RE: BMW 328i (E36): PH Carpool
Discussion
Bought a 325i coupe recently. Only driven it once as it's been at a friend's house in Yorkshire after getting various jobs done at a garage down there.
Looking forward to picking it up and driving back to Aberdeen in a couple of week's time.
Would have preferred a 328i but couldn't find a decent one - supposedly more economical. Have been wondering if there's anything I can do to make the 325i more economical - maybe longer rear diff., lower ride height, fuel saving tyres?
How do people reduce the weight of these to 1100kg? AFAIK mine weighs about 1380kg.
Looking forward to picking it up and driving back to Aberdeen in a couple of week's time.
Would have preferred a 328i but couldn't find a decent one - supposedly more economical. Have been wondering if there's anything I can do to make the 325i more economical - maybe longer rear diff., lower ride height, fuel saving tyres?
How do people reduce the weight of these to 1100kg? AFAIK mine weighs about 1380kg.
BGarside said:
Bought a 325i coupe recently. Have been wondering if there's anything I can do to make the 325i more economical - maybe longer rear diff.
The 325i has a 3.15:1 rear end in whereas a 328i manual has a 2.93:1 and the 328i auto has a 3.07:1 diff.Both would cut down your cruising revs somewhat but the character of your engine is a bit different to a standard 328i.the 325i has less low down torque and likes to rev more so it would make it feel a bit lethargic from small throttle openings perhaps? I'd tend to stick as is personally as I'm not sure you'd gain much
BGarside said:
How do people reduce the weight of these to 1100kg? AFAIK mine weighs about 1380kg.
I've not heard of one that light without going all race-car spec - perspex windows, polycarb bootlid and wings, no interior whatsoever including lower dash and so on..But bear in mind the quoted weight does include the spare wheel, a 75kg driver and a 90%-full tank of fuel, so if yours is 1380kg, that's about 1245kg "dry". Which is the figure I presume is always quoted when telling how light you've made it!
Sub 1200kg even caged is easy still with all steel panels a working sunroof & all glass & fairly heavy steel framed buckets, mine was 1205kg as above & with the stock stupid heavy 60amp 30kg battery & I think I had heavy 17s on too.
I think sub 1100kg or very close to that is pos road legal too if you go full retard.
I think sub 1100kg or very close to that is pos road legal too if you go full retard.
iguana said:
Sub 1200kg even caged is easy still with all steel panels a working sunroof & all glass & fairly heavy steel framed buckets, mine was 1205kg as above & with the stock stupid heavy 60amp 30kg battery & I think I had heavy 17s on too.
I think sub 1100kg or very close to that is pos road legal too if you go full retard.
30kg battery? I asume that's a typo I think sub 1100kg or very close to that is pos road legal too if you go full retard.
Auson said:
Need more details on the 1100kg weight reduction program ! Is there much weight to be saved going to Lexan ?
Is it true that the 4 doors are more ridgid than the coupes ?
That was the commonly held belief on the forums. Saloon had solid panel behind (non folding) rear seats, unlike the coupe where the rear seats folded.Is it true that the 4 doors are more ridgid than the coupes ?
Whether you'd feel the difference between the coupe or the saloon chassis (all other things equal) is debatable.
While the figures below are for E46, the story is almost identical for E36, just slightly lower numbers across the board.
As the folding seat option on saloons was extremely rare, almost all of them will have considerably better torsional stiffness than their coupé counterparts. I haven't driven both back to back, but these numbers suggest it would be noticeable, and exacerbated once you have stiff suspension and sticky tyres on it.
The other advantage of the saloon is pillared door glass makes it much easier to swap to polycarbonate
BMW E46 Sedan (w/o folding seats) 18,000 Nm/deg
BMW E46 Sedan (w/folding seats) 13,000 Nm/deg
BMW E46 Wagon (w/folding seats) 14,000 Nm/deg
BMW E46 Coupe (w/folding seats) 12,500 Nm/deg
BMW E46 Convertible 10,500 Nm/deg
As the folding seat option on saloons was extremely rare, almost all of them will have considerably better torsional stiffness than their coupé counterparts. I haven't driven both back to back, but these numbers suggest it would be noticeable, and exacerbated once you have stiff suspension and sticky tyres on it.
The other advantage of the saloon is pillared door glass makes it much easier to swap to polycarbonate
g3org3y said:
Auson said:
Need more details on the 1100kg weight reduction program ! Is there much weight to be saved going to Lexan ?
Is it true that the 4 doors are more ridgid than the coupes ?
That was the commonly held belief on the forums. Saloon had solid panel behind (non folding) rear seats, unlike the coupe where the rear seats folded.Is it true that the 4 doors are more ridgid than the coupes ?
Whether you'd feel the difference between the coupe or the saloon chassis (all other things equal) is debatable.
I reckon you're far more likely to notice worn/tired suspension on any variant. Here's my old 328 saloon with folding rears ( the catches to release the backs are just above the seat belt holes )
.. ..I ran my 328 for just over 6 years and over 100k ( taking it from over 100k to just over 200k ) - mods wise, apart from new suspension, the best things were the LSD diff ( firstly a 2.93 one, then a 3.07 version ), the X-brace and the Z3 rack
.. .. Went abroad a few times in it - the worst thing that happened to it over all that time driving through Europe was the fuel sender wires under the back seat snapping off by Lake Annecy ( and being soldered back on by a local back street garage guy complete with dangling cigarette! )
.. ..Gorges du Verdon
.. ..Looking for the shade to park up
Wasn't a particularly light example as it had heated leather, folding rears, climate, sunroof etc ( SE spec ) but it came in at 1420kg with a full size spare in the boot well and on 16s - the local weighbridge proved to be within 5kg accuracy of some corner scales at a local motorsport place
.. ..
.. ..Was especially fun in the snow
.. ..
.. ..They're good value for money if you get a decent one, easy to work on and cheap for bits. Have to say I enjoyed it a fair bit more than the E46 saloons ( 330 & 320 ) I've had. Good all rounder, fitted the family in for touring hols in the West Country and France/Italy, did the motorway cruising thing easily and could turn into something fun on the backroads
More than a dab of oppo and on the lock stops once. And I'm not Troy Queef Unless it's an immaculate Sport with LSD, I think £3k is pushing it. This one doesn't look hugely overpriced to me, but if you're patient there are plenty of good examples that come up for far less.
Go much past £3k and you're scraping into M3 money, and no matter how much a seller pumps up the "classic value" of a good 328i it's always going to be in that shadow!
Go much past £3k and you're scraping into M3 money, and no matter how much a seller pumps up the "classic value" of a good 328i it's always going to be in that shadow!
TheJimi said:
Is circa £3k too much to pay for one? Even a particularly nice one with low miles?
E36 values are pretty much on the floor at the moment but good 328s are hard to come by so if you want it then it's your call. For 3k you can buy a 330i which has a much better engine IMHO. Devil2575 said:
McSam said:
Go much past £3k and you're scraping into M3 money,
This is true, but a £3k 328i should be an absolute minter, whereas a £3k M3 will be a nail that needs another 3k spending on it http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
It was this car I spotted last night. Looks amazing but I'd probably never get anything like that back at resale time in about a year.
It was this car I spotted last night. Looks amazing but I'd probably never get anything like that back at resale time in about a year.
McSam said:
Devil2575 said:
McSam said:
Go much past £3k and you're scraping into M3 money,
This is true, but a £3k 328i should be an absolute minter, whereas a £3k M3 will be a nail that needs another 3k spending on it Top dollar for a 328 Sport has always been more than the bottom end of the market for an M3.
I get that some people may be lured in at the prospect of a cheap M3 rather than a 328i but I think a lot of people would see that despite similar price to buy the two cars are a completely different ownership proposition. A cheap M3 is going to cost you money. An expensive sorted 328i isn't.
Rawhide said:
40mpg?
I could barely get my 320 coupe to 30mpg and it averaged 22mpg.
If that's really achievable at 70mph i would consider one as a second car.
320i is the least fuel efficient of all the E36 variants (and E46). They are great fun because you can drive them flat out all the time and hear that lovely 6 on full chat more often than with the bigger lumps but they will guzzle fuel while they do it. My mapped and modded manual 328i coupe returns over 35mpg cruising at 80-90. I could barely get my 320 coupe to 30mpg and it averaged 22mpg.
If that's really achievable at 70mph i would consider one as a second car.
Devil2575 said:
TheJimi said:
Is circa £3k too much to pay for one? Even a particularly nice one with low miles?
E36 values are pretty much on the floor at the moment but good 328s are hard to come by so if you want it then it's your call. For 3k you can buy a 330i which has a much better engine IMHO. Not to say the E36 328i Sport could not be a future classic possibly.
Re LSD
Very desireable
IMO should be standard on all BMWs
You might be able to get SH LSD to fit 328i
However, may need rebuilding as is tired and old now
An option is getting a New Quaife LSD from Birds BMW :-)
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