So if I was daft enough to want a 325ix...

In reply to maddydaddy:

Needs to have some create comforts as it'll be sharing DD duty with our 'vette.

z31maniac wrote: Get on plane Friday afternoon, arrive home Sunday afternoon. No "holiday" as you Europeans' call it. Here in the states we call it "vacation."

OK, so I'm a little short of "vacation" then . Raleigh to Reno is approx 2800 miles and with my personal limit being around 700 miles/day, at least in Europe, that's a four day trip. Unfortunately haven't got that time to spare at the moment...

Going out on a limb here, but assuming its anything like an N/A Subaru thats awd, it will be slow and understeer even more than a fwd car. This may not make it as fun as you think.

Im curious to know what the response to this is thats not being posted.

Seems there are probably plenty of people around here that've driven both to give an informed opinion..

I had an '89 several years ago. Nice car but could never get past the feeling that it needed another twenty (or fifty) horsepower. Great winter car but the added weight of AWD takes much of the "ultimate driving machine' out of it...

Vigo wrote:

Going out on a limb here, but assuming its anything like an N/A Subaru thats awd, it will be slow and understeer even more than a fwd car. This may not make it as fun as you think.

Im curious to know what the response to this is thats not being posted. Seems there are probably plenty of people around here that've driven both to give an informed opinion..

I posted a response yesterday:

Read how Gordon Haines modified his car for track use here: http://home.earthlink.net/~wardellhix/iX/general/compare.html

In stock form they are slower and understeer more than an equivalent two wheel drive iS, but with some fairly minor modifications those problems can be fixed.

PS122 wrote: I had an '89 several years ago. Nice car but could never get past the feeling that it needed another twenty (or fifty) horsepower. Great winter car but the added weight of AWD takes much of the "ultimate driving machine' out of it...

The fact that most of them are autos doesn't help. I had a pristine, well maintained, ix coupe while i was between e30 318is's and it always felt sluggish and heavy. Great car to cruise around but not fun, tossable, or efficient.

In reply to 2002maniac:

Exactly. They're rock solid at getting you through snow and more fun but they're nothing like a regular e30. They're somewhere in between a grumpy mule and later year e30 318i. I never should have sold my '89 325i to get into the 325ix.

Read how Gordon Haines modified his car for track use here: http://home.earthlink.net/~wardellhix/iX/general/compare.html

Good link. I had missed that.

Seems there are opinions on both sides of the issue.

All i know is i want to move to Colorado.

Right now I actually have two iX's - an '88 five speed and an '89 with an automatic. The automatic car's acceleration can only be described as leisurely. The transmission shifts up so quickly that it makes it pretty much impossible to get the engine spinning any faster than 3000 rpm or so.

Don't do it. That center diff is not particularly robust and a pita to find replacement parts for.

Here's an IX tech tip:

The front driveshaft mates to the transfer case with a sliding splined shaft. In stock form, the splines dont engage very much and the result is stripped splines!

A common mod is to take the shaft to a driveline shop and have it lengthened by 1". What I did on my car was use the thicker 325i (rwd) guibo up front with longer bolts. Worked great!

Do they have LSDs?

How is the front diff configured relative to the motor?

So it sounds like a turbo's not going to be in the equation if the center diff is weak. Safe to say?

The transfer case as well as the front differential have viscous couplings built in, to automatically send torque to the where it's needed. The front differential is on the driver's side (left side) of the engine; they have a special oil pan to make space for the half shaft running to the right front wheel.

I've never heard of the transfer case itself being weak, although as 2002maniac mentioned the splines on the front driveshaft have been known to strip. A cheap solution is to use some washers under the bolts so the splines extend further into the transfer case. One of my cars has a specially made spacer that was available from the aftermarket (I forget the source but could look it up) that does the same thing.

I recall seeing a car on one of the e30 boards where the owner had swapped in an e36 M3 engine, with some considerable modification. As I recall the drivetrain held up okay.