E36 318is, thoughts?

[Nay]

Found a really nice E36 318is at a garage today for £4000. Its for my mate, and he knows the family that owns the garage pretty well, so should be able to get a much better deal... probably down to 3k or near there.

Not sure on the milage and will test drive it during the week but what do people think of them?

Personally its not powerful enough for me winkey but good size for a mate who's getting his own insurance for the first time!

Other than that he's looking at things like Golf GTIs etc.

Just want some opinions of the car, as if its milage is sweet and the condition is good then even i would consider it.

Deep blue, M-Tech kit with spoiler (looks like the 328iM kit). Black half leather interior etc, nice alloys and so on. Looks like a nice car in the serious lack of interesting cars in Jersey.

[JSAMacLean]

I had a '98 318iS. One of the final run-out models so it was a 4-door with all the toys.

Looked great - mine was Montreal Blue.



Nice cruising car, ate up the miles (I have a 100mi round-trip commute to work each day). But still had enough enjoyment for the B-roads. Steering is faster than the E30, but the car is much bigger and heavier so on-balance doesn't feel quite as nimble. Grippy as hell on Kumho KU31s, and well balanced. Quieter than my E30, and felt more "grown up". Ride was better - slightly tighter body-control so it didn't float over big bumps, but still felt comfortable and supple on a fast bumpy B-road. I personally didn't like the bump-steer, but there's nowt you can do about that. In terms of acceleration the E36 318iS (M44 engine) felt about as fast as my E30 318i (M40 engine). The extra 30-35bhp is swallowed by the extra weight, and you only feel it in the top-half of the rev range so in day-to-day driving it felt slower. I probably have more fun in my E30, but the E36 is a bit more practical and sensible.

Great car though, and really of the last 10 cars I've owned is probably the only one I actually miss. Bought it in April 07 for about £2500 and sold it in Feb 08 (because I had to leave the country for 6 months with work).

[jon552]

bit on the expencive side even at £3000 i would say it is about a grand off the mark thats if it is very good and low mileage you could get a very good 328i for that (or my 328i sport for £2400 )

[e30topless]

4k for a dirty 6 is very expensive thats e46 money !

[Alex]

how much

[Nay]

1. Jersey...
2. Not many cars up for sale over here, markets pretty shit atm.
3. Its not a dirty 6
4. Mileage is always massively lower over here, cars live much longer... usually.
5. Garage wants 4k, but my mate knows the garage owners quite well so probably closer to 3k
6. Rubbish E46s are about 6k-7k, 330ci's etc are more around 10-12k
7. Its for a mate who's only 21 and getting his first insurance policy. Was on parents before.
8. I would look a 328i M sport, or look at the E36 M3 up for sale
9. Theres no 328i's at all up for sale in the island.
10. Welcome to jersey's car scene Its all full of expensive new cars, or just plain old shite.

[pac1982]

Simple answer to this one, dont buy a car in jersey my last E36 that i had 2 years ago was a fully loaded 325 coupe which cost me 4 bag.

You can get good E36 318is's for under 2 bag these days if your lucky

[nickso]

i bought this for the wife recently for £2400. its pretty well specced with dual climate, arf leather etc etc. only thing its missing is the OBC really.



yeh its not fast but for the breadknifes daily and my reliable runaround when all of my high powered shit fails its pretty good. they are not exactly slow but i find the low range pretty good and the middle and high range pretty average. it runs out of puff pretty quickly and needs a fair bit of gear stirring on backroads if you want to keep up with anything lighter.


as with e30 is's its a good buy if you like the look but dont necessarily need the insurance/fuel costs. everyone stares at it like its an m3 anyway and this one got down to glasgow and back to aberdeen via the middle of nowhere at 70-90mph on one tank a couple of months ago.....my 328i wouldnt have even got off the drive without another tankfull.

[Nay]

Simple answer to this one, dont buy a car in jersey my last E36 that i had 2 years ago was a fully loaded 325 coupe which cost me 4 bag.

You can get good E36 318is's for under 2 bag these days if your lucky

Cant be helped mate. All that money you save buying a car with silly amounts of UK milage is spent importing one, re-regestering it, paying more for insurance and tax from importing... its a true pain in the ass and very, very few people import. The only imports people bring over are interesting cars, like 60's/70's classics and rare beasts.

BTW, you realise were talking about a car thats done 30k-40k. And will easily live to 100K+. Cars live a lot longer over here. Fair enough they only live to around 100-120k for cars like BMWs etc, but when the average person does 5K a year.... 10k is a lot of driving in jersey... and I mean a lot.

[Blitz]

My dads old 318is. I loved it. 4K is a lot.



Its still alive. I'm expecting it to be very council now.

The vehicle details for L153 WGF are:

Date of Liability 01 07 2009
Date of First Registration 16 05 1994
Year of Manufacture 1994
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1796CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Not Applicable
Vehicle Status Licence Due to Expire
Vehicle Colour BLACK
Vehicle Type Approval null

[pac1982]

A friend of mine used to live in the Channel Islands and he refused to buy a car from there as most of them have done very low miles down to the islands not being big enough to get high mileage even if you tried.
The knock on effect to this is the fact that a lot of people don’t properly service there vehicles, the engine are rarely driven in high revs so not run in properly, bear in mind most engine wear happens from cold and most trips taken in your neck of the woods get the engine fully up to temperature.

Don’t forget to factor in the effect of the sea on various areas of the car and a Jersey vehicle don’t sound so appealing after all hay

With your budget you could still find a good low mileage FSH example over here in the UK which had been properly run in

If the cost to import a vehicle is really that costly then fair play you have a point but I would take a proper look in to it as you may be missing out on a much better deal, I would have guessed you have much more choice shopping else where, I bet there’s more cars in my town than the whole of the channel islands

[Nay]

I dunno about that, nearly 100,000 people and on average 2 cars per person Thats just Jersey. Let alone Guensey (40k-50k people) and alderney (a few thousand people)... then the 3 or 4 cars in sark

Almost every house has at least 2-3 cars. Reason.... public transport + jersey = shit. You really can rely on public transport in jersey to get to and from work.

Granted, I would love a car thats done 40k-50k UK motorway miles and bring it over but there is a stupid amount of costs involved. Firstly, viewing it, getting off this island can cost a small fortune (over £100 for your average flight to the UK). Second, getting insurance, paying petrol prices in the UK and driving down from wherever you find it. Over night stays in a hotel or what not. £400 for the ferry + car. £250 to check over the car (our one off MOT thingy), £250 for an unregestered number plate. More expensive insurance.

Finally, UK cars just die over here. They dont adapt to driving over here properly and the bottom end of UK cars and the gear boxes get really clunky. Also you have to remember cars car nearly 15% cheaper to buy brand new in jersey as we dont have VAT, but a small GST tax (around 3%).

Our roads aren't half as bad as Guernsey or Alderney etc. Our island is still 9x5 miles and roads arent exactly straight, so more than that side to side. Our cars get up to temperature just fine over here and its only really the older generation who pootle around with no revs. Younger generations still make good use of gears over hear and give cars good 50-55mph runs down the avenue on frequent occasions, and rip it down the 5 mile road occasionally too!

Jersey cars cost more due to the long lasting nature of cars over here. An E46 with 30,000 miles over here is about as worn as a UK car with 40,000 miles. Difference is it takes your average driver 6-8 years to do 30K.

Hence, a jersey car with 40k on the clock for 3k-4k is a good deal... ish. My 320i is living strong at 60k (bearings going, being attacked by tin worm...) and with a bit of TLC will easily live another 20-30k. It'll be a good breaker soon, engines mint.


The Jersey market is just different. Due to how cars are used and how long they live. Hell, theres an E36 M3 with 106k on the clock going for 4.4k (now thats a lot!). In some ways, we have it a hell of a lot better than the UK. Insurance is dirt cheap in comparison, never more than 5-10 minute drive from a garage, cars dont get robbed (if one is, its front page news!), roads are more fun... much more fun, petrol and everything car related in 15% cheaper, never more than a 25-30 min drive from home (unless your a grandpa and live on the very opposite end of the island!)... and so on.
The only thing we have to put up with is lack of interesting cars up for sale (i'm waiting on an E30 M3, but haven't seen one up for sale in years! Think there is > 10 in the island), and the price of second hand cars! And living by the sea (such as myself!) means you should really wash your car quite frequenly and properly to avoid rust. Other than that, we're fine