BMW 325Ti Sport Compact and Others....

[Spam]

Hi,

Does anyone own one of these cars? I imagine it could be fun with a 2.5 engine and rear wheel drive

I'm looking for cars of all sorts at the moment to replace my (very) old (sounding) Fiesta.

My budget is around £6000 - £7000.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/622706.htm

I have looked at a few cars such as a Smart (Don't Laugh) and a Fiat 500 but I want something a bit more powerful, fun and well-built.

Others under consideration is BMW Z3 2.2 Sport and and E36 328i Convertible.

My commute to work is about 30-35 mile round trip and I do the occasional 130 miles jaunt every month and the odd 500 miles + trip to Scotland. Every thing else is town work and fun.

I need something solid which is what has put me off other cars I have looked at. I do like the sound of a Clio 182 but would be worried that it would fall apart in a couple of years and Renault reliabilty doesnt give me great confidence.

Thanks,
Spam

[SJobson]

I haven't owned one, but my wife and I test drove a 325Ti Compact (a 2001 model with the Sport pack but which pre-dated the proper Sport version). I loved it, as did she; it's a great package, makes the right noises and handles very well indeed. She said that she enjoyed it so much she could keep driving it all day. Whisper it, but I still think it's better than the Volvo C30 T5 we bought instead.

The only reason we wrote it off was that she wanted a newer car to replace her 53 plate Beetle, and the newest are barely any more recent than that. They look such good value now that I'm tempted to get one as well as my 540i, though.

[taznuv]

I have one and am most pleased, it's just an SE not a Sport. Having said that I have none of the traction problems the mags moaned about with the Sport, and I would say it's got a pretty good ride/handling compromise. You should be able to get a decent low mileage one for around 7K to 8K.