Mine never broke, perfectly reliable.
Except for: Waterpump, 02 sensors, rear diff, Driveshaft, clutch,
But that's ok, it was over a period of 10 mos... haha. I sold it after that. Sure did sound sweet. As for power, it still dyno'd 219 @ the wheels on a 248C with 120,000 km on the clock.
AutoXR wrote: Mine never broke, perfectly reliable. Except for: Waterpump, 02 sensors, rear diff, Driveshaft, clutch, But that's ok, it was over a period of 10 mos... haha. I sold it after that. Sure did sound sweet. As for power, it still dyno'd 219 @ the wheels on a 248C with 120,000 km on the clock.
LOL. I love when people say that there was never an issue and then list all the stuff they have had to replace. :)
The 95 e36 325is that I bought from an adult owner with 18k miles back in 98 was a blast to drive but broke down every couple of months. Waterpump, coils (one by one), brake sensor, window switch, ECU, bushings, waterpump, coolant overflow, valve cover gasket, bushings, oil pan gasket, O2 sensor.
I was lucky enough to have bought an aftermarket warranty and sold it as soon as it expired at 90k miles having accumulated a little over $7k worth of repairs (not counting maintenance). It did drive nice on the street though. So much so that I'd love to have another but I get shoot pains from the butt cheek under my wallet every time that thought crosses my mind. Pavlovian response I guess.
AutoXR wrote: Mine never broke, perfectly reliable. Except for: Waterpump, 02 sensors, rear diff, Driveshaft, clutch, But that's ok, it was over a period of 10 mos... haha. I sold it after that. Sure did sound sweet. As for power, it still dyno'd 219 @ the wheels on a 248C with 120,000 km on the clock.
If that was a GM, you'd still be screaming about how big of a pile of poo that car was and how you'd never buy another domestic again, stupid overpaid union people churning out crap......
honestly, when I bought my ti.. it had almost everything that i outlined broken except for the cooling system.. and I replaced that as a precaution.
in the 40,000 miles since, I have had two issues.. a window switch shorted (and rolled the passengerside glass down into the door on one of the coldest days of the year) and the fuel pump went..
I blame myself for the pump, I ran the car pretty low a couple of times before it went.. to where the display was telling me ZERO miles till empty. Even then it did not strand me or need to be towed, I got her restarted and drover her home.
honestly, my BMW has been as reliable as gravity since I took care of what the college student who had it before me could not.
They sure do drive nicely, but I decided to pass on the extremely cheap 328iS.
The car was a green 1998 328iS coupe with 184,000 miles, owned by a college kid who wanted $1200 for it. Within minutes of talking to him, he backed up to $900 and I suspect he would have (and probably did) go even lower.
Even though it was cheap, I didn't want to have to rebuild the cooling system, replace every rubber part in the suspension, rebuild the brakes and then start restoring the interior. I added up what it would cost in parts (my labor is of course free - at least when I'm paying for it) and the total was almost enough to buy a decent Miata.
have him post it here on GRM for challenge prices.. somebody will grab it
never an issue except I replaced everything except the ashtray. .. Heheheheheh love it. Sorry Germany, I don't have the patience for your cars as daily drivers.
wonder how an sx4 sport autox's?
I would grab it right now, just need to know how to get ahold of him/it. Sent you a message!
ignorant wrote: never an issue except I replaced everything except the ashtray. .. Heheheheheh love it. Sorry Germany, I don't have the patience for your cars as daily drivers. wonder how an sx4 sport autox's?
I wish I had the cashflow to repace the wife's accent with one and find out.
So all this talk of E36 cars has me wondering if the internet has any good forums for the cars? I might be able to find a good used one for sale on there. 
Bobzilla wrote:ignorant wrote: never an issue except I replaced everything except the ashtray. .. Heheheheheh love it. Sorry Germany, I don't have the patience for your cars as daily drivers. wonder how an sx4 sport autox's?I wish I had the cashflow to repace the wife's accent with one and find out.
I don't mean to say I wouldn't want an E36. I'd love one. Just not as a daily driver. I don't have the time.
Any used/old car can break, and any car can be a great daily driver. My E38 has been my daily driver for the last couple years, and never stranded me anywhere. i'd have no problem getting in it and driving it across country tomorrow.
I've had Hondas I wouldn't say that about.
rear seal, front seal, the head, ac issues all before 10k miles, numerous electrical issues, a ton more ac issues, more oil leaks, brake light problems that moved around the car, more ac issues, cooling system issues...etc. etc....and it was dealer maintained to an almost anal degree. Never tracked, only a daily driver.
Sold at 70k miles with a bit of a dance afterwards, and then I missed driving it everyday. 
racerdave600 wrote: rear seal, front seal, the head, ac issues all before 10k miles, numerous electrical issues, a ton more ac issues, more oil leaks, brake light problems that moved around the car, more ac issues, cooling system issues...etc. etc....and it was dealer maintained to an almost anal degree. Never tracked, only a daily driver. Sold at 70k miles with a bit of a dance afterwards, and then I missed driving it everyday.
Sounds like a lot of people that bought E38s new. Pretty much everyone that I know or read about that bought them new hated how much they cost to repair and most got rid of them before 80k miles after spending a bunch of money on them. And pretty much everyone I've ever met or read about that bought them after 100k miles loves how cheap they are to own and operate, and spend very little on repairs.
I think the main difference with BMW's much like Land rovers, gleaned from the internets, is the proof of maintenance and previous owners care.
Seems like they don't tolerate abuse like a corrolla, but damn I've loved every 325is I've ridden in.
ignorant wrote: never an issue except I replaced everything except the ashtray. .. Heheheheheh love it. Sorry Germany, I don't have the patience for your cars as daily drivers. wonder how an sx4 sport autox's?
That car had 184k on it... somebody drove it a pretty long way. I can't think of a car I've ever owned that didn't need a water pump, thermostat or some rubber bits freshened more than once in that many miles.
BTW, the "cooling system" overhaul is less than $300 and takes all of about an hour. Buy for $900, drop $1k into it and its good for another 100k and less than the challenge limit. Zee bavarians know how to make zee karz.
What is with the used price on BMW X3's.. Holy crap $9k-$15k on ebay.. Any insight?
ignorant wrote: What is with the used price on BMW X3's.. Holy crap $9k-$15k on ebay.. Any insight?
Perhaps people have discovered they are the same usefulness as a 325xiT sport wagon only slower, worse on gas, heavier and more expensive to keep in brakes and tires?
Well, you're all right about the E36 cars being total unreliable POS crap cars. Dammit, mine has a clutch that is on it's way out. I mean what a total pile, I've only got 132K miles on the original clutch. Sure the car has seen track days, autocross runs, countless "bootleg 180's", and more than a few 1/4 mile runs. And sure I've dropped the clutch and abused the car occasionally, but really this is too much!
I also had to replace my dampers at 120k miles or so, and oil changes....don't get me started on oil changes....I've had to do tons of those! Damn this car is junk.
I've had enough.......I'm going to go buy a Dodge Dynasty.
^ Hey Joe, I'll give you 3k for that unreliable POS. Whattayathink?
I love my e36, so far. I bought it cheaply, knowing full well I'd need to catch up on deferred maintenance. I'm replacing the control arms this weekend, and putting stock Euro springs in to replace the "Tein S-tech's" the previous owner installed. Then a good alignment, and perhaps brakes. I'll do the cooling system overhaul, and expect the car to be trouble free for sometime.
I smile every time I get to drive it around a corner. :)
It's not all THAT fast in a straight line by today's standards, but it's got a wonderful engine, and makes all the right noises.
ignorant wrote: I think the main difference with BMW's much like Land rovers, gleaned from the internets, is the proof of maintenance and previous owners care. Seems like they don't tolerate abuse like a corrolla, but damn I've loved every 325is I've ridden in.
I've driven plenty of corollas. Would anyone even be able to TELL if the rubber bits in the suspension were shot? Part of the reason that it's important to replace these parts in a BMW is that they are designed to function a lot more precisely than the same parts in a corolla, and performance is greatly improved when they are freshened up. We're talking about a couple hundred bucks here, and when you are done the car drives like it did when it was new, or better if you use poly stuff. Frankly I don't think there's a 10+ year old car on the planet that I wouldn't want to replace all the rubber bits on as a condition of long term ownership (and the cars I've owned reflect this) The cooling system is the biggest achilles heel, but often it ends up being a good way to get a deal on these cars - many of them are overdue for the work, and you can knock 1-2k off the price of a car for something that will take you $300, an afternoon, and a 6 pack to fix.
Here's the common BMW life cycle as I see it - owner 1 keeps it until he can't be seen driving up to his country club in it anymore, it gets maintained at the dealer on BMW's typical optimistically long service intervals, but that isn't really a problem. He sells it with 40-80k and no issues to owner #2 who is generally a young status seeker type who can't afford a new BMW (here's where the problems start). Owner #2 drives it, but almost never does their own work and can't afford to have every little thing done at typical BMW labor rates. When things start to look expensive (a $1500 estimate for the cooling system overhaul that we can do for $300, for example), it gets sold again for a lot less than the last time. If the car is lucky, this is where an enthusiast swoops in and saves it (that's us! ). We spend $1000 and a couple weekends going over all the deferred maintenance and we get a great driving stone reliable car for another 100k or so, because that E36 is NOT going to rust out at 12 years and 140k like all your precious maintenance-free Hondas and Toyotas 
.
Josh wrote:ignorant wrote: I think the main difference with BMW's much like Land rovers, gleaned from the internets, is the proof of maintenance and previous owners care. Seems like they don't tolerate abuse like a corrolla, but damn I've loved every 325is I've ridden in.I've driven plenty of corollas. Would anyone even be able to TELL if the rubber bits in the suspension were shot? Part of the reason that it's important to replace these parts in a BMW is that they are designed to function a lot more precisely than the same parts in a corolla, and performance is greatly improved when they are freshened up. We're talking about a couple hundred bucks here, and when you are done the car drives like it did when it was new, or better if you use poly stuff. Frankly I don't think there's a 10+ year old car on the planet that I wouldn't want to replace all the rubber bits on as a condition of long term ownership (and the cars I've owned reflect this) The cooling system is the biggest achilles heel, but often it ends up being a good way to get a deal on these cars - many of them are overdue for the work, and you can knock 1-2k off the price of a car for something that will take you $300, an afternoon, and a 6 pack to fix. Here's the common BMW life cycle as I see it - owner 1 keeps it until he can't be seen driving up to his country club in it anymore, it gets maintained at the dealer on BMW's typical optimistically long service intervals, but that isn't really a problem. He sells it with 40-80k and no issues to owner #2 who is generally a young status seeker type who can't afford a new BMW (here's where the problems start). Owner #2 drives it, but almost never does their own work and can't afford to have every little thing done at typical BMW labor rates. When things start to look expensive (a $1500 estimate for the cooling system overhaul that we can do for $300, for example), it gets sold again for a lot less than the last time. If the car is lucky, this is where an enthusiast swoops in and saves it (that's us!
HAI!!! I have a 17 (18 if we get technical) year old Toyota with not a single spot of rust on it. And somewhere around 180k miles on body, somewhere between 120k and 225k on motor.
good write up josh..
Ok.. so I'll buy one.. I'm intriqued but, in a few years. I got 2 years of a rotational program coming up with moving every 8 months with a new baby. I'll be in and out of apartments so fast no more enthusiast cars for me for the forseeable future that is.
maintenance-free Hondas and Toyotas
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THat is the funniest thing I have read on these forums to date. Oh, other than the typical BMW>all comments from the normal leg-humpers.
As I stated above mine was purchased and maintained by the dealer. It was sold at 70k miles and required constant maintenance, but it still looked and drove like new when it was sold. I wouldn't call it a bad car by any stretch, and I absolutely loved driving it, but it had a ton of failures that I think shouldn't have been there given it's cost. The oil leaks and head failure when it was pretty much new started the trend, which fortunately didn't come back after the initial fixes, but the constant electrical and AC issues were a source of frustration.
I know of others that have had zero issues to be fair, and others that happened at almost exactly the same mileages as mine, so it seemed to be hit or miss. Also to be fair, my dad is a big BMW guy, and his newer 5 series and BMW suv "whatever they are" have been great with hardly any issues other than the blower motor failure on the 5 (covered under warranty). Even the iDrive in the new one is much improved.
My biggest issue had to do with this being a 4-door family / work car. It's one thing if the Porsche tended to be a bit maintenance intensive, it's another if my work car is constantly being fixed, even if the majority of it was under warranty.
Having said all of this, the real question is would I buy another, and I suppose the answer would be yes. It really did drive that well....and I keep looking at how low M3 prices have become...oh so tempting.
i'm really waiting for the prices of the Z4 M Coupe to drop to a point I want to pay.
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