bmw 3 series 320i e36 review

• Overview
• Reviews
• Write your review
• Ask a Question

By skanbmw on 15th Jul 2007

skanbmw's Ratings

Year Manufactured	1991
Length of ownership	3 years
Doors	2
Performance	8/10
Practicality	7/10
Reliability	9/10
Value for money	9/10
Overall value	9/10
skanbmw's recommendation

Good Points

Nice silky smooth engine, 6 cylinders, 2 litre injection.
-respectable 150bhp
-comfortable seats
-all electric

Bad Points

-Very heavy on fuel
-Door cards like most e36's seem to fall off
-Central locking goes all funny from time to time
-Once every 6-7 months it seems to have a fit, where the rev needle will keep bouncing up and down!

General Comments

Standard Review:
I've had my 320i coupe for 2 years now as standard. It's pretty sluggish there doesn't seem to be an awful lot of power for a 6 cylinder, 2 litre injection. It's very underpowered for 150bhp. Off the line it's slow, you really have to hit the high revs to get it moving. Hit 3rd gear and you will see what it's made of; it lacks low end, which many cars have in abundance. But on the other hand it has mid range and top end to keep pulling and pulling, which many other cars don't seem to have. The noise that the engine makes as standard is tremendous! With its tough aluminium block and 6 cylinders, some say it's the best engine noise out of the 3 series even better than the m3!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modified Review:
During the 2 Years of ownership of my 320i coupe, I decided I needed more power to get it moving and get rid of the sluggishness so my first modification was a custom made cold induction kit. It gave me a little more noticable power, but more noticable was the aggressive roar I got from the engine. The more it settled in, the more it started to sound like a V8. I coupled this together with a custom made and programmed ECU chip, which to my utmost surprise gave me a much more noticeable power increase. You could finally call it a sports car, it was quicker off the line and it pulled much harder to the red line. But it is more noticeable at mid range and top end. Not only that, it also had great effect on fuel. The chip's fuel management made the car increase its MPG considerably after the above modifications. Naturally once you gain some power you want more, so in came a custom made, big bore, throttle body (or as some might call it the butterfly valve) to allow more air into the engine, hence increasing power output, after this modification the car became more responsive and aggressive.

Overall at standard the car is more suited to the 'older generation', it's more of a cruiser with its sweet singing 6 cylinder 2 litre engine and its good looks. At standard I give this car 6 out of 10.

Modified it all of a sudden becomes a pretty powerful beast of a car. As explained there's more power output, hence it's quicker off the line and pulls harder to the red line. Overall it becomes a much better car than standard, so when modified I give this car 9 out of 10.

skanbmw's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!