Advice on BMWs?

[SidewaysSi]

s m said:

MiggyA said:

Agent XXX said:

you ever driven a 318 of that era? Utterly woeful. HATEFUL HATEFUL car. I could have actually murdered the person that decided that would be the choice of our company vehicles at the time.

I would ignore this guy, OP. An vitriolic minority of one. Try one and judge for yourself. I've been running a 318ti for 2 years and while interestingness and fun are subjective, I've had plenty of fun with mine, for what it is (a hatchback) it's more interesting than the average, and as far as reliability I've not had to do anything to it for the past year and it gets used daily.

FWIW i'd definitely get the TI rather than the iS, the extra weight will do the 140 motor no favours as it isn't that torquey, and I seriously doubt the lack of multi link rear suspension will change your experience for the worse.

S m - You always manage to get your hands on old articles. Do you have a massive collection of old mags?

[gonnagetyoursBenny]

MiggyA said:

I would ignore this guy, OP. An vitriolic minority of one. Try one and judge for yourself. I've been running a 318ti for 2 years and while interestingness and fun are subjective, I've had plenty of fun with mine, for what it is (a hatchback) it's more interesting than the average, and as far as reliability I've not had to do anything to it for the past year and it gets used daily.

FWIW i'd definitely get the TI rather than the iS, the extra weight will do the 140 motor no favours as it isn't that torquey, and I seriously doubt the lack of multi link rear suspension will change your experience for the worse.

I don't think there's much movement in weight is there? Both about 1300kg wet?

[gonnagetyoursBenny]

MiggyA said:

I would ignore this guy, OP. An vitriolic minority of one. Try one and judge for yourself. I've been running a 318ti for 2 years and while interestingness and fun are subjective, I've had plenty of fun with mine, for what it is (a hatchback) it's more interesting than the average, and as far as reliability I've not had to do anything to it for the past year and it gets used daily.

FWIW i'd definitely get the TI rather than the iS, the extra weight will do the 140 motor no favours as it isn't that torquey, and I seriously doubt the lack of multi link rear suspension will change your experience for the worse.

I don't think there's much movement in weight is there? Both about 1300kg wet?

[HannsG]

Fixing the rust on my 2005 E46 M3 has put me off old BMWs. The rust issues on a modern car were shocking.

[NiceCupOfTea]

I think an e36 must have shagged Agent XXX's missus!

FWIW, most have got it nailed - there are very few decent e36s around any more, coupes and tourings have mostly been turned into drifters. Most will have suffered abuse and very few will be without rust.

I have a 323 cab and have driven a sorted 328 Sport - IMHO they are very capable cars and sit very nicely between classics which won't start on a winter's morning, and modern cars where everything is over-assisted and dull to drive.

My cab hasn't let me down at all in nearly 3 years, has ferried me across the country in filty weather, cruised with family with the roof down on sunny days, done late night motorway slogs, and even on SE suspension it has a good stab at a nice country lane when pushed. Plus it makes a lovely noise, is comfortable (if a little noisy with the fabric roof on the motorway), cheap to run, I get nice comments about it all the time, but it doesn't attract unwanted attention a newer BMW might.

I have never driven a 318is but IIRC they were well thought of as being quite the driver's car and, after 323/5/8, the pick of the range.

If you can find a good one, they're decent cars. It won't be fast though - 140bhp was about your average family saloon in the early to mid 90s. It's lighter than a modern car, but no match for a modern diesel. You may be surprised that a 323 or 328 is no more to insure, and I have found that they are quite frugal. the torque of a 328 means you don't have to rev them like the 4-pot.

[Leins]

OP, don't discount the 318ti yet, try and get a drive in one and see what you think. Personally I prefer them to the E36 318iS because I liked the Compact body style more and are a bit lighter

In terms of driving they obviously do have quite a bit in common with the E30 318iS, which everyone seems to have started raving about again in recent years. Later versions (from '99 IIRC) had a slightly enlarged 1.9 in them too

Nice article s m, Racing Dynamics really did like working with Compacts didn't they

[MiggyA]

gonnagetyoursBenny said:

I don't think there's much movement in weight is there? Both about 1300kg wet?

Not a huge difference, but definitely enough to feel. I have a 328i coupe to compare it with and can't help but think that even accounting for the lighter engine, the 318iS would be just a little bit too gutless with the 1.9 engine and the full size body. 318TIs are still not fast, but good enough for fun on a B road and very chuckable.

Only reason to go for an iS vs the TI is the looks IMO, which is fair enough but then again, the TI still looks fetching from the right angles, and what you lose in looks you gain in a big rear hatch (tons and tons of space with the back seats down) and easier parking around town.

[DegsyE39]

Agent XXX said:

You obviously have very low expectations in your vehicle choices then

No i just know when a car feels 'right'

And with an e36 318is that truly is the case, Ballistic missles they aint ill give you that.

But the seat of the pants feel and steering in the one i drove was superb.

Can only imagine how crisp the E30 version is

[Devil2575]

Agent XXX said:

gonnagetyoursBenny said:

I'm talking about 90s cars.

Agent, are you talking about the e36 318i or 318is? Did the std 318 not produce about 107bhp?

Both inadequate whatever they produced. Horrible, s**tty vile unreliable rustbuckets.

You're a bit of a pillock aren't you.

[Devil2575]

The E36 is a good car when in good shape but one with tired suspension will handle like a pig. The eat rear suspension bushes in particular.

I miss my old 328 but it wasn't a cheap car to run in terms of repairs and maintenance.

[e21Mark]

E30 318is is a really nice drive but, as with most 16 valves of the era, you need to work them quite hard. It's all part of their charm though and they're great fun on B roads. Values are on the up so a 318ti Compact is a fair alternative. The best Compact is the 325ti though and they're brilliant value with a proper straight six.

[BoRED S2upid]

Agent XXX said:

don't do it. They're st.

Reason you can't find many e36 318s is because they've probably all broken and been scrapped.Utterly s**t car.

Absolute crap.

I had 3 e36's which were superb if a little keen to oversteer especially when wet but I took it to well over 100,000 miles with no issues at all including a European road trip to The German GP which it took on its stride even at spirited German motorway speeds. Car is still on the road (sold it to a mate).

Having said they were all superb one was a 316 the 318 is definitely the better engine.

[e21Mark]

E30 318is is a really nice drive but, as with most 16 valves of the era, you need to work them quite hard. It's all part of their charm though and they're great fun on B roads. Values are on the up so a 318ti Compact is a fair alternative. The best Compact is the 325ti though and they're brilliant value with a proper straight six.

[Vince70]

I think anything with the M44 lump is a great car and one good feature is that you don't have to worry about the Vanos on the 4 pot.
I bought a Z3 with that engine a couple of years back and it's a lovely little perky engine and really likes to be driven higher up the Rev range in fact I liked it so much that I bought a Ti as a winter runabout last year.

I think of it as a RWD Gti and it's very practical, I was very lucky when I bought mine as I bought a low mileage 2 owner minter which had done about 55000 for £795 the only problem I have with it is it's so good that I don't like using it now.

Cheap Ti compacts and Is coupes are about but be prepared to travel to get a decent one and the first place to check for rust is the jacking points, I fill mine with linseed oil or old engine oil to keep them as good as new.



It's getting a bit of an obsession of mine as I also bought a cheap cabriolet E36 for next summer so the drive looks like a BMW dealership circa 1997 now.

From what I've seen the older ones seem more rust resilient than the later cars.

Edited by Vince70 on Friday 21st October 19:27

Edited by Vince70 on Friday 21st October 19:30

[wjb]

My E36 rust bucket, currently on 41k...

[aka_kerrly]

Vince70 said:

I think anything with the M44 lump is a great car and one good feature is that you don't have to worry about the Vanos on the 4 pot.


I think of it as a RWD Gti [/footnote]

Just what I was saying on the first page. Nice that someone else sees them the same way

[HustleRussell]

These cars are great but most are old and shagged now. The vast majority of the ones which aren't old and shagged are in loving long term relationships with saddos like myself.