martz0r

I am about to go look at a 98 328ic 5sp up at a local stealership... anyone have any know how on these cars as far as what tends to go bad and/ or needs repairs? Orion? haha... just wondering, because I don't want to be opening up another can of worms like I did with this current DD...

Pros? Cons?

Nice car, not sure of the mileage... if someone's there I'm going to talk to them about it... with about 100k on it, price should be about 9k give or take, correct?

Thanks...

Jordan Y.

Hey, I was just going to start a similar thread about the older E36 cars. Haha, I'll just hijack yours so we both get an answer.

How are the earlier E36 325s? I'm looking at 93-95 325is 5 speed coupes (not sure on the 92- I think I want the VANOS engine). I just started researching these cars on bimmerforums, and I still haven't gotten a full picture of the car.

martz0r

lol, bastard ^

if someone answers your question and not mine, i'm gonna whoop your ass!

Jordan Y.

Haha, heck, there's so few BMW guys on the board neither of us may get an answer. Sometimes baybimmers guys stop by, and Kyle on rare occasions, but that's about it.

The 328iC- that's the convertible, right? I've read a bit about the 328s. Apparently swapping an earlier 325 intake manifold makes for a good HP gain for cheap. Problem areas, well, from my limited reading on the older cars and the M3 (very limited) it seems that the cooling system is a weak spot, with plastic water pump impeller blades failing early, the radiator also failing, and the stock cooling fan sometimes exploding and destroying the radiator, which causes an instant overheat. I have read something about rear shock mounts ripping out of the car if some part isn't changed early and something else about some bushings going bad, but those may only be M3 problems. The M3 has a surprising number of problems actually, but the base cars aren't too bad. I wish I could give you more and better information but I still don't know enough myself.

martz0r

I dunno man,l ooks like we arent getting mayn repsonses on here... might have to ttry some bimmer forums

and ya thats the convertible... version. its a real nioce car.. i like them a lot...

ive had a few to many tonight soo i apologize in advance for the typos but ill problly see this tomorrow and laugh my ass off...

martz0r

Here's the car in question if anyone forgot...

Strokd85

curious as to what type of response you guys get. looking to pick up a mid-late 90s M3...

Jordan Y.

If you guys aren't already on Bimmerforums.com - The Ultimate BMW Forum , a friend of mine who has been looking into the E36 M3 for the last few weeks said it's the best board he's found. It's not as good as a lot of other boards I'm on, but I don't expect your average 325i driver to be as technically knowledgeable as somebody on a DSM or MR2 forum. The M3 in particular is a car I'd want to know all the pros and cons of before buying it- the cars really do have a lot of problem areas and you should know about them before getting into it. Nothing deal-breaking, but surprising stuff from company with the reputation of BMW.

jriggs

i would suggest asking questions on bimmerfourms.com as Jordan suggested, dtmpower.net, baybimmers.com (if the site is still active i haven't checked it in a long time), bimmerfest.com area also sites with tons of info, as with TR use the search function on them 1st before asking any question the guys on dtmpower have tons of knowledge but will tear you a new one for not searching if they brought something up in the past few months....

threw the guys on dtmpwer.net i was able to figure out what was causing my e39 to act up and they figured out a way to get a 00 car fixed under some bs glitch in bmw's paper work basically 2k repair for free always makes me smile

get the bmw they are reliable, only more reliable car i've ever driven or any other family member of mine has driven has been lexus's but on all our lexus cars we have had to replace condensers and such in the a/c which sucks

hope that helps some

MUGEN HONDA

i had a E36 325i 12 years ago....
a solid car to drive....good handling car....
a lot of mods....the tranny failed on me..so i had to
traded it in...otherwise it is a good car..