BMW 318i

[benneh]

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.

Dude i just don't get why you put so much emphasis on optional extras. I think it's similar to most peoples not understanding perversions for older cars. But i mean, if it's cold, put the heater on. If it's warm, roll the window down. Surely mechanical spec has to be the ultimate decider?, by at least 90% mechanics to 10% tick-box-spec.

 

[benneh]

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

I found the engine and brakes/suspension cheap to have worked on. But on the other side of the coin i did pay 180 quid for a heat shield that goes above the exhaust, and 90 quid for a new fan (viscous fan though).

 

[[TW]Fox]

Dude i just don't get why you put so much emphasis on optional extras.

I don't, I put emphasis on standard equipment

I think it's similar to most peoples not understanding perversions for older cars. But i mean, if it's cold, put the heater on. If it's warm, roll the window down.

Rolling a window down simply allows hot smog from outside to come inside. It's not exactly the same as, say, air conditioning

Surely mechanical spec has to be the ultimate decider?, by at least 90% mechanics to 10% tick-box-spec.

My personal opinion is that mechanical specification is as as important as equipment levels. Until I have so much cash that I can buy a car for every eventuallity, a car has to do everything I want, well. This means it must be as good at not being a sweltering uncomfortable box of heat in a traffic jam as it is at blatting across country

 

[Replicant]

I can see where Fox is coming from with regards to the spec on the 91-99 3 series as it wasn't that great, but thats driver technology for you, how many here paid big money for a pentium 3, 6 years ago, the 318i is a decent car and at about £2 - 2.5K for a later fully specced model its a good buy imo, it wont cost you much to service and mantain (mine is around £500 per year) and gives me 15,000 miles per annum, the cars were designed with fleet/buyers, salesmen and family's in mind so the engines are reliable and trouble free on the whole, 10.4 to 60 isn't bad either really. When your finished with it in a few years you should get half what you paid and it will be easy to shift as BMW's sell themselves as they are well built and more of a drivers car than their rivals.

You want your first car to look nice have mega performance seccond, because otherwise you'll be taken to the cleaners with insurance costs and using that performance daily will undoubtably mean risks to your safety and more trips to the serivce guys.

To immediately dismiss a 3 series Bmw as bad value and innappropriate to the OP is really rather strange.

 

[[TW]Fox]

To immediately dismiss a 3 series Bmw as bad value and innappropriate to the OP is really rather strange.

Not when the OP is 17 years old, is struggling to insure it and it's a 1991 model which is not 10.4 to 60.

 

[Replicant]

10.4 0-60 check for yourself.

http://www.autozine.org/Classiccar/html/BMW/3er.html

 

[[TW]Fox]

10.4 0-60 check for yourself.

http://www.autozine.org/Classiccar/html/BMW/3er.html

Heh, what a brilliant little site

http://www.autozine.org/Classiccar/html/BMW/5er_E39.html <-- my latest bookmark

 

[Jez]

Heh, what a brilliant little site

http://www.autozine.org/Classiccar/html/BMW/5er_E39.html <-- my latest bookmark

You must be in love with that article having just read it

 

[Scania]

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

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.

Well, coming from a slow 318i, would'nt I think of my 140MPH 728i as "Fast"? - Like I've said before, twice our legal limit is fast enough for me! You amaze me with your reply's sometimes Fox! Your an expert of voicing opinion, it seems, on vehicles you hav'nt driven. I have the advantage of having owned and paid the running costs on the two cars I m on about the 318i isn't an expensive car to keep on the road, theres so many of them about spares are cheap and plentiful. If your not shy of a scrappys and a set of spanners, you have plenty of spares to find for buttons.

The 728i is in a different league costs wise, but, its an exec class luxury barge, which , for its considerable size but small engine, is indeed fast imo.



Yes an e46 is better than an e36, but, its in a different league price wise isn't it?

I see every need for him to drive about in an H reg 318, for a start, he's been given the damn thing!

You can have all the power in the world, but, you need ability to exploit it as I've had demonstrated to me many times in my old 318i by a racing driver friend of mine, quite another story that though.