3 series

[Gothy]

hey guy's.

I took a test drive of a BMW 3 series the other week.
It was the 2.8 litre petrol, coupe, sport.

Whilst driving it there were a few things I noticed that were off,
It was weird to drive, the pedals were really far to the right, does this get uncomfortable after a long drive?
The throttle pedal was really stiff too, is that normal for these cars?

I liked the smooth power delivery, it wasn't too much to handle.
Is there anything in particular the goes wrong with the 3 series I should look for when buying?

Im looking at buying a new car in a month or two, I've got about £3k to spend, but i dont have to spend all of that if there's a nicer older car that catches my eye.
The cars im looking at at the moment are;
bmw 3 series, 2.3 and 2.8
toyota supra 3l non turbo (cheaper than the twin turbo by about £5k)
mitsubishi Evo VI

Cheers
Chris

Edited by Gothy on Sunday 14th February 18:21

[Matt UK]

328 could be e36 or e46. What model year are you looking at?

Edited by Matt UK on Monday 15th February 08:34

[Gothy]

it was a 1995 or 6 If i remember correctly
it was an E36 shape

[MitchT]

Gothy said:

It was weird to drive, the pedals were really far to the right, does this get uncomfortable after a long drive?

It's never made me uncomfortable, but then I'm used to it. Maybe if you're coming from a car without offset pedals it may be more of a problem.

[LC23]

I have never found the pedals uncomfortable and because I have been driving BMWs for a few years now, I find other cars with "straight on" pedals feel odd!

As for the stiff throttle, probably just needs a new throttle cable. At a local garage this is around a £45 fix all in.

[msh]

Check that its had the engine changed for Alusil block if its 95-98. Alot of cars in this year had Nikasil engine wear and started to use alot of oil.

I have owned a 2.8 in both E46 and E36 and its a really strong engine and has lots of power. 196 bhp as i re-call.
Front ball joints can be a bit weak as well, but these are not expensive to replace on E36.

At £2000 - £3000 overall condition will be main buying point IMO.