1991 E36 325i Saloon

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I've been on the hunt for one of these for a while now. My brother had one about 14 years ago and I always have fond memories of it. I've had no end of BMW's but these always seemed hard to find and it had to be a standard pre-vanos manual saloon. I've owned 5 E36's, including a B3 Switch-Tronic but none of them seemed to quite match up to the memories. This one probably won't either but the poorly screwed together early interior, bumhole cloth seats and grey bumpers are certainly helping! I've popped a deposit down and should be picking it up in a week-ish.

I forgot to take any pics when viewing so these are from the listing.

The only options on the car are SE spec, so sunroof, rear leccy windows and headlight washers. Family owned and 60k miles!

Edited by e28525e on Friday 11th December 18:04

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So glad you guys are on the same page as me! It will stay looking standard on the outside. I will probably put the later vented discs on the rear, install an LSD and some B6's to make it a bit more of a driving tool but that's it modification-wise. The early cars have a different suspension setup to the 93 onwards cars and is all a bit difficult to find now, so it makes sense to update it. I'll see if I can find an early 3-spoke non AB steering wheel, too. The one on it isn't a nice thing.

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Gooly said:

Thats absolutely bloody lovely. The early 325 saloons were the sweetest of the bunch IMO and I would absolutely love another one in a spec like yours. Hope you get to preserve it! The non vanos M50s are a lovely cammy engine too

Yes, I always thought the later m52 328i a bit of a let-down after the zingyness (is that a word?) of the M50. The 325i always sounded better too, apparently they don't make the original 325i exhausts anymore which had a better note..

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ChrisCh86 said:

Looks lovely!

Hopefully you won't be turning this into a track day sl@g? Too many have seen their ends like that

I have a turbo 635csi as a track slag, so don't worry. I always think non messed with E36's look fresh compared to every other modded heap.

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bgunn said:

M54 is even worse - I've not driven an original M50 car, but liked my E46 M52TU 328 Coupe a lot more than a friends 330..

Lovely car by the way!

Thanks. The M52 is a fine engine, it's just a little more refined than the m50, which can be a better or worse thing from wherever you stand. The M54 is just a little too complex for my liking, it has a fair few additions to help it pass emissions and they can be a pain in the bum. Very smooth when running well, though.

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Kettmark said:

I've got an early e36 318is with 26k on the clock. Absolute timewarp condition. Just sitting in it takes me back & makes me smile.

Very cool. My mate had a Hellrot Red saloon, quite rare.

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Kettmark said:

Mines lagoon green. Very early 90's! Seats feel like they've never been sat on.

M42 then, good engine. The build date on my 325i is 30-01-91, must be one of the earliest left on the road.

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JakeT said:

Non-VANOS M50 and a manual. Cracking spec, that. These are about my favourite E36s. I even like those wheels now. You've done well to get one so tidy (As I'm sure you know) the drivers seat on these early cars end up looking crap in short order. Nice runner, this.

Yes, BMW got a lot of complaints about early cabin quality. I'll pop seat covers on them. The wheels are a guilty pleasure of mine. I don't know what it is about them but they are my favourite E36 wheel along with M3 contours.

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Triumph Man said:

Looks lovely OP, and nice to see a manual 6 cylinder saloon that hasn’t been chavved up!

My grandad had a 325 TDS and that made me fall in love with BMWs

Now, they're almost impossible to find! Especially manuals.

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MattEl325 said:

Saw this on eBay last night - lovely!

Another positive vote for the wheels.

Cheers, boss! It had been in my watch list for weeks...in the end I convinced myself that if I saw it sell I wouldn't find another!

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Kettmark said:

Vulgar question i know, but what sort of money was it if you don't mind me asking?

Hi, mate. It was up for 4k and he accepted my offer of £3500 with a full MOT.

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Mr Tidy said:

I seemed to have a thing about Mercedes back then, but I've seen the BMW light since and that looks fantastic!

I think they've just started to fall into that classic category, unfortunately a bit too late. There are far more E30 325i's available

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rossub said:

Blimey, this takes me back.

I had a 94 325i SE in 2002/03. I remember it being incredibly well built and a lovely thing to be in, but even that long ago it felt heavy.

Didn’t have it for long... Jap AWD turbo cars were at their peak and I still have the one that I traded the BM for back then.

Book weight is 1295kg, which I don't think is too bad!

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You did a great job, beambeam. That looked really smart. This one is Mauritius Blue.

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Court_S said:

Blimey, that is in remarkable condition for its age. You don’t see many E36’s about these days let alone ones that haven’t been ruined.

The E3y saloon was the car that turned me into a BMW fanboy. I got a lift in a friends mums car in the very early 90’s and it blew my mind! Sitting in the front, it felt like I was in a proper cockpit with the high transmission tunnel etc. It felt a long way away from he cars my parents had at the time; an Astra and a Suzuki SJ.

Yeah, I can imagine it did!

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Giles_L said:

Nice car, I had an almost identical 325i about 15 years ago!

That looks clean! Looking at DVLA website, I think it is no more

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Leins said:

Lovely OP, congrats. How did this one escape being modified?! Great to see, I love the ambers and grey bumpers on a 325

It was a dealer demo and then went to a farmer. He and his family had it up until now. I also think it was priced just out of reach of the skid crew.

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I went for the non-vanos because of the simplicity. I like basic cars with little to go wrong and the first generation of a car really attracts me. My NSX is an early 3.0, so it is as intended, before they started fiddling with stuff. Theres something nice about that.

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SilverStar said:

Great to see a Pistonheader with this. It’s been in my watch list for a few weeks.

My memories come from a friend of my parents having a Boston Green (I think!) 318i as a company car back in the mid nineties when I was a child!

Ace. I'll try and keep the thread updated!

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1602Mark said:

That's lovely OP. I'd been searching for a white, non sunroof 4 door for ages when one popped up locally for £1795! Unfortunately, it sold for 1500 before I could get there.

Yours looks great in blue and the subtle mods you have planned will make it even better.

That seems like a ruddy bargain! They need rescuing now...I'm hoping to put a good few miles on this and keep it well maintained. A set of seat covers should protect the cloth and regular coats of wax should help protect the paint. I'm looking forward to using it, I think it'll be a nice daily to see out the last few years of easy petrol motoring.