E36 323i. Good buy?

[Lucifer]

MAY SWAP, RWD, DOCH, ANY CONSIDERED!

sounds like a typical mayo young lad.
Just buy on condition if the log book is there you don't need to base the purchase on his personality. If your not happy bring someone in the know with you to have a gawk at the car underneath etc. I think it's worth a punt at that money. Would want to be a very special E36 to fetch 2K+ IMO.

[Venom]

http://touch.adverts.ie/car/bmw/other-bmw/bmw-e36-325i-for-sale/6521218

At the risk of someone else going to see this before me figured I'd link it up anyway, This is the car I'm going to see on Saturday. Love the color, same as my is, but it's pretty low spec and yer man seems a bit dogey on the phone. 18 year old lad wants to put a big msport banner on the windscreen if he keeps it kinda Job. Almost feel obliged to save it from him. Looks a bit chavvy but I already have parts put aside for it, what are people's thoughts?

Go see it, have a spin. Ask him how long he has had it, might have bought and can't insure or something.

[Peter-E36]

Check EVERYTHING. If you need to overhaul cooling system, suspension etc it won't be cheap, but I guess it all depends on how long you plan on holding on to it too.

[RossYB]

As above, Have a proper look round it!!

Him being 18 wouldn't bother me (I'v mine since I was 17) BUT being a typical laaad would bother me and it's probably seen a donut or 2!

[Bm3]

Cheers for the advice lads.Gonna go see it anyway. Kinda have an itch for a 6cyl and want to get a clean one to do a few nice bits to. Exhaust wheels etc. I'll let ye know how it goes.

[shaunokeeffe]

sorry im late to the conversation.
Having owned several 318is and couple 323s i would definately rather the 323. Used them as a daily and had a commute 50 miles daily to and fro work and was no noticble difference in fuel consumption. 323 better on open road is slightly better in town but nothing major.

[FunkySeeFunkyDoo]

The point about reliability has got to be put to rest at this stage, they are all very old cars at this stage and it's down to how they've been kept. M44's are just as likely to go bang and even the Almighty s50 engines have horror stories that come from negligent owners. I have one of those dreaded nikasil engines that has pushed out 207bhp on the rolling road before and also doesn't burn a drop of oil and that is no exaggeration: I have never in my ownership had to top up the oil.

Are 323's worth it? Yea I think so, I wouldn't spend much time pondering over wanting more power or less. Do I want six cylinder noise in my life? Yea I do and when it's echoing down mountain roads on the right day It's a very good thing.

I'm not knocking m44's btw, i think they excellent cars. I always love driving them and find them great fun but the above still applies.