BMW E36 - good idea for under a grand?

BigToe · 10 Sep 2008 at 16:40

Looking to get a car for my girlfriend in the next couple of months and we have budgeted around £800 - £1000 for it. Seems like nowadays you can get a lot of metal for this sort of money and she really likes the look of the E36. She's 26 and has had her license for around 6 years. She hasn't driven much in those 6 years however and this will technically be her first car. I dare say that if we end up buying something interesting I'll do my fair share of driving over the weekends though

Is the E36 a good idea for under a grand? What would you recommend? I was showing her a few well spec'ed Mondeos in that price range and whilst she was willing to accept the idea, she much prefers the look of the BMW.

LiE · 10 Sep 2008 at 16:41

I'm not sure a BMW E36 is a good first car tbh.

Rotty · 10 Sep 2008 at 16:46

I sold a quite decent 318iS coupe to a member of these forums for 800 quid so it is perfectly possible

[TW]Fox · 10 Sep 2008 at 17:05

It's possible but it will be old, rusty and require frequent maintenance. If you are handy with a spanner and dont care about owning old cars fair enough but for most people you should avoid cheap BMW's.

BigToe · 10 Sep 2008 at 17:38

I have no problems with the image of an older car, but reliability would be a concern as I am no mechanic. I suppose I just want something built to a better standard than your usual small hatch in this price range.

paradigm · 10 Sep 2008 at 17:42

Engine wise, they are reliable. But with it being the age it will be, you'd have to either be prepared to replenish all the rubber mounts/bushes, and a lot of "wearing" parts before you drive it, or be prepared to replace them as and when is necessary.

There isn't a lot to go wrong on an e36, less so if you get a 6-pot (320i and upwards), and there aren't really any jobs that you cannot complete with a bit of mechanical knowledge, a trolley jack, a socket set, some axle stands, and a weekend.

Parts are a pound a dozen, either from scrapyards, third-party manufacturers, or even BMW (most parts are surprisingly CHEAP, its just their labour costs that make you wince), so getting parts to do your own maintenance/services/pre MOT checks really isn't a concern.

I'd personally budget £1500 for an e36 however.

benneh · 10 Sep 2008 at 18:02

Very reliable cars, if they have a decent service history and haven't been ragged to **** (as quite a few have) you can't go wrong

.

NickXX · 10 Sep 2008 at 18:03

£1,000 should get you a reasonable 318is coupe.

I.e. this, although I've changed the wheels:

[TW]Fox · 10 Sep 2008 at 18:03

benneh said:
you can't go wrong .

I do hate it when people say this about things where you certainly CAN go wrong. It's possible to go very wrong indeed when buying a BMW for a few hundred quid - especially if you are not mechanically minded.

If you know your cars, great. If not, probably better off with something more mundane.

paradigm · 10 Sep 2008 at 18:08

[TW]Fox;12475414 said:
I do hate it when people say this about things where you certainly CAN go wrong. It's possible to go very wrong indeed when buying a BMW for a few hundred quid - especially if you are not mechanically minded.

If you know your cars, great. If not, probably better off with something more mundane.

I agree with this almost fully, except I would change "if you know your cars" to "if you don't mind getting to know your car".As I have explained before, I knew little (bar basic servicing, oil changes, filter changes, brake pad/disc changes) of the mechanics behind cars, and the knowledge of pulling them apart and putting them back together until early this year.

It's all to do with not being afraid to get stuck in. If this is you, great. If not, then as Fox says, get something newer, but more mundane.

commited · 10 Sep 2008 at 18:30

[TW]Fox;12474968 said:
It's possible but it will be old, rusty and require frequent maintenance. If you are handy with a spanner and dont care about owning old cars fair enough but for most people you should avoid cheap BMW's.

It's provocative quotes like this that get you the slating that you complain about so much. Realistically, anything over a certain age doesn't necessarily mean it will be rusty. It will of course be "old", your 530i is old. Require frequent maintenance - depends on the purchase. The myth with old cars is much the same as the myth with high mileage cars - it all depends on the owner and history.

Rotty · 10 Sep 2008 at 18:32

NickXX said:
£1,000 should get you a reasonable 318is coupe.
[/]

are they new pics mate ?

have you touched up those bits of paintwork ? looks great

NickXX · 10 Sep 2008 at 18:37

Rotty said:
are they new pics mate ?

have you touched up those bits of paintwork ? looks great

Hi Rotty! Just the one patch on the driver's sill. Did that about 6 months ago and seems to have held up. Not done anything else except change the wheels and spend some time polishing it.

Pics are about 2 months old.

wassap · 10 Sep 2008 at 18:47

There seems to be a hell of a lot of dogs around the 91-93 years, well in the auctions anyway,they seem to rust a hell of a lot from what i can tell. Later models seem to be fine but then you pay more for them, budget £1500 and you should be ok.

I bought a cheap 328i coupe and tbh it needed that much replacing on it that it just wasnt worth the purchase, god bless ebay for helping me get rid of it.

Fropome · 10 Sep 2008 at 19:03

under a grand? i really wouldn't recommend it as *most* of them aren't going to be near top nick. But who knows, bargains can be had these days, especially closer to xmas time
I wouldn't recommend a bmw for a first car, regardless of if it's a small 4 pot or not.

benneh · 10 Sep 2008 at 21:22

[TW]Fox;12475414 said:
I do hate it when people say this about things where you certainly CAN go wrong. .

Well yah, it could have course go horribly wrong. But in reality it's not going to cost much more to fix (in terms of parts and labour) than similar cars of a similar age.
The smaller 4 pots are relatively bomb-proof. I once drove one for 120 miles at motorway speeds with no oil in without realising. After turning my music down I could hear what sounded like a gatling gun. Pulled into the service station, filled up, 2 mins later gattling gun noise calmed down and off i went. Of course that's just one story out of a million, but IMO they're a very reliable car, barring the well known (and pretty simple to fix) issues.

So yah, it can go wrong. But you increase the chance of trouble free motoring by buying a well looked after e36 IMO. It's old and not too pretty, but they were very well engineered.

DRZ · 10 Sep 2008 at 21:34

Mine cost me significantly less than £1k and has been fine up to now

Avalon · 10 Sep 2008 at 22:52

Hmm. She's not had a car before, has she driven a similar car at all ? You say the budget is 800-1,000 and you're not handy with a set of spanners. What sort of driving is she going to be doing and how many miles a year ? Will insurance/running costs/repairs be an issue ? I've seen people spend money on cars they liked only to find they struggled with the running costs and would have been better off with something else but the same can be said of any car if you get a bad example.

Dogbreath · 11 Sep 2008 at 08:50

[TW]Fox;12474968 said:
It's possible but it will be old, rusty and require frequent maintenance.

Old: That's a given, you don't get "new" for £1000. Kind of goes with the territory. You can certainly buy newer though if you look to other marques.

Rusty: I don't ever think I have seen a truly rotten E36, the odd blister or ropey wheel arch perhaps. Do they have a bad reputation for rust ?

Frequent maintenance: Again goes with the budget banger territory somewhat, The E36 is certainly dated and has a poor image, but they are robust, and most parts are cheap and easily available. The amount of work required outside of servicing will depend on the cars history.

BigToe · 11 Sep 2008 at 10:18

Ok, a bit more about her situation.

As said she is 26 and has had her license for 6 years. However, she hasn't owned a car during this period and therefore hasn't driven much. All she's got experience in driving is FWD hatchbacks; she hasn't driven RWD before.

Now, what the car will get used for. Basically, it's going to get used 5-6 times a week for a mere 20 miles (10 miles each way) work journey. Most of that is either big straight roads (40-50) or motorway. It's a very simple journey and the car is just something comfortable to reduce the current 3-buses-and-lots-of-walking scenario from more than an hour to just 15 mins. Ironically taking the car would probably be the safer option as she currently has a long walk down a busy lorry-filled 50-road with barely any pavement!

With that said, economy/running costs aren't a huge issue as work journeys will be around 100 to 120 miles per week, mostly in top gear unless there is traffic (unlikely due to the often unsociable hours she has, again another reason for the car - sometimes she can't even get the bus). So that's why I was looking for something more comfortable and screwed together better than a little hatch. It will probably get used over the weekend for leisure and more than likely will be driven by me during this time. It doesn't matter whether it's diesel or petrol as long as it's decent, although I would imagine most of the picks in this range are going to be petrol.

My head is saying that maybe the E36 isn't the best option (even though my heart says otherwise!). I was surprised and chuffed when she said she liked the look of the E36 and that got me started. What else could I look at given the budget?