benneh said:
keep the 318, maybe look at some decent wheels and lower it a tad, and evoila, you have a lovely car
No, you will have a 15 year old bottom of the range BMW with black plastic bumpers, windup windows, hard plastic seat backs and some 'decent wheels'.
To be fair, a 15 year old bottom of the range Ford Sierra would be naff as well, and in 5 years time, so will a 15 year old bottom of the range Mk2 Mondeo.
And although this is of no concern to a new driver, for a car attracting a Group 12 insurance premium, 11 seconds to 60 is also 'dog slow'.
I'm sorry but BMW on a budget is just a bad idea. You'll get something ancient and rubbish. If you want a BMW, you need to either...
a) Go for a true classic, like rare. The E30 he has, although I dislike the E30 personally, is a nice car. Well kept, decent, classic BMW.
b) Get a big budget, and buy a proper one.
In a few years time, maybe the E36 328's might reach the same sort of status as the nicer E30's now, but for the time being the E36, especially the 316/318 variants, is simply a *****-prestige-banger (Late 328 Coupe and M3 excluded).