RE: Shed Of The Week: BMW 318iS

[pengers]

Seriously good shed, must be amongst the last of this model to be worth sub 1k, such a great car for a 20s fella, great driving fun, I still have a picture of mine as my screensaver!

[Quhet]

Fantastic shed this week - absolute steal at a grand

[foggy1974]

ambuletz said:

yme402 said:

Well worth the money. Just not too sure if I would want to drive around with 'IS' on my bootlid though......

really? you think everyone is going to point and laugh at you? or even give a st?

Wow, calm down! I think he was referring to ISIS rather than being a badge snob, clearly the humour was lost on you.

[Fattyfat]

I had one of these back in 2005, great car and surprisingly peppy for a 4cyl.

[acme]

aquarianone said:

Something like this...

https://www.bmwvin.com/

Cheers

[acme]

court said:

Go to http://www.bmw-warranty.co.uk/ and put the reg in, it'll return the cars VIN. Take the last 7 digits of the VIN, in this case EU05484 and put it into one of the many VIN decoders on the internet, I use http://bimmer.work and it'll return the factory spec list

Appreciated.

[PaulsM3]

I had one of these back in the day, after my E30 318is. Quickly replaced it with a E36 328i sport.
The E36 318is is nice enough but too heavy for that engine after having an E30. A tidy 328 now would still be a good laugh and the one to go for if you can't stretch to an M car- feels much lower and racier than an E46 330ci.

[Nuppy]

Great shed, but then I may be slightly biased, except mines the 328i

Edited by Nuppy on Friday 21st April 13:13

[skylarking808]

Lovely shed.

It is unusual to find an E36 with the interior or indicators it left the factory with, at least this has original wheels.
Despite improvements with the M44 the car does not have the vigour/lightness of the E30 318is but is a great steer compared to moderns.

[nav p]

acme said:

nav p said:

This car actually left the factory with turquoise cloth so seats/door cards have been swapped

It would have had black carpets with the black leather not the green carpet which is what it had from new.

Intrigued how you know this, is there a website etc where you can check the exact build spec of a BMW?

Cheers

PS this is not the usual PH 'dig', I'm genuinely intrigued to know for other BM makes, I know you can do this for other makes but my knowledge of BM's in this sphere is limited, cheers.

I used to sell them and that carpet was with turquoise seats only

Car looks nice enough though

[s m]

Fattyfat said:

I had one of these back in 2005, great car and surprisingly peppy for a 4cyl.

It's like a slower GT86 for people with a much smaller budget.


At this price I'd also be tempted by an IS200 Sport for a smoother 6-pot in the same performance bracket and 4-doors. Torsen diff as standard

[ambuletz]

foggy1974 said:

ambuletz said:

yme402 said:

Well worth the money. Just not too sure if I would want to drive around with 'IS' on my bootlid though......

really? you think everyone is going to point and laugh at you? or even give a st?

Wow, calm down! I think he was referring to ISIS rather than being a badge snob, clearly the humour was lost on you.

lol, that didn't cross my mind at all. I don't think anyone would think that tbh.

[PistonBroker]

A mate's girlfriend had one just like this in the early noughties and he thought it was good. He'd had 2 x E30 325i's in the past.

I've only ever considered them a donor lately - get a less desired E30 and stick the engine from this in it. An E30 318is on the cheap.

[forsure]

ambuletz said:

Looks like a nice tidy car. The miss-matching indicators need sorting ASAP, dunno how the owner slept at night.

If anyone here buys it come and see me, I've got an e36 with amber front indicators and white rears!

We'll do a swap (I want the ambers).

[Superflow]

Good cars.

Dad had one in mid 90's in black which i would take out for a spin when he wasn't looking, it really handled well.He eventually passed it on to my sister who wrote it off by driving into the back of a scaffold truck while on an on slip road with her newborn in the car.

[D200]

s m said:

Fattyfat said:

I had one of these back in 2005, great car and surprisingly peppy for a 4cyl.

It's like a slower GT86 for people with a much smaller budget.


At this price I'd also be tempted by an IS200 Sport for a smoother 6-pot in the same performance bracket and 4-doors. Torsen diff as standard

99% of IS200 Sport's are total dogs, especially at that money. No way on earth will you even a half decent one for 1k, even 2k they all are total scrap

I went to look at some recently for a friend in the 2 to 3k region, all described ‘as new’ or driving perfect’ etc – but all were utter dogs good only for breaking!

Only good one worth buying was nearly 4k. And at that money not worth it, better RWD 6 Cylinder cars with much more power and much better mpg. IS200s are very sore on fuel for the performance. An E36 M3 has better mpg for example

[s m]

D200 said:

s m said:

Fattyfat said:

I had one of these back in 2005, great car and surprisingly peppy for a 4cyl.

It's like a slower GT86 for people with a much smaller budget.


At this price I'd also be tempted by an IS200 Sport for a smoother 6-pot in the same performance bracket and 4-doors. Torsen diff as standard

99% of IS200 Sport's are total dogs, especially at that money. No way on earth will you even a half decent one for 1k, even 2k they all are total scrap

I went to look at some recently for a friend in the 2 to 3k region, all described ‘as new’ or driving perfect’ etc – but all were utter dogs good only for breaking!

Only good one worth buying was nearly 4k. And at that money not worth it, better RWD 6 Cylinder cars with much more power and much better mpg. IS200s are very sore on fuel for the performance. An E36 M3 has better mpg for example

Trick is to buy the 1%

[D200]

s m said:

Trick is to buy the 1%

Dammit, why didn't I think of that

[GreatGranny]

Great cars.

I had one for my 120 mile a day commute and it was 100% reliable for the 2 years I had it.

Car I definitely regret selling.

They will start going up in price soon.
Some of the better low mileage ones already are well above a grand and nearer £2k.

[BFleming]

I've just remembered I bought one of these for my brother's mate a few years ago; picked it up in NW London from a house with about 25 people living there (beds in every room), but it was a good straight car, drove like a charm - made we really want one. The guy still has it, but showed up at my brother's house one day saying it felt awful to drive... one look at the near flat tyres all round & that one was explained (I kid you not). Tyres back up to 30-something PSI all round & he was good to go again!