advice on which bimmer

Im looking into getting a bmw. Id be coming off a 93 audi. I am considering a 92+ 325 is, 318is, or 318ti. Are there any major problems with these cars??? what is the tunability of all of them as well? The 318 seems to have a tiny engine, is there a good way to tune that up a notch? Im looking to spend under 8k on this car, the budget is a bit low going into school. Thanks in advance!

I had a '92 325i (4 door sedan) that I purchased new. I logged 200,000 miles on it before trading it for an '02 330xi.

I have no experience with the 318 motors, but I can tell you this about the 325's: The damn thing was bullet proof. Powerful, reliable, and it moved that sedan without any hesitation. It never leaked a drop of oil or coolant in all the years I owned it. (I must admit that it was ALWAYS dealer serviced, oil changed every 4,000 miles).

My rule of thumb: When it doubt, go for the bigger motor.

Also, the 325's had features that might not always have been offered in 318's (leather, cruise, computer, etc....I think). I'm just saying that you might find 325s to be better outfitted.

Good luck.

Originally posted by maybeabmw
Are there any major problems with these cars

Every single BMW owner I have known is pissed off at BMW because of mechanical defects. A good friend of mine saved for many years to buy his (he was going to buy a Corvette), and has had to bring it to the dealer every month for some repair. He says he gets a free detail job whenever they do warranty repairs, but that doesn't sound like a good deal to me...

All I can say is that DMC12 obviously doesn't know many BMW owners.

By the way I notice you don't list what car you own - is that because you're afraid to let anyone know what you own! - in case they criticize it.

Rossco
1996 E36 320i

Very well said. I have a 03' 325xi and i have not had a SINGLE problem in 4 months of owning the car. :)

Originally posted by Sniperseal
Very well said. I have a 03' 325xi and i have not had a SINGLE problem in 4 months of owning the car. :)

Please don't take this as a flame because it's not, but 4 months isn't a long time. a freakin KIA can go for 4 months w/o a problem....but going on the 5th.........................:rolleyes:

Originally posted by Rossco
All I can say is that DMC12 obviously doesn't know many BMW owners.

By the way I notice you don't list what car you own - is that because you're afraid to let anyone know what you own! - in case they criticize it.

Rossco
1996 E36 320i

I don't need to list the DMC12... its in my name. The other cars are inconsequential. Also, listing too much personal info on the Web is just plain stupid.

Peace:bandit:

I own a 92 318is, great car. I have leather,computer but no cruise. As for the engine, its not powerful but its not incredibly slow either, great car for a student (like me). The engine sounds nice and does 0-60 in about 10 seconds, which isnt that fast but isnt that bad either. Besides the ladies will love it and u cant go wrong with that. I've had no experience with the 325is but my guess is if you have the bucks its the better choice for the extra punch out of the inline 6.

remeber the old commercial for some car company where they welded the engine compartment shut... except for the oil changes you can do that to the bmw's currently i own 4 of them mostly late 80's and early 90's all run great and all have well over 150,000 miles on them. any one who has owned a bimmer and had problems obviously was doing something wrong.

Originally posted by tenzoracerevovii
a freakin KIA can go for 4 months w/o a problem....but going on the 5th.........................:rolleyes:

But you've always got that 5 year warranty:D Well, in Canada anyways.

A guy on my street has a 330ci. Nothing wrong with it...still growls like an underfed M3!:coolguy:

330 anywhere in you price range?

Originally posted by DMC12


Every single BMW owner I have known is pissed off at BMW because of mechanical defects. A good friend of mine saved for many years to buy his (he was going to buy a Corvette), and has had to bring it to the dealer every month for some repair. He says he gets a free detail job whenever they do warranty repairs, but that doesn't sound like a good deal to me...

Is this guy kidding?!?!?:rolleyes: The DMC12 was notoriously a mechanical piece of crap. What are you doing on a BMW forum if you think thy are such terrible cars. Moderator?!?! phttt.

I have 30,000 miles on my 2001 330i, no mechanical problem at all.

I've owned 2 BMW's which I bought brand new. one is 1988 325 which now has 217,000 miles on it and the other is 1994 325i convertable which has 105,000 miles on it. On both cars other than the oil changes and tune ups which I have done myself, I have not had to go for any major repairs other than the standard repairs and maintenances. Other than the water pump which seems to go out every 75 to 80 thousand miles on the 88 and 100000 miles on the 94, and also the fuel pump in the fuel tank of the 88 model which goes out about the same mileage every thing else is just great .

BMWs are above average for reliability. Much better than VW Group products.

The 3 series has always had very good reliability even compared to other BMW products. Mostly because they lack many of the electro-gizmos of higher BMW's and when they do get them the technology has been around for awhile and "perfected."

Have had 3 BMW's, '96 328is, '00 328i and E46 M3 problems:

'96 - Bad heated mirror

'00 - Loose driver's door weather-stripping

M3 - nothing so far

The cars are solid, very solid. And I'm very hard on my cars, in 7 years I've gone through 5 sets of tires, 4 sets of brake pads, 2 sets of shocks and most of the front suspension bushing on the 2000 328i in less then 20,000 miles. Cars held up well, no rattles, leaks or vibrations.

this one is gettin a lil heated. . .

in any case i would defiantly go for either of the 325's. i am not sure wut the sport package intailed that year, so i am not sure if they added any engine mods. for the most part prolly like a spoiler or something to that effect.

i believe the 318 of that year had the m30 engine, i think. that puts out about 130hp, a lil higher then your average car. in my opinion most cars today come with between 110 - 130 hp, no sure about torque.

i am an enthusiest for anything bmw, however i would never purchase a 318. at the risk of getting flamed by 318 owners, i believe that the 318 is great for what it is, an entry level bmw. however, i would buy a 318ti for the right price, i think that would be fun to drive :)


Concerning reliability:
I drive a 1991 E30 325i. i got the car nov. 2001 with 59k on it. today, feb 2003 i have 90k on it. i have had no major issues with my bimmer. the only thing i have had much to pay for was the timing belt replacement, which all owners of bimmers with the M20 engine should do every 60k miles. otherwise the car always runs perfectly never any probs, except in snow which any bimmer owner will tell you, bimmers are not meant for snow, excluding X cars. over all bimmers are great relaiable, quick cars with exceptional handling, breaking, and creature comforts.

BMW's M44 4 cylinder engines are one of the sweetest ones they've ever designed. Keep in mind, BMW has had much more success racing 4 cylinders than 6's. 318's handle better than 325/328's, and don't have incessant water pump failures, either. The growl of their 4 cylinders in music to the ears, and a sound that seperates Bimmers from Hondas and Lexus'.

An attitude that 318's are "entry level" is truly laughable, and immature at best. Do you honestly believe that everything that costs more is always better?

I knew i was going to get some heated 318 owner to reply.

Please understand that i have nothing aganist the 318. and i understand that BMW has raced 4's. The E30 M3 was the S14 4 cylinder which put out 190 some hp and 170 some lb/ft of torque.

Just as a side note i have had none of the problems in which you mention, and all bimmer owners i talk to dont have any issues with such as well.

Also, i quoted entry level from multiple publications. It has been stated in many books and magazines as being this, i was just relaying it.

I am a fan of anyting bmw, even 318's. i was just giving my opinion. at the risk of sounding corny, as bimmer owners we should get together as allies rather then enemies.

Whichever books and magazines stated that 318's were entry level were written by nitwits that don't even know BMW's history. The prime difference between 318's and 32X's is 4 vs 6 cylinder (though the 318ti does have a different rear suspension). We didn't even have 6's in the 3 series until the 80's, and BMW's most legendary model and racer was a 4 cylinder. Sorry to jump your case, now that I think about it, that does sound like some boneheaded observation by Car & Driver or Motor Trend. European Car would never make such a ridiculous claim, IMO. Many of us prefer a better handling car with a slight sacrifice in drag racing capabilities, especially those of us old enough to have driven and gotten bitten by the Bimmer Bug in a 1970's era 2002 by a boxy little sedan that handled almost like a friggin Porsche.

I traded an Audi A6 for my 318ti, and have not regretted the loss of horsepower for a single day. I certainly don't miss diving nose understeer when accelerating through hairpins, that's for sure. That was the one feature that led me to the 318ti over the 325's I test drove.

You're right, we don't need to fight among ourselves, especially considering all these ad hominen attacks from these one post morons who've never owned a BMW, but always seem to have friends that say they are unreliable POS's, lol.

PS - I shouldn't have generalized on the water pump problem, but it is an internet wide, commonly known weakness in 6 cylinder E36's from the early to mid 90's.

I was just reading about the 99 M coupe that had the E36's S52 engine. they stated that they did have water pump problems because of the use of a plastic impeller.

all i have to say is ure going to have problems with any and every single car, there is no such thing as a perfect car, but i think bimmers are near that mark!

if i remember correctly what bmw knew best was 2 liter 4 cylinder engines. but they had wanted to compete with othr euro manufacturers, mainly mercedes, so they figured they needed a bigger engine so thats when they developed the inline 6 for the E21. also if i remember correctly the M1 has a 4 in it. and that was one fast beast. i read once before that their in no replacement for displacement, however i think they can squeeze a lot more out of 4 cylinder mill. they did it for the aforementioned M1.

well with that said we know the real deal with bmw reliability, and we know that most bimmers will be able to blow away these honda drivers. and also keep in mind that i am more of an expert on E30's not the 36's and above, although i want something a little newer. but until then i love my bimmer and i am sure all you other bimmer owners out there feel the same way!

Happy Bimmer Driving!

I love my E36 92 325i
"The Ultimate Driving Machine"

The Plastic impellers problem: From '92 to early '97 BMW installed waterpumps with orange plastic impellers in all of their 6-cylinder motors. The orange plastic they used becomes brittle and cracks apart after as little as 30k miles so I'd recommend swapping out the original pump ASAP. There's no way to tell if the pump has the plastic impeller without removing it from the engine, so if you're not 110% sure that the stock pump has already been replaced, just change it. Those plastic impeller will break apart with absolutely no warning, no noise, nothing. You'll be driving along and all the sudden your temp gauge will be in the red. When your engine overheats you risk damage to your radiator, damage to your engine and a possible accident due to coolant loss. Trust me, it's definitely better to swap your waterpump BEFORE it blows up.

I found this on www.understeer.com very helpful website.

Go for it ! !

Were are happy with our Ultimate Driving Machines!

Skycity_BMW

When you hear of someone having to take their BMW to the dealership every month to get it repaired, there's a very good chance that that car never had any of it's inspections performed. The Bavarians made a maintenance schedule for a reason, and it pays off in the long run to follow it.

Go for the big one... if had heard how the engine sounds then you probably made up your mind...but if you don`t then you MUST do it.
it`s pure german muscle. and don`t count the tuning posibilities that you have to choose from. think think this way... from 175 hp standard...to 250...at low costs.
imagine that.

I have a 1995 325IS, 105,000 miles, engine is huge, and powerful, no problems at all, when I took it to the BMW guys to get serviced they were like this engine is a freakin monster...

the 318 is a dog sorry. 3 series 93 to 95 325 you get vanos dual over heads strong motor. the 325 93 has the same motor as the 95 m3 the only real differance is in the cams and engine software. getting alot more car for the money.

DMC "Defective motor company" is that what it stands for . sorry buddy but it will never be a Ferrari or a Lotus!

I don't need to list the DMC12... its in my name. The other cars are inconsequential. Also, listing too much personal info on the Web is just plain stupid.

Peace:bandit:
dmc 12 means drive my piece of crap 12 miles and it brakes

Is this guy kidding?!?!?:rolleyes: The DMC12 was notoriously a mechanical piece of crap. What are you doing on a BMW forum if you think thy are such terrible cars. Moderator?!?! phttt.

I have 30,000 miles on my 2001 330i, no mechanical problem at all.
let it be known bavarian motor werks (work) DMC 12 (defective motor crap) DMC 12 sux

I am considering a 92+ 325 is, 318is, or 318ti. Are there any major problems with these cars??? what is the tunability of all of them as well? Im looking to spend under 8k on this car

I have a 93 325is that I bought used with 120,000 miles. It was mint when I bought it for $5500, and still is now that it has 134, 000 miles. My car has been tuned by the previous owner with used M3 parts, it also has intake, exhaust, and a computer chip. It's quick, although I am thinking about getting a bike to satisfy my need for speed. for 8,000 you can get a great car. check mine out if you want.

www.cardomain.com/memberpage/649550 (http://[URL=http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/649550)

My previous car was a 1998 ford mustang gt. it's not half the car my BMW is, although it had half the miles of the BMW when i got rid of it. It was not much faster either.

i own a '95 325i and it is elite, i payed $8600 with 56k miles on it

This thread is from 2002, and the guy that origionally started this has never posted since. I think im going to close this one.