E36 328i Reliability?

[ANiMOSiTY]

Hi all.
I'm very close to buying a used BMW 328i. Most of the ones i've looked at have around 90,000 to 100,000 miles on them. Is this too much? How long does en E36 go for? What are your suggestions? Thanks.

[docrobot]

I bought my '92 325i in February this year with 120,000 miles. If I take care of it, and maintain it, it will probably hit 200,000+ miles. Compression is bang on, 0-60 is on the money (under 8 seconds) and I still drive like its been stolen.

I have not put any money into it except gas, synthetic oil, and a new Sony MP3 Deck.


Please tell us what they want for that 328i, if it is stock or not, which wheels and tires it has, if it comes with a warranty, etc. We need to know, otherwise we cannot pan or recommend it...

[///M Power]

BMW's all together are built strong. I got a e34 with 270,000 miles on the original m20 engine and tranny..... and running strong.

[docrobot]

[fredo328]

I also did some research before I got my 1998 328. It had 57,000 and looks great since it was babied. What I found is that toward the end of the e36 production run (somewhere between 98 and 99 depending where you picked one up) they had a machine that had most of not all the kinks worked out. In 99 the e46 came out with a whole bunch of new problems/issues. My car has only had its AC resister replaced and thats all. But what it really comes down to is how it was maintained. If you don't have access to the hard records do a carfax. That's my 2 cents.

[ANiMOSiTY]

Its round about R75,000 (ZAR). Full service history with BMW. And it's stock.

We had a 1989 ///M 535i which gave us some gearbox trouble and a camshaft knock at around 160,000 miles.
That's the only thing putting doubts in my head. But that was an old car.

[Dennis_germany]

I like my 328i Cabrio! Enough Power! Don´t take so much gas etc.!

My Cabrio has now 153.000 KM (not mile) on it! Some of my friends have more than 200.000 KM on it and still run like first day!!! :-)

bye, Dennis

[docrobot]

Originally posted by ANiMOSiTY@Sep 10 2004, 03:01 AM
Its round about R75,000 (ZAR). Full service history with BMW. And it's stock.

For us (North) Americans, R75,000 is 75,0000 South African Rands, or about $11,444 US Dollars...

See www.xe.com

Hey, having to repair a Gear or two and a Cam after 160,000 miles is nothing! You call that a problem, what else would be trouble free for that many miles?

ANiMOSiTY, you should fill out your LOCATION. There might be others here from South Africa...

[Reedalicious]

I like Dennis.