1984 325 or 1987 325i ?

[Rozzwell]

Hey guys, I'm new to the whole BMW scene but I'm starting to get into autox so I want to get a car to have as a weekend fun car.
I'm looking at 2 cars that are priced about the same. I'm on a pretty tight budget, but I think if I do my research I can walk away with something decent. I'm looking at either an 84 325 with 110,000 miles, 2dr, white, black leather, sunroof, etc etc

OR

an 87 325i 5spd, 4-door black with brown leather interior (ok, I'll be honest, this is my only concern...if someone has pics of a black 325i with brown leather, post them), 186,000 miles, sunroof, etc etc.

Just wondering which do you guys feel is the better buy. I'm completely a newbie when it comes to Bimmers, so educate me. Just looking for what I should look for, and what the strengths/weakenesses of the respective models are.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Celsdogg]

hey,

these are both E30's. the 325 has an eta engine in it, this is an economy engine, the M20B27, which is good for a little over 100 hp.

the 325i has the M20B25 engine in it good for 167 hp and 164 lb/ft of torque.

with either car, since they both have the M20 engine, you must watch for maintence. both have high milage. the M20 engine had a rubber timing belt that needed to be replaced every 60k miles. this is very important. If the belt breaks you can bend all the valve at the smallest expense to totally trashing the engine and creating cracks in the side walls. all bimmer come with a service record. check the service records for each for scheduled maintence. after 100k miles, the E30 needs a lot of replacement parts, and since it is a euro car they are generally a lil more expensive then other parts, but nothing beats being a bimmer owner. i have a 1991 E30 325i, i got it in immaculate condition at 59k miles. i personally would go for the 325i rather then the 325 simply for performance. only if it was properly maintained tho. there is more that i can tell you, but it is a lot, so if you have any partiular questions please let me know!

GOOD LUCK!