, too. Also, the wiring for things like electric rear windows is already in place - it's just a case of fitting the hardware.

  I made up for this with a decent ICE system, though - One of Kenwood's gorgeous high-end CD/MP3 head units driving a set of Kenwood six-inch component speakers up front (mounted in custom-built footwell kickpanels), Pioneer 6x9s at the back, and a pair of ten-inch Pioneer subwoofers wired in series to an American Legacy amplifier. With these things wound up on a bass-heavy track, you got the back of your head massaged from the other end of the car. Nice. The stuff in the boot is mounted in custom panels made from MDF, and represents my first attempt at building an ICE install - It turned out ok, but it was a steep learning curve. My second go at this kind of malarky (the system in Edward's Rover) was a much more professional looking affair.

  At about the same time as the ICE system went in, I had a Thatcham Category 1 (i.e. actually effective) alarm system fitted. Like most of the components for the system, this was obtained from MCS (also known as ICS) in Leicester. They stock just about everything you need, and manage to provide both excellent knowledge of their products and great prices. If you need anything relating to in-car entertainment, give them a try.

  At this point, I had the car pretty much how I wanted it, especially once I'd added a black grile, headlight "eyebrows", and tinted the indicators, repeaters, and rear lights. Nothing that particulary shouted out, but just stuff that made the car look a tiny bit meaner. I also ditched the front foglamps (they were shattered to hell, and replacements were extortionate) and the boot badging (so I could surprise Max Power types in hatchbacks who think it's a 316). As bought, the car was running on 16-inch TSW Imola alloys, but these were sold in favour of black-painted standard BMW 14-inchers - as the TSWs were no longer available, I got a damn good price for them on Ebay. The 14s were actually off an older, chrome-bumper E30, and only just fitted at the front - I had to shave the brake callipers ever so slightly to let them clear. Although the later-spec wheels look exactly the same, the casting's slightly different. You can tell the difference because the later ones have the wheel size information cast around the bolt holes, whereas the earlier type do not.

  The car hasn't been without problems, though. Both the alternator and starter motor have needed to be replaced, the permanently tempramental idle control valve makes the engine surge around 2000rpm, and at one point the engine bay wiring loom shorted out and completely destroyed itself, almost setting fire to the car in the process. Replacements simply didn't exist, so I had to make up a new one. Even then, the car wouldn't run properly until a mechanic who was far more familiar with the circuitry than me found two wires that were switched around (my cockup - they were both the same colour, and had melted together in the middle so I couldn't trace them properly). Interestingly, he worked for neither a BMW main dealer nor a marque specialist...

  Other than the above, the only ongoing issue with the car has been a tendancy to cut out, and to sometimes refuse to start. I believe this is due to the ECU (or DMU, as the Germans term it) - it seems that, with age, the solder on the boards becomes brittle and cracks, resulting in near-untraceable intermittent faults. Fixing this would have been well into three figures, so I decided to live with it for the time being. The leaky clutch hydraulics were also deemed tolerable for the moment. A set of snapped rear springs were replaced upon discovery - interestingly, the MOT inspector hadn't spotted them. This may be a fairly common problem with BMWs, and not just the Tourings - indeed, my mothers still-under-warranty E46 convertible needed a new pair of rear springs when it went in for it's third annual service.

  The car was simply great to drive. Beautifully balanced, smooth power delivery, and very quick - flat-out, I saw an indicated 135mph. E30s are known for being a little tail-happy, but in the dry the handling always tended towards understeer first. In the wet, of course, the car would soon let you know if it didn't think you were showing enough respect, but the way the rear end would kick out and the tyres scrabble when you booted it was great fun. My favourite memory would probably have to be outdragging a boy racer Nova from a standing start - while towing a caravan. The only reason I stopped using the car was the amount it cost to run - even if I stretched it, I could only manage 30mpg (though this is still better than the official figures), and with the amount of driving I was having to do commuting to my job at the time, this was taking too large a percentage of my funds. So the car was put to one side, and I took to using the white 4x4 Panda instead.

  At the time of writing, the car remains parked up, and the MOT has lapsed - though I do intend to give it a spruce up and get a new test certificate for it at some point in the near future. Ultimately, I'd like to treat the car to an engine swap with something a lot more powerful, along with a full overhaul and modification programme. But a brief evaluation of everything I want to do shows that it's going to cost a frightening amount of money, and so for now such plans remain in the future.

Current Status
  Patiently awaiting me having the funds to bring her back, better than she was before. Better. Stronger. Faster.

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