Faults:

Hazard light switch replaced twice since I've had the car. These things are notorious for failing.

Cruise Control doesn't work (and apparently never worked well, as per my Uncle).

Bad front-end shimmy that is very difficult to repair.

Interior upholstery is worn out. Covered rear bench seat with towels and pulled two black-vinyl Recaro seats from a junked 320i and replaced front seats. What an improvement. The musty smell took about 6 months to dissipate.

Center console assembly replaced- found used set on eBay.

Glove box straps break easily.

Blue smoke at start-up, some oil consumption. I've heard they did this when they were brand new.

General Comments:

I got this beautiful black car as a senior in high school (18 year old kid driving a car about the same age). I got many compliments on it then and I still do today.

What a fun car to drive, despite its "quirks." Aside from people asking me how to open the doors from the inside (you just have to own one to know what I mean) and why it creates blue oil smoke when started, it's a relatively cheap and basic European car.

Handling is excellent and the ride is very German, although there is a little body roll when tossed around during more spirited driving. The front-end shimmy is part of owning the e21 and only a few people know how to fix it. Don't trust anyone, but a well-respected BMW mechanic to do your alignments.

Acceleration is so-so. The 4-cylinder engine feels stressed to move the somewhat heavy car from a standstill, but given the gas crisis at the time of its manufacture, I understand. I've thought about replacing the 1.8 with a 2.3 straight-6 when I get money.

Owning this car and keeping it in top shape requires quite a lot of time, dedication, and some extra money. And don't forget hours of elbow grease and lots of Zymol wax to make it shine!

Faults:

-Ignition switch went out. I thought it was the starter at first, so I replaced the starter, then the ignition switch.

-New battery. It didn't have one when I bought it.

-New seats. Old ones were shot, so I got a complete new set of black leather ones from Pick-N-Pull. The were in perfect shape except for 1 tear along a seam. Plus it only cost me $25.00!

-Replaced the master cylinder at 180,000 miles. This was the killer, read below.

-There are a few cracks in the dash from the California sun, but nothing that's not easily fixable.

-normal oil and filter maintenance.

General Comments:

I bought the car from some guy who had to move it for $150.00. I put a new battery in it, started it up and drove away! I later found out it had a rare turbo system on it, so that made it even better!

This is an EXTREMELY fast car. With the turbo it really picks up and goes. I did some research and found out it was part of a package deal from the dealer and it also includes the front and rear sway bars and a front air dam. All in all, this car really hugs the road. This is a perfect example of a true autobahn raider. I love this car to death!

The only real problem I had with it was that about 6 months after I got it white smoke started to pour out of the exhaust whenever I stopped. I spent months trying to find the problem to no avail. Finally I decided to sell it, and one of the people looking at it knew what the problem was. It was simply one of the seals in the master cylinder went bad. It ended up dumping brake fluid directly into the intake manifold whenever I pressed on the brakes. So I replaced the master cylinder, and now we're back in business.