Learn me BMW 318i

Unforseen disasters may have claimed my e30's head gasket. I am considering getting something else since I would have to eventually redo other stuf too. The only cars I am finding w 4 doors, 5 speeds. And RWD that are in my price range to just replace and move on are 318i's from say 92 to 95, what do I need to know about them?

i bought one once. it had all kinds of suspension, vader seats, a higher gear ratio diff, basically as upgraded as a guy could hope for without throwing good money after bad.

i sold it after 6 months. all the other good things about it never made up for all the slow.

the P71 i replaced it with, on the other hand....

Spend the $300 on headgasket kit, timing belt, water pump, rotor, etc and fix the E30.

In reply to z31maniac:

There is a big part of me that wants this to happen,,, but the part that has. Even waiting patiently for the I motor swap and cage in the track car and ls swap in the Camaro are concerned about how many weekends this will take.

Watch for worn rear shock mounts and pretty much anything in the cooling system made of plastic. Beyond that, just the usual things you'd check on a car nearly 20 years old.

MadScientistMatt wrote: Watch for worn rear shock mounts and pretty much anything in the cooling system made of plastic. Beyond that, just the usual things you'd check on a car nearly 20 years old.

including the water pump impeller

It was a plastic tank hose inlet on my radiator that broke off completely, instantly drained my cooling system. And wrecked my head gasket causing this thread,

So help me I will replace the pos plastic crap radiator on every car I ever own from now going forward with a fully aluminum radiator no matter how hard that is to do. Including the aforementioned 318 should I go that way.

The E36 318 kind of sucks. The M44 really has to work to move all that E36 weight around, so they get mediocre gas mileage on top of their slowness. Much like the E30 M42 cars, they are saddled with an extraordinarily heavy flywheel that ruins any motivation the poor little engine had to begin with. I have heard there is a lot of potential hiding in the M40 family, but BMW killed as much of it as possible to avoid competition with the six cylinder cars (aforementioned flywheel, poor-flowing intake manifolds, etc).

^This . . . except for the gas mileage part. We get excellent mileage (low to mid 20s city and high 20 to low 30s on hwy)

The 30+ lbs flywheel saps the juice from the little 1.8L; the barn door flapper AFM saps the rest. Other than that, the usual BMW E36 maintenance applies . . . .

It would be a cracking car with a 9lb flywheel and GOOD tune on it (comes with adjustable cams).

This is what the M42 became:

Thanks BMW for jacking this little gem up

SlickDizzy wrote: The E36 318 kind of sucks. The M44 really has to work to move all that E36 weight around, so they get mediocre gas mileage on top of their slowness. Much like the E30 M42 cars, they are saddled with an extraordinarily heavy flywheel that ruins any motivation the poor little engine had to begin with. I have heard there is a lot of potential hiding in the M40 family, but BMW killed as much of it as possible to avoid competition with the six cylinder cars (aforementioned flywheel, poor-flowing intake manifolds, etc).

the reason was the 320i.. a 2.0 Six Cylinder that was availible in euope only. Non-vanos, it could barely muster 150hp... so the M42/44 had to make due with 140 so as not to compete. Personally, seemed a waste.. why would you want such a small Six that makes no more HP than an existing four that is already in your lineup?

well, then there's the horrible exhaust note they make.

maybe stock.. my M44 with the now rare supersprint exhaust has a nice mellow tone.. powerful sounding without being obnoxious..and with just enough bass to set off overly sensitive car alarms.

i had the supersprint on an M42 E30. it helped. still pretty 'bleh' imo.

compared to the smooth sixes.. yes.. but compared to other fours.. it sounds good

Strike_Zero wrote: ^This . . . except for the gas mileage part. We get excellent mileage (low to mid 20s city and high 20 to low 30s on hwy)

Oh. So about the same mileage as a 328i?

njansenv wrote:

Strike_Zero wrote: ^This . . . except for the gas mileage part. We get excellent mileage (low to mid 20s city and high 20 to low 30s on hwy)

Oh. So about the same mileage as a 328i?

I get high 20s around town and mid 30s highway in the 318ti... but highways are not what the cars are geared for...

All great info! Thanks for all the input, I am still leaning towards fixing the e30, but for what I need it is at least a plausible option for the short term