By now, every enthusiast who appreciates old BMWs knows that prices for E30-generation 3 Series models have gone through the roof. Of course, when it comes to the E30 M3, prices are justified, considering the car’s heritage and history. But what about run of the mill, entry-level models with huge mileage on the clock? Are they still worth thousands of dollars?
If you look for any late 80s, early 90s car on the market today, chances are you will not find one for sale (as they have been sold or scrapped a long time ago) or, if you do, the price will be in the range of a few hundred dollars. Not with E30 3 Series models though. We recently stumbled upon one on Bring-A-Trailer and the price tag at the time of writing was $12,750.
The car is a 1993 318i so there’s nothing special hiding under the hood. Furthermore, it’s bone stock (which is a good thing) and has no less than 165,000 miles on the clock (266,000 kilometers). That’s a pretty big number so the low-mileage argument flies out the window as well. It is a good-looking car though, dressed up in Schwarz Mica Metallic and it was imported into the U.S. from Germany last October.
The textile interior also looks incredibly good for a car with this kind of mileage on it but that still doesn’t justify the price tag. Naturally, it seems odd to pay that much for a nearly 30-year old car with a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine and 165,000 miles on the clock, just because it’s an E30 model. Have prices gone out of hand or is this the new world we live in today, where you have to pay over $10,000 to have an E30 in your driveway?
