BMW 328i (E36): PH Fleet

More BMW vs BMW action this month as Dale meets a fellow PHer for some car park fun...

I've been driving a lot of more modern BMWs lately, including E46s, E90s and even an F21 race car (more on that later). But there's something delightfully clunky about the old E36 that just makes me smile.

Now this is what you call 'driver-focused'

The dashboard, for example, is wonderful. All that black vinyl and plastic lines up and faces the driver, like the passenger doesn't matter. All they get is one little vent and a very discreet glovebox. Not even an airbag. I like that lack of technology too, it means it's still a pure (if somewhat agricultural) experience.

Of course, at the same time, I also acknowledge that the E46 has a much better chassis, whilst the E90 325i makes way more power than my 328i and has an even better chassis. And as for the new F-series cars... wow. They're incredible.

Of course, now that I have the Nitrons and Spires setup, I'm only talking about a potentially better chassis on those cars. Because the 'old' E36 is still a bit of a weapon on track.

328i vs. M3 3.0: it's on!

At the last Destination Nurburgring track day I found myself nodding and agreeing on all these points with another PHer by the name of Alex. Or Iguana as he's known on the forums. He'd brought not one, but two E36 track day cars to the event and we basically stood in the car park like a pair of old gits putting the world to rights on the subject of modern cars versus old cars.

With only a few hundred Nordschleife laps to his credit, he wanted to know if I'd follow him and give some feedback on his lines. The initial idea was for Alex to drive his own 328i, but in the end I convinced him to take the other E36 that he'd brought, a lovely M3 3.0. Hey, I wanted a challenge.

What a brilliant few laps we had! Any PHer who's done a track day with mates will already know what I'm talking about, but this was just huge fun. A kind of very loose competitiveness that's just the right side of the naughty line (Darren, the organiser, always makes a point of saying "No ****ing racing!" at every DN briefing).

'Lizard1' M3 uses racing slicks

Iguana's M3 would, naturally, pull away if the pilots were equal in experience. But we had just enough differences between us to keep it close. His second-hand slicks were still a bit grippier than my road-legal Federal semi-slicks. My Nitrons were obviously doing a much better job of keeping the wheels on the ground too, compared to the cheaper generic coil-overs on the "Lizard1"-plated M3. His 70hp advantage was matched by my slight lack of fear, general over-exuberance and not having a passenger like he did.

We had a couple of hours together at the track day and the ratio of driving to nattering was about 1 to 3. We spent 1.5hrs talking and only 30 minutes driving. But sometimes that's all you need.

In the weeks following that battle I've been racing some rather more sophisticated BMWs that are much, much quicker. But honestly, I can't wait for next week and the opportunity to drive my clunky old E36 on the next DN track day. It'll be brilliant, I just know it.

Fact sheet
Car: 1997 BMW 328i SE
Run by: Dale Lomas
Bought: September 2012
Purchase price: £950
This month: Sat in a car park, driven on a track day, put back in the car park.

Previous reports
Dale's RX-8 dies, BMW bought in replacement
What doesn't kill a car makes it stronger ... hopefully
Dale splashes out on suspension...
...and then gets some track tyres too!
E36 takes on E30 (and a deer)

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