Sub Par Cars
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 8:24 pm
On the right, a 1995 BMW 316i.
We'll start with the BMW 316i. This was originally purchased in the summer of 2016 when I spotted it on ebay. It was badly listed, and had no reserve. I say badly listed as it just said BMW 316i and didn't feature any of the "not M3 328i M5" etc. bollocks.
The winning bid? £191, and it had a few months MOT on it! We just needed to collect it from Bathgate, west of Edinburgh. Me and my mate originally went halves on it as we both lived near each other and both had other cars anyway.
When purchased:
The more astute may notice it has alloys in that photo. However it came with the original steel wheels in the back, with a full set of Toyo Proxes on them!
I can't overstate how much of a fucking bargain this car was. The alloys and their weird mix of 4 brands of tyres including one winter tyre got promptly punted onto gumtree.
It needed work, though.
After sorting it out it bounced between me and my mate. Mate then bought his own house in 2017 about 15 miles away. Not the end of the world, but inconvenient. The 316 ended up being 100% his for a bit. In May 2019 he ended up with too many cars and needed rid of one. I was offered the 316 for £200, so of fucking course I took it on!
When I took full ownership of it, the driver's window had come off the runners, the rear shocks were tired and it had a rough idle. Within the first week of my ownership I'd sorted all of those. Since then it's been providing sterling (and great fun) service.
October 2019 saw a new radiator, September 2020 saw its second ECP cheapy back box. Hey, the first one lasted over 3 years and only cost £30! So I whacked another one for its MOT...
Just the other week it ended up getting the rear brakes rebuilt after a wheel cylinder shat the bed. Yes, it has rear drums. Base model yo!
The day after I replaced the radiator in October 2019 I drove it down to the Scottish borders. I'm in Aberdeen.
Overall, I bloody love this car. It's only a 1.6 8 valve making just a smidge under 100hp but it also weighs fuck-all. It's not fast, but it's so responsive and the driving position and all the controls feel just right.
It's also very rare in that it's an E36 that hasn't been completely fucking monged. Hell, the ebay seller actually admitted he was about to lower it and put it on deep-dish BBS alloys before a change of plan! It was saved from that fate by pure chance.
I'll write about the Saab in the next post.