RE: E30 M3 prices vs Porsche 951 prices

["Fadeev, Alex" <Alex.Fadeev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Was just perusing the last digest and noticed that someone was selling
> his high-miles E30 M3 for about $11.5K.  Is that the standard going
> price of that sort of M3 now?

	I will risk upsetting a few sellers/owners and say: Nope.
	Looking at www.edmunds.com, older M3's go for well under $10K with
low mileage. On the other hand, BMWCCA/Digest advertised cars are generally
priced higher (overpriced?). 

> Because I seem to recall reading on this digest that Porsche 944
> turbos - which often sell for about the same price with half the miles
> - - are comparable to *E36* M3s.  Even if you do end up giving the M3
> the lead, and consider pre-89 turbos comparable to E30 M3's, that's
> still a mighty high premium.

Eric,
	944 is a lovely car. Especially in the 'S' or 951 incarnations. The
latter can be chipped to 250+bhp and 300+ft/lb. More if you don't care about
engine longevity.
	However, only 944-S should be compared to an E30 M3. 
	Plain 944 has SOHV 2.5L 4 cylinder 158bhp engine and is better
paired with E30 325i. Plane 944 is also priced similarly to E30 325i/is
(thus indeed cheaper then E30 M3).
	944-S is really what you meant to compare with E30 M3.  2.5L 4
cylinder 16-valve engine. 2800 lbs. HP-190@6000 RPM TQ-170lb/ft@4300 RPM.
Can you say E30 M3 (minus brick-inspired aerodynamics;-)?  944-s _IS_ priced
similarly to E30 M3 (give or take a grand). 
	944-turbo (951 really) is at least $3-5K above the E30 M3 price
range and an order of magnitude in performance and maintenance costs. If not
only those P-car maintenance costs...

take it easy,
alex f

P.S.: If you want to learn more about these fun cars, check out:
http://www.connactivity.com/~kgross/944faq.html

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