[Flieger]

My limited Bimmer experience is that newer means more plastic stuff which was designed to last only as long as the warrantee period. I do have a friend with a really nice '95 E36 M3 in Avus Blau. It sounds great and he seems to have fun at track days with it so it must be fast enough. All the old magazine reviews I read, though, point out that it was significantly heavier than the E30 M3.

I would go with the E30.

My daily driver is an '83 E21 and I love the manual steering and light feel to the chassis. The airy greenhouse has great visibility. It still feels closer to my 911 as far as great driving position (every new car I drive has me in the Italian gorilla) and sitting low (you feel sportier, not like you are rolling around seated on a kitchen stool).

I still lust after 2002s, though.

Like with Porsches, the older ones (properly cared for) just get better and better compared to the new cars. A lot of it is probably the manual steering and light weight.