BMW 318i

Soldato
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I am sure direct line are doing the insurance where all named drivers get NCB.

It may be worth a try to see what kinds of deals you can get with them with your parents on the policy too. They even offer discount for multiple cars in a household, so may be worth getting anyone else in your household to move insurers. Could work out cheaper for everyone!
 
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S@njay said:
I am sure direct line are doing the insurance where all named drivers get NCB.

Yup, they offer some nice ways to get cheap insurance (I am with them) without resorting to the rather dodgy named driver thing.

Ring them up or do an online quote before you decide to sell it.

I am 19 with 0NCB and have a 2.0 laguna in my name, fully comp, for £900. Yeah I could get a 1.25 fiesta and save myself a few hundred on insurance, but tbh a big car with all the toys > poorly spec'd shopping trolley.
 
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Caporegime
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penski said:
Why not. As long as they're secure within the spring cup they'll be fine.

*n


Would you seriously be happy (as a 17 year old with minimal driving experience) with springs that are 15 years old that have been chopped meaning less travel and just as soft as before?

I wouldnt.
 
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Morba said:
Would you seriously be happy (as a 17 year old with minimal driving experience) with springs that are 15 years old that have been chopped meaning less travel and just as soft as before?

I wouldnt.

I would.

But when you can get new springs for virtually pennies and cut them, what's the problem?

*n
 
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To the OP, your 17, get real and buy a car you can afford to run and also can drive with your serious lack of experience !

The BMW is a high group insurance for a reason....
 
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insuring yourself on that car is only worth your while if you have money to throw at it. it would make more sense to sell the 318, buy something smaller and cheaper (which would be newer for what you'd get for your money)..you've still not made a loss at this point remember! you'll then be quids in when it comes to insurance AND some spare cash to treat yourself too... :)
 
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Cut springs are horrible! You're hacking through precisely tempered and hardened steel and you change the way the spring works....besides the fact you're now operating the damper under loads it was not designed to handle and risk crashing against various stops all the time.

Just get real lowered springs, much nicer solution.
 
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Right, lets try and actualy answer the guys questions.

I'd expect insurance on a 3 series would be too much, but you won't find out untill you start asking insurance companies.

Oddly enough they know a lot more about the price of insurance then we do.

Try Liverpool Victoria, Quinn Direct and Bell Direct. If that doesn't work try a few more companies. It might be worth asking them to quote you on some other cars while your at it so you can compare.

Some other things to consider, BMWs hold their value very well. You will be able to sell this car and get a much newer car from a more boring car make.

Also although you thing this car is really cool their are plenty of people who think the 318 is a car for people so despirate to drive something with a BMW badge they'll buy anything.
 
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[TW]Fox said:
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).

Dude it never took 11 seconds for my 318i to reach 60. In the wet it was great fun, and in the wet/dry it really did handle well.
I understand your dislike of paying over the odds for a 15 yr old car with a BMW badge, but it doesnt change the fact that they do handle well, they are fun and they are reliable and cheap to fix (unless you're the type of person who likes to take a 15 yr old car to the dealership). And really age doesnt matter. I cold go out and send 1500 on a 11 yr old e36 and have a great time driving it, or i could spend the same amount on a mondeo/rover 600 (which i have) etcetc and be bored solid.
It's not all about spec dude.
 
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I think you vastly overestimate the 318 and underestimate the Mondeo. I was keen not to bring Mondeos into this thread as the point of the thread tends to get lost as 10-15 'OMG LOL MUNDANO' people descend into the thread, but they are far from dull to drive. I find driving the Mondeo great fun, if it bored me solid it'd have gone long ago. But this, I feel, is beside the point of the thread.

Your 318 didn't feel like 11 seconds, but then we always remember our cars favourably, don't we? My Xantia didn't feel as slow as 11.6 seconds to 60 but I've no reason to doubt the performance figures.

The 318 is 115bhp - it has a decent enough chassis, shared with the far more competent 328i, but it doesn't have the power to really exploit this. I know R124 will claim otherwise, but then he also claims his 728 is fast :p

As for reliability, BMW's, especially older ones, are not what could be accurately reffered to as 'exceptionally reliable cars'. You'll get people who've never had a days trouble but on the whole, stuff does break, and stuff often costs money to fix. This is why I'm having to ensure I have a surplus of cash after I buy one myself, so I can fix it when, not if, something breaks.

This is fine if the money is there to sort it, but if the money is there there is simply no need to be driving around in an H reg 318.
 
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[TW]Fox said:
I think you vastly overestimate the 318 and underestimate the Mondeo. I was keen not to bring Mondeos into this thread as the point of the thread tends to get lost as 10-15 'OMG LOL MUNDANO' people descend into the thread, but they are far from dull to drive. I find driving the Mondeo great fun, if it bored me solid it'd have gone long ago. But this, I feel, is beside the point of the thread.

Your 318 didn't feel like 11 seconds, but then we always remember our cars favourably, don't we? My Xantia didn't feel as slow as 11.6 seconds to 60 but I've no reason to doubt the performance figures.

The 318 is 115bhp - it has a decent enough chassis, shared with the far more competent 328i, but it doesn't have the power to really exploit this. I know R124 will claim otherwise, but then he also claims his 728 is fast :p

As for reliability, BMW's, especially older ones, are not what could be accurately reffered to as 'exceptionally reliable cars'. You'll get people who've never had a days trouble but on the whole, stuff does break, and stuff often costs money to fix. This is why I'm having to ensure I have a surplus of cash after I buy one myself, so I can fix it when, not if, something breaks.

This is fine if the money is there to sort it, but if the money is there there is simply no need to be driving around in an H reg 318.

But then i suppose the same could be said for any car dude. If it breaks it costs money. And really, they all break at some point. I was merely pointing out that if you were to have a problem with a 318i, it's not an expensive car to have fixed, they are easy to work on and parts are quite cheap. The engines are very simple, gearbox is solid and the clutch is designed to handle a lot more power than the 318 puts out. Only real thing to be certain of is that the rear bushes will go.

Although the M40 was stated as 115bhp from the factory i think that's a little understated. Mine made 128 on the RR and was pretty much standard (not that 13 bhp makes much difference). And i'm pretty sure mine did 0-60 in about 9 seconds with a good thrashing.

I don't really think the Mondeo is totally the most boring drive in the world, but it really doesnt compare to even a base spec 318i. I would pick this car over a mondeo, and i've driven both. When you drive a mondeo you have no real connection to the car, no feel of the road, and no feeling of ultimate control over the vehicle. In even a 318 it's not like that. You feel connected and in control. If you're going around an island a little too quick it doesnt just start to understeer randomly, you get plenty of warning and then the back end starts to let go (which is no bad thing IMO). A fun car, firm chassis, and maybe a bit underpowered, but goes well with a bit of a thrashing and it will murder a mundano in the twisties :p ;) .

And anyway, it's free, and more than insurable :).
 
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Tricky one to be fair. They all have problems now, they are getting old. The only good thing is that your grandad has owned the car so you know how its been treated and how reliable it is. The E36 is a fairly solid car, but the early ones have some nasty build quality issues:/

With E30's you just never know, some are complete dogs now! The first E30 I ever had was a 316i, it was underpowered, slow, expensive for what it was, unreliable and sometimes a pain. But at the end of the day, I loved the thing. As always fox makes the most sense, and its hard to argue with his posts:) E30's are not really about cheap easy motoring now in my honest opinion, but they are a lot of fun.
 
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benneh said:
I don't really think the Mondeo is totally the most boring drive in the world, but it really doesnt compare to even a base spec 318i. I would pick this car over a mondeo, and i've driven both. When you drive a mondeo you have no real connection to the car, no feel of the road, and no feeling of ultimate control over the vehicle.

I'm sorry but this is just simply not true. If you have, as you say, driven a Mondeo, I can only assume the example you drove was well past it (As they get older there are more and more abused examples around). It is reknowned for it's ability as a drivers car unlike any other in its class.

I've not had the pleasure of an E36 318 but I have taken out a T plate E46 316, with similar capabilities. It was... merely nice. It didn't have enough power to be enjoyable.

In even a 318 it's not like that. You feel connected and in control. If you're going around an island a little too quick it doesnt just start to understeer randomly, you get plenty of warning and then the back end starts to let go (which is no bad thing IMO). A fun car, firm chassis, and maybe a bit underpowered, but goes well with a bit of a thrashing and it will murder a mundano in the twisties :p ;) .

We are going to have to agree to disagree. My opinion is that you are wearing rose tinted spectacles when reffering to the 318 and being excessivly harsh on the Mondeo.

Now, I'm no anti-BMW person, quite the opposite, but old 318's are gash. Whilst it's only the E46 I've driven, I've been in E36's and was left thoroughly unimpressed. It's built well but that was about all I could find that I liked.

And lets face it, when its your first ever car, the fact you can get leet oversteer is probably something you'll never, ever benefit from, whereas the fact it's gutless, has a low-rent interior, low levels of standard equipment and empties your bank when it breaks is something you will be affected by.

You need to be a proper enthusiast to take on an older BMW in my opinion, anything but and the hassle involved in doing it will not be worth it.
 
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a mate of mine at work had a 318is

he too was young and bought as a fist car with daddys money. First snow fall he stuck it in a hedge wrecking the msport splitter at the front and generally making a mess of the bumper.

RWD cars are not the best cars to have as first cars. The insurance will be stupid, and running costs high. Sell it and get something more practical.
 
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The 320 is generally the one NOT to buy. E30 or E36! They wont be much quicker than a 318i, though they are smooth and sound nice. They drink fair amounts of fuel, and in all honesty have no real advantage of buying one over a 325i especially at the age we are talking about.
 
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TiZoR said:
so do the 320 bmws get tared with the same brush as the 318s etc

IMHO (remember, all this is purely my own opinion) the only 320 worthy of consideration is the later E46 version. These have a 170bhp 2.2 Straight Six, hit 60 in under 8 seconds, and when well specified are really rather nice in both Coupe and Saloon guise.
 
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[TW]Fox said:
We are going to have to agree to disagree. My opinion is that you are wearing rose tinted spectacles when reffering to the 318 and being excessivly harsh on the Mondeo.

And lets face it, when its your first ever car, the fact you can get leet oversteer is probably something you'll never, ever benefit from, whereas the fact it's gutless, has a low-rent interior, low levels of standard equipment and empties your bank when it breaks is something you will be affected by.


I think we will have to agree to disagree. And i suppose to a degree i do have rose tinted glasses. But it's still a nice drivers car (if a little under-powered), and i suppose it's low spec (though the last thing i look for in a car is stick on spec).
Must say though i did enjoy oversteer from practically the day i started driving alone, and that was in a 32 year old VW beetle (i'm not joking!).

and empties your bank when it breaks is something you will be affected by.

Lies i tell you :p.
 
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benneh said:
Lies i tell you :p.

I genuinelly wish it was lies, but sadly not. It appears when things break on BMW's, they usually cost an arm and a leg to fix. I would love to be able to agree with you that they are the most reliable cars ever becuase I could spend the surplus I've collected for fixing stuff on some 18" wheels or something :p
 
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