BMW 320i (3 Series E30) - one of the coolest cars of the 80s?!

1988 BMW 320i Baur (BMW 3 Series E30)

Can you believe that from 1982 until 1994 there were nearly 2.5 million of these 3 series cars made? This 320i fits neatly into the middle of the second generation of the BMW 3 Series, sometimes simply referred to as the E30.

The car, which in my opinion has a look which doesn’t look dated or clunky today, first went into development in the mid 70s - which is incredible considering how fresh the design is - and in a world where many manufacturers were still using old concept methods, BMW went all in: there was early CAD used, crash testing to see what actually happened if the worst happened and also, wind tunnel testing.

All completely what we’d expect today, but for the era, very forward thinking.

Now BMW really thought about their customer and what they wanted and not only did they keep up with modern tastes and made model updates in both 85 and 87 to keep the car looking fresh, with changes like reduction in chrome and revisiting the design of the rear lights, but they created a list of options which meant the strapline ‘designed to be inidividual’ wasn’t just a cluster of words on a page.

In fact, there were 30,000 different possibilities available on the car - with a choice of engines, options and special features.

The engine on this particular example today is the 2 litre M20 Straight Six - which used the Bosch l-Jetronic fuel injection system. We talked of the updates to the model in 85 and 87 and the 87 update took the engine up to 168 hp and improved the fuel economy too.

There were two automatic boxes used on the E30 - but this particular car being post 1985 has the 4 speed ZF 4HP22 - which was used on the 320i from the get go, but then was used on all the models from 85 onwards. Prior to this, you’d had the 3 speed.

BMW really did keep things fresh and whilst all the models used disc brakes from the start, you’d see this has vented discs if you got up close and personal. E30 fanatics will of course tell you that early 316s and 318s have solid discs. It’s also worth mentioning here that from 86, ABS was something which was available to the discerning purchaser.

Suspension on these is nice and simple - it’s front Macpherson struts and rear semi-trailing arm suspension.

With these being sold all over the world, you’ll notice nuances and perhaps different dates/specs for your region. With American cars for example, the model range and appearance slightly differs; so do forgive me if something doesn’t quite match your region as I’ve run off an English brochure and English news article to get my facts for today.

A great example of this by the way, is the touring model, which was never officially imported into the US.

This is a very brief overview on what is an exceptional car for its time - there are plenty of books available online for further reading which I’d recommend including BMW E30 by James Taylor, should you wish to delve deeper into the suebject.