go for the bimmer right away (for all you non-bmw savvy, bimmer refers to the car, and beemer refers to the motorcycle). I have many friends with E30's and one with a 325i convertible, and they are reliable and easily upgradable. I would definitley prefer the bmw over the audi for many reasons already mentioned; reliability, cost of parts, cost of labor, etc. On top of that, there are many BMW forums that are very helpful (bimmer.info, roadfly.com, dtm-power.net). My experience with Audis (I had an '86 5000 cs quattro) is that they have nice amounts of power and awesome handeling, but they break down too often and cost lots to repair. Good luck, and have fun!