328i or 325i? [E36]

[TW]Fox · 11 Oct 2008 at 20:05

paradigm said:
They aren't "considerably" more to service, from the research I have done, and whilst the ///M specific parts carry a premium, use spares are a-plenty. Also, I think your view on my skills with a socket set are skewed somewhat "just because you are UNABLE to change one shock absorber" doesn't mean everyone is the same

Obviously I am completely mistaken, M3's are really cheap to run and the fact servicing and reputable independants and main dealers is almost double that of a conventional 6 pot is simply because they are liars ripping customers off

My mechanic skills are non existent, I wouldnt even attempt to change anything by myself, so your shot missed

[TW]Fox · 11 Oct 2008 at 20:13

paradigm said:
No they aren't. They aren't slow by any stretch of the imagination, they are well paced infact, but they certainly aren't "very very" rapid.

Compared to most other cars on the road, they are. Somebody on PH did a pretty cool graph showing average performance of all cars on sale today. Less than 10% hit 60 in under 7 seconds.

Being in the top 10% of cars on the road performance wise is pretty rapid, frankly

Not to us, but to most people.

digisatman · 11 Oct 2008 at 20:22

paradigm said:
No they aren't. They aren't slow by any stretch of the imagination, they are well paced infact, but they certainly aren't "very very" rapid.

bro used to own one, and felt rapid to me anyway, nice car.

[TW]Fox · 11 Oct 2008 at 20:24

My only criticism of the idea of an S3 is the pathetic price. If they were more keenly priced I think they'd be probably the best hot hatch without question.

digitalwolf · 14 Nov 2008 at 10:54

Digging this out again!

We found a 328i in superb condition, he took it for a test drive and said he really liked it.

I personally would have had it if it was at a main dealer, as I could have done a part ex.

Anyway, he went back on his decision because the NCAP rating is poor.........

Oh and he thinks an old BMW will be a money pit! This true?

[TW]Fox · 14 Nov 2008 at 11:06

digitalwolf said:
Anyway, he went back on his decision because the NCAP rating is poor.........

Its a car built before NCAP. Therefore its not designed to pass a series of crap tests.

Oh and he thinks an old BMW will be a money pit! This true?

This much is true.

Wicksta · 14 Nov 2008 at 11:07

For 4k I'd start to look in e46 territory now. I just picked up a black 328ci (coupe) for £2900, mint, although it was off a friend who was trading it in.

[TW]Fox · 14 Nov 2008 at 11:11

Mint except for a torn subframe

Wicksta · 14 Nov 2008 at 11:13

[TW]Fox;12894522 said:
Mint except for a torn subframe

I knew you were going to say that.

But that is a good point really, if you do start looking at E46's then check the boot floor underneath where the subframe mounts:

Thankfully it looks like BMW will be fixing mine for free but it's worth thinking about!

digitalwolf · 14 Nov 2008 at 12:37

[TW]Fox;12894489 said:
Its a car built before NCAP. Therefore its not designed to pass a series of crap tests.

This much is true.

Yes but he's a safety geek.

He's thinking about a Clio 172 as it has a 4* NCAP. LOL

digitalwolf · 14 Nov 2008 at 12:38

Wicksta said:
For 4k I'd start to look in e46 territory now. I just picked up a black 328ci (coupe) for £2900, mint, although it was off a friend who was trading it in.

Thats a steal of a price!

[TW]Fox · 14 Nov 2008 at 13:33

digitalwolf said:
Yes but he's a safety geek.

He's thinking about a Clio 172 as it has a 4* NCAP. LOL

You miss my point. The Clio has a good NCAP score because it was introduced after NCAP came into being - ie, Renault were able to design the car around the criteria for the test. The E36 however was designed purely to be a reasonable safe car - there was no NCAP test.

A key example of why NCAP results are crap. When BMW launched the new 5 Series, it scored 4 stars. So they made a modification, had it re-tested, and its now a 5 star car.

The warning?

An alert which sounds if you dont have your seatbelt on.

NCAP is full of crap like this.

[TW]Fox · 14 Nov 2008 at 13:34

digitalwolf said:
Thats a steal of a price!

He did buy it off a mate who was trading in and sold it to him instead of trade it in for a similar amount, though.

Firestar_3x · 14 Nov 2008 at 13:48

Reason behind it is because NCAP adds up the Passive and Active safety systems, which to a point is fair enough.

You should really look at the crash ratings and loading on the occupants rather than the overall score.

Wicksta · 14 Nov 2008 at 14:39

[TW]Fox;12895467 said:
He did buy it off a mate who was trading in and sold it to him instead of trade it in for a similar amount, though.

Apparently the dealer he was trading it in at had already listed the car for £4000, I guess to make a quick sale, so it definitely would have fallen in the OP's budget.

digitalwolf · 14 Nov 2008 at 21:08

Out of interest I had a look at the E46 market today and it's flooded with 318Ci's in the £4k region.

Saw one 330ci sport at £5k the rest seem to be around £6k.

Wicksta · 14 Nov 2008 at 23:05

digitalwolf said:
Out of interest I had a look at the E46 market today and it's flooded with 318Ci's in the £4k region.

Saw one 330ci sport at £5k the rest seem to be around £6k.

Have a look around for 328ci's as well, a 330ci will probably be too new.

Scania · 15 Nov 2008 at 06:58

digitalwolf said:
Hi there.

My mate has decided to go German for his next car and has £4k to spend.

I pushed him in the direction of the E36 6 pots.

Which one is best out of the 325i and 328i?

(3 door sport)

Cheers.

£4k should (in this current economic climate) get you into an e46 328i - forget the e36 for that kind of price unless, you drop on a mint e36 M3 which incidentally will cost a lot more than a 328i to run properly not that the e36 328i is a bad car - it is not - but, a £4k e36 M3 would be so much better.

ZG002 · 15 Nov 2008 at 08:47

id feel safer crashing in a bm 3 series than i would in a lil clio lol. Predestrians might not find it as comfortable. lol

Griffo · 16 Nov 2008 at 00:48

[TW]Fox;12895454 said:
You miss my point. The Clio has a good NCAP score because it was introduced after NCAP came into being - ie, Renault were able to design the car around the criteria for the test. The E36 however was designed purely to be a reasonable safe car - there was no NCAP test.

A key example of why NCAP results are crap. When BMW launched the new 5 Series, it scored 4 stars. So they made a modification, had it re-tested, and its now a 5 star car.

The warning?

An alert which sounds if you dont have your seatbelt on.

NCAP is full of crap like this.

I hope the NCAP people all have a nasty fall, at the same time and can't go into work for 3 weeks.