New Toy - E36 328i Sport

[wiffmaster]

Picked up my 'new' E36 328i Sport the other day. Very happy with it so far, it's in great condition overall and the drive is incredibly tight. Plenty of power and insurance wasn't as bad as I was expecting considering I'm only 21 (£730 fully comp with 'drive any car third party' extension)

77K miles with full BMW history. Inspection II just carried out, as well as four new Michelin Pilot Sports. Went for the auto version as I do a lot of town/city driving and it seems to be a decent box which can be made to shift predictably. Well chuffed - any comments or constructive criticism welcomed.

[m4tt]

Looks really nice bud. Who is it insured with as I don't seem to be able to get a reasonable quote on a BMW.

[Soovy]

OH GOD.

I had one of these. WHY OH WHY didn't I keep it. It was LUSH!

R895 HAN, where are you now?!


GREAT choice mate.

[wiffmaster]

m4tt said:

Looks really nice bud. Who is it insured with as I don't seem to be able to get a reasonable quote on a BMW.

Cheers for the kind words guys!

I'm with Bell Insurance (same group as Admiral and Elephant). 21 with 3 years NCB, but living in a very low risk postcode. They seem to like young drivers, so give them a try. Direct Line were also reasonable. The normal specialists like Adrian Flux didn't want to know...

Edited by wiffmaster on Saturday 17th January 19:06

[m4tt]

Ah well, I've tried them already. Thanks for the quick response.

Have set myself a budget of £500 for insuring a 2nd car and everyone is coming out with about £1k for 323s, 325s and 328s so will have to stick with my desire for a mk2 Golf GTI for now.

[skylinecrazy]

Soovy said:

OH GOD.

I had one of these. WHY OH WHY didn't I keep it. It was LUSH!

R895 HAN, where are you now?!


GREAT choice mate.

Sorry Soovy.

Saw it being crushed last week.

Lovely car by the way mate.

Edited by skylinecrazy on Saturday 17th January 23:15

[rossi-328i-sport]

soovy,was it black???i may know who has it now!

[A S P]

Looks perfect! Please say you're leaving it as is?

I've not driven an auto version but bet it'll suit the engine.

[Soovy]

rossi-328i-sport said:

soovy,was it black???i may know who has it now!

No was silver, black leather.

[wiffmaster]

A S P said:

Looks perfect! Please say you're leaving it as is?

I've not driven an auto version but bet it'll suit the engine.

...well now you mention it, I've always thought Lexus style rear lights and some purple neons would be nice additions....

Nah, apart from having a new head unit fitted, this one will be staying exactly as BMW intended. Too many of these falling into chav hands now - they're becoming an endangered species and must be protected!

I'm always apprehensive when I go and test auto versions, but this one was really very good. For the mix of driving I do, I reckon auto suits me better 80% of the time.

[Gad-Westy]

Lovely. 328 Sport's certainly seem to be flavour of the month at the moment. How do you find the auto?

[wiffmaster]

Gad-Westy said:

Lovely. 328 Sport's certainly seem to be flavour of the month at the moment. How do you find the auto?

The auto seems to work well - around town I just leave it in normal mode and it shifts without you noticing, then when I want to press on, I stick it into sports mode which has a much more aggressive shift pattern. The box picks up very quickly (thanks in part, I suspect, to a cable operated throttle as opposed to a drive-by-wire system) and always seems to be in the same gear as I would be selecting in a manual car. No idea on fuel consumption yet, but I'm not too concerned either way.

[Gad-Westy]

wiffmaster said:

Gad-Westy said:

Lovely. 328 Sport's certainly seem to be flavour of the month at the moment. How do you find the auto?

The auto seems to work well - around town I just leave it in normal mode and it shifts without you noticing, then when I want to press on, I stick it into sports mode which has a much more aggressive shift pattern. The box picks up very quickly (thanks in part, I suspect, to a cable operated throttle as opposed to a drive-by-wire system) and always seems to be in the same gear as I would be selecting in a manual car. No idea on fuel consumption yet, but I'm not too concerned either way.

The reason I asked was that mine was an auto as well and I always thought it suited the car and engine very well. The only time I found it frustrating was when really pressing on because it would corner in too higher gear. I suppose you can always use the selector to eliminate that. BTW on fuel consumption. Mine averaged 28 mgp ish overall, with a low off 21 mpg and a maximum of 45 mpg (I'm not kidding!).

[wiffmaster]

Gad-Westy said:

The reason I asked was that mine was an auto as well and I always thought it suited the car and engine very well. The only time I found it frustrating was when really pressing on because it would corner in too higher gear. I suppose you can always use the selector to eliminate that. BTW on fuel consumption. Mine averaged 28 mgp ish overall, with a low off 21 mpg and a maximum of 45 mpg (I'm not kidding!).

Wow, if I can get anything close to 28mpg, I'll be delighted! Doing a 200 mile run back up to university on Thursday, so will be interesting to see what I average doing that sort of a trip. As soon as exams are over, I think I shall be heading out into the Yorkshire Dales for a bit of a play and to see how it handles the twisty B-roads...

[mister.t]

crikey that looks like a great buy and in great condition!!

congratulations

[Brabus Jord]

wiffmaster said:

m4tt said:

Looks really nice bud. Who is it insured with as I don't seem to be able to get a reasonable quote on a BMW.

Cheers for the kind words guys!

I'm with Bell Insurance (same group as Admiral and Elephant). 21 with 3 years NCB, but living in a very low risk postcode. They seem to like young drivers, so give them a try. Direct Line were also reasonable. The normal specialists like Adrian Flux didn't want to know...

Edited by wiffmaster on Saturday 17th January 19:06

Yep im with bell and they are good to me (24).

I have 2 years NCB and drive a brabus coupe and it costs £490 fully comp with 3 party extension.

[sparks_E39]

Love that shape 3 Series, nice choice.

I'm 21, 3 years NCB, Churchill insured me for £700ish fully comp on my 1999 E39 528i SE Auto and they wanted £800 if I had a 540.

[ironictwist]

Looks great...Love the alloys. I remember when mine was in an similar state to yours, good times

[pokethepope]

Beautiful car. BMW's from the mid/late 90's are some of the best looking saloons IMO. Nice and boxy but with some nice curves to smooth it off.

I like.

[randomman]

I like V much, the old man used to have a 2.8 Z3 auto. First Auto car I ever drove and I was really quite impressed. It selected the gears perfectly, despite being 10 years old. Nicely dropped down and revved its tits off.