1992 BMW 3 Series 320i Coupe from UK and Ireland - Comments

The fuel tank leaked and needed replacement - £400.

The front discs warped twice.

The water pump blew.

Balljoint failure.

The ECU turned out to be the wrong one for the car and needed replacing.

Endless idle issues.

All in all a nice car, spoiled by niggly faults and reliability issues.

In the end, I got rid of it simply because it cost me the earth in fuel. I only managed 30mpg ever and that was driving really gently. For a 2.0 with 150bhp, it should've been much better than this. Apparently the 2.5 gives the same mpg and that has 192bhp. Also, considering the fuel economy, it wasn't particularly fast either. You had to thrash it to make it go and that made the mpg terrible. I think the weight of it has something to do with this as it comes in at 1450kg. Not light.

Otherwise the engine is extremely smooth and silky with a gorgeous sound to die for. It also looks lovely under the bonnet.

Quite comfortable and I never had backache from long journeys, and the rear seats on the coupe fold down making them quite practical.

Handling is pretty good for a car this size. Not 100% chuckable, but confident in the bends. RWD means it can be a bit hairy in the wet/ snow, but light years ahead of the E30 in terms of grip and stability. I never lost it once. The Coupe comes with Mtec suspension as standard, and to be honest I'd say it needs it.

Otherwise they're lovely to drive. Very involving and satisfying, yet relaxed and sophisticated. BMW know what they're doing in this department it seems.

Overall, for a BMW it shouldn't have had as many niggly faults and expensive failures. Also the fuel economy was terrible considering the lack of power. A shame really. I now have a 1993 318iS. This only has 10bhp less, yet weighs about 140kg less too. It goes just as well, albeit with a tad less torque in the mid range and delivers 36mpg easily. Much better. Just a shame the engine isn't anywhere near as smooth or as good looking. And it doesn't sound as good too.

If you can afford it, get a 325i without a doubt. They have the power, and can deliver the same mpg as lesser versions.

My old 1992 320i SE saloon would struggle to ever achieve 30 mpg, even cruising along the motorway. Driving it stupidly gently, I could get the computer average up to 28, but "normal" driving would see 24-25. Appalling in my opinion for what isn't exactly a quick car, and for what, even by today's standards is a fairly advanced engine.

Refilling and calculating mileage against fuel used would tally with the computer figures, so it's not even as if the fuel computer was broken.

I had niggly problems and quality issues too. I bought it off my old company at 4 years old with 94,000 miles, a careful driver from new, and a full BMW history. 94,000 well maintained miles should be nothing on a BMW, but I ended up replacing so many parts over the next 20k that I cut my losses and outed the car. Very creaky inside past 110k too.

Not the quality machine I was expecting by a long chalk, and prices for genuine parts are an absolute joke!

I currently own a 320i and yes the fuel consumption can be frighteningly high, except if you just simply check a few things first:

The reason the 2 litre 24V Straight 6 can drink fuel so easily is because for one simply reason, the engine is I feel slightly under powered at low engine revs. The 1.8is engine will be more economical as it has 2 cylinders and 200 cc less, however it is possible to get the 320i fuel economy improved to a more satisfactory level. Once you have done this then you will then fully enjoy the much greater smoothness and the beginnings of bigger engine performance and fatter torque from mid revs upwards. I would not down size to the 1.8 even the 1.8is with 16v as I feel the 2 litre power at mid revs is very comfortable and useful and makes the BMW 320i feel like a BMW should.

Do the following things to your 320i and you can help correct the slight lack of power at low revs, which is the only reason why the 2 litre engine can be a bit thirsty, if you try to compensate with more accelerator pedal. It takes very little to increase the efficiency of the engine and thus improve fuel economy quite a bit!

One: Make sure all your tyres are pumped up to the correct levels.

Two: Make sure your tracking and wheel balancing is totally true. Any money you pay on this you will get back through improved fuel economy.

Three: Use higher octane (Super) unleaded every other fill up. Yes this fuel does cost a little more, but you do get more miles to the gallon out of it. Plus it cleans your engine better for further improved fuel economy. It is true I have tried it many times. However you do only need to do this every other time and no all the time as the engine does need some normal (95 RON) unleaded fuel otherwise I have found I tend to loose some of the benefits of using higher octane unleaded fuel all the time. I know it sounds strange, but try it. Using high octane all the time and then using it only on every other fill up, you will see what I mean.

Four: (To be tested) Replace the standard air filter element with a free flow element like K&N. I have noticed that when the air is colder in the evenings my 320i fuel economy improves drastically, as I am able to pull away at low revs much more easily. Replacing the standard BMW air filter element with a free flow item such as K&N will have the same effect, but more so and at all times of the day. As the free flow element will allow a greater volume of air into the engine than the standard item, thus increasing engine power and fuel economy, which is exactly what happens when the air is colder. In other words I feel that the 320i does not have enough air getting into the engine to feed the 6 cylinders resulting in poor fuel economy and power at low engine revs (From 1000 rpm to 2000rpm). This is where most of the fuel drinking takes place I have noticed.

Five: Use Slick 50 engine treatment at your next oil change. This does work as it massively reduces the friction forces in your engine, resulting in no more engine wear, less accelerator pedal to move forward and an even quieter engine. Also you can expect to see the engine power jump up by as much as 7.5%. I have tried this on all my previous 6 vehicle and have been very pleased with the results. Less accelerator pedal is needed to drive the car at any given speed, directly resulting in less fuel needed to drive the car.

This is all it takes to greatly improve the fuel economy of the 320i. The above points three to five will also boost the bhp of your engine from 150bhp to 180bhp, resulting in the acceleration from 0 - 60 dropping from 9.1 seconds to 7.7 seconds!! Believe it, its true and one of the biggest secrets. I done this to all my previous vehicles and it works everytime.

I have a 2000 320i with 67K miles on the clock. I find the performance a bit sluggish off the mark, but once up and running it's fine and offers decent performance. You do need to keep the rpm at 2,700 or above and then it's sprightly. If you floor the throttle and let it rev then it is quick. As for MPG - town and country it averages 30mpg and on a long journey I get well into the high 30s. For a 6 cylinder 2 litre engine I think this is a perfectly respectable mpg figure. I know that a Ford or Opel 2 litre petrol is much more severe on fuel and not as quick or smooth. In terms of reliability, mechanically nothing has ever gone wrong. I have relplaced shock absorbers, bushings and the front disc and pads which is normal at this mileage. For a prestige car it's fairly cheap to run and maintain.

Slick 50, a K&N filter and high octane fuel will not give a 30bhp gain. Unless you rolling road-tested your car, you are not talking sense; and lets face it you aren't.