E36 318i - any cop?

[TW]Fox;17184716 said:
What strange logic.

How good a car is as a banger-buy has absolutely nothing to do with how competent a car a perfect example is? There is no question that the E39 is a better car than the E34 but at this end of the market, condition rules technical ability - after all, you can't enjoy the E39's talents if you buy a nail with utterly ruined suspension thats falling to bits, can you?

What you've effectively done is be confused as to why everyone thinks the Nissan GT-R is great based on the fact that £20k buys a better Subaru Impreza :confused:

It happens with everything. A Mk3 Mondeo is a better car than a Mk2 Mondeo, but for £600, a Mk3 is a horrible buy and a Mk is better. A facelift E65 is better than the prefacelift example but for £10k you will buy a nasty facelift or a lovely prefacelift. I really dont get why its that hard to understand.

To sum up - never buy from the bottom of the market. A middile-top of the market E34 costs about the same as a bottom of the market E39 and as a result is a more prudent used buy at this budget. Because lets face it, if you don't mind pouring cash into a car you'd not be spending only a grand on the car in the first place.

I am honestly suprised you don't get this and decide instead to bang on about how obviously the E39 isn't worthy of the awards it won when it was a brand new car because 1k nails are not very good buys :confused:
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I think you understand and mis-understand me in equal measure here.

Strange logic? yeah, thats certainly me :o

As for the e39, I was thinking along the lines of most being considerably newer than the e34, obviously. I'm not saying the e39 was not worthy of its awards, quite the opposite.

If say the OP has £1k to spend, he'll have a bigger pool (cess pool?) of e39's to choose from and hopefully for him & his pocket a better chance of a decent one.

I get the feeling the OP would opt for another e34 anyway so this is a bit pointless - hey! its Motors!

Anyway, has the OP tried any e36's yet?
 
Thanks for all the advice and conversation so far.

On the back of this I spent today trawling around for E39s, just to familiarise. It seems if you dig long and hard enough, and are prepared for what may be involved, there are some sound cars in amongst the mire - but finding a car in the right colour, spec or trim is difficult at best and the majority of them are high milers.

I did find a very nice 528i SE in silver with leather, AC and 80k for £1700, which seemed pretty nice (private sale) but I'm not inclined to pay that much for something that doesn't have such a disinteresting presence on the road - I'd rather flip it onto a really nice E34 with spangly alloys :p

I wouldn't mind an E39 though but I must say I always preferred the interior of the E34 - it's not simply a looks thing. An E39 also has to be in the right spec for me (like yours Fox) to look as good as it can do, otherwise they just look a bit boring. Of course, boggo spec E34s can look equally dire but finding the right specification, or at least a sharp-looking one, of those is somewhat easier, and obviously a lot cheaper.

I'm still browsing and compiling at the moment......will keep you posted.

I sold my E30 this evening though, so I'm on the prowl for a replacement :)
 
The problem is that there are few E34's left and those that are left tend to be the nicer, interesting ones. Therefore, most E34's remain interesting.

There are still a great many E39's left - and the prefacelift SE's really just look like.. old BMW's these days.
 
True - but if you spend all day trawling for E34s, you soon get so sick of staring at all the 518i's, cloth-interior'd dozy M30 big six saloons and starship mileage 525i's that have been run to into the ground and back :D

I did find a really nice 525i - an automatic with cruise, aircon, the usual total closure, RCL, FSH, 'modern' non-metric alloys and a sensible mileage - it was even in a good colour combo (dark metallic blue with light grey leather interior) but the AC compressor has had it, and it's a long way away. Probably not a bad purchase, but I don't really want to get involved with repairing the AC system as if the compressor has had it, the rest of it's probably not far behind.
 
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You're the only person I've ever seen that can go through cars quicker than I do :p. You should really keep us up to date, I never knew you had an E30!

Completely agree with you on the E39 Interior and Road Presence thing. A Late model E34 is somehow infinitely more imposing and menacing than a pre-face lift E39.
 
Joshy said:
Completely agree with you on the E39 Interior and Road Presence thing. A Late model E34 is somehow infinitely more imposing and menacing than a pre-face lift E39.
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This is why I thought it was a shame when BMW chose a prefacelift SE E39 for the big lineup of all the 5 Series models when they did the press photos for the F10 launch :(
 
Yea, do miss the white one - this is/was the blue one:

IMG_6996.jpg


IMG_7027.jpg


IMG_7010.jpg


IMG_6943.jpg


IMG_6952.jpg


Full leather, AC, ABS, PAS, headlamp wash/wipe, 13-button OBC, electric windows and mirrors, electric sunroof, pretty well kitted out really :)
 
The only things I don't like in that E30 are the boat wheel and the fact it's an auto, otherwise. :cool:

The more I see things like the E30 I can't help but think I'd like something like that but then I realise whilst they are awesome they would also be bad for me. :(
 
Lashout_UK said:
Yea, do miss the white one - this is/was the blue one:

[IG]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/Lashout_UK/IMG_6996.jpg[/IMG]

[IG]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/Lashout_UK/IMG_7027.jpg[/IMG]

[IG]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/Lashout_UK/IMG_7010.jpg[/IMG]

[IG]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/Lashout_UK/IMG_6943.jpg[/IMG]

[IG]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m199/Lashout_UK/IMG_6952.jpg[/IMG]

Full leather, AC, ABS, PAS, headlamp wash/wipe, 13-button OBC, electric windows and mirrors, electric sunroof, pretty well kitted out really :)
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That is rather nice :eek:

You have an uncanny ability to seek out really, really nice examples of every car I've seen you own! That E30 looks loaded!

You really should start an ongoing thread with pics of every car purchase you make, just out of interest :) How often would you say you bought a new car, on average?


Is it just eBay? I wish I had the guts to chop and change like you :D
 
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