melman911

Thoughts on how these two cars compare?

red44T

Too vague. E30/E36/E46?

ian

And also need to know what we are comparing them for? Daily driver? Track car? Collector car?

melman911

Not vague at all. An 89 M3 is an E30. I guess I assumed most would under understand 1989 for both the 951 and M3 in my thread title. My bad.


Actually all three. Wondering why the M3 (E30) values are so high when compared to the 951. They are about equal when comparing them. Trying to figure out why the large gap in values.

EVOMMM

I own both a 88 944T/S and a 88 e30 m3 street goes to Porsche track or props goes to BMW if I can only have 1 it would be the Porsche because most of my use is fun street driving but I am really blessed not bad either way you go but fun way to get there
Mike

melman911

Thanks Mike. With that said why is the BMW a more collectible car? Production wise I don't see that car with numbers that would push it in the opposite direction of the 951. The 951 being on the lower end of valuation.

StoogeMoe

The BMW is more valuable because of its racing heritage. We had a thread about this not too long ago. The BMW absolutely dominated in its era in touring car where the 951 did nothing. Plus it sounds way better than that turbo'd lump.

I'd take an E30 M3 any day over a 951.

melman911

Yeah I use to watch those old DTM races with Mercedes. Then later on with Audi in the mix. I had a E30 325e in college and that car was a blast. Great handling cars.

red44T

Ahh I see. Well I choose e30 if they are both stock. 951 if modded. I like the go cart feel and from what I've heard e30's satisfy that. ~250hp from the e30 just isn't enough for me.

melman911

E30 in general handle a lot better. This that go cart feel is a little more dialed in.

ian

There are a lot of reasons the E30 M3 has appreciated in value, but the #1 reason, in my eyes, is hype. They have been so hyped up my the internet that their legend grew and grew, and now it universally believed the the E30 M3 is god chariot.

But the reality, they are not good street cars. The S14 is incredibly expensive to maintain, makes no torque, and you need to drive it at 10 10ths to get anything out of it. If given the choice to daily drive a E30 325is or a E30 M3 I would choose the 325is every single time.

I would also say that it is a myth that they handle well in stock form. They are soft with the us spec suspension, and it takes some upgrades to really make them dance. The only data point I have on that were the skid pad numbers from the car mags of the day.
E30 M3: .81
951S: .89

melman911

I would have to believe this more than anything else. While the E30 BMWs were great cars for their time. I don't see anything that would put the M3 that far above the 951. We'll said

951and944S

Yup, I don't get it either. In spec racing, mods limited, 8V 944NA vs a non M E30, the 944 will kill the E30 so it seems the 951 would own the M3.

I argued with a SPEC E30 racer that swore he was gonna blast my son's 944 at NOLA and he was 5 seconds off pace. He couldn't understand it.

Hype.

T

Dino951

I own an '86 951 and an '89 325i. I would say if I could keep just one it would be the e30. Power delivery is very linear; quick and nimble for city/twisties. The 951 is an excellent grand touring-type of car. Comfortable with passing power for the highway. My two cents...

Voith

325 is 6cyl. M3's 4 banger is not even close in smoothness.