e36 Prices/Rarity

[CitizenKane]

Hi,

I've gotten it into my head that I want an e36 coupe (not M3) as a mini-project car. I assumed I'd be able to pick one up for relatively cheap, because the last time I looked at these cars in any meaningful way (about 18 months ago), DoneDeal was full of them for <2k. Now they seem to be much rarer, and any decent ones are in the region of 4-5k or more. I even remember not too long ago seeing a Meergrün one on DoneDeal (I recall it was tarted up with some stickers and an aftermarket exhaust, but still). Now there doesn't appear to be a single car in that colour for sale anywhere in Ireland or the UK.

Cabriolets seem to be more common and better value, though.

Have e36's gotten significantly rarer as recently as in the last year or so, or is this just my imagination?

[Curran]

Have e36's gotten significantly rarer as recently as in the last year or so, or is this just my imagination?

Cant say for sure, as I never really kept a close eye on their availability or pricing, but I assume the train of thought has shifted to the future classic status. The owners of the very good ones wont want to move them on, so at best you'll be trying to find a solid one, in need of some work. The majority of E36's all are into the classic insurance, so arent so much of a financial burden for folk to hold onto them.

I'd like a coupe, but wouldnt really suit my needs, so I recently picked up a 323i M Sport Touring (which for most are less desirable than the coupe) with 121k miles, decent spec and in good condition

[Andy]

The supply of proper unabused, low mile and good condition cars has seriously dried up. To find anything decent is a hard task and even much more difficult if there is a particular model, spec, colour etc that you want. There are still a good few about in various body styles but have big miles, lots of owners and would need serious spending to get to top condition.

I am lucky with the two I have, there would be few around in the condition, Miles, owners, history these are. The price i was happy to pay for them reflected this. An M car stands a chance of being kept right though. I did have a couple of people asking to buy my coupe. And I do like the tourings Dave

[dergside]

What you're seeing is just fairly normal lifecycle stuff. Remember that the youngest e36 is fast approaching 20 years old now and they had a relatively long lifecycle. It sometimes seems as if a switch is flicked and suddenly they all disappear, but its a gradual process. A look at the graphs on www.howmanyleft.co.uk for something like the 318 IS will show what I mean. The number of these left on the road is about 10% of what the peak number was around 1999. The figure remaining on the road has dropped by about 2/3rds in the past 5 years. In fact there are now more on SORN than on the road.

The very best cars have gone in to long term ownership and by definition won't be appearing too frequently on the market. At the other end of the scale, a lot of the used/abused/drifted/crashed cars have been thrown away or broken for parts. In the middle is a group of usable cars that don't yet fall in to either of the other groups, but these are the ones that are used, so less than 6 figure mileages are rare. Most probably don't have the history or fundamental condition to be "improved" to the standards of the long term keepers yet still have much to give. For the most part even these have moved out of the daily driver function. The best of this middle section will eventually be SORN'd and stored away, owners will forget about them for a while until they hit the lower end classic radar (mags like Modern Classics may well accelerate interest sooner than for previous generations) and the point that they can see it worthwhile spending a little bit of time and money improving them. The rest of the middle section will be the fodder for parts, etc. for the people rejuvenating the better of this section and supplying some of the originality to keep the keepers going. In the case of the e36's, the numbers remaining, especially of the 6 pots, hasn't been helped by the issues with Nikasil, etc. back in the day that meant a lot of them weren't viable to repair when these issues cropped up at 10yrs/100k miles and BMW were long past doing goodwill.

In the UK these days a well documented all original 60k 328i Sport, when they can be found, is a £10-12k car and creeping up. A similar M3 Evo is a £20k car. Half that mileage will probably add £5k to the value of either and they'll both probably continue to creep up gradually over the next few years. These values have, and will continue to, inevitably pull up the cars in the middle group a bit. Scrutiny and high expectations will force the lower end of this middle group in to the breaker/abandoned category.

[James Bond Junior]

I sourced my E36 back in the summer of 2017 and paid in the mid 2k range and I had some "know it alls" tell me I had paid way over the odds but trying to find a 6 cylinder M sport at the time was pretty hard and I was happy to pay that money for a one owner from new car as well as it being Irish and rust free. They are definitely climbing in value, including parts prices as many have been wrecked due to drifters and rust.

[Big H]

wrecked due to drifters

Wankers the lot of them.....

[NickThePartsGuy]

solid well looked after ones are becoming harder to find
were still getting lots of people looking for bits and pieces for ones so parts are still in good supply and not as pricey as people may think
general build quality was always good with these cars but keep in mind rust is an issue with these cars as of late especially ones that weren't looked after

I will give you a heads up that a convertible could prove costly if anything mechanically happens as parts for them are still priced high and there is a few bits that are no longer available

imho there the best looking coupe you can get weather its an msport or not
and there relatively easy to work on and you can get any host of modifications (they really were a car made for the boy racer generation from a customisation point of view )

I had a 323i msport back in the day with a full ac schnitzer exterior and interior done to it through work
regretting selling it these days as it would be great to have a car like that to drive around in the summer

great car to drive and can take a bit of punishment when you find the rite road
though that also means alot of what your gonna come across on the likes of done deal have probably been punished aswell

suspension components like shocks,rollbar links and bushings and wishbone bushings don't get on too well with some of our roads so be sure to check them when looking at any car you've your eye on
316 and 318i coupes are a bit underwhelming to drive and as stated above the 318is is becoming harder to find these days

6 cylinder cars will put a smile on your face but there becoming harder to find

[Bayerische]

I will give you a heads up that a convertible could prove costly if anything mechanically happens as parts for them are still priced high and there is a few bits that are no longer available

Nick, can you be more specific.

Are you referring to the parts for the electric roof mechanism?

[NickThePartsGuy]

Nick, can you be more specific.

Are you referring to the parts for the electric roof mechanism?

ive only ever seen a handful of the electric roof ones and the control modules on them can work into the thousands if you've to do both

I have had people come in with the manual ones from time to time looking for bits like trims that go between where the rear seat would be and the roof comes down and there about Eur150 a piece
get people looking to replace parts of the rail and there anywhere from 100-300

fabric is no longer available for them aswell

also if anyone has a hardtop for one hold onto it cause there worth a small fortune at the minute

[ecooney]

ive only ever seen a handful of the electric roof ones and the control modules on them can work into the thousands if you've to do both

I have had people come in with the manual ones from time to time looking for bits like trims that go between where the rear seat would be and the roof comes down and there about Eur150 a piece
get people looking to replace parts of the rail and there anywhere from 100-300

fabric is no longer available for them aswell

also if anyone has a hardtop for one hold onto it cause there worth a small fortune at the minute

I’m stockpiling parts at the minute for the electric roof. I’ve a full spare set of motors, control modules and micro switches for the inevitable.

On the hardtop front, they can be got in the UK for around €400. The biggest issue is getting one home. Also nearly all the headliners are sagging now purely due to age as the glue on the foam backing has broken down. Also a replacement headliner is CRAZY money and hard top find someone that can do an OEM finish.

I’d have to agree that most of the good ones have now gone into long term ownership / storage. I won’t be selling mine any time soon that’s for sure.

It’s mad but 8 years ago I literally could not find a buyer for my car. It took me over 12 months to sell it and I took a big hit on it. Now there is a big demand for an E36. Plenty of people wanting to get back behind the wheel or maybe lusted after one when they were younger but couldn’t afford it. I’ve met a fair few young owners in their early 20’s who are mad about E36’s at recent Cars & Coffee events (not drifters but genuine enthusiasts).

The prices at the minute are only heading in one direction so if you manage to find a good one then grab it.


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