This Pristine 1989 BMW M3 Sport Evolution Is the Ultimate E30

Just saying: if I had the money, I'd buy this in a heartbeat. I don't mean gratuitous, Bond-villain levels of money either; just the amount that would make a $200,000 car a possibility. This or a brand new 911 Turbo? Easy choice.
 
Now my desire to have this car in PCARS has been refreshed. The Group A car is also worth having, but it's not the same! Neither is the GT86, which is a near match on paper but not as handsome.

Crazybutt198
Doubt that's been round the nordschleife then?
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I thought you were cracking a joke about it having fewer than 20.8km on the odometer and had to go to the Parkway Specialist Cars page to check. :lol: For anyone else curious, it has 127,755km.
 
Wolfe
Now my desire to have this car in PCARS has been refreshed. The Group A car is also worth having, but it's not the same! Neither is the GT86, which is a near match on paper but not as handsome.

I thought you were cracking a joke about it having fewer than 20.8km on the odometer and had to go to the Parkway Specialist Cars page to check. :lol: For anyone else curious, it has 127,755km.
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I was going on looks but then again they all look like that on the wednesday want. Without a hair out of place
 
SlipZtrEm
This or a brand new 911 Turbo? Easy choice.
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Easy sure, but what about this or an Escort RS Cosworth, an Audi RS2, a Clio V6, an E39 M5 and a 205GTi for pretty much the same amount of money? Sure, you'd need a bigger garage and what not, but in the grand scheme of things, it just proves a point; M3s, much like 911s are fetching absolutely ridiculous prices. I get that they're cool and all, but to my mind there's so much stuff that's cooler/faster/nicer looking/less expensive to maintain (okay maybe not) for a lot less money. I gave a few examples here that were perhaps more to my taste than anything else, but really, you go through the classifieds (especially in Europe) and there's so much nerdy car guy stuff for sale cheaper than an E30 (Renault 5 Turbo for £130k? There's a Lotus Carlton on Autotrader UK for £150k!)

It just blows my mind.
 
-Fred-
Easy sure, but what about this or an Escort RS Cosworth, an Audi RS2, a Clio V6, an E39 M5 and a 205GTi for pretty much the same amount of money? Sure, you'd need a bigger garage and what not, but in the grand scheme of things, it just proves a point; M3s, much like 911s are fetching absolutely ridiculous prices. I get that they're cool and all, but to my mind there's so much stuff that's cooler/faster/nicer looking/less expensive to maintain (okay maybe not) for a lot less money. I gave a few examples here that were perhaps more to my taste than anything else, but really, you go through the classifieds (especially in Europe) and there's so much nerdy car guy stuff for sale cheaper than an E30 (Renault 5 Turbo for £130k? There's a Lotus Carlton on Autotrader UK for £150k!)

It just blows my mind.
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I'd say, given most previous examples, our tastes align quite similarly. 👍

Don't get me started on a Clio V6. I spotted one in the neighborhood last summer and it blew my mind. Seems it was recently sold too...

Yeah, E39s are due for a surge soon. Those are the only two I'd be tempted by, though; I appreciate the Audi and Pug enough, but the Cossie has oddly never done anything for me.

And I think that's the point here: at these prices, especially for old, well-used metal, logic goes out the window.
 
@-Fred- -- I'd take a non-Sport-Evo E30 M3 (realistically, someday I'll take any clean E30) and spend the savings on another car or two, sure. Perhaps my nerdiest holy grail would be a pristine Subaru 1000/FF-1/Star or Leone, and I'd be looking at other 1980s BMWs and old Porsches.

But E30s are extra special to me, having had my old 318i for my first car. To echo @SlipZtrEm, logic goes out the window on that.
 
I certainly understand the appeal of it, it's a car I've always liked a lot... but I don't think they're worth 200k, at least not for another 15-20 years. Just as I don't believe the original NSX is worth 120k, or any 930/964 that's not a Turbo or any other special model is worth anything more than 20k. It's a strange bubble we're in right now.
 
-Fred-
Easy sure, but what about this or an Escort RS Cosworth, an Audi RS2, a Clio V6, an E39 M5 and a 205GTi for pretty much the same amount of money?
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Ding ding, winner winner chicken dinner.

I love me a good E30, but it's a bubble out there and an E30 is not a $200k car whether it's a one out of 600 Sport Evo M3 or not.
 
Defo too much. I saw a red M3 sport evo for sale at the NEC Classic's Auction a few years ago (2016) for £125k+. I wasn't at all surprised when it didn't sell. Considering when there was a Delta Intergrale Evo 2 for 40k, Noble M12 for 30k, RS Cossie for 40k. In the same price bracket was a Merc 190 Cossie Evo 2 and Lambo Murcielago. Ok the Murcie was 170k. But still... Problem is there are people out there willing to spend over the real value of a car which drives prices up across the field. What we kind of considered as 'throw away' cars back in the 80's are also fetching a fair bit. More than they should anyway. Bog standard things like Cavaliers, Nova's. Maybe I should put the Missus' car into storage. It's only an Astra. But with 15 left of that particular model/spec in the country mean's it's rare. Couple more years we should get 50k for it. LOL. Anyway... I've been waiting/wanting this bubble to burst for the past few years. It doesn't really look like it's going to though. I thought that recession might of started something. But nope.
 
A/C, a sunroof and rear blinds. In a M3. A car build to be lighter.

Also.

This is no longer a car. That sort of money asked turns it into a hidden away piece of art for no-one to touch.
 
The inflated price seems more to do with the restoration than anything I'd imagine. I'm not sure what the car looked like prior to the dealer getting their hands on it. But with the previous owner having it for 18 years, chances are they drove it enough for it to at least have some wear and tear.

Crazybutt198
I was going on looks but then again they all look like that on the wednesday want. Without a hair out of place
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I only choose the best of best for you guys! One of these days I might just surprise you though and pick something ridiculous.

*starts looking at Craigslist for the backwoods of Alabama*
 
Joey D
The inflated price seems more to do with the restoration than anything I'd imagine. I'm not sure what the car looked like prior to the dealer getting their hands on it. But with the previous owner having it for 18 years, chances are they drove it enough for it to at least have some wear and tear.



I only choose the best of best for you guys! One of these days I might just surprise you though and pick something ridiculous.

*starts looking at Craigslist for the backwoods of Alabama*
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Not a problem @Joey D. Could be worse. Could be showcasing $800 jeep cherokees off of Jalopnik.
 
Joey D
The inflated price seems more to do with the restoration than anything I'd imagine. I'm not sure what the car looked like prior to the dealer getting their hands on it. But with the previous owner having it for 18 years, chances are they drove it enough for it to at least have some wear and tear.
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Maybe, the other I saw with the £125k estimate had also had some work done to it. Owned by a BMW Club member and it had some added AC Schnitzer bits to. Here's the description on that if your interested. Not that you can buy it now.

https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/bmw-e30-m3-sport-evolution
 
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ohh yes, this car worth every penny in this condition (its time travel possible!)... and this is the best looking car in GT game in latest 10 years! cant wait for PD to stop releasing Vision GT and other new cars, instead they should focus on real motor car industry from past which are better looking and faster in all ways with proper tuning :)
 
Fat Tyre
What a sexy car, I'd still never pay that much for a car even if I had the money.
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For a car like this, try not to think of it as "paying" for the car so much as converting currency into property that can be converted back to currency at a later date. It's kinda like buying a house, if you paid $300k for your house and you sell it for $350k when you move out... did you "pay" for the house?
 
True, certain cars gather the right following and become more of an investment. Some cars achieve that sooner than others, some are an investment as soon as they drive out of the forecourt.
 
Danoff
For a car like this, try not to think of it as "paying" for the car so much as converting currency into property that can be converted back to currency at a later date. It's kinda like buying a house, if you paid $300k for your house and you sell it for $350k when you move out... did you "pay" for the house?
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Unless said car or house is bought in a bubble and you end upside down.
 
eiriksmil
Unless said car or house is bought in a bubble and you end upside down.
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Usually I associate the term "upsideown" with negative equity... owing more than the property is currently worth. That would be hard to do with a car because you're prooooobably not going to get a loan for this thing. I think you might mean that you can lose money on it if it goes down in value. Which is certainly true, and true of the stock market, and cash, and real estate, and gold, bitcoin, oil...
 
You are correct regarding the term upside down was not the right one to use. Based on your doubts about being able to finance a car like this, I did a quick search on classic car financing and the results turned up. An example, and all the more interesting because it's actually linked from Hagerty
https://www.hagerty.com/finance/classic-car-financing/potential-providers

I believe classic car financing is bigger than we would think walking through the showgrounds.

But yes, financed or not, my original point (which I got across) was that you can lose money on your 'investment' if it's bought in a state of bubble and hype.

If you justify paying so much money for a car because your logic is that you can enjoy it and then sell it at a later date for more money (as per your example with the appreciating house) we are quickly moving into greater fool theory territory.
 
eiriksmil
If you justify paying so much money for a car because your logic is that you can enjoy it and then sell it at a later date for more money (as per your example with the appreciating house) we are quickly moving into greater fool theory territory.
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But it's not "fool theory" to think that about a house, or stocks, or gold, or bitcoin? Or is it just that you think that it's impossible to own an appreciating asset? There are some cars, and some houses, and some stocks (especially stock funds) even, that you know are going up in value. Sure maybe you have trouble forecasting the price over the short term, but over a timespan of say... 10 years... you know they'll be worth more than they are today. Almost without question. Not everything is a depreciating asset.
 
Bom15
Maybe, the other I saw with the £125k estimate had also had some work done to it. Owned by a BMW Club member and it had some added AC Schnitzer bits to. Here's the description on that if your interested. Not that you can buy it now.

https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/bmw-e30-m3-sport-evolution
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Personally if I was in the market for a rare and sought after car, I would want a clean unmodified example. Even if those ACS bits were fitted while AC Schnitzer were still factory approved it means the car is no longer representative of what a Sport Evo is... which decimates the value in my humble opinion...
 
MatskiMonk
Personally if I was in the market for a rare and sought after car, I would want a clean unmodified example. Even if those ACS bits were fitted while AC Schnitzer were still factory approved it means the car is no longer representative of what a Sport Evo is... which decimates the value in my humble opinion...
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Totally agree that this is not the right example to open the pocket books on due to the restoration. Better to find one that wasn't in need of restoration for this kind of money.
 

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