>> The seller joined BimmerForums.com and posted about an
>> "Amazing E30 on Ebay!" and generated some interesting
>> discussion . . . . .
>> http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329808
> Thanks for the link Randy... I especially liked the debate on what is
> and isn't a cult car.
I was amused by the anti- trailer hitch remarks. I'd love to have an E30 with
the factory trailer hitch. I don't care how "cool" it is or not.
Back to the subject -- indeed the seller is on crack, or not taking his lithium.
You can buy a heck of an E36 or E46 for that kind of money. Just watch those 15
year old suspension bushings deteriorate in about 10k miles, and the AC system
lose its charge.
Matt O.
Neil - 24 Mar 2005 14:45 GMT
> >> The seller joined BimmerForums.com and posted about an
> >> "Amazing E30 on Ebay!" and generated some interesting
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> I was amused by the anti- trailer hitch remarks. I'd love to have an E30 with
> the factory trailer hitch. I don't care how "cool" it is or not.
<snip>
I wasn't thinking that the hitch was uncool, more about the extra stresses
put on the car and engine when towing. Maybe it was never used, maybe it
was used once to tow a jet-ski trailer 5 miles, maybe it was used to tow a
u-haul from California to New York....
Malt_Hound - 24 Mar 2005 14:52 GMT
> I was amused by the anti- trailer hitch remarks. I'd love to have an E30 with
> the factory trailer hitch. I don't care how "cool" it is or not.
It's not a matter of "coolness", it's supposed to be a "collectible" car
and would have to be in concours d'elegance condition to fetch the
asking price specified.
A car with a trailer hitch would indicate it had been... well, used for
towing. That would indicate it had *not* been a garage queen all it's
life. Soem might argue that towing with an E30 constitutes abuse.
I personally would not advise towing anything (besides maybe a bike
rack) with an E30. The car was just not designed with towing in mind.
I'm sure others will jump all over this and tell me how they've done
this successfully for X number of years with no ill effects. That's
fine, I'm only saying that *I* would not do it. I would (and do) use a
truck that has a frame and running gear designed for hauling.
YMMV,
-Fred W
Ignasi Palou-Rivera - 25 Mar 2005 22:31 GMT
> I personally would not advise towing anything (besides maybe a bike
> rack) with an E30. The car was just not designed with towing in
> mind. I'm sure others will jump all over this and tell me how they've
> done this successfully for X number of years with no ill effects.
I guess that's why BMW offered an OEM hitch for the E30. Because they
didn't design it to tow anything with them. Sheesh.

Signature
Ignasi.
'90 325is
(using SPAM trap e-mail address)
Matt O'Toole - 28 Mar 2005 05:11 GMT
> A car with a trailer hitch would indicate it had been... well, used
> for towing. That would indicate it had *not* been a garage queen all
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> I personally would not advise towing anything (besides maybe a bike
> rack) with an E30. The car was just not designed with towing in mind.
It was designed for a certain payload, and as long as you stay within those
boundaries you should be fine --unless you want to second guess the engineers
who designed the car.
I tow small sailboats which don't weigh much, and mostly hide in the slipstream
of the car so the load isn't much more than a roof rack full of bikes. Gas
mileage is similar to same.
> I'm sure others will jump all over this and tell me how they've done
> this successfully for X number of years with no ill effects. That's
> fine, I'm only saying that *I* would not do it. I would (and do) use
> a truck that has a frame and running gear designed for hauling.
Again, there's a design load and duty cycle for every vehicle. Just stay within
it.
Matt O.
Neil - 28 Mar 2005 16:32 GMT
> Again, there's a design load and duty cycle for every vehicle. Just stay within
> it.
>
> Matt O.
Valid comment for one's own vehicle, but the point is that when buying used,
one does not know how badly (ab)used a vehicle has been with a tow hook.