1998 BMW 318TI

poppajn, Oct 3, 7:46am
I,m looking ata 2 door one of these, know nothing about them, good points;bad; fuel economy; what to watch out for. Any info will be good.
104000 supposedly genuine k; XJapan.$8000.

tantric5, Oct 3, 8:41am
gutless.esp if auto
ti is the girlie hatchback so if youre a girl no probs there

vtecnet, Oct 3, 8:54am
$8000 is too much for that model in all honesty. came with a better engine then a normal 318i, features DOHC and 4v per cylinder, however its still only 140hp and the auto sucks the life out of it. you could find a much better car for the same money, despite being an E36 shape they retained the older tail happy E30's rear suspension parts.
Cooling system is a weakness with any old BMW, have seen many of these for sale with blown headgaskets, mainly due to cooling system neglect. low km's doesn't mean much its still 13 years old.
Have you considering a VW Golf GTI! the Mk4 models not a bad car, otherwise if you want a bmw, get one with a worthwhile engine, such as a 328i, it wouldn't cost much more to run then that 318TI most likely.

foxdonut, Oct 3, 11:11am
8 grand is almost E36 M3 money these days. At the very least its 325 or E46.

318 is a POS, same as the 320.

Don't bother - Slow, heavy, shit brakes, thirsty, interior falls apart etc.

You'd be better off buying a same year Honda SIR Accord if you really want to spend the whole 8 grand in one hit.

foxdonut, Oct 3, 11:15am
The headgasket blows on the older cars because of the cost cutting plastic impellor pump failing and blocking the radiator.

Agree with the Golf - much better choice, that money even gets a VR6 in good nick and it'll blow the doors off a 3 series coupe.

chris_051, Oct 3, 5:43pm
E36, worst BMW series to date.

poppajn, Oct 3, 8:20pm
Thank,s everyone.I have a '98 SIR Honda at pesent, so looks like I,ll stick with it for a bit longer.

vtecintegra, Oct 3, 11:17pm
What don't you like about the Honda! Would help to recommend a suitable replacement.

poppajn, Oct 4, 1:34am
I like my Honda, just liked the BMW look, but will stick with my Honda, only done 97000k, done cambelt and all up to date

trdbzr, Oct 4, 2:21am
Jesus christ $8k for a 1998 318TI thats done 104000km!! Thats a rip off.

jizy1, Oct 4, 2:43am
8k is a complete rip off. Other than that they are reasonably ok but yes, quite gutless in auto.

smellykelly, Oct 4, 3:12am
I have a 316TI 2002 and its not gutless at all, the interior hasnt fallen apart, its cheap to run and Yup i am girl so allowed a girly car! I love my wee go Kart!

michael.benn, Oct 4, 3:32am
Gutless, gutless, gutless.

Not worth your time, and definitely not worth $8,000.

If you want a BMW, look at 325 or 328 models.

If not, I will quite happily agree on the Golf GTI .

I'm quite happy also to whole heartedly disagree with this comment. Define worst.

foxdonut, Oct 4, 4:30am
Good skills champ.

Its a totally different car.

foxdonut, Oct 4, 4:31am
But its still a gutless POS.

vtecnet, Oct 4, 4:54am
the SIR accord a better car, safer also, the E36 got 1.5 Stars on Euroncap, the Accord got 4.

thejazzpianoma, Oct 4, 6:54am
Me too, you could have a tidy MK4 VW Golf GTI for that which will give you reliability and economy along with cheap parts and servicing.

Likewise the Audi A3 which is just a re-packaged Golf GTI (same car different body shell).

Those may appeal on similar lines to the BMW.

budgel, Dec 9, 6:16pm
thejazzpianoma wrote:Those may appeal on similar lines to the BMW.

The big difference is front wheel drive vs rear wheel drive.