Plan for first car - BMW 318is

[Macleod1873]

okgo said:

OP READ THIS

YOUR INSURANCE IS GOING TO COST YOU THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF POUNDS, THE CAR IS WORTH NOTHING, YOU'LL PROBABLY CRASH IT ANYWAY, DO NOT WASTE ALL OF THAT MONEY TRYING TO POLISH A TURD!!!

My cheapest quote is £1822.59 (Legit) so feck off.

Edited by Macleod1873 on Wednesday 8th June 17:24

[Silent1]

Macleod1873 said:

okgo said:

OP READ THIS

YOUR INSURANCE IS GOING TO COST YOU THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF POUNDS, THE CAR IS WORTH NOTHING, YOU'LL PROBABLY CRASH IT ANYWAY, DO NOT WASTE ALL OF THAT MONEY TRYING TO POLISH A TURD!!!

My cheapest quote is £1822.59 (Legit) so feck off.

Edited by Macleod1873 on Wednesday 8th June 17:24

Is that TPF&T?
ETA. of course the EU ruling about non discrimination between genders will be helping him to an extent

[wackojacko]

okgo said:

OP READ THIS

YOUR INSURANCE IS GOING TO COST YOU THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF POUNDS, THE CAR IS WORTH NOTHING, YOU'LL PROBABLY CRASH IT ANYWAY, DO NOT WASTE ALL OF THAT MONEY TRYING TO POLISH A TURD!!!

People like this ^...... ignore.

Wealth of knowledge on PH but there is a horrible smell of key 'board warrior' on here sometimes......

[Macleod1873]

Silent1 said:

Macleod1873 said:

okgo said:

OP READ THIS

YOUR INSURANCE IS GOING TO COST YOU THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF POUNDS, THE CAR IS WORTH NOTHING, YOU'LL PROBABLY CRASH IT ANYWAY, DO NOT WASTE ALL OF THAT MONEY TRYING TO POLISH A TURD!!!

My cheapest quote is £1822.59 (Legit) so feck off.

Edited by Macleod1873 on Wednesday 8th June 17:24

Is that TPF&T?
ETA. of course the EU ruling about non discrimination between genders will be helping him to an extent

Yeah TPF&T mate.

[Macleod1873]

wackojacko said:

okgo said:

OP READ THIS

YOUR INSURANCE IS GOING TO COST YOU THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF POUNDS, THE CAR IS WORTH NOTHING, YOU'LL PROBABLY CRASH IT ANYWAY, DO NOT WASTE ALL OF THAT MONEY TRYING TO POLISH A TURD!!!

People like this ^...... ignore.

Wealth of knowledge on PH but there is a horrible smell of key 'board warrior' on here sometimes......

Yeah i appreciate the knowledge of some people. We normally use the words 'Keyboard Gangsters'

[JonnyFive]

Hmm.. Seems very cheap..

[James Dean]

So if you're voicing your opinion on the car and mods, you're a keyboard warrior?

[Jw Vw]

wackojacko said:

okgo said:

OP READ THIS

YOUR INSURANCE IS GOING TO COST YOU THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF POUNDS, THE CAR IS WORTH NOTHING, YOU'LL PROBABLY CRASH IT ANYWAY, DO NOT WASTE ALL OF THAT MONEY TRYING TO POLISH A TURD!!!

People like this ^...... ignore.

Wealth of knowledge on PH but there is a horrible smell of key 'board warrior' on here sometimes......

'keyboard warrior'

Too true sadly!

[james_gt3rs]

Macleod1873 said:

okgo said:

OP READ THIS

YOUR INSURANCE IS GOING TO COST YOU THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF POUNDS, THE CAR IS WORTH NOTHING, YOU'LL PROBABLY CRASH IT ANYWAY, DO NOT WASTE ALL OF THAT MONEY TRYING TO POLISH A TURD!!!

My cheapest quote is £1822.59 (Legit) so feck off.

Edited by Macleod1873 on Wednesday 8th June 17:24

Now add some mods and tell us what the quote is...

[cheesyblob]

While most of the ideas he has aren't to my taste, it will be his car and it's his choice. It's called an opinion. As for insurance, cars that size tend to be cheap to insure as there not commonly owned by teenagers, do when its modded it will still probably cost as much as a Corsa 1.4.

[Nuttah]

Ignore the people who say don't sticker bomb it because it will look st and don't get coil overs because they will ruin the handling, again while some of the mods are not to my taste i remember what its like to be young and want to mod your 1st car. it amazes me how the old miserable folk on here forget what its like to be young and cant understand why other people may have different tastes to themselves. its your car mate do as you please anybody that judges you based on your style and taste is an ignorant .

[okgo]

Why wouldn't you listen to me?

It's exactly right, it's a st car, and it's a total waste of money, and yes stats say he will crash it, like many young people I know including myself did.

I don't think the truth is being told regarding the quote as it's just too low.

As for being a keyboard warrior, i have and will happily tell any young man that what he is about to is silly and he will look back in 3 years time and wonder what the fk he was doing spending £k's on a bucket.

[300bhp/ton]

Nuttah said:

Ignore the people who say don't sticker bomb it because it will look st and don't get coil overs because they will ruin the handling, again while some of the mods are not to my taste i remember what its like to be young and want to mod your 1st car. it amazes me how the old miserable folk on here forget what its like to be young and cant understand why other people may have different tastes to themselves. its your car mate do as you please anybody that judges you based on your style and taste is an ignorant .

hay I'm not that old!! Only 31. And besides two of my motors are what you'd call pretty heavily modded.

[JAM35F]

Hi OP. Not sure why everyone is giving you such a hard time. 318is is a nice car to start with, I had one years ago when they were newer (paid £10k to give you an idea of time) and it was a great car. Mine was montreal blue like yours too, but had white/silver leather.

Even now they are well respected and I think more people on here should give you some credit for not going down the base model saxo/corsa route that alot of youngsters go for.

As for the mods, they may not be to everyones taste but its ultimately up to you. Choose them wisely, for instance coilovers and stripping the interior will benefit a track day car but on the street will cause you problems and you may regret doing it eventually. All up to you, depends what the car will ultimately be for.

Hope the mechanics training goes well, give it a few years and you'll be giving out the advice on here and be driving something you built for peanuts.

This is a good site so don't get disheartened by some reactions, you should see some of the rubbish cars that get praise, all depends who views and who wants an easy argument that day. Not always like that. Post up future progress and hopefully they'll get a better reaction. Cheers.

[davepoth]

Race car mods do make a car much worse as a road car in pretty much every respect. Fitting comfy seats and replacing the suspension with OEM bits will make it drive loads better. Then buck the trend and fit steelies with high profile tyres, and ride through those potholes like a boss.

[Egg Chaser]

Macleod1873 said:

My cheapest quote is £1822.59 (Legit) so feck off.

Is that with or without informing them or your planned modifications?

[mig25_foxbat2003]

OP - I'm sure you're aware, but nearly all interiors for the E36 have wear on the driver's bolster. I think BMW made them out of cheese or something. It is infinitely more economical to buy an interior with worn front seats and clean rears, then have the fronts restored by a professional re-Connoliser, rather than buy one of the rare ones (normally M "Vader" spec) which come up in good condition. To give you an idea, I've been quoted £160 plus VAT to restore my two front seats to as-new condition by this lot: http://www.leathercaredirect.com/car_renovation.ph...

[Colonial]

What a bland, middle of the road bunch a lot of you are.

[300bhp/ton]

Macleod1873 said:

I have read all of the replies, cheers to the decent folk.

Ive decided against welding the diff and fitting a rollcage(for now) after a chat with my dad.
Leaving the rear seats in and fitting a quality speakers and a subwoofer in the boot (mock if you like) Going to be looking for a second hand leather interior.
Still keen on lowering it and finding wheels that suit the car.
On the stickerbombing not im 50/50.

Cheers

Hi

Reckon I might have come across a bit hard. Well sorry for that.

Firstly - don't give up. I think a 318IS is a fairly decent car to start out in, in fact way better than decent. I had a 318i the other year and it was surprisingly capable and fun to drive.

And I'm all for mods, two of my cars run alternative engines and have had a lot of mods and custom work done to them. The only thing I would say is mod to make the car better though. So often it's so easy to just chuck tat at it and make it worse overall. I've seen mates do this and others. And while its amusing watching these cars literally bounce around a roundabout going way slower than a standard car could, it does nothing to improve your standing with people who actually know what they are doing.

So lower stiffer suspension is certainly a good idea. I'd start by researching what changes BMW make with the M Sport options and what parts an e36 M3 runs. Then look at the aftermarket and compare prices and specs. Too low and/or too stiff will ruin the car. And making a car handle is far more than just shocks and springs, its anti roll bars, bushes and geometry too.

Same story with the engine. I'm not familiar with tuning these, so don't know how well they respond. The only thing I'd say is, don't get carried away with HP on a 318IS as there is a 323, 328 and the M3. It might just be more cost affective to upgrade to a 6 cylinder than mess about eeking small gains from a 4 pot.

Either that or plan something a bit more extreme using engineering skills such as a custom engine swap. BMW, Jag, Lexus and even old Rover V8's can all be bought for fairly small sums. All could be retro fitted to an e36 and all could offer 250-350hp range of HP.

In truth I'm not even against a rollcage or bucket seats despite what I said previously. But I am very much of the opinion that any such car needs to backup such bold claims. If a diesel Nissan Pathfinder will still give you a run for your money in a straight line, then such extreme looks become more of a joke than a statement.

An easy HP upgrade might be too look into a nitrous oxide system. Something like this can either be sold on after or transferred to your next car.

Don't forget too look at upping the braking ability though, even if its just refreshing the standard parts.

Oh and I seriously think a welded diff is asking for trouble on the roads, its something I looked into for a bit of fun on my weekend toy/car. But it's too much of a compromise IMO. LSD swaps aren't cheap, but it would be the way to go. Although having said that, my 318i was fairly grippy and wouldn't even spin it's wheels in the dry. So I'm not sure an LSD is really needed unless you'll be driving on gravel.

Good luck!

[therealpigdog]

I'm 34 and people are still telling me that I'm mad to be modifying my 323 into a track car as it will never be worth what I'll have spent on it. It's my hobby, not an investment.

Do what you want with the car, as long as it is safe, insured and you don't get into a heap of debt doing it. I can think of worse things that you could 'waste' your money on.