I had 2 E30 325 tourings, both manuals around 2012/13 and sold them both for £750 each one after each other, couldn’t give them away as everybody wanted E36’s. Crazy how things can change in ten years.

Matt, considering how much you love a rusty old car and estates, I’m shocked you’ve not got one 😉

At 6:51 A little reminder to all manufacturers who delete a rear wiper and try to design shapes and manage air to (unsuccessful) keep a rear window clean. Look how simple, clean to the eye and fit for purposes it can be done👍

Re the lovely engine note. My brother had a 1989 E30 320i at one point which was an absolute bomb, as in it sounded like it might go bang at any moment. Not only the straight-six engine, but also a back axle that grumbled twice as loudly. Being a passenger in a car that will let go on a roundabout without any prompting and with that racket going on behind was quite nerve-racking, as I didn't fancy getting stranded in the middle of nowhere when it all expired. Naturally and predictably, It did expire at the back end. He also had a 1995 E39(?) 520i which exploded at the front end instead.

Miss my 1990 325i touring ☹️ mine was Lachs silver, and had a manual with a LSD!! So fun and it sounded silky smooth. 255k when I sold it but you'd never known. It had the fabric sports seats that hadn't worn as you described. Great review. Interesting to see the differences.

I once owned a very pretty Volkswagen Passat, GL5 estate. Probably the best car I ever owned. The five cylinder Audi engine was silky, smooth and pretty quick, due to its fuel injection system. I think the Quattros had the same engine. I only mention this because the BMW looks very similar in design. I’m sure you meant to say Marathon Bars, not Snickers. LOL

I love the lit cigarette holder. Only in Germany- no cup holders but you do get a lit cigarette holder. Ash trays were the cup holders of the 80’s in euro cars

I recall a magazine test at the time getting a manual one of these from 0 to 60 in 6.9 seconds! Almost Cosworth territory. My brother subsequently bought a 215,000 mile E46 323i auto. We recorded 0 to 60 in 9 seconds in that with two mountain bikes on the roof!

Ah, very nice! I have never been a BMW person, especially when it became a fashion statement like the other Germans while simultaneously being built to a price than to a standard, but I have a great fondness for these. Nothing screams 1980s like this! It's a solid, sensible, no-nonsense car.

Excellent review as always Matt, one of my favourite versions of the 3 series alongside it's successor, but these really do look good as a tourer.

That brings back memories! Used to have one of those,a very last of the line '94 lowly 316i (Lux) with the 5 spd. Exact same colour, except mine had the grey cloth (with worn out drivers seat). Amazing how much the market has changed, i only paid £150 for mine back in 2010! Now you need about 10k to find a decent example. Only 2yrs between my touring, and the e39 which was light years ahead.... always makes the e30 seem older than it actually is

Just one extra warning about the service indicator. The fact that green lights are showing does not indicate regular or recent servicing. Resetting tools were readily available and many owners either had a friendly mechanic reset the lights or bought their own - I had one!

I had a 1990 black 320i Touring in approx. the year 2000 for about 2 years. Paid I think €1,800 for it. It was such a lovely car to drive. I really loved it, but bought an Audi 80 TDI for a bit cheaper fuel economy. Radiator pipe burst on me while over in France & after selling it the buyer told me it had a cracked head 😱 I didn't really think it overheated. I miss it. Hard to find one now for love or money.

Really like the E30, my favourite BMW by far. I lusted after these and the Alfa 33 after passing my driving test back in 1990. Ended up with a 'breadvan' Mk2A Polo C hatch instead, the E30 Touring for young skint guys straight out of college.

I remember Autocar reviewing this car in 1988 and they said BMW considered it a hatchback and not an estate. Haven't seen an E30 Touring in years but I love all E30s and this is one of the better looking variants. Autocar also compared it to a Citroen BX estate and a shooting brake conversion of a Jaguar XJS called a Lynx Eventer.

When BMW foremost made great, very stylish drivers cars ... Most of their 1980s offerings were beautiful cars and I also would consider 3-series touring one of their highlights of that time; only the look of the E34 5-series I'm not really a fan of. I'd love to see BMW go back to their 1980s strategy, but I assume they sell too many SUVs with odd-looking noses for that these days.

Almost bought one of these bout 15yrs ago E30 325i Manaul Touring in Silver on a G. 252,000 miles FSH (mainly BMW and Specialist). Not a squeeze, rattle, creak nothing drive absolutely spot on. Kidding myself for buying.... ah well!!! 🤷🤷🤷🤦🤦🤦

Loved my E30, mine was a 1990 318iS; the homollogation one. Flying machine. Did you know that the E30 was fractionally shorter than the E21? If only modern car designers didn’t keep making things bigger eh?

My wife being a BMW fan we owned two E30s, a 325 Sport and a 328 Touring which I preferred for the extra poke of the larger engine and what I felt was better weight distribution. Another feature which you missed mentioning is that the rear boot cover is removable and the seats folded down nearly flat giving really exceptional load space. The rather narrow boot loading gap I never found a problem and it was more than compensated for by the low sill making loading heavy objects easier than most cars of the time - a bit like a van really. Other good points were the build quality and fuel consumption for its day and performance. No car is perfect and the E30 had a couple of gripes. They had a habit of needing replacement of seized cooling fans - fortunately a cheap (non BMW but reliable) and an easy fix. I found the driving position fine on relatively short journeys but after a couple of hours the offset accelerator pedal started to hurt by ankle. As to instrumentation which was usually lauded to the skies well sorry but there are two areas of the big dials that really matter: On the speedo where the 30 40 50 speed limits are and on the rev counter where the red line is. Why oh why did BMW place these so that they are both obscured by one's hands when driving when if the position of these dials were reversed all would have been well? Both my cars also had the optional computer fitted which was great except that the bit one regularly consulted was the clock which one's left arm obscured! All in all then a really fine car and of the 30+ I owned the touring comes in at number 2 - ahead of the 325 Sport. The best? You must be kidding! Surely the X308 Sport - as well made as the BMWs with a better instrument layout and sumptuous cabin, better driving position and wonderful motorway cruising - $00 miles in that was a breeze.

Had one with the same engine and gearbox, it was a two-door coupe finished in Calypso Red Metallic with a black leather interior and rear headrests on a G-plate.

That is an absolute stunner. I think the 10.5 seconds to 60 is a bit pessimistic though.

Had a G reg one a few years ago, only a 318i, but once the rust got hold of it, no coming back from that. Sold it for £500

Lovely and i was tempted when you mentioned it was for sale at a local dealers and i expected £8000 max but at £16k it's a pass and a shame it isn't a manual....

I find myself in the second hand market after a fair few years of fairly new vehicles, I want to find a true classic daily driver and I love this, your videos have started a fire in me and i can see a fair few 80/90s vehicle ending up on the drive til i find the one. Or is that how you started ??? :)

I love the variety of content - I was absolutely hooked on the Mondeo - now we get a thorough review of an E30 Touring! Thank you - plus pretty cool tyres - they look like the same spec tyres that it came with when new.

I had two of these Tourings . . . both manuals . . . an olive green 316 (didn't keep it too long) and a truly great red 325i. Peak BMW for me . . . especially where the fascia was concerned. My current Touring is a 2007 328Xi which is also fantastic.

Had a couple of E30's back in the days, and it was indeed a more special car to drive than "most cars". A sense of occasion the minute that six cylinder fired up. I love them. Rusted badly though

Brilliant cars. In 2000 a house purchase forced the sale of my new mk4 Golf. I bought my brothers ‘88 E30 saloon to keep me mobile . It was only a 318 carburettor but could still be quite alarming in terms of oversteer and was brilliant to drive. Many years later my brother turned up in a E30 touring, sadly only a 316i…. Most of the cars I regret not buying are E30s. The 2 door 325i with plaid recaro seats , and of course the M3s…..😢

They look a superbly engineered car, but it's proof how relatively small BMW actually were as a company back then, when a couple of young designers, did the estate conversation in their spare time. Fashion over form though really when you look how restricted the access is with the rear lights jutting so far centrally. Probably one of the most enjoyable and sporty estates to drive , but for looks a Rover 400 estate knocks spots off them for me. But could you imagine any of the Rover employees of that era designing something in their own time?

Love the review, great looking car and I bought the family F31 330D touring mainly because I wanted an E30 Touring in my youth, BMW do great estates, hope they keep it that way given the dominance of SUVs on the market

I love the MPG-ometer, I thought it was fairly unique in the Hyundai Coupe watching the MPG fall dramatically

Great review Matt, I owned 2 E30’s 10 years ago- daily drivers. I always found it weird how you have to crank your elbow right back to operate the interior door handles

I had a manual one of these, in Boston Green, when I lived in Germany. One of my favourite cars.

I had a 1989 320i 4 door manual, back in 1994. The engine was the best part, but mine had no options ticked whatsoever. @ 20:24 your brake light(s) failed..

These are, along with the Rover 400 estate, the best looking estates ever sold.

Hi Matt im a massive fan of the channel and hate to correct you but I've just dug out a copy of CAR from Dec 85 and the 0-60 is 8.3

Great video Matt, really enjoyed. Build quality exemplary though? Ive only ever been in E30.. My sisters. It was an F plate 320 and shoe bought it when it was 5 years old on 1993, an owned it for 5 years. I found the build quality average at best. whenshe sold it with 88k on it, both front seats were worn though the fabric (shes 5 foot 1 and 8 stone before the fat ass comments come through), 1 rear window winder had broken off, the drivers electric window switch was broken, the were various trim rattles and the fan blower switch broke off twice. Overall, i adore the E30s looks, but i ididnt find the build quality any better in her F reg E30, than in my H plate Sierra Sapphire i had at the same time? It was also pretty average to drive tbh, and the steering wheel in it was the size of a bus! Keep up the great work

The BMW 325i touring E30 you are driving has the standard automatic transmission . I have a 325ix touring with the sportautomatic which allows the car to accelerate much faster and to go in higher revs before changing gears . In the S stand all of this happens than . With a manual transmission one really would have to be fast to beat the car with the sportautomatic sportautomatic

Always wanted one never bought one. Even as a 4dr they were still a 2 seater, can remember looking at an M325i 2dr didn't buy it as the boot space was equivalent to a matchbox and couldn't fit my mates chair. Looked at the estate, the rather peculiar light arrangement made me change my mind, again for ease of loading. BMW took the law regarding tear light layout to the extreme, just because the side and brake lights couldn't be on the opening, they cut cost on a premium car by just using the same rear lights thus making the aperture useless, unless loading ski's.

Love older gen beemers. These and the e46 are peak bmw. E46 coupe is probably the best looking car ever, but any e30 is pure class. My son is wondering if they are practical first cars. Still not sure.

318, 320, 325 all of them were amazing but beautiful design, perfect weight distribution, great ride, Sporty handling, strong engines, what's not to like? Zero practicality that's what. Step forward the Touring. Perfection.

10.5 secs 0-60? Maybe for the 316. Autocar tested the 325i saloon at 7.4. The Touring was 7.6, both manual.

It can’t be underestimated how much of a status symbol these were back in the day….even tho the modern ones are superior they still don’t have the iconic standout “you’ve made it’…back in the 1980s, owning a range topping 3 series was more akin to owning a range topping merc today. And I agree the modern BMWs don’t look as good as these. …personally I would choose the automatic over the manual.

Beautiful car! My dad had a 90 2.3 20V quattro in the late 80s, can't compare to this E30 though. Great review Matt.

I had one of those. Best car ever. Sold it for 2000$ in 2010. I wonder where it is today (and for how much it would sell)

10:20 beautiful ignition start sound.

Genuine q Black plastic rubbing strips vanished over the 90s cos aesthetics (probably). Surely they were there to reduce insurance premiums? So removing them should have caused every vehicle to move up 1 insurance group? And if not, why not?

Matt you need one of these on your fleet ASAP. To hell with cost! life is to short we need a BMW in the furious garage.

Always wanted one of these but didn't get In before the prices went nuts. My e46 330i and z3 2.8 will have to do as a compromise of sorts. And they together cost less than half the price of an E30.

I've always thought these were very handsome cars, way out of my league in the 80s though! Terrific review Matt.

Such a lovely car. Would you to see you review a hatch back Nissan bluebird, my dad had a few of them, fantastic cars

I had an E30 316i back in the day. Lowered and with tasteless alloys. Not a 6 cyl. but still a nice nippy car. Another one I never should have sold.

I’ve got an E34 5 series, and it’s interesting to notice the similarities and differences. Judging by this video they’re probably quite similar to drive, and a fair amount of the interior is the same. My car is later on in the E34s life (1994) and you can see it’s a fair amount more modern, especially when comparing equipment (my car is a fairly low spec car, but it is slightly better equipped overall than that E30)

Great review and one of the few cars from the eighties that you could drive daily. Solid, comfortable and a joy to drive but would need a manual.

Agreed. If it had a proper gearbox in it, we'd be queuing up to buy it. As it was, watching the video, all I could hear was the slipping clutch. Autos work best when you can't hear all the clutch slip and wastage of petrol that goes with that - such as in a silent luxury car. But where is the fun in that?

I always loved these cars, love a 5 series from the era :). I'm sure the front wheels have been modified, they seem, from the shots to extrude further than the wheel arches, which would not be legal? or is it just an optical illusion?

Pigs in blankets ? Gotta be English mustard Matt , never mayonnaise lol 😂, loved this design of BMW and probably my favourite and personally the best I think 👌🏻, such quality and performance.

This is just asking for a Blaupunkt Bremen reproduction stereo. Would really finish the interior off nicely as it looks pretty clean and original.

now that is a proper car, very handsome & such a great sounding, super smooth straight six. 🙂

Hate to correct you there, but Canary Wharf didn't open until 91 and it was a White elephant for most of the 90s.

There is a simple reason touch screens are bad. The majority of us are right handed but we drive on the left so your "wrong" hand has a finger waggling around as you rock about in the drivers seat trying to stab at icons whilst keeping your eyes on the road'. I put that to a left handed mate and he agreed he finds using a screen quite easy coz its on the "correct" side for him

Have to admit to only liking a select few BMW's, this is definitely one, lovely example of a great model, 👍

It is, have a manual 91' 325i Touring m-tech 2 ab fabrik :D

That tail-light arrangement is totally bonkers!

I bought an E30 saloon about 14 years ago did a few jobs on it and then sold it, it should of been one to keep like a few others I have let go 😭

I used to have one on them, well a 320i, but it was red. Sold it when I needed a Passat to move to Scotland in. Hmm, nice enough E30, no trip computer and comfort seats, I wonder how much they.... SIXTEEN GRAND!?!!!?! Wow prices really have gone up!

Fine as an auto but I wouldn't want a manual one. A mate had a 320 saloon and I didn't care for the slewed off centre pedals, although I'm not sure if that applied to left hooker examples. I do very much like the interior and instrumentation though.

I still have a 325i touring manual( its my avatar) with well over 200k on it , still growl's on b road blast's

Best 3 series ever. Especially the 325 in Touring format. Iconic!

I love this car so much this is a great vid

Surprised it's so slow. That 0-60 is slower than a standard Rover P6 auto from 20 years before. Still these cars were "class" in their day.

I'm a reformed automatic transmission-hater, but a beemer with an auto box has always seemed like an aberration. Handsome cars as an estate, even more so in the 5 series.

loving E30's right now. just wish id have snapped a couple up when they were sensibly priced.

I do wish that BMW still made elegant, handsome, classy and well made cars like this.

Hoffmiester kink is old, the 1950 USA Kaiser has it! Not German, who knows who had it it first. The '65 Dodge Coronet had a tiny one.

always loved that era of BMW .

Never been a fan off bmw great cars but just too aragant for me I think oh and most bmw owners don't know what indicators are all the best donny

the double tap is strong on this one skywalker 😂

Love the little icon with the max demist settings. My Alfa 33 had that too

Hey Matt.... must point out that smaller steering wheels obscure the dials..

UGH! It's a PRNDL. Calling out for a 5 speed manual conversion. Knock 3 seconds off the 0 --- 60 and delete the slush to 30 mph.

£15k+ where did they get that price? Great vid as usual Matt .

Wondering what has to be pixelated under the windscreen?

Car was designed by one person in his shed. ...oh really? You'd never know! Opens the boot ...oh I see

Great review. Lots of space for Snickers bars, Marathon bars surely?!

You should get this and do a manual swap, Matt! ❤️ Love your new sponsor reel, BTW. 💪🏻

Great cars though I'd go for a manual version.

I was going to comment "peak BMW" & you went & said it in the first few minutes 😂

10.5 to 60? Probably the 316. 7.5 is nearer for the 325.

Lancia HPE. Reliant Scimitar.... I grew up with both.....

This is such a great car, but the yuppie image has always put me off buying one. Now though, I think time has eroded the association with red braces and filofaxes, and these days the E30 makes a superb modern classic. Unfortunately, everyone else seems to think so too and prices have risen accordingly. Still, if the right car came up at the right price, I could see myself in one of these now. They're so much more desirable than pretty much anything BMW sells today.

Estates actually my favourite after the coupe

How is it possible that a BMW 325i Touring, which cost a lot new, doesn't have electric opening of the rear windows? It's ironic that even a simple but refined Rover 213 SE from the mid-1980s had them.

E30 was the real 3 series, E34 was the real 5 series and guess what: The E32 was the real 7 series. Period. I have driven all of these when new (and the successors, so I could compare). The only one from this era I did not like was the E31.

always thought these were gorgeous - same with the Rover 400 Tourer - neither sadly on my company car list grrrrrrr

10.5 0-60 ? Is that correct ? If I remember correctly the saloon could do it in sub 8.5 Maybe my memory is playing tricks , it was a very long time ago 😱

Thanks ❤

3:15..Yikes..🤨Panel gap?..or a trick of the camera

Surprised the spec level is so low.

Snickers? Wasn't it Marathon back then?