Faults:

Needed new rear right brake hose for WOF.

Repaired chip on windscreen.

Vanity lights only work when rear right door is opened.

Leaks oil when on notable inclines - not sure where from yet.

Tear on the lower right area of driver's seat.

Sunroof and rear left window are in need of new seals as they sometimes leak.

General Comments:

I was lucky enough to be given this car from a family member who had owned it since 1991, and fortunately enough for me he looked after it well.

This car is simply amazing, and has never missed a beat, which is phenomenal for a car of this age. The bodywork is in pristine condition along with the interior. With the exception of rip in the driver's seat, everything looks just how it did when it was new.

Off the line this car doesn't feel very fast at all. The engine doesn't get started until about 3500-4000rpm, which is where she finally starts to move. It also doesn't really help that the ZF 4 speed auto transmission is more tuned for a relaxed driving experience, reluctantly kicking down only when you mash the pedal to the floor. Though in the 'real-world' this car performs fine. Has enough guts to get up inclines and keeps up with traffic without any fuss, and is certainly a more fulfilling drive than the 94 Honda Civic 1.3 manual I had been driving.

Ride and stability is the only noticeable shortfall of this car. The dampening is poor, virtually every change in camber and bump in the road is felt through the camber, along with a noticeable amount of bumpsteer coming through the wheel. Also whenever I go over a manhole cover on the road, the car for that instant feels relatively lacking in stability. Possibly worn shock absorbers/ dampers are the problem, as the ride is somewhat rolly polly through the corners when pushed.

Reliability and running costs is something that cannot be comprehensively overviewed, due to the short time I've had the vehicle. I can say though, that it had never left my grandfather stranded and has yet to do the same to me.

Fuel consumption I found to be surprisingly good. Averaging about 11L/100km in mainly city driving, and as little as 8L/100km on the open road.

Overall I love this car, and hopefully it'll get me through the next 4 years of uni without too much trouble.

Faults:

Basic mat. Spark plus, wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter, air filter, oil. (Full Syn still till this day!)

Transmission clutch died @ 560,000Mi ($1,500)

Fuel pump and all hoses front to rear (2 times) ($230)

Fuel pressure regulator @ 550,000Mi ($60)

Brake pads, rotors, calipers a couple times ($700+ each time)

Front rack, inner tie rods, outer tie rods, ball joints ($2000+) (used M3 and Poly mounts)

18 inch wheels 7.5 225-40-18 front and 8.5 245-35-18.

All air hoses and intake boot replaced.

All coolant sensors and fan sensors replaced.

All components of the AC unit replaced, retrofitted and recharged.

Exhaust changed at around 500.000 to a 3 inch cat back exhaust (old one was starting to rust).

There is plenty more stuff that went wrong also.

General Comments:

All in all I know this seems like a lot of stuff going wrong on the car. But if really you count what I spent, and the mileage, it was well worth it.

They don't call these cars the million mile car for nothing. I have almost 600,000 mikes on this thing, and the paint is brand new, and I'm still riding on stock suspension and many other parts that would have died long ago on many cars.

The car still gets over 40 miles per gallon, and with the chip reaches a whopping 146mph topped out with the 325i gears in the rear with the stock motor (may take 10 minutes :) )

Never ever broke down it; always gave me the heads up when something was gonna go or getting bad. Once you own these for many years you just know what is going, and what exactly it's going to be. The bad side is no codes, so if you do run into a horrid mess that you can't fix, it's a guessing game. I baby it and trying to get 1 million miles on the stock motor. Good luck everyone with the E30s!